Ever since you were a child, you always hated the basement stairs. They were neither steep nor unstable. Their appearances were neither sinister nor comforting. They were just stairs. However, the moment you switch off the last light in the basement, you couldn't stop yourself from dashing for them and sprinting as fast as your little legs could push you. The further you went up, the more you couldn't help the feeling of something gaining on you. So you ran even faster, skipping every other step on the way. The entrance to the basement was so close, but the thing behind you was almost on your heels. Giving everything into the final step, you launch your body through the doorway and into the open hallway. After coming to a screeching halt, you turn to face the stairwell, expecting to see the boogeyman. Nothing but emptiness stared back. No monsters or cereal killers were standing in the doorway.

You did this for years. Each time you had to go up those stairs you always, without fail, ran with everything you had. It was an irrational fear. Nothing more than a figment of your imagination. The day that you would face these fears finally came when you were fifteen. It would be the last day you would ever have to continue with this nonsense. One day, while you were barreling up the steps, you stopped for a second. The realization of how much of an idiot you were being hit you dead in the face. Gazing at the doorway ahead, you said to yourself, “Why the hell am I still doing this?” Letting out a sigh, you closed your eyes and turned around.

Its hollow, decaying eye sockets inches from your face was the first thing you saw. Everything about it was wrong. From its tattered unhinged jaw threatening to fall off at any moment down to its gaunt, lacerated torso exposing rotten muscle underneath. A scream started to escape your lips but before you even had a chance to make a sound, the retch shot its long putrescent arm straight for your throat. The thing wrapped its scrawny fingers tight around your neck, trapping the scream inside your larynx. With an impossible amount of force, it slammed your head into the hard wooden steps. You flailed around, trying to break free but this creature was much stronger than you. Impossibly strong. Tears welled up in your eyes as you frantically kicked and punched. The thing’s grip on your neck tightened even harder. As you struggled, a horrid smile ripped across its face, tearing its stretched skin even further. Your vision began to swim and your hope was quickly disintegrating. Before the world went black, it leaned in close and gurgled out, “Because you knew I was real.”