Watch Your Step

Don't go in the basement.

That was what Mr. Saunders told me when I moved in.   When I asked why, he muttered something about mold spores, but I got the feeling he was hiding something from me.

It nagged at me, that padlocked basement door, waiting to be explored.   He might have bodies down there, or treasure, or just a stack of porno magazines, but I had to know.   Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

He'd gone to bed early, so the house was quiet.   I deftly picked the lock on the door and made my way down.

I stood on the threshold, breathing in the freezing basement air, staring into the darkness.   I don't think I've ever been so frightened in my life.   I felt around for the light switch, but the bulb was burned out.   I took the phone out of my pocket and turned on my flashlight app, and stepped onto the stairs, slowly making my way down into the darkness.

Suddenly, my foot slipped on the damp stairs and I threw out my arm to catch myself, dropping my phone into the darkness.   I hit the stairs hard, and after lying there for a few moments, I managed to heave myself into a sitting position, and looked down to see if I could find my phone, but the light had disappeared.  

I supposed I had better go look for it, so I got up and continued down the stairs, but to my infinite shock, there were no more stairs to go down.   I stood there for a moment, frantically trying to stabilize myself, and finally I pitched forward into the darkness.   I was falling, falling, falling.   I kept waiting to stop, to come crashing to a bitter end, but I never did.

I fell for days, and having no water, I began to die from dehydration.   Finally, I passed on.   My body began to disintegrate, rotting, until finally only my bones remained.   Months passed, until finally, the fall ended, and I came popping out the other side.   My lifeless skeleton eyes briefly beheld a room full of Chinese decorations.   I had fallen all the way through the Earth to the other side.   I hung in the air for a moment, then fell back down the hole.   This was years ago, but as far as the world still knows, my bones are still falling to this day.