CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

[ xvii. reminiscing ]

     CALUM AND MELINA shakily walked through the darkness. Their main priority was to find the basement door without harm. At first they thought it would've been easy, but when Melina clumsily tripped and fell over the leg, they weren't quite sure. She was on edge after the accident.

     She wanted to scrub her skin till the she was left burning. She was disgusted that her foot had touched a limb that was once on someone's body. It was left there to rot, to be eaten away by the night crawlers. To be torn away from the human that used that hand for thousands of things.

     The crickets sang their nightly song. The birds cawing almost as if it was a warning to turn back. The street light started to flicker as well, but Melina tried not to worry herself about it. Calum, however, felt as if someone was there. Someone unwanted; someone life threatening. His stomach turned into a knot that seemed untamable.

     Melina looked up at the night sky. She started to whisper a prayer to the God she believed in. Hoping he'd come and save them all. Calum awkwardly listened in and didn't say a word. He felt disrespectful if he said anything, so he kept quiet as the night sky.

     People say the night is quiet. That the night is also beautiful. They're definitely wrong.

     The night is the loudest. Torturing innocents by filling their heads with negative thoughts. By holding the secrets that nobody knows. By the sounds of bugs and animals coming alive, making noise. By the cries of people who just want it all to stop. Or even by the horrifying events that happen to countless bystanders and nobody is there to save them.

    So no, the night isn't beautiful. The night is the complete opposite of it. The night is ugly; disgusting. Melina used to think differently. She'd spend her nights reading a good book in her hammock in her bedroom. Examining the starry night sky from time to time. She hadn't even been at the Carmichael House for an hour and already hated the night.

She held onto Calum's arm, causing him to remember the times the pair spent together. The two used to be close since they were neighbors. The two were inseparable. The two would go over to each other's houses to paint, gossip about others since they both were too nice to say anything, and to just hang out. They were close, until his brother's passing things changed. They stopped hanging out and they both distanced themselves. It was mainly Calum who distanced himself and Melina took the hint and backed away.

     "The door should be around the corner," Calum whispered to try and stop reminiscing. Melina nodded as she gasped for air, doing her best to stop panicking. The corner was right there. The corner to the back of the house. They could easily walk and be behind the gigantic house, but they didn't. Their bodies were frozen due to the fear pumping through their veins.

     "Then we shall go around the corner," Melina whispered back, gulping. Calum agreed with a nod, but nothing more and nothing less. Even though they both agreed to walk, but didn't. They stayed in their place. Their feet digging into the tall grass that went to their knees. Calum reached over and held onto the corner of the house. His mind kept telling him that he needed to do this, but his body refused.

Melina inhaled sharply and clenched her hand into a fist. She let go of Calum's arm, taking him by surprise. Without hesitation, she turned the corner and disappeared out of his sight. He reached out for her, but she was out of reach. He waited for a moment before walking around the corner after her.

When Melina turned the corner, she saw nothing besides an old, wooden shed far away in the backyard. The grass was tall, it was then going up to her thighs. She looked back at Calum with worried eyes, who was looking back at her. "Where do we go now?" Calum asked as he walked towards her.

"Harriet mentioned stairs leading to the door," Melina explained before walking off. Calum looked at the back of the house, finding it in more critical shape than the front side. He started from the ground up looking at the house that made him wrinkle his nose. Then again, he couldn't see much in the dark. He didn't want to imagine what it would look like in the light.

The duo didn't speak another word to each other as they walked alongside the house. They both thought someone may hear, so they were too frightened. Melina noticed a hole in the ground a few feet in front of her and approached it. She saw concrete stars leading downward to a rusted, metal door that was chained shut. "We have an affair," Melina said softly to Calum, who walked up behind her.

He looked down and saw the door as well, letting out a frustrated huff. He took a step onto the first stair and started down the stairs towards the locked door. A part of him wanted to know why Harriet was so hesitate about the basement, but the other part of him didn't want to even think about it. Melina was curious, it was just a trait of hers. She wondered what happened in there and why it's not spoken about.

As Calum landed at the bottom, the smell of rotten eggs filled his nostrils. He pinched his nose and gagged, turning towards Melina who was still up top. "It stinks down here," he managed to cough out. She started down the steps and instantly knew what the boy was referring to. She attempted brushed the smell from her face and held her nose as well.

"The smell is so pungent," Melina gagged, covering her mouth with her offhand. Calum pulled his shirt over his nose and turned his attention to the chain lock on the door. "How do we manage to open the door?"

"I don't know," Calum confessed, his voice muffled from his shirt covering his mouth. He took out his army knife to see if anything helpful was inside. He tried to use the miniature saw to hack at the chain to try and break the lock. He grunted and silently swore as he sawed back and forth at the metal. Coming to his surprise, the lock broke and fell to the concrete.

He smiled and looked over at Melina, who was astonished. She raised her hand up for a high-five, politely receiving one from him. His smile went directly to a frown when he remembered what he had just opened. Calum had opened the door of his peers' freedom or the door of hell.

     Melina didn't want him to push the door open, scared of what she might see. She wasn't ready, they both weren't mentally nor physically ready.

     Calum was in a mental battle between himself. He didn't know whether he should open the door and face whatever is inside, or close the door back and lie saying they couldn't open it. He cared about them, even if he hadn't really spoken to any of them. He didn't want to see them get hurt, he didn't want to see Melina get hurt. He'd rather have himself suffer than any of them.

     He squeezed his eyes tightly, hitching his breath. He held out his arm and pressed his palm against the door. And with the creak of the door, Calum pushed it open.

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THIS IS JUST A FILLER. AHH THIS IS UNEDITED. THIS STORY IS ALMOST OVER OMG :(