A little too late
Anne was certain the sounds came from this direction or maybe she had taken a wrong turn. " Henry are y-" Anne's word leapt back into her throat with a sharp gasp when she saw him laying on the ground, in a pool of his blood with his throat slit, terror and sadness forever frozen on his cold, lifeless face. Her lips trembled with whimper and eyes filled with tears, her heart caught in her throat–she knelt down above his head finally letting out her streams of tears.
She hadn't taken a wrong turn after all…
Her moment of sadness was cut short with a soft giggle which seemed to move all over. " Who's there?" She asked in a raspy tone, and that continuous dripping sound wasn't the answer she wanted to hear.
She stood up and walked around in hopes to find where it came from, she couldn't wrap her mind around what was happening– It was strange.
There it was again, but this time it was louder and it echoed all over, she heard running footsteps and cold chills ran down her spine " maybe it's Betty' " she thought to herself but then realized Betty was too scared to be down in the basement. Anne, lost in emotions and thoughts, her eyes blurred with tears, turned around with the aim of getting back to her daughter when she heard that chilling giggle again, her feet trembled and the smell of Henry' blood filled the air, " sweetie is that you? "
she asked gently, but once again, it was silent.
She reached for an old baseball bat, flashing the torch light in the direction of the sound, prepared for anything possible. " Who's there? " She asked as she walked towards the direction of the already faded giggle, going further into the basement.
Her heart pounding against her chest, like it was threatening to come out and search for the origin of the giggle itself– sweat beads formed like third eyes.
" How did this evening go from normal to horrific so fast? "
She muttered to herself
" the candles I left Betty with must've burned out. Henry is– I'll never get to hear his silly jokes again." Tears trickled down her face as she struggled to swallow the lump that formed in her throat.
The torch flickered like it was trying to bring her back to reality– to the unfolding nightmare.
" No, no, no… please, no " she panicked, hitting the torch against her palm.
And then there it was again- that mocking laughter from behind, and with that, the torch gave out
" aw, come on! " she cried out as she immediately dropped the bat, trying to revive the torch, slamming it against her palm and flicking the switch continuously but all to no avail.
" I probably should've changed the batteries "
she murmured with a sigh …
" I should get back to Betty " she said, calming herself and trying to find her way in the dark when she stumbled into a table and hit her leg, she crouched down, holding her mouth so as to not cry out in pain when the place suddenly illuminated.
She looked up, eyebrows knotted with questions and her eyes squinted, when Betty walked in with a candle in hand, " baby what are you doing down here?"
Anne asked in a whisper as she rushed towards her. After placing the candle on the table beside her, Anne pulled Betty into tight hug, she stroked her hair as she whispered " I'm so sorry sweetie" trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall "I'm so sorry"
she continued to stroke her hair.
Betty couldn't help but feel uneasy as all her mom did was stroke her hair, whispering how sorry she was, over and over.
" Mom… what's wrong?"