• The Stairwell

    “we better get to bed tommy. Before mom and dad start to fight again…”

    “okay, I’ll be there in a second. I have to finish brushing my teeth.” The four year old turned back towards the mirrior and resumed his nightly routine. His older brother seemed to always be a step a head of him though. Always reminding him of what was to come if they didn’t get to bed “on time”.
    It wasn’t always like this, his brother would say. Just so happened to start just about a year after thomas was born. At first it was small aruguments, fighting over the small things that didn’t matter. But its progressively gotten worse everyday, even at little thomas’s birthday, when mom threatened dad that she would kill him if he spent over 20 dollars for a gift. Thomas never did see any of ther fights though. He always ran to his hiding spot before things got out of control and the would police arrive.

    Tommy hurried though brushing his teeth, jumped into his pajamas, and race toward his room. His older brother already was on the top bunk reading a goosebumps story before he went to bed. “took you long enough. Get into bed quick and turn the lights off.”
    “but I like the lights on…”
    “well I don’t, so turn them off.”
    Thomas hated being bossed around, but he always did what his older brother told him to. If he didn’t he’d make him cry. And thomas hated to cry. Pouting about turning the lights off, tommy got back up from his bed and turned the lights off.
    “I cant see.”
    “go to bed tommy.”
    Thomas suffled his feet slowly across the floor, hoping not to trip over one of his toys he left scattered all over the floor. He did trip tough, falling flat on his face. Luckly he landed on his bed with no harm done. He couldn’t help but laugh.
    “that was funny!”
    “shut up already!”
    “sorry…” he still giggled at how cartoonish he must have looked when he tripped. He instantly tought of Tom and Jerry, when Tom steps on a gardening hoe and the handle comes up and hits him sqare in the nose. This thought made him giggle all the more. Eventually he calmed down, crawled under the covers of his bed and said “good night” to his older brother. He closed his eyes and began to dream….
    …
    …
    … Thomas awoke to the sound of birds outdside the window. The morning light flooded the room at a gentle ease, slowly clovering Tommys face. “Tommy time for breakfast!” he slowly got up, his feet touching the cold floor like very morning. Thomas notice that the toys in his room had been put away. if it wasnt a toy he tripped over the night before, then what did he stumble on? He dismissed the though and got dressed, in his usual fasion. a red and white striped t-shirt, accompanyed by a pair of jean overalls, with brass buttons, and a chest pocket. Then he grabed his hat, a little blue baseball cap that matched his jeans.. “hurry up son before your breakfast gets cold!” his father yelled to him this time, and he sounded happy.
    Thomas raced out of his clean room, ran down the hallway, speeding past several doors. The hallway made a sharp turn to the right, leading to a stairwell with several levels. Thomas stoped in his tracks, and stared dumbly at the stairwell.
    “MOM! DAD! How come theres a stairwell in the house!” his mother or father didn’t reply.
    “MOM?,DAD?” still no reply from either parent. Thomas then began to worry. He turned around headed back towards the hallway. But before he could, a door apeared before his very eyes, and slammed shut, separating Thomas from the safty of his room and his hiding spot.
    “Mom?, Dad?” he began to sob alittle now, only adding to his growing fear. “ Brother?” nobody answered. He rattled the door nob but it wouldn’t budge. Then little four year old Thomas got a feeling in his stomach like he was going to puke. He sat down and waited there for what seemed like an eternity, curled up next to the door, hoping someone would come and get him. So that he could see his mom and dad and older brother, and that they could all have breakfast together, and be happy.
    Then the walls seemed to be closeing in on him and still nobody came to help him. he was alone. And running out of time.
    He got up and looked back down the stairwell. The first two levels he could see, each with doors that seemd to have no nobs. For the rest of the levels in the stairwell it only got darker and darker for him to see how far it really went down. Maybe it went on forever. Thomas suddenly felt as if he wanted a slinky, so that he could at least make something of this fun. But all of his toys where in his room, locked away.
    Thomas also noticed that there was a faint red light at the very bottom of the stairwell. As he stared at it he felt scared, and it wanted to make him cry.
    He then heard a scream, from behind the locked door. “mom?...MOM?” the door nob began to rattle, and the scream bellowed out again. This time Thomas knew that it wasn’t his mother that was screaming. It sounded more like a monster than a person. This all just added to his fear. “What if the door breaks down and the monster eats me!” Now really scared thomas jumped down the stairwell and landed on his knees. It really hurt but he was too scared to care. To door leading to the hallway now rattled itself, as if the monster was trying to break though. To get to little four year old Thomas and eat him.
    Thomas then closed his eyes, pushed on the door that was in front of him, hurried inside and slamed the door shut. He leand against the door sliding down to his bottom. He let out a deep breath to calm his nerves, then opened his eyes again.
    He couldn’t believe what he saw…

    To be continued…