| Remember
A broken padlock hung from a rusted hasp on a old wooden door at the back of a vast square building. A sign near the front door had declared GYMNASIUM, but it was clear from the state of the place that it had not served its intended purpose for quite some time. Late one night in the tail end of October, two figures stole from the shadows and crept up to the back door. The smaller figure, Rebekah McAleister, was a dark-haired young woman in her mid-twenties. Following her to the building was the spiky-haired Ezra Barlow, whom she had know since they were in high school. Upon reaching the door, Rebekah silently removed the remnants of the lock and swung the door open with only the slightest creak. The nocturnal pair then disappeared into the dark doorway and closed the door. "You want to tell me again why we�re down here?" Rebekah rolled her eyes at him as she took a flashlight from her coat pocket. "I explained this. Twice. I want to show you something." Ezra shivered in the chill of the basement. "Doesn�t this place creep you out?" In response, Rebekah flicked her hand spastically to dislodge a cobweb that had ensnared it. "Ugh, immensely." "So why are we here? I hate it here, it�s like it almost�" In the vague glow of the flashlight, he saw the look that crossed her face as he broke off his sentence. It was a strange look of sadness and something resembling pity. She noticed him watching and rearranged her features. She gave a little laugh, but it sounded forced and empty. She gave up on appearing upbeat and prodded, "Almost what?" "It almost seems familiar, but I don�t recall ever being here before. But it�s like I almost remember something� Something happened here�" "Of course something happened here. This was part of a school for years. All kinds of things happened here.""No, that�s not what I mean, it was something�What the hell is that?" Rebekah followed his gaze into one of the side rooms off of the narrow hall they stood in. Among the various shadowy leviathans, something gleamed slightly in the darkness. Rebekah moved past Ezra, shining the flashlight into the room. "Well," she began, "it appears to be a guillotine." She turned the flashlight back on Ezra and giggled at the stricken look on his face. "I don�t think it�s real. They used to have a haunted house or something down here." "I can see why." She smiled half-heartedly. "Come on, we haven�t got much time. I have to show you something." Ezra looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Not much time? What the hell? Do we have an appointment to keep or something?" "Um, yeah, something," Rebekah muttered as she resumed her intended course down the hall. Thirty feet further, and the hall ended at a wall, with a perpendicular hall extending in either direction. Rebekah led Ezra to the left, and around a corner, to the base of a derelict staircase. Part of the staircase had collapsed, and it was to the pile of rubble where Rebekah directed her flashlight beam. "There." Ezra stared blankly. "What?" "On the floor. Do you see it?" Ezra moved closer and focused on the floor within the halogen glow of the flashlight. A rust-like stain covered the floor in a amoeba-like patch, partially covered by rotted beams and dust. Ezra looked at Rebekah quizzically. "Is that blood?" "Yeah." "Whose is it? Why are you showing me this?" Rebekah sighed. "Five years ago, some kids came down here� Well, more than kids. A few years out of high school. It was just a stupid game. First one to make it in and up to the main floor�" Vague recognition dawned on Ezra�s face. "Was I there? That sounds sort of familiar." Rebekah closed her eyes, as though to keep tears from escaping. "Yeah, you were there. You would have won, too�" Ezra stood in front of her and looked her straight in the eye. His voice shook slightly as he asked, "Rebekah, what happened?" "We didn�t know the stairs were rotten!" she nearly screamed, causing dust to jump off the old rotted wood. Ezra�s eyes widened and shone in the dim light of the flashlight. "What the hell are you saying?" Rebekah said nothing, but held out her hand that was not holding the light. She extended it, palm up, to Ezra. Slowly, he reached out to take her hand. He jumped back sharply as his fingers passed through hers. "What the hell?!" Rebekah looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I�m so sorry." She took a deep breath. "You couldn�t let go until you remembered, so I had to show you." "Remember what?!" Ezra�s voice cracked with panic. "Remember that five years ago tonight, here in this basement, you died." |