The Cellar

By Matthew Meyers It all happened two years ago. I don’t remember all the details so bear with me. I remember it was night time, and I was in the little room I stayed in when I wanted to relax. Something I always remembered about that room was that when you walked over a certain place, your footsteps sounded hollow, like a large open space was below you, covered by flooring, though being young and passing it off as a rotted floorboard or a missing floorboard, I ignored it. It wasn't until that day that I remembered it again. Like I said, it was night time, probably about 1 or 2 in the morning. I was watching some stupid show on [adult swim], “Morel Orel” I think it was called. I remember that I heard the noise during a commercial break, and seeing no need to keep my eyes on the T.V. anymore, I investigated. I couldn't place my finger on what the noise was. The best description I could give would be the sound of air coming out of a vent, but a little louder than that. I remembered it sounded muffled too, like something was placed over it. I turned and walked around the room until I found the place where the noise was coming from, it was the dresser. I knew it wasn't just an air vent because the only vent in the room was right beside the bed and it was off at the moment. The sound seemed to be emanating from behind or under the dresser. It seemed odd to me because the dresser was placed up against an outside wall, meaning that if you had made a hole in the wall, you would see straight outside, not into another room. But still, that sound seemed to be coming from behind the dresser. I will note if I haven’t mentioned it already that the house was one story, no upstairs, no basement, just one ground level floor. I knew the only way to find the source of the sound would be to move the dresser, so I worked up my strength and scooted it away from the wall so I could see under it and behind it. I recall that the weight seemed weird, almost like it was purposely bottom weighted so it would be harder to move. Still though, I saw nothing strange, until I looked closer at the carpet underneath. Along with a good deal of crumbs and dust bunnies, there seemed to be a small but deliberate slit in the carpeting. I slipped my finger under the carpet and gave a small tug upwards, and I large flap came up with my fingers. Now a little uneasy, I put my foot on the flap to keep it open and looked down underneath it to the wood planks below. There I saw a single metal ring and a message, worn and faded, that said just one word… “Pull”. And of course that’s what I did. I pulled the ring and a loud drag was heard, the wood plank came up with ease, pulling up a 3 foot by 3 foot square of wood out with it, disguised to look like planks. It was in that moment where I wished I had never opened that little wood trap door. It hit me like a sledgehammer, the sickening stench of rot and decay. I felt my stomach churning and bile rose up in my throat. I vomited on the spot. It was the most horrible smell anyone could ever experience. My eyes stinging and my mouth filled with the taste of puke, I ran over to the other side of the room. I found a bandanna and tied it around my nose and mouth, hoping for something that could save my senses from that God awful stench. It was at least bearable now, with my nosed pinched and my breathing done through a few layers of cloth and towels. I went back over to the hole, this time with a flashlight. Shining it down into the hole, I saw a ladder. The hole was probably about 10 feet deep. I worked up my courage, not being a major fan of dark, putrid-smelling hidden cellars, and climbed the ladder down. I wish I had never done that. The first thing I noticed was that I was standing in some sort of black liquid. There was a solid inch deep layer of the liquid over the entire floor. Upon closer inspection, my stomach dropped at the sudden realization of what I was standing in. It was blood. Thickened and congealed and brown from what seemed like years on years of standing stagnant. I started to shake. My mind was racing and my heart was going even faster. What the hell was this place?! I shined my light around the cellar and I screamed at what I saw next, human skeletons, all around me. There must have been 15 or 20 all lined up against the walls, some slumped over on top of one another. All of them were wearing tattered clothing, like a poor person’s clothing, dusty and tattered. I was literally about to pass out from fear, but something in me told me I had to investigate this more. I calmed myself down as much as a man standing in a room full of blood and skeletons could, and I approached one of the skeletons. Now what happened next made everything I had seen so far seem like a children’s movie. I looked closely at the skeleton. It was small and short, almost like a young kid. My curiosity growing, I searched the skeleton more…and then I saw it. Teeth marks. There were teeth marks in the bones, deep and deliberate. These people had been eating each other, these people had committed cannibalism, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part came when I realized that the only skeletons with no clothes and teeth marks in their bones were the small ones. These people had been eating the children. The helpless ones, the innocent ones, the ones that wouldn't put up a fight. Tears streamed down my face at the realization of what I was seeing. I bolted out of that cellar, up the ladder and grabbed a phone, immediately dialing 911. The next thing I knew, the police were there, in the hidden cellar where those bodies were. “Ho-ly shit,” I heard one say as he shined his flashlight around the interior of the room. That’s when I snapped again. A wild evil grin came across my face as all the memories came flooding back into my head. Realizing that all the police officers were in the cellar, I took action quick. I threw the wood trap door back over the hole and I heard the policemen screaming, smiling at their desperation. I pulled the dresser back over top of the panel, making sure the extra weight I had put in the bottom was centered to make it nearly impossible to move. I heard them pounding and yelling from under and behind the dresser. I sat back on the bed and laughed and smiled until I fell asleep. When I awoke, I went outside. I walked behind the house until I found the vent. I opened it and that sick stench that I loved came out of the opening and I smiled again, remembering last night’s events. The air came out and was released into the air. I went back inside. Last night I was sitting in the little room I stayed in when I wanted to relax. It was night time, probably about 1 or 2 in the morning. I was watching some stupid show on [adult swim], “Morel Orel” I think it was called. I remember that I heard the noise during a commercial break, and seeing no need to keep my eyes on the T.V. anymore, I investigated. I couldn't place my finger on what the noise was. The best description I could give would be the sound of air coming out of a vent, but a little louder than that. I remembered it sounded muffled too, like something was placed over it. I turned and walked around the room until I found the place where the noise was coming from, it was the dresser.