Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-30402176-20170111165129

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So I thought I'd give this a try. This is way shorter than anything I've ever done, and is basically a creative exercise. Let me know if you think this is effective, or if it's too predictable, or too cliched.

Once, there were two young brothers, whose names were John and AJ. Their parents were both out for the weekend, leaving them both to their own devices, and since they were feeling bored, they decided to go down to the dark basement and play a game. It was sort of like a competition - to see who could come up with the scariest story they could think of in the cold dark of their basement with no light except for a small torch, and the one who succeeded in spooking out the other would be the winner. It was very difficult for both of them; even in their mid-teens, they’d both consumed as much horror literature as they could, and were hardened enthusiasts, who both reacted to each other’s stories with apathy and derision. After spending two whole hours trying to outdo each other, they both finally ran out of patience, and resolved they would continue the game some other time.

AJ then turned to the door to leave, but found something odd – the door just wouldn’t open. It was locked tight. “That’s weird”, he muttered – “Why won’t this door open?” They heaved, they grunted – but the door would not budge. At first, they were confused. But, as they tried again and again without success, they then started to panic. They were afraid. Really afraid! The house was completely deserted. Mom and Dad were not due to come back for another 3 days. And worse, the light switch was on the other side of the door. Were they really going to be trapped here forever, in the dark?

The darkness of the basement made it impossible to tell if it was day or night-time. Before long, an entire day had passed. The two young lads, with their bodies falling victim to severe malnutrition, started to take their anger and frustration out on each other. John blamed AJ for slamming the door too tightly, and somehow breaking the lock mechanism, while AJ cursed John for coming up with this stupid idea of coming down here in this accursed basement in the first place. John and AJ fought viciously; they scratched, bit, clawed, attacked each other, and eventually both passed out from their hunger and fatigue. Finally, after two agonisingly long days, the young boys passed away; and as both boys lay in each other’s arms, in their final moments they finally made peace with each other. When their parents returned, and were absolutely horrified and heartbroken by what they discovered; the bodies of their two young sons left rotting in the basement.

But there’s a twist to the story: it was soon discovered that an unidentified third-party had used the house key to manually lock the two young boys in there from the other side of the door. And that’s not all; police discovered during their investigation that there was actually a secret, hidden, electric night-vision camera that had been installed recently in the ceiling of the basement, which had of course, recorded the whole thing. Whoever locked them there had been silently watching them in the dark the whole time, and impassively observed their every move from their arrival, to their death. Can you imagine that - what kind of sick, depraved monster – what kind of psychopath would trap two young children in the house basement and starve them to death, and watch calmly throughout the entire ordeal? And why – just why would anyone want do this? The case remains unsolved.

…

…That was all 10 hours ago. And with no other players left, it looks like I have won the game. 