the stomach under the stairs.

I stand at my window staring at the house across the street. Unblinking I drink in the warm orange lights that seep through the frosty windows and wide front door. The rotting beams slanting down into a hungry smile.

I feel rough asphalt under my feet and a ticklish breeze on my neck. Breathing in the night air I feel stars and mist curl in my lungs. The house looms above me trembling, salivating, at the thought of its prey so close.

I stand in the living room watching the walls gently contract and expand around me. This was a mistake. I shouldn’t be here. It’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me. I am a small bird being slowly digested. My heart frantically beating itself against the metal bars of my ribcage. This room no longer has the door I entered from. Just a humming TV and an exit door under a flight of stairs. The door squeals open, seeping out a ghastly green light. The floorboards above my head creak under heavy footsteps. He’s going to kill me. I bang and scratch and cry at the window made of gelatin, there’s no way to get out.

He stands behind me, a massive shadow consuming my small frame. Barely there hands grip the back of my shirt and begin to drag me towards the exit. I flail and scream and kick and beg. His grip and step do not falter. The door is now miles away. With every step closer to that sickly green light, I feel my bones dissolve into nothing. My body deflates into a forgotten pool float as I am dragged closer to the exit. Free of muscle and sinew. He yanks me ‘round to face the door. I gaze, unblinking, as he swings it wide open. I am blinded by this empty black abyss leaking toxic light. He turns me around leaning in to taunt and tease. To whisper secrets and truths and things I don’t want to hear.

The heels of my feet teeter on the edge of nothing as this man made of static holds me by my shoulders. He has no face, only wide eyes that are pools of unseen color. They burn through me as a set of teeth pushes through the static ,unmoving , to let out a voice that shakes the foundations of this house, this stomach. “ I w i l l s e e p i n t o y o u r f l e s h a n d b o n e s a n d e a t y o u a l i v e f r o m t h e i n s i d e o u t u n t i l y o u a r e n o t h i n g b u t a w e e p i n g m e s s o f s k i n a n d r e g r e t.” I know his name although he does not speak it. Before I can tell him, before it can be true, I am thrust into the nothingness under the stairs.

And I am swallowed whole by a monster of my own making.