Page 75 of Eldritch

She took the steps one by one with a confidence she didn’t feel. No hesitation. No faltering. At the bottom, the light struggled to push away the gloom. Goosebumps raced over her skin, her heartbeat picking up the pace.

She recalled an old saying from a television show.

In the booth, in the back, in the dark. I’ll meet you in the booth, in the back, in the dark.

The light reached the end of the main corridor. Not a sign of Letisha. Then she saw a shadow encroach from the side, down that odd appendage type room that led off to the right.

“Letisha?”

She picked up her steps, eager to see her friend.

“Letisha?”

A scuffing sound. The whisper of feet along the dirty floor. Sybil stopped. Listened.

Letisha stood next to the box Sybil had touched the first time she’d come down here. She wore flannel pajamas and big fuzzy slippers. She didn’t seem to notice Sybil.

“Letisha.”

Letisha reached out and touched the box as if she planned to open it. She started, gasped and fell backwards with a wail and landed on her butt. She yelped when she saw Sybil.

“Damn it!” Letisha’s face was a mask of fear and anger as she scuttled backwards. “What the hell?”

Sybil made sure her light didn’t hit her friend in the face. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

Letisha looked around, confusion clear. “What the actual...why am I here?”

“I don’t know. I came to find you.” Concern ramped up the fear inside Sybil. “I knew you’d be down here. Are you okay?” Sybil tugged Letisha to her feet.

“Yeah. But I don’t...” Letisha’s eyes looked moist. “I don’t know how I got here.”

Heaviness enveloped the area. Sybil could feel it creeping into her bones, as smothering as a blanket over her face. “Come on. Let’s jump ship.”

Letisha hurried past her. They took the stairs almost at a run. Reached the top, rushed through the door. The door slammed behind them.

“What the hell?” Letisha said as she turned, and they both looked at the door.

“Come on, let’s get somewhere we can talk.”

Once they reached Letisha’s room, Letisha kicked off her fluffy slippers and flopped onto her bed. She’d snapped on a couple of extra lights when they’d walked into the room, and it chased away the gloom. The red velvet curtains echoed those in the attic, and even the coverlet was red satin.

“Wow,” Sybil said. “I think you should change rooms.”

Letisha groaned. “Why?”

“There’s too much red in here. I love opulence, but this feels like pain. Red hot pain. There’s the room two doors down that’s still Victorian, but the colors are subtle greens.”

Letisha shoved upwards until she lay against the headboard supported by pillows. “What are you now? The paranormal redecorator?”

Sybil snorted a half laugh. “That sounds like something that might play well on paranormal reality television.”

Letisha grinned. “It does, doesn’t it?” She rubbed one hand over her face. “So what the hell happened? I’ve never done that before. I mean sleepwalking.”

Sybil sank into a comfortable-looking padded chair.

“Maybe your pills are working a little too well,” Sybil said.

Letisha no longer looked blurry-eyed, the startled expression from the cellar long gone. A haunted expression darkened her eyes.

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