I had nightmares about those eyes. They stared at me and they whispered, “you know.”

I tossed and turned “you know you know.”

I woke up. The air conditioner hummed in my window, raising goosebumps on my legs. My bed squeaked with every motion as I climbed out of it, resting one bare foot on the floor after the other. Tiny drops of sweat clung to my back. In the dark, I could barely make out my own black reflection in the mirror on the far side of the room. It reminded me too much of the dark creature and I got up and covered it with a shawl that had once belonged to my grandmother and which shimmered in the moonlight. Tiny silver threads were woven into the intricate pattern. I had fallen in love with the black and silver contrasting with an aged slate grey. Placed among my other things, it added the little pop of color that didn’t belong to black, very dark grey, silver or burgundy that most of my possessions had. I turned on my bedside lamp and took a deep breath. The skin under my eyes was hot and tender but I knew I couldn’t sleep. I was too disturbed for that.

My bed squeaked noisily again as I sat on it and then scooched back to rest my back against the wall.

What had I witnessed in that basement?

It couldn’t be a prank. Halloween was almost two months away and nobody would just sit there waiting and watching for some hapless victim to wander in. It was far too much effort. And I’d felt those screams in my chest.

I knew there was no point in letting myself stay awake so I reached over to the nightstand and opened the drawer. An orange prescription bottle rolled around in there and I took one and drank a glass of water. 

It still felt weird to lay down and stare at the ceiling. It was weird to think I’d fall asleep when I felt so awake. But that’s what happened.

The medication hadn’t fully worn off by lunch the next day. I sat on the cafeteria stool with the others. Lee was chipping the acrylic off of her nails, taking a layer of her natural nails with it. It was an arduous process as she removed the coffin shapes.

Sierra was on a computer, typing away as usual. Big headphones covered her ears and I was pretty sure she was oblivious to the world.

Ellias finally joined us with a lunch tray with two slices of pizza. He sat down across from Christian, who was reading a thick novel.

“Uhm” I started. “Should we talk about yesterday?” I asked.

Ellias frowned, “what is there to talk about?” he asked.

“I’m worried about that man,” I explained.

“That asshole of a security guard?” he asked.

Lee was frowning.

“Did you hear what he was saying to us?” he asked.

I shook my head. “He called me a bitch,” I said. “But I didn’t hear anything else.”

“He called Christian and I faggots,” Ellias said angrily. “I don’t care what happens to him.”

There was a grim silence for a long moment.

“But,” I said. “I think he might be dead.”

They stared at me. “I don’t think so,” Lee said. “I don’t see how that could happen.”

“I heard him scream,” I said. “And then the screaming stopped. It sounded like whatever dragged him down there ripped him apart.”

“So what?” Ellias grumbled, but it was a bit subdued. “We shouldn’t go to the police. It’s not like they would listen to us anyway.” He stared at his hands.

Sierra was still typing away on her computer, but she nodded along with Ellias.

“But it’s not really a question of if. I heard him die,” I argued.

“But did you see him die? Do you have any proof?”

I went quiet. It felt so very wrong to just leave it as is. Ellias might be right. There was a chance the police wouldn’t listen to me. But I knew some of them pretty well. At least one of them would advocate for me.

“It just bothers me,” I said. “I don’t think they’ll find the body.”

My lunch sat between my hands. The plastic of the table was stained and dirty but I’d rather look at it then keep arguing.

Ellias was quiet.

“It wouldn’t hurt to try right?” Christian asked. “I mean, what are they going to do if they don’t believe you? Arrest you because they don’t know the truth?”

“Arrest us for trespassing,” Lee told him. “We were breaking the law.”

“Right,” he said quietly.

When the bell rang, we parted ways for the last few periods of the day. Nobody wanted to discuss it more.