The Beast In the Basement Part 3 (888 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesLabels: the_beast_in_the_basement
Rating: 1.8 on 25 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Anansie (View user info) at 2004-01-25 22:53:47 EST
Part 1: http://www.ubersite.com/m/23801
Part 2: http://www.ubersite.com/m/23902
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Twenty years, four months, and six days after Annie Denning looked into the hollow void of Tonia Donnell's eye sockets, she found herself on a train headed back to her childhood home. She had received the phone call not three hours ago. Her best friend was dead. Murdered, her father had said. Maggie's body had been discovered the last night. Had it not been for a few kids looking to catch a buzz behind the abandoned shack by the reservoir, the body might never have been found. And now it was complete. All five of the Donnell children found dead, or missing and presumed dead. Word had it that their mother was well on her way to an asylum. As for their father . . . Annie guessed that the already fragile man might soon be found hanging from his own rafters.
Annie stared out the window at the passing landscape. As a child, before she saw the body, she might have looked out this window and seen a world of splendor and promise. But Annie was no longer a child, and the world had not held any promise in her eyes for a long time. She watched her cigarette burn away like the long, slow years of her life, and bitterly lamented the fact that it was Maggie was lying cold in a morgue, while she herself sat wasting precious air.
Just what the fuck was going on here? How many people in Gilford would disappear, how many people would turn up dead, before the authorities admitted it was more than random acts of violence? Tonia Donnell had not been the only person in Gilford to turn up dead with body parts missing. Chalked up as the acts of vagrants and animal maulings, over the past twenty years, at least ten bodies had turned up with the same patterns of injury. Even more had gone missing. What kind of ignorant beaurocratic bullshit was standing in the way of a real investigation?
And what about the noises she had heard, both in her basement and Maggie's? There was no explanation for them. When she and Maggie had actually worked up the courage to investigate they had not seen anything unusual. Nothing made sense. She thought about the phone call. She had just gotten out of the shower, was actually looking forward to her day for a change, when the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Annie . . ."
"Dad?"
She had immediately noticed a strained tone in her father's voice. A tone she that she recognized.
"What happened, Dad?"
"Uh . . ."
"It happened again, didn't it? Dammit, when the hell is Chauncey going to do something about this shit? I swear to God, I don't understand why you're still living in that backwards piece of shit town."
"Annie . . ."
"I mean Jesus Christ the chief of police wouldn't kn-"
"Annie"
"What?"
"It's different this time."
"What do you mean?"
"It's Maggie."
She clearly remembered the feeling of being punched in the chest, and her legs crumpling beneath her. She sat on the floor, pale and disbelieving.
"Maggie's here, in Harrisburg. I just talked to her yesterday morning. She would have told me if she was planning a trip."
"There was a problem with her mother. She caught the nine o'clock train. I imagine she planned on calling you from her parents' house. She never made it there."
"I don't understand. This isn't possible."
"Honey, I'm so sor-"
"Have they found a body?"
"Annie . . ."
"HAVE THEY FOUND A FUCKING BODY, DAD?"
The silence on the other end of the line told her everything she needed to know.
"Did it take her eyes, Dad?"
"It?"
"Yes? No?"
"No, she still had her eyes."
"So it took something else this time. What did it take?"
"Honey, why don't you just come down here? Take the next train. This isn't something we should discuss over the phone."
"WHAT DID IT TAKE?"
"Annie . . ."
"TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IT TOOK, GODDAMMIT!"
"It . . . he . . . whatever killed her took her . . . it . . . Christ, Annie, it took her . . . it took her head and hands."
And now here she sat. Annie did not remember dressing. She did not remember going to the train station and buying a ticket. She had somehow made it to this private car, though now that she was here she couldn't imagine walking even the five feet it took to get to the bathroom. She had no strength. No reserves to draw upon. For almost twenty years, the tapestry of her life had been woven through with death and loss. Now it was finally unraveling.
User Reviews
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-02-09 11:38:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-06-02 13:24:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Rads_wife (user info) at 2005-06-13 23:10:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/68315
WINNER!!! WINNER!!!!
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-01-03 18:54:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by JohnGalt (user info) at 2004-04-07 22:53:26 (#)
Ranking: 2
Best part of the story so far. I never even met Maggie and I knew she was the one that died, and I still got chills when Annie's dad revealed who it was. Good stuff.
Although, this is starting to sound like that thing what feeds on people for 28 days ever 28 years or whatever to steal body parts. Horrible, horrible movie. The story is still good somehow, despite the similarities. Probably because the characters in my head are much better actors and the yet to be discovered bad guy (I'm guessing Annie's dad at this point) isn't so cheesy.
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jeepers creepers
that movie scares the shit out of me
Submitted by bargled (user info) at 2004-07-16 21:42:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
g00d storie +2
Submitted by JohnGalt (user info) at 2004-04-07 22:53:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Best part of the story so far. I never even met Maggie and I knew she was the one that died, and I still got chills when Annie's dad revealed who it was. Good stuff.
Although, this is starting to sound like that thing what feeds on people for 28 days ever 28 years or whatever to steal body parts. Horrible, horrible movie. The story is still good somehow, despite the similarities. Probably because the characters in my head are much better actors and the yet to be discovered bad guy (I'm guessing Annie's dad at this point) isn't so cheesy.
Submitted by Deisangua (user info) at 2004-04-07 17:07:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by lordofthepost (user info) at 2004-03-03 02:09:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Catching up
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2004-03-01 01:21:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
See, I can't even fucking type: This doesn't deserve to be on the best ever list.
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2004-03-01 01:13:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
This doesn't deserve tp be pm tje best ever list.
Submitted by fell-8-me (user info) at 2004-02-25 12:50:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2004-02-25 00:02:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Okay, it's not as creepy as before, but it's getting more interesting...
Oh, and I can perfectly imagine Spike being a fratboy - she sometimes appears tooooo laid back to be a woman. ;o)
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2004-02-05 13:28:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
not as scary as the previous two, but still good.
Submitted by Can_Always_Trust_A_Liar (user info) at 2004-02-03 01:33:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
tired of writing from a child's perspective? well, its great either way
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2004-01-26 13:36:53 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Ech . . . I can't believe I did that. -2 for me.
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2004-01-26 13:33:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Damn, nice catch, man. I guess she wouldn't have her eyes, would she? Oh well, I'll work it out somehow. Thanks, brickhouse.
Submitted by BRICKHOUSE (user info) at 2004-01-26 12:06:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
one question...if IT took her head, how could she still have her eyes? Maybe he should avoid answering the question
Did it take her eyes, Dad?"
"It?"
"Yes? No?"
"No, she still had her eyes." -----"No, not exactly"
"So it took something else this time. What did it take?" ---"What the hell do you mean not exactly"
"Honey, why don't you just come down here? Take the next train. This isn't something we should discuss over the phone."
"WHAT DID IT TAKE?"
"Annie . . ."
"TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IT TOOK, GODDAMMIT!"
"It . . . he . . . whatever killed her took her . . . it . . . Christ, Annie, it took her . . . it took her head and hands."
Maybe something like that instead...I don't know, just when i read that IT took her head, I scrolled back up to make sure I had read correctly that she still had her eyes.
Your choice though...just a suggestion.
Loving the story by the way.
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2004-01-26 00:13:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Dammit. I meant you don't really look like a fratboy.
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2004-01-26 00:00:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah, you don't really like a fratboy.
Submitted by SpikeGoddess (user info) at 2004-01-25 23:44:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Haha, I didn't think you were.
I can't imagine anyone calling me a fratboy! Haha, that would just be hysterical.
SpikeGoddess
Submitted by TaK (user info) at 2004-01-25 23:12:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 to you you sexy fox.
Head and hands...eyes...what else has "it" took? And why?
Hope these questions get answered. Poor Annie.
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2004-01-25 23:10:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Oh I wasn't calling you a fratboy spikegoddess.
Damn. Sorry.
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2004-01-25 23:09:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks for the insightful feedback, fratboy.
Submitted by SpikeGoddess (user info) at 2004-01-25 23:09:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Go girl.
SpikeGoddess
Submitted by PolPot (user info) at 2004-01-25 23:01:24 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
No Comment