My idiot landlord forgets that our run-down little house (we rent 1/2) is not properly wired. The entire house (except the fridge) is on the same fuse. One little fuse. This means trips into the BASEMENT OF DOOM at inopportune times.
Now, my sweetie is not a timid guy. He doesn’t mind dark, dirt, or bugs. Still, our basement is enough to make him cower. (I get scared in broad daylight just because I know it’s there).
Ever see Pet Semetary? That’s it. You’re just waiting to be stabbed in the ankle.
Perhaps it’s the low ceiling, forcing you to double over as you creep down. It’s a very vulnerable position. The last few stairs are nothing more than hunks of rock. Once these are navigated, you are forced to take a meandering path to the fuse box, as the basement houses the relics of all the previous tenants (and perhaps the dismembered corpses of the tenants themselves…)
The landlord was once the proprietor of an ice-cream parlor. Quaint tables and chairs litter the basement, as does the occasional “DELICIOUS ICE CREAM” sign. Oh sweet lord, there is nothing more evil than that (unless there was a clown eating the “DELICIOUS ICE CREAM”). Eeeehhhh…
You actually have to climb over some of this stuff to get to the fuse box. The rocking chair was fun the first time. Nearly fell head-first onto the concrete floor (I thought it was a regular chair). Just the kind of misstep that a deranged-killer-lurking-in-the-shadows waits for.
A lot of the clutter is soft. Oh, stepping on the squishy old couch when you’re expecting something firm is bad enough - then you imagine the dead hooker in it’s hide-a-bed cavity…
Once you finally get to the fuse box, a whole new world of terror awaits. Spiders. Lots of them. Spiders eating other spiders. On the fuses. Dangling above the box. Sneaking up behind you… joing forces to weave a giant, super-strong web… the millions of them slowly wrapping you in a sticky death shroud.
All of this was bad enough when the two of us were there - but I had to abandon my honey to the evil below in order to see if they lights came on. Hence the “scream like a girl if you need me.”
We both made it out alive… but will we next time?