The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Best Not to Know
K.R. Morrison
It all started to go south the moment Lucretia made a misstep and fell through the floor.
Before that, it had been simply your basic paranormal hunt—the same thing we had all been through every week for three years. The viewing audience lapped it up, so we happily kept on going. None of us believed in any of it, but we’d always made a show of fear and apprehension so that we could continue earning the viewing dollar.
This time around, we’d been assigned by our producer to investigate a long-dead cult, and the building that it had housed itself in. No big deal; in fact, some of us had spent time here as youths, swimming in their indoor pool and ignoring the propaganda posted on the bulletin boards that lined the hallways.
None of us knew of the secrets here—until Lucretia fell through the floor. None of us wanted to know of them afterward either.
“Holy…”
We could barely hear her voice, but we could tell that she was awe-struck.
Then—
“Camera!!”
The imperious command reverberated through the hallway above where she’d disappeared, compelling us to move into action.
Dan lowered a camera into the hole. “You okay?” he hollered. “You need us to come down there?”
A pause, and then: “Not yet. I’m going to…”
Lucretia let out a gasp, and then uttered, “What the hell…?”
We heard something like a strong wind reverberating through the place, then a shriek.
It was the silence that followed that caused us all to go into a panic. Lucretia always shrieked—it was the hallmark of our TV show. The silence was what was jarringly different.
Dan hollered into the hole. “Lucretia! Everything okay?”
No answer.
Not a word between us, but it was decided—we were not about to go down there. Lucretia or not, we had families that depended on us. Lucretia was not our favorite flavor anyway, and never had been. Our own skins were far more important.
Dan pulled the camera out of the hole without any effort at all. He raised his eyebrows to us, and we all decided right then and there that we had made the right decision in not following her down there.
The footage we viewed from that camera made us all believers. Some of us quit the show right there and then. What we saw frightened us all beyond telling.
I can tell you this much. The footage revealed a prison, the bars of the cells gaping open. However, I doubt that any prisoners may have escaped, although it is hard to say. So much of what we saw was warped, the bricks curved and wavering beyond any law of physics. The concave areas looked as if something had taken a bite from the very masonry.
This in itself would have been fascinating; however, what we saw above and beyond that was what kept this particular show from ever being seen. In fact, I may be terminated by even letting you see this.
Fact is, that very human maw, which enveloped and swallowed Lucretia whole, was a scene that no one was ever supposed to know about. We saw it happen—if Lucretia had not dropped the camera, it may have followed her into whatever hell she was sucked into.
The building has been torn down now, and the land sits vacant. No one but our camera crew knows about what lies beneath the surface. Plans for erecting new buildings on the site never come to fruition—no one can step foot on the property for long.
Not long ago, our group was approached by someone wanting us to do a follow-up, since the first investigation had never been conclusive. We turned them down.
Funny thing though—no one ever asks about Lucretia. It’s as if she had never existed.
Fiction © Copyright K.R. Morrison
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Author K.R. Morrison:
Be Not Afraid (Pride’s Downfall Vol 1)
Lydia’s faith in God is strong – at least on paper. But what happens when that faith is tested? Turned into a vampire by the worst – Vlad Drakul – she feels that God has abandoned her. But the opposite is true. God rescues her from a fate worse than death, and brings her into the plan He has for global redemption. With the help He sends, she feels like nothing can stop her. But when Vlad torments her again, and then her family, the temptation to run and hide is almost too strong to resist. Her answer to God’s call is the deciding factor in the battle that pits the angelic powers of God against the demonic powers of Hell.
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Loved it.