The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Descent
by Ela Lourenco

It all started the first time my sister locked me in the basement. I was only five and terrified of the darkness and shadows. I remember snuggling up in a dusty corner, rocking myself in consolation, eyes glued shut as though to will my fear away. She left me there for hours the first time and I knew better than to tell my mother.

I don’t remember when I first noticed the small trap door, but the hope I felt that this was surely a way out into the world is etched in my mind as though it were yesterday. I pulled it open with my little hands and climbed down the ladder, hoping to find a way out of the house. The further I got down the wider the tunnel got, until I reached a platform where a myriad of ladders zigged and zagged in all different directions. I tried one, then another, yet they all seemed to go further into the bowels of the Earth.

Oddly unafraid, I continued my descent. It seemed less dark and warmer the further I went, and this spurred me on. At last, I arrived at the bottom. A beautiful lady with flowing black hair smiled at me in welcome and bade me to follow her. She led me into a chamber of dark red lights, creatures I had never seen before bustling around.

“I have been waiting for you daughter of Lilith,” the lady said softly, “there is much I must teach you.”

I took her hand and followed where she led. I was no longer afraid…

Fiction © Copyright Ela Lourenco
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Ela Lourenco:

Dragon Born: Book Three
Awakening

The Royal tournament, the Karnac, is fully underway. But there is deception and betrayal at every turn. Unseen dark forces are at play, both within the school grounds and out with. Even the Gods are unable to help when a new threat looms over them all.The very existence of Azmantium depends on Lara fully becoming the Child of Fire and casting aside the Shadows lurking in every corner of her beloved planet.Can she overcome the challenges that await? Will the Shadows cover the world in darkness? Only Lara and her friends can change the fate of Azmantium.

Available on Amazon!