Ron switches on the flashlight to shine it into the dark, cavernous space of the cellar. He’s convinced he has finally tracked down the elusive source after having searched for it for the past three nights. The intermittent, scraping sound definitely emanates from here.
“Honey?” Sarah calls from the top of the staircase, “please be careful.”
“Shh,” Ron hushes her.
The cellar is crypt-silent, tomb still. The beam of the flashlight washes over the slightly moldy walls, tracks slowly across the cement floor. It comes to rest upon a tall wardrobe standing abandoned in the furthest corner against the very back of the room.
“Sarah, did we store this wardrobe here?” Ron asks his wife in a hoarse whisper. He already knows the answer.
“Wardrobe? What’re you talking about?”
“Never mind,” Ron says brusquely, cautiously approaching the piece of furniture. It looks ancient, as if it belonged in some long-forgotten, bygone Age. Ron reaches out to open one of the doors.
Before he can, it swings open in slow motion, the distinctive screeching accompanying it.
Ron steps back in shock. Two glowing orbs stare at him from the gloomy interior of the wardrobe.
“Sarah, honey? Um, can you come down here, please?”
Ron is rooted like an anchor; he can barely utter the words to call Sarah. Then the thing inside the wardrobe grabs him, yanks him violently into the dresser.
The door swings shut silently. No scraping or screeching sound escapes.
When Sarah reaches the bottom of the cellar, it’s empty.
“Ron?” she calls out in alarm, shining her flashlight all around the space.
In the corner, the wardrobe stands silent sentinel.
“Ronald?” she calls, now absolutely terrified, as she faces the dark wardrobe.
With the sound of wood scraping against wood, one of the doors slowly swings open.
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A Snare of Wood
by Hidayat Adams
Hidayat Adams hails from Cape Town, South Africa. He’s an English teacher who has taught for more than 25 years. Hidayat serves as an English Academic Support Lecturer at the College of Cape Town, assisting students and lecturers with support material. He’s the self-published author of four short stories anthologies and a fantasy novel, “The Legend of the Hunter”. He is working on Part Two, “Belac and the Staff of Power”, and a thriller, “Goodwill”. He also writes poetry on a variety of themes. He’s an “indoor plant” who prefers to live on his own.
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