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“No, no. You need a buddy for this. I’m not letting you go alone.”
“Why? You don’t want me to get eaten alive by the water heater?”
“I’ve got a feeling.”
“You’ve got so many of those.”
“And they’re right! Need I bring up the diary?”
“Okay, so what are your ‘feelings’ telling you about the basement?”
“Whatever’s down there isn’t something you want to face alone.”
Outside, thunder cracks to punctuate my sentence. Joseph jumps in his chair a bit. “Let’s get this over with,” he grunts.
Eventually, I do find my camping flashlight, which gives us enough light to at least see a couple of feet in front of us.
“Good on you for packing this. It was so dark I started to forget I had hands.”
Joseph heaves open the basement door with a mighty creak. He aims the flashlight down the rickety flight of stairs. A blast of cold air hits our faces. I gulp.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark,” Joseph says as another flash of lightning lights up the room briefly.
“Let’s just say I have a healthy respect for what I can’t see. Also, if you’re so brave, why don’t you go first?”
Joseph shakes his head vigorously. “Ladies first.”
“Oh, you utter gentleman. It’s fine. You go, I insist.”
I shove Joseph forward, and he yelps but regains composure as he gropes around for the narrow iron railing.
“One foot in front of the other,” I prompt.
“Jesus,” Joseph mumbles as he takes the first step.
The trek down to the basement is painfully slow. Every muscle in my legs and feet is engaged as I use my toes to parse out the next step on the rickety, narrow staircase while I cling to the railing for dear life. The flashlight isn’t helping. I hold my breath as we make our way down, comforting myself by thinking that the feeling of cobwebs brushing against my forehead means that the spiders who built them have been dead for a long time.
I yelp when something brushes my hand, hoping it’s not a rat, but then I realize it’s Joseph.
“The radiator should be in the back here,” he grumbles. We’ve finally reached the bottom of the stairs. The basement floor is made of dirt. It feels silty and cool against my shoes, like the basement in my dad’s house when I was a kid. But the darkness is closing in around us, inky and thick. I remind myself to breathe. It’s freezing down here. My breath comes out in a puff.
Joseph makes the mistake of shining the flashlight on the ground for a moment. We’re standing on thick, dark burgundy stains that coat the floor like a Rorschach test.
“What the fuck?!” I exclaim.
“A pipe leaked. The pipes in this place are terrible. The contractors are checking them out next week,” Joseph reassures me.
He cups my elbow with his hand, and I allow myself to be comforted by him.
“Grab the flashlight. I can’t hold it and mess with the breaker at the same time.”
He hands the flashlight to me. I grip the cold metal while he studies the hulking breaker. The door opens with a creak, and something thumps behind us. I jump.
“Relax. It’s just the furnace,” Joseph reassures me. I steady my breathing and aim the beam near the box.
“Get in closer,” Joseph instructs. I step forward. Our shoulders touch, and I feel sparks from somewhere other than the ancient breaker. The air feels heavier down here, like a reverse altitude sickness. It feels like we’re somewhere deep beneath the earth, somewhere we’re not supposed to be.
Joseph flips the breaker and waits. Light floods the room, and it’s only then I realize how close we are. The tips of our noses are almost touching. I can feel his cool breath wafting across my upper lip and see the stray hairs beneath his sculpted eyebrows.
