By Greta Vagedes
“Hey Josie, can you help me clean off this picture?” My dad asked, offering me a Clorox wipe. We had just moved into a large house off the coast of Mississippi because we needed more room for our growing family. Dad said the house was over 100 years old. It was certainly what you would call a “fixer-upper”. Our whole family had split up to tackle the many problems this old house had hidden for years. My mom kept saying “we were lucky to be able to afford a house like this” and “It’s a wonder no one was living in it!” but considering we were 20 miles from the nearest civilization and the house was practically falling apart, I couldn’t disagree with her more. Every room was full of cobwebs and dust, not to mention the rotting floors and walls!
Anyways, I accepted the Clorox wipe and went to help my dad. The picture he was attempting to clean was covered in thick layers of dust. In fact, it was so dirty I couldn’t tell what it was. I reached forward to try and wipe a bit of dust away but the nail holding it up was so rusty and old that it gave away.
“Watch out Josie!” my dad exclaimed as the picture fell to the ground. I jumped back as it shattered into a million pieces. I can’t quite explain the feeling it gave me. It was almost as if the shattered photo had released some sort of evil into the old house. It gave me chills. I suddenly heard my dad gasp. I looked up to see he was staring at a kind of open cabinet in the wall with interest.
“What’s that?” I asked, wondering why he was so excited about the simple cabinet.
“It’s a dumbwaiter!” He marveled.
“A dumbwhat?”
“A dumbwaiter! It’s what people use to transport stuff from one floor to another. Nowadays most of them are mechanical, but not this one! It’s an old fashion pulley!” My dad said. He was really excited about this old dumbwaiter and I couldn’t see why.
“It’s just a tiny elevator that you have to control manually. Why are you freaking out about it? And where does it lead anyway?” I asked.
“I have no idea, but it’s super cool!” My dad said, still excited. I rolled my eyes and went to examine the dumbwaiter closer.
“Are you guys ok? I heard something shatter!” My mom had come to the door and she was examining us closely.
“Yeah. A picture we were cleaning fell off the wall and behind it there is some sort of dumb-thingy” I said as I gently pushed the dumbwaiter up and down.
“Dumbwaiter.” my dad corrected me, “And it’s super cool! We can transport stuff from here to the upstairs!”
“And the downstairs” I commented.
“There is no downstairs.” said my dad curiously.
“Well then why does the dumbwaiter go down?” I inquired, pushing the dumbwaiter down a few inches.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mess with it right now. I think it’s time for a lunch break.” My dad said cheerfully. He and my mom marched out of the room and went to find everyone else.
“I’ll head to the kitchen,” I yelled after them but I didn’t move from my spot. I wanted to know where the dumbwaiter led if there was no downstairs to this old house. Slowly, I took the rope controlling the pulley and lowered it down. The dumbwaiter must have been built slightly too big because it rubbed against the walls, causing a loud creaking, almost like nails on a chalkboard. Finally, when I was fed up with the ear-piercing noise, I gave up and looked down the seemingly endless hole. I couldn’t see anything. I then started pulling the dumbwaiter back up. After what seemed like hours of the terrible noise, the dumbwaiter was finally back. My arms were tired and I wanted to take the break my dad had promised but something in the dumbwaiter stopped me. There was a hand, a skeleton hand, in the dumbwaiter! I wanted to scream but I didn’t. I got closer to the hand and saw that there were still pieces of rotten skin clinging to it. Even worse, there was a note in the palm of the skeletal hand. I reached for it. The words, “Get Out” were written in what looked horribly like blood.
***
“Ok back to work everyone.” my dad said standing up. It was a new day and I had almost forgotten about the bloody note. Almost. There were 11 of us in our family, including mom and dad. That meant that everyone was paired with a partner and given a room to clean, except my older brother, Charlie. My mom went around giving everyone a partner and a room. I was paired with Ginny, who is only a year younger than me, which was fine. Then mom got to Charlie.
“Um… You can go to the old kitchen, the one with the dumbwaiter.” Mom decided. I debated telling her about the note but I chose not to. It was probably not real anyways. Right? Ginny and I were sent to the old living room. I began by standing on a stool to clean cobwebs on the corners of the room. Ginny was dusting off the fireplace. We were peacefully cleaning when all of a sudden we heard a scream.
“Charlie!” I thought in alarm. Before Ginny could even say a word I was dashing down the hallway. I took a sharp left at the old kitchen and almost ran into the closed door. Pushing it open I found the room empty. I cautiously ran up to the dumbwaiter, scared of what I would find. There, lying right in the middle of it was an envelope that seemed to be made of leather. I carefully opened the envelope and inside I found another note. I shakily read the blood-red words. The note said, “You’ll be next”. As soon as I read it I dropped the letter and backed away. I now realized that the envelope was not leather, it was human skin, and I had no doubt about the blood on the note. A few moments after, my whole family filed into the room.
“What’s going on?” My dad stammered. I didn’t want my family to freak out. I couldn’t tell them the truth.
“Um.. Charlie saw a spider and that’s why he screamed. He went to the store to get more bug repellent.” I knew I sounded stupid. Charlie, big, strong, and not afraid of anything Charlie had screamed because of a spider. Then he got from the kitchen to his car and started driving away in 2 seconds flat. That definitely sounds valid! No one would believe me. Much to my surprise though, my mom spoke up.
“I’ve been meaning to get some of that stuff. I’m glad he did it but I can’t believe he didn’t say anything about it.” My mom said. I was surprised and I thought someone else would point out how impossible this was but no one did.
***
At least everyone else had some sort of reassurance. I didn’t. I knew that there was something more to this old house than meets the eye. I had no idea what happened to Charlie but I knew it wasn’t good. I knew it was my fault for not telling anyone about the dumbwaiter. Now I was going to suffer the same fate as him. I thought I was never going to fall asleep that night but it turns out that stress is very tiring. I was out cold until I heard a familiar sound. The dumbwaiter was creaking loud as ever. In fact, it was so loud my head felt like it was being torn apart. I didn’t scream though. I barely even moved until I felt a strange sensation, pulling me toward the dumbwaiter. I got up and walked to the old kitchen. The creaking got louder as I approached it.
Finally I made it to the kitchen and pushed open the door. The creaking stopped immediately. The dumbwaiter was out of sight, probably down the never-ending hole below it. I stumbled closer to the dumbwaiter when something caught my eye. I saw the picture, beneath the shattered pane was a painting. It was of a dark silhouette. I could sense the evil in it. I was confused but I didn’t have much time to think because all of a sudden large strong hands grasped my shoulders. Someone pushed me toward the dumbwaiter. I tried to scream but it put a hand over my mouth and then whispered, “Goodbye little girl”.
“What?” I screamed as it withdrew its hand, but it was too late. It pushed me down the dumbwaiter. I screamed as I fell into the infinite hole. I could hear laughing. I realized that the picture I broke must have awakened evil spirits. The dumbwaiter must have been a portal to the spirit realm. I regretted breaking the picture. I regretted not warning my family. But most of all I regretted releasing evil into the world. Everyone would suffer the same fate as me. Run while you can, for when you least expect it, something is watching you, waiting for the right moment to destroy you. One human at a time.