Stride
Well-known member
Childhood Reality
The basement door looks at me with morose, unopened.
Fluorescent light flickers off the knob,
Dancing with a solemn expression my face alludes.
The stairs gradually disappear as I make my way to the door,
Euphoria spreading like a wave in the metronomic silence.
The third to last step of stairway finds my footing,
As my ears find the subtle click of the basement lock.
I take a step back,
The door knob turns.
Like a cheesy horror film,
The door creaks with a deafening presence;
The door now slightly ajar.
With little hesitation,
I make my way back at the top of the stair,
Keeping my eyes fixated on the door in fear.
Decades of minutes seems to pass
As my eyes stay tuned to the door;
Fear and curiosity soon to be the brevity
Of this childhood dream.
The door remains in stasis until
I lean to the right side of the stair,
To glimpse the darkness inside the basement.
A growl emerges from its depths,
Forcing me back to attention.
An enormous, black nose extends itself
From the darkness.
Fanged teeth drip acid onto the platform.
The door creaks wider,
A full and dark head forcing itself upon the light.
Its eyes are spinning,
Jutting madly as it slowly produces
Its torso for the light to breath upon.
A red syrup matted itself into its mane,
Falling like rain to the wood beneath it.
My eyes widen,
A pool of acerbic fear
Pumping through my heart.
My knees were first to tremble
As a paw of the black figure
Lands on the bottom step of the stairway.
It’s wild eyes found my gaze;
Settling upon them with inflated pupils.
Red veins pulse like lightning
In the white murk of its outer eye.
Its weight shifts to move its left paw to the next step.
The wood beneath the stair crumbling under
Its immense weight.
As it reaches the next step,
A chunk of stair hit the basement door
As it moved its left paw off of the bottom step.
Its teeth bore upon me;
They seem to exit the top of its nose,
And curve down into the bottom of its jaw.
Its pace hastens,
Never standing upright on the stair.
Its belly glides along the tips of the steps,
As more chunks of it tore away beneath the claws of the beast.
As it reaches the middle of the stair
It begins to twitch wildly,
Emitting a muffled cry in its ferocious spasm.
Saliva and blood splatter across the wall.
Its teeth bore farther into its jaw,
Tearing away chunks of flesh and bone.
Its eyes never left mine.
Its intent was clear.
The spasms continue but it keeps climbing.
Its head jerks back and forth,
Up and down, but we never lose connection.
It seems entire steps were being tossed back to the basement door
As its enormous paws reaches the top of the stair.
My bare feet warmed to the blood and spit
That sprays over them.
I am shaken into reality.
My brother stands over me in a haze,
His fear paints his face like a sunset.
Sweat stains my eyes,
My breath is heavy.
My brother told he was awoken
By a violent shaking of the bunk beds we share.
I can barely hear him,
The growl of the beast lingering in my ears.
Its wild eyes collapses the darkness of our bedroom
As I sat in silence, staring up at the bed above me.
It began to rain.
Crimson streams form over my cheeks;
A pool forming in my wide, scared, and open mouth.
The insane wolf appeared from the fiber of the top bunk bed,
And its teeth met my outstretched arms.
The basement door looks at me with morose, unopened.
Fluorescent light flickers off the knob,
Dancing with a solemn expression my face alludes.
The stairs gradually disappear as I make my way to the door,
Euphoria spreading like a wave in the metronomic silence.
The third to last step of stairway finds my footing,
As my ears find the subtle click of the basement lock.
I take a step back,
The door knob turns.
Like a cheesy horror film,
The door creaks with a deafening presence;
The door now slightly ajar.
With little hesitation,
I make my way back at the top of the stair,
Keeping my eyes fixated on the door in fear.
Decades of minutes seems to pass
As my eyes stay tuned to the door;
Fear and curiosity soon to be the brevity
Of this childhood dream.
The door remains in stasis until
I lean to the right side of the stair,
To glimpse the darkness inside the basement.
A growl emerges from its depths,
Forcing me back to attention.
An enormous, black nose extends itself
From the darkness.
Fanged teeth drip acid onto the platform.
The door creaks wider,
A full and dark head forcing itself upon the light.
Its eyes are spinning,
Jutting madly as it slowly produces
Its torso for the light to breath upon.
A red syrup matted itself into its mane,
Falling like rain to the wood beneath it.
My eyes widen,
A pool of acerbic fear
Pumping through my heart.
My knees were first to tremble
As a paw of the black figure
Lands on the bottom step of the stairway.
It’s wild eyes found my gaze;
Settling upon them with inflated pupils.
Red veins pulse like lightning
In the white murk of its outer eye.
Its weight shifts to move its left paw to the next step.
The wood beneath the stair crumbling under
Its immense weight.
As it reaches the next step,
A chunk of stair hit the basement door
As it moved its left paw off of the bottom step.
Its teeth bore upon me;
They seem to exit the top of its nose,
And curve down into the bottom of its jaw.
Its pace hastens,
Never standing upright on the stair.
Its belly glides along the tips of the steps,
As more chunks of it tore away beneath the claws of the beast.
As it reaches the middle of the stair
It begins to twitch wildly,
Emitting a muffled cry in its ferocious spasm.
Saliva and blood splatter across the wall.
Its teeth bore farther into its jaw,
Tearing away chunks of flesh and bone.
Its eyes never left mine.
Its intent was clear.
The spasms continue but it keeps climbing.
Its head jerks back and forth,
Up and down, but we never lose connection.
It seems entire steps were being tossed back to the basement door
As its enormous paws reaches the top of the stair.
My bare feet warmed to the blood and spit
That sprays over them.
I am shaken into reality.
My brother stands over me in a haze,
His fear paints his face like a sunset.
Sweat stains my eyes,
My breath is heavy.
My brother told he was awoken
By a violent shaking of the bunk beds we share.
I can barely hear him,
The growl of the beast lingering in my ears.
Its wild eyes collapses the darkness of our bedroom
As I sat in silence, staring up at the bed above me.
It began to rain.
Crimson streams form over my cheeks;
A pool forming in my wide, scared, and open mouth.
The insane wolf appeared from the fiber of the top bunk bed,
And its teeth met my outstretched arms.
