The Boy In The Basement

 It had been 5 days since the boy's parents threw him into the basement as a punishment for disrespecting his elders and locked the metal hatch. It had been 4 days since a large fire blazed through the house, if it weren't for the stone and metal structure of the basement, the boy would have perished by now, and looking at how nobody noticed the hatch under all the rubble, he wished he had.

The boy sat in the cold, dark corner, looking back at his past mistakes. He couldn't help but wonder if he could have prevented this by not shouting back when Great Grandpa Theodore kicked his makeshift sword down the creek, or if he could have stopped it by apologizing when his parents gave him the chance. Perhaps he could have saved his parents if he had just yelled louder as he noticed the red glow from the basement window that night. A million thoughts raced through his head as he sat and wept.

He glanced down as his thin, pale arms trembled. He felt as if his body was about to collapse any moment now, despite already sitting down. He brushed his weak, boney hand against his eyes as he felt himself drifting into sleep. He laid against a hard, wooden crate as he drifted off.

He dreamed of fond memories from his childhood, he was at his birthday party 3 months ago. He sat excitedly in the chair as his school friends surrounded him, His mother's long, silky black hair flew into his face as she put 9 candles into the homemade chocolate cake. She smiled warmly as he pushed her hair out of his face, "Happy birthday, sweetheart!" She exclaimed as she set herself aside.

The boy gasped at the cake, it looked sloppy and the dark brown frosting was uneven but it was still a cake made with the love of his dear mother. He felt the love of his friends and family warm his tiny body as he blew out each of the candles. He pushed his torso above the large, birch table as he reached for the final candle.

Unlike the other 8 white candles, this 9th one was bright red. The boy heard a chuckle and turned to see Great Grandpa Theodore as he laughed, "It's as red as the poor boy's hair!"

The boy's face flashed red before his mother stood to speak, "Don't make fun of him! You say quite a lot for a man who should be at the undertaker's by now!"

His father began yelling at his mother for speaking to Great Grandpa Theodore like that but as he blew out the 9th candle, all the lanterns went out and everything turned dark. The boy looked up to see everyone's skin begin slowly melting off of their faces. He watched as the thin layers of skin slowly drooped onto the table like goo, leaving only the muscle, fat, and blood remaining. Everyone turned to stare at him with their cold, lifeless eyes as the once warm and loving room burst ablaze. They all began screaming for him to save them as their degloved faces poured dark, thick blood all over the burning house. He could do nothing but stare at their bloody, exposed faces as the fire swallowed them alive.

The boy screamed as he jolted awake. His throat felt extremely dry as he stared at the bright sunlight from the small basement window. He would do anything to reach the window and crawl out of it, even if he couldn't fit he would still be able to open it and call for help. He forced his weak body up as he limped toward the small jar of water he had collected from the sewer pipe, he quickly drank a small sip before setting it back underneath the leaky pipe.

He sighed to himself, "At least I won't die of thirst." He set his body down on the cool floor as he felt his legs giving up, He needed to get out and get some food. How long can an underweight human child last without food? It's been 6 days since he last ate. He began to panic as he realized this basement is likely to be the place he spends his final days.

He could feel his heart rapidly beating as his shallow breaths transformed into rapid, panicked breaths. He held his boney hands to his thin, bright red hair as he cried. He wasn't ready to die, he had barely just begun living and it was already about to end.