The Boy I Found in my Basement

Chapter 1

I watched numbly from the kitchen barstools as my father carried my dead older brother Christopher's belongings into our dusty basement.

Ever since my brother had died from sudden cardiac arrest two months ago, my father had been acting even more strange than normal.

My life had been adjusted to his crazy on the dot schedule, where not a minute was wasted. Father now treated me like a second wife and a servant, which was quite a difficult role since he wasn't a very easy person to please.

I rarely have been able to please him, and when I didn't it wasn't pretty for me. Maybe I was the reason he had started wearing a belt again.

"Good morning, Angelina. What's for breakfast today?" He smiled at me politely as he sat down at the mahogany table, seeming more stable than usual.

"Morning, Father. Today I have made scrambled eggs and toast with orange marmalade." I answered with a plastic joy in my voice, my fake chipperness grinding my eardrums as I plastered on a disgustingly joyous smile. He couldn't know how much I detested him.

"Lovely, thank you dear." He pecked my cheek with his cold lips, sending shivers down my spine.

I worked around the kitchen to try to keep myself busy. I made him coffee, did the dishes, and made sure he wouldn't be a minute late to his job as a teacher of all things. For someone who wanted total control at all times it was really strange that he chose to work as high school English teacher.

"Angelina, I have quite the surprise for you when I get home. Don't be out of the house at 9:03." With no further explanation, he left. Leaving me to ponder what on earth he wanted.

As I made sure the entire house (excluding the forbidden basement) was spotless his ominous words rang in my ears. "I have quite the surprise for you." The only person who could keep my anxiety at bay was Christopher, but he was gone now.

Christopher's passing broke my father; it put his weirdness to a whole new level. Before he died, my father was odd but never as neurotic and meticulous as he became.

One minute he was happy go lucky, spinning around the kitchen while blasting sixties songs on the radio. The next he would be screaming at the top of lungs for a minuscule cubic centimeter I had forgotten to dust.

Back when Christopher was still around he would tame our father. He would calm him after his enraged spirals of doom, as my brother called them, and steer him away from his favorite punching bag, me.

For Father it was all about work, making sure I made every single inch of surface sparkle. Even though his wife had left him for an older doctor, his son had died of cardiac arrest, and his daughter wasn't growing into a complacent, submissive young lady like he had always hoped she would become he still had hope for a perfect family.

Frank Luna was a classic example of a man who despised the state of current society and the youngest generation. Young men couldn't keep their manhood inside of their saggy or extremely tight pants. Young ladies refuse to rely on men, instead trying to do everything themselves. Women should be the quiet, serving, trophies and not individuals. Frank Luna had a plan to obtain his perfect family.

When he got home, Frank had a huge grin spread across his face like a child at Disney World. "It must have something to do with the surprise." I assumed to myself, nervously twirling the material of my cobalt blue t-shirt around my finger. "Hello Father. How was work?" I asked politely as I took his jacket and hung it on the iron rack.

"Hello Angelina. It was the usual, but I've missed you dearly," he stroked her thick, sandy blonde ponytail acting creepily affectionate. "How about I show you the surprise now, eh?"

"What is it?" I asked cheekily, I'm not one who is quite good with surprises.

He wagged his finger scoldingly, meaning every second of the cartoon-like motion. "Now Angelina, if I told you now it wouldn't be a surprise now would it? Be a good little girl and be patient darling." Frank guided her towards the forbidden cellar, bursting with glee.

"Yes Father. I'm just so excited!" I try my best to sound just as gleeful as he is as I inch towards the door. I walk behind him slowly until we're both behind the door.

Then he locked it.