Underground Prison

Sienna is awoken in the middle of the night..........

 I was alone. A whole month of my parents being away, the huge quiet house to spend with myself. Being two stories, I hardly ever used the bottom floor, neither did my parents for that matter. All that was downstairs was the laundry, the other lounge room and another bathroom, and a guest room.

I know what you’re thinking, this next month is my ticket to parties galore, but no. Parties were not my thing, my first and last party was in a place called Flormill on the other side of town and the only exciting thing about it was that I got my heart broken from the boy whom I had thought I loved, Ashton Sampton. I had gotten incredibly drunk and tried to kiss him, stupid seeing as I’d never kissed anyone before. Actually, that night didn't change that fact either. He had pushed me away before my lips touched his, thank god. Now looking back, if I had kissed him…burgh. I didn't like him that way anymore, I didn't like him in any way. Hate was a better word for our mutual feelings. He had strung me along for years, and with my finally give in to his seducing ways, he rejected me.

But I had moved on, believe it or not. My feelings had been pushed toward Jason Dolton, who had no idea that I loved him. No wonder, I hadn't even spoken to him. Well, I had talked to him, he just never replied. Odd, isn't it? The way almost anything guys talk about is girls, yet when you're a girl and you talk to them, they refuse to acknowledge your existence. That didn't change my feelings, though. It was love, it just had to be. Right?

Well, the holidays were going to be totally boy-free and fun, even if it didn't involve going to parties. My friends, Rachel Ahtnamas and Tilly McSquire were going to be spending a week or two here, and after that I had planned to stay with them, depending if my house was trashed or not by then. Knowing my two friends, the place would be a wreck and it would take the rest of the holidays to clean it up.

But, for the time being, the house was mine. No-one was coming over until tomorrow night, meaning I had to spend the night alone in the huge house. That creeped me out, I swear I always heard creaking noises in my room whenever I'm alone, so I decided to sleep in the guest room downstairs. Just for the night alone. When Rach and Tilly got here, we would be right to go upstairs, we would be making too much noise to hear the creaking anyway.

I had this funny feeling the top floor was going to collapse. The house was about a hundred years old, and we had only been here for a little over two years, but it was previously owned by an elder man who used to work for the government. He died, in my ensuite. My parents had assured me every trace of his decaying body rotting in there was gone, I was never truly convinced. I made them clean it out twenty times before I used it. But something strange had happened to the old man, Mr. Genève Foster, who worked for the FBI, or CIA, I couldn't quite remember, had somehow been forgotten by his work. It was like he was undercover, and never emerged from the cover. When the government finally went looking for him they found him dead of a heart attack in my bathtub. I had never used it, the shower was definitely more pleasant, no matter how clean the bath was now.

The phone ringing next to my couch made me jump in fright, that's what I get for watching too many scary movies I suppose. I answered it, hands shaking 'Hello?'

'Hey, sweetie. Just calling to check on you.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Mum, it's the first night you've been gone. I'm fine.'

'Well, we haven't arrived at the inlet yet so I was ringing before we get out of range.'

I wished she would hurry up and get out of range. 'Okay, mum, well I'm fine.'

'Are you alone?'

'Yes, mum.'

'And you're going to be alone the whole month?'

'Yes, mum I've told you. Unless the house starts haunting me I'll be alone the whole time.' I hated lying to her, but hey, it’s not like she'd ever find out.

'Okay, honey, I'll leave you to your scary movie, then.'

'How did you…' I started, but she cut me off.

'Sienna, whenever you've been watching a scary movie your voice goes slightly high-pitched. I know these things, you know.'

I stifled back a laugh. She knew nothing. 'Okay, mum well I'll see you when you get back, then.'

'Bloody right you will.' She replied. 'I love you, Sienna, have fun.'

'Love you too, mum. See-ya.' I said as I clicked the phone off and shoved it under the nearest pillow. I turned back to the TV, just to see my movie's credits pop up on the screen. 'Damn it,' I whispered under my breath as I jumped off the couch to check the kitchen clock. It read 10:15pm. I sighed theatrically and decided maybe I should get some sleep, knowing I wouldn't get any tomorrow.

My bedroom was just down the hallway from the lounge room, so I quickly grabbed my pillow, my blanket and a torch and made my way down the stairs to the dark first floor. I shoved everything into one hand, and with the free one groped around the wall for the light switch. I decided it was a hopeless cause after about a minute of wading through darkness, so I flicked on my flashlight which told me I was in the small hallway.

I quickly made my way to the guest room and locked the door behind me. The guest room was not very big, but not exactly small either. It was just average bedroom sized. It had all the necessities, doubled water bed, built-in closet that had never been used as far as I knew, bedside table and our old computer on a rusty old desk. I flicked on the dusty lamp on the bedside table and threw the handful of things I had taken from my room on the bed. I glanced around the room, everything seemed to be in order, so I made my bed and crawled in.

My hair pushed into the back of my head as I lay back on the pillow, so I reached behind and pulled out the bun I had used to tie up my hair, and let it flow freely. I turned to face the wall and closed my eyes…

Two hours had passed, I just couldn’t sleep. I had the sense I was not alone, but the thing was, whenever I was home alone I felt that presence too. I sat up furiously and slumped against the wall. The bed was freezing, too, and my little pyjama nightdress didn't help too much. My eyes closed again as I listened into the silence…when I realised it wasn't silent at all.

I could hear something coming from underneath me…it was kind of like a weak yelling, and a clanging sound. 'What the hell?' I said fearfully as I jumped out bed and crawled to the floor, placing my ear on the carpet. Yes, it was definitely coming from under the floor. But what on Earth was it?

Fear raced through me, and I had the urge to scream and run to Rachel's house, but I knew that was stupid. It was probably nothing, just the irrigation system playing up again. But the noise sounded like it was deeper into the ground than the pipes.

But it had to be the pipes, right? I mean, we didn't even get them fixed last time. We just ignored it, and forgot about it. Being down here, though, was making the noise seem louder. I told myself I had nothing to worry about. But, still I was curious, as a normal teenager would be. We didn't have a basement or any kind of underground room, but the noise sounded deep, like there was a room. It was crazy, but I had to check.

I jumped up and opened the cupboard door, groping around the floor for some kind of handle. Nothing. So I moved back to the bed and ran my hand along the carpet on the floor, feeling for something…anything… abnormal, such as a lump or crack in the carpet. I had run my hands over this carpet for ten minutes and nothing seemed strange, even under the bed and desks.

'This is a hopeless cause,' I muttered to myself, before remembering Rachel's words from year nine "Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness". I slammed my fist against the wall as hard as I could and a hard pain shot up my arm. 'OUCH!' I yelled and looked at the wall I had punched, my whole fist was inside it. 'That's not possible…' I whispered as I stared at the hole in the wall, my arm was poking through. 'Our walls aren't this thin…' I didn't care how crazy I sounded…I must have been dreaming, anyway. Our house was made out of the strongest wood and metal combination, and the dust I was breathing in now indicated the wall hadn't been touched in a while. That was impossible, considering our walls were re-plastered and a new layer put on them while the old agent lived here, just before he died.

The shock was passing over me in waves, and when it calmed down just a bit, I found the courage to pull my arm back out of the wall, and replace it with my face, squinting into the darkness. But I could see nothing.

I backed away from the wall, a million thoughts spinning through my mind. Should I run off to Rachel's house? Should I call mum before she goes out of range, if she isn't already? Should I break down the rest of the wall and investigate?

My mind spun until I was dizzy and had to steady myself against the weak wall, I almost couldn't register when it collapsed and I fell head-first down a long, dark, metal staircase. I screamed as I tumbled down, every muscle in my body aching as I crashed into the metal. My eyes were snapped shut and I clasped my arms to my chest, and just as I thought the staircase was never-ending and I was about to face death, I crashed into a wall, halting the staircase fall. A loud cry escaped my bleeding lips, I felt blood everywhere and I could taste the saltiness in my mouth.

I tried to sit up, but my whole body felt like one big bruise, and I just ended up crying out again. 'Help!' I screamed in agony, it hurt to move.

'Who's there?' I stopped crying immediately and froze. A young British males voice had come from what seemed to be next to me. I couldn’t move, I was a giant iceblock. I wasn't alone. I didn't know what to do…I tried to scream out again, but my throat was blocked. I tried squinting into the darkness, but I couldn't see anything beyond the darkness.

My throat crackled as I swallowed deeply and said softly, nerves stabbing at every muscle my body controlled. 'Hello? S…someone there?'

'Yes, who are you? Are you an officer?'

Huh? I swallowed hard and fought back tears. I had never felt fright like this before. 'No? W…why? I live in the house…who are you? W…why are you under m…my house?' I stammered. I was trying to sound brave, I think it just reflected how scared I actually was.

'You're house?' The British man replied. I could feel his presence in the room right next to me, and shivers spiralled down my spine. But the man didn't sound too old, or scary for that fact. He actually sounded quite young, around my age, and helpless but confident. 'This is an underground prison, miss. There is an old man who lives up there to protect the house.'

'N…no. The old man died a while ago,' I replied, I was overly confused. My head felt like it was about to burst.

'He's dead?' The intruders voice suddenly sounded exited. 'So, you don’t work for him? Or the government?'

'No!' I was appalled he would even suggest that. What did he think I was, some young CIA-in-training? 'And what did you mean, its an underground prison?! This is my house!'

'Oh, god.' The guy sounded suddenly sick. 'They've forgotten about us.'

I gathered up my fear into one small section of my brain, gripped the wall and hauled myself up. It took every ounce of my strength and confidence, but soon I was standing, wobbling and completely unsteady, but standing. I groped around the wall I had smashed into, when I noticed it wasn't a wall, it was a door. My hand gripped the doorhandle as I tried to figure out what I would do.

'Are…are you unarmed?' I asked through the door, fear trying to fight its way to take control over my body once again, but I fought it and gently opened the door, revealing a small dimly lit room.

'I'm a prisoner,' He sounded like he was sneering, but as the door opened to reveal the room, he was anything but. The room was a small cramped concrete rooms, with two barred cells one each side. As soon as my face was in the room, an awful smell hit me and I keeled over, gripping the wall for support. It smelt of something gross and decaying, mixed with the stench urine and faeces. 'He's been dead for nearly four days now.'

I looked up, tears clouding my eyes, but I wiped away and tried to not breathe in the awful stench of the rotting corpse I spotted laying in the middle of the floor, right between the cells. The body was of a soldier, his uniform still neatly on and his army hat sitting inches away from his head.

I glanced the cell closest to me, it had a bed, a small pan and a pile of human decaying remains. My knees tried to collapse under my weight but it was lucky I was leaning against the wall.

'Horrible, isn't it?' I looked up at the direction of the British accent, he was sitting in the other cell where I hadn't yet looked. A young male, looking around 18 or 19 sat on the bed, casually leaning against the wall with his legs crossed and arms resting behind his head. He had long, blonde ruffled hair sticking in all directions, and he wore a black singlet and baggy jeans. He had quite long blonde stubble on his chiselled jaw.

'You're a prisoner?!' I blurted unthinkingly.

'Have been for seven years.' He nodded, while looking at me curiously. He had deep blue eyes and small blue marks under them.

'You don't sleep?' I said without thinking.

One eyebrow shot up as he answered 'Would you be able to?'.

'I guess not,' I stared down at the floor, before glancing back up at the prisoner. He had small muscles on his arms and chest where a small amount of light hair had grown.

'I'm Alex.' He jumped off the bed and casually strode up to the bars concealing him, as close to me as the cell would allow him. I wasn't going to go anywhere near him.

'I'm Sienna,' I replied. Somehow all the fear I had felt at the thought of someone living under my house had disappeared when I saw how helpless this Alex boy was. 'Why are you down here?'

'If you help me out, I'll tell you,' He grinned. His teeth were perfectly straight but slightly coloured yellow. Nothing a good brush with Colgate Whitenener couldn't fix.

'I…how can I trust you won't kill me? I'd be an accessory to your escape!' I complained. I was not going to help this prisoner out if it meant I’d be chucked into a place like this.

'They've obviously forgotten about me down here. It was an off-the-books thing anyway. I'm not even meant to be here. The man who lived above in the house was the protector of this prison, only he and this guard knew we were down here,' Alex explained, staring at the ground. 'The guard died a few days ago of a heart attack, I'm guessing, and the other prisoner died about six years ago. I don't know when the old man died, but now that all them are dead, it seems me and you are the only ones who know about this place.'

'Oh, god.' I wanted to puke. 'Why? Why was it off the books?'

'Because the crime that man…' he pointed to the decaying corpse in the cell across from his '…committed was so bad they locked him up without even going through the law. They didn't want anyone to know what this man had done.'

'Right,' I nodded. 'So why are you down here, then? Is what you did as bad as what he did?'

He laughed, and the sound make me feel weak. A prisoner laughing…not something I’d like in my memories. 'I just came here to try break him out. They caught me and just threw me in here with him.'

'What!? Why would you try break him out?!' I was shocked. Was this guy absolutely crazy?

'Because…it's a long story. And I'll tell you if you help me out! God, I need a shower and fresh clothes.'

I squinted at him, now I looked closely he was filthy. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Alex.

'How?' I asked, looking around the room for a set of keys hanging somewhere. But there was none,. There was a desk shoved in one corner of the room with a small laptop and a whole bunch of papers scattered on it. In the other corner was a small one-man lounge and small TV set facing away from the cells. This guard liked to taunt the prisoners.

'Uh…' I looked back at him and his hesitation.

'Uh…? Uh is never good!' I said in disbelief.

'No, its not,' he said, he didn't even try to make me feel a bit better. He just agreed. An honest man. It made me feel a little better, but not knowing what he was going to say dropped my mood right back down. 'The keys…are in the guards back pocket.'

My face dropped, and my body froze. I stared at Alex with my mouth open.

'Sienna? Are you okay?' he pulled his arm out of the cage and tried to reach out to me but I was too far away from him. 'Sienna?'

I closed my eyes tightly and when I opened them, looked down at the corpse on the floor. Flies were buzzing over the body, and I could see small bugs crawl over the white pale skin. I wanted to retch.

'You cannot be serious…' I mumbled.

'I wish I wasn't.'

I groaned loudly before turning to him. 'I'm not doing it! You can't expect me to do that! I'm eighteen years old, and I am not savaging over a dead body for keys to let a prisoner escape!'

'Right…' he slowly slumped back to his bed and  resumed his place leaning against the wall.

'I'm sorry, Alex, but you can't ask me to do things like that…I mean, I don’t even know you! You could be a freaking murderer for all I know!'

'I get it.' He insisted, without even looking at me. 'You may as well call the cops, then. I'll be taken to a proper prison, unless this place really has never been heard of by anyone, they might even let me go free!'

Now he looked at me, a new glint of hope shining brightly in his eyes. 'But…aren't you scared they will send you to prison?!'

'Of course I am, but it looks like I have no choice, doesn't it?'

'I…yeah…I guess. Unless…'

His lips curled into a small smile. 'Unless what?'

'Unless…I get the keys and let you out.' I admitted, my stomach feeling weak as if it were about to explode a whole lot of old food.

'You don't have to…' he stared, but by the desperate look in his piercing blue eyes, I did have to.

I slowly launched myself from the wall and took one shaky step toward the guards body. Dizziness washed over me in waves. Was this really happening? Was I really going to go into a dead persons back pocket to free a young prisoner from an underground prison under my house? It just didn't seem real.

I knelt down beside the body and the smell hit me like a tsunami. 'Argh!' I gagged as I turned away from the rotting body and tried not to puke.

'I'm so sorry, Sienna. I really am…I'm sorry for making you do this…so sorry.' Alex was muttering under his breath while I could feel his eyes burning my back.

'Shut up,' I ordered. 'I can't concentrate with you mumbling.'

'Sorry,' He whispered, but the burning of his eyes never went away. I took a deep breath and turned back to the guard. Lucky for me, he was already on his back. The flies buzzed near my head tauntingly, and the skin and flesh was rotting and turning green.

'Oh, god,' I gagged. 'Which pocket? QUICK!' I screamed at Alex.

'Umm…left!' He replied hurriedly.

I clamped my eyes shut tightly as my hand slipped into the pocket. 'Ew…ew…ew…ew,' I muttered under my breath as I fiddled around in the deep, seemingly never-ending pocket, until my fingers clasped around a small metal key. I wrenched my hand out and raced across the room as far away from the body as the walls would allow.

'Oh, my god…' I mumbled while I slammed my fist into my head, and with the other hand held the key tightly.

'You're looking a bit green,' I heard Alex say mockingly, his voice has a whole new cheeriness to it. I looked up to see him smiling, and happiness was drawn all over his face. It made me happy too, I realised. I really had helped someone.

I grinned. 'Thanks,' I tilted my head, looking at the cell. I'd have to walk past the body to unlock the door. 'Can you catch?'

'Why?'

'I really don't want to go near that thing,' I nodded toward the guard.

'Oh, yeah…well, then I guess we'll find out about my catching skills,' He smiled as he held his hands out through the bars, and I gently tossed the key toward him, and it landed perfectly in his hand.

He gently pushed open the door, and it creaked as he stepped out. He walked up to me and a shiver was sent spiralling down my spine, he could have killed me right then.

He noticed my sudden fear and smiled a warm smile. 'I'm not going to hurt you,' He assured me. 'The way out?' He glanced around the room as if it was the first time he'd ever been here, and like I was the expert.

'Erm, right.' I casually strode toward the door I had come from and pulled it open. The stairway was pitch black and Alex stepped closer, his body lightly touching mine so we wouldn't get separated. The door closed behind us, leaving us in the harsh darkness.

I groped along the wall and took tiny steps until my toe hit something hard. 'Ow, damnit!' I screeched.

'Are you okay?' Alex's voice came through the darkness. He was extremely close to me…a prisoner. I shuddered.

'Yep, I'm fine. Just hit my toe on the step.' I replied, fighting back a scream of pain. I suddenly felt a warm hand close on my shoulder. I froze, and couldn’t move.

'What?'

'A…hand…are you touching my shoulder?' I quickly asked.

The hand instantly fell from my shoulder, and I relaxed. 'Sorry, I just wasn't sure which way you were going.'

'It's…okay. You just startled me.' I admitted as I took a deep breath and stepped onto the first step. I felt Alex step up, too. And we went up another, and another. Until we were about halfway, and a small light illuminated the stairway from just up ahead. I glanced down at the ground, spots of blood trickled from the first step all the way down into the darkness. I touched my forehead as we continued up the stairs, and felt a gooey substance. Blood.

We reached the top step and I heard Alex gasp a little as we stepped out into the guest room. This was the first room he'd seen in seven years, apart from the ghastly prison below.

'Uh…so here we are,' I said as I led him into the hallway outside of the small guest room. He glanced around, his face full of pure admiration and joy.

'The house is beautiful.' He noted.

'Uh…yeah.' What was I to say to him? "Okay, I rescued you, you can leave now." Ha, real charming. The thing was, I didn't really want him to go. He had a certain charm about him, and I knew millions of people would love to stay and chat with a guy with this amazing feel about him. 'Do you know where you're going to go?'

'Yeah, I spent all my days down there deciding what I was going to do when I got out. If I got out. Now that’s all real, thanks to you.' He grinned.

I blushed. 'So, I'm guessing you want to go then?'

'Whats the rush?' Alex laughed. His British accent made him seem so…friendly. I didn't know how I had thought he was evil, when he was in that cell. Now looking at him, he seemed so harmless. His blonde messy hair and long thick stubble on his chin, his crooked nose, every feature about him made him just look so much more innocent. Maybe it was the light, making him seem nicer, whereas down there in that dimly-lit prison made him look a damn sight different. Or maybe it was because he was free, and happy, down there he was thinking he had no chance left. Whatever it was, I was glad he was like this now, I was no longer afraid.

'You mean…you actually want to stay here?' I was shocked. Why would he want to stay in the house that’s held him captive for seven years any longer then he had to?

'Well, I do believe I owe you one story of life, seeing as you saved it.' He grinned sheepishly. I blushed furiously and smiled.

'We can go to the lounge room upstairs?' I felt so weird, inviting a stranger upstairs, especially a stranger I met in these circumstances, but he intrigued me. I just had to know his story, how he got to the place he spent seven years of his teenage life…in prison.

Author's Note

I know I didn't really explain what he ate and everything, but I promise I'll fix it when I've finished the first draft.

Reviews

[Richard]

Apart from a few punctuation and grammar errors, this is an excellent story. There are a couple of oddities, though. For instance, I can't see how people could have survived underground for over two years, which is the period you say the family have lived in the house for. Of course the prisoners won't have come out, but what about the guard who was down there with them? Surely he would have been replaced at least once in that time. Also, you say that this man has been locked up for seven years, and also that he is around 18 or 19 years old. This would have made him about 12 when he was locked up.

I haven't read any of the other parts yet, so it is quite possible that some of these points are dealt with there. I look forward to reading more of it.

[Q'ANIL]

I enjoyed this first chapter...you are a good story teller...i promise to read the other chapters when time permits me too...keep writing...

~CJM