*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter twenty-one: basement of fears

August 23, 2021
Hackett House Basement
Upstate New York, New York

IT WAS ONE-FORTY-FOUR IN THE MORNING. The wooden door behind them creaks loudly as it slams shut on its own. It causes the trio to flinch and turn around to look at the door. Cassidy furrows his brows as he stares at it. That was weird. But considering it was an old door, he supposes it tended to do that.

From above, though neither of the three could hear it, Travis had heard the sound of the door closing, the noise having echoed above and reached upstairs. He leans back in the chair at the dining room table, turning his head to stare at the trapdoor embedded into the floor.

"What was that?" he questions, furrowing his brows.

"Huh?" Constance turns away from the window, staring quizzically at her eldest son.

"What was that?" he repeats, gesturing toward the trapdoor on the floor.

"Oh, it's nothin'. We got- We got guests downstairs," the old woman replies. "We don't want any more blood on our hands."

Cassidy, Ryan, and Laura stay still in the basement upon hearing the muffled voices from above. Neither of the three wanted whoever was up their to know they were down here. They couldn't really hear the voices too well, so Cassidy wasn't able to tell Ryan or Laura which of his family members were upstairs in the dining room.

"Keep it down," Laura whispers to Cassidy and Ryan.

"You keep it down!" Ryan whisper-yells.

"Both of you shut up!" Cassidy snaps back, rolling his eyes.

The three of them stand there for a good few seconds before moving again.

"Come on. We have to go this way," Cassidy instructs, leading them further down the hallway. The room across from the door had an old rum still. As they walked, they passed many shelves full of crates, barrels, and boxes full of different things like tools and even more alcohol.

The shelves were everywhere. Stacked on each shelf were barrels of old, illegal rum, moonshine, and other types of alcohol.

They soon reach the end of the hallway-like area, entering a wider part of the room. Shelves were against all the walls, jugs and bottles of alcohol resting on them. Wooden crates sat toppled over on the ground in one corner. A bit of light was shining down from the ceiling.

From the left, there was a glowing red light illuminating the entire room, leading into the actual part of the basement that Cassidy was never allowed to go into. It always reminded him of a heat lamp, and honestly, that's probably what the purpose of the light was, considering it was dark and cold as fuck down here. The basement wasn't insulated and air flowed into it from above, seeping through cracks in the walls and foundation, bathing the area in near-freezing temperatures.

As Cassidy leads them into the next room, Ryan slips on the mixture of blood and old rum coating the ground. Cassidy puts a hand out to grab onto him to steady him.

"Be careful," Cassidy says quietly, giving him a warm smile. "You okay?"

"Yep," Ryan nods, turning his head to face him, giving him a sheepish look. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he replies, before heading into the room bathed in red lighting.

As they near the room, low, lion-like growling reaches their ears, making them stop in their tracks momentarily to listen. Laura raises her gun, aiming it into the room.

"It's coming from up ahead," she says quietly, looking toward Cassidy to make sure it was safe to enter. He nods to her and Ryan and they start walking.

They're draped in red light immediately, the warmth of the light making them feel better since having fallen in the water not that long ago.

Cassidy's gaze falls on two of the electrified cages. In one of them was Jacob Custos; the boy was still half-naked from earlier, and he was sitting with his back against the concrete wall of the cage, hugging his knees close to his chest as he rocked back in forth, murmuring quietly to himself. In the other was the werewolf they had heard the growling from; the creature was curled up on the floor of the cage it was in, chest rising and falling with every breath it took as it slept, body twitching from uncomfortableness, irritable growls filling the air.

"Jacob!" Ryan exclaims in surprise upon seeing the Custos boy. He hurries over to the cage, crouching down in front of it to get a good look at the boy on the other side.

Jacob looks up at Ryan, fear in his eyes as he turns his head to the right, raising a hand as he points to the werewolf locked up in the cage beside the one he was in.

"Hey!" Ryan calls to him, bringing Jacob's attention back to him. "Hey, it's Ryan! Jesus, what happened to you...?"

Jacob stays silent, not responding to Ryan's question, not even meeting his gaze. It was worrying, but Cassidy knew exactly why Jacob was acting this way. There was a fucking werewolf in the other cage. And Jacob looked so terrified of it. Cassidy wonders if Jacob had a run-in with a werewolf earlier tonight.

Ryan stands up and walks to the vestibule door separating the two cages. Reaching for the door so he could open it, Cassidy grabs his wrist before his hand comes in contact with the electrified steel. The Erzahler boy turns around to face him, a confused look on his face as he stares at his best friend. The Hackett boy shakes his head, pointing up at the sign above the door that read DANGER! ELECTRICITY.

Ryan nods silently in understanding, backing away as Cassidy lets go.

Jacob finally snaps out of whatever daze he was in, finally acknowledging the fact that they were here and he had to get out of here as soon as possible. "Holy shit! Look, you gotta get me out of here, guys. Seriously," Jacob exclaims, glancing over at the werewolf in the other cage before looking back over at Ryan. He takes a few steps forward, closer to the side of the cage, but not too close in case it shocked him.

"How? It's electrified!" Ryan replies, gesturing toward the cages.

"Okay, um..." Jacob trails off in thought for a moment before an idea pops in his head. He looks toward the wall behind them and points to a breaker in one of the corners. "There's a box in the corner of the room. I think that's how they're operated, okay? I saw this old guy— hunter dude from the woods? He used that."

Above them, in the dining room, Constance was seated in one of the chairs at the table. Her gaze was on the floor, lost in her own thoughts before she turns her head to look at her eldest son, breaking the silence that had filled the room.

"Why are you here, Travis?" she asks, furrowing her brows in confusion. "You oughta be out with the others. Like I say, we've been all night long tryin' to keep those kids safe." She pauses for a moment before sitting up in the chair, narrowing her eyes at Travis. "Where's Cassidy? Where's my youngest grandson?" Travis visibly tenses at the mention of his son. "You been tryin' to protect him this whole time, but where is he? Shouldn't he be here, safe at home, Travis?"

Travis is silent for a moment, thinking about what to say to his mother. "Ma'... uhh..." he starts, turning away from the window to face her. He walks slowly over to the chair she was sitting in, crouching down in front of it, swallowing nervously as he thinks about what he had to tell her. "It's Kaylee." He looks up from the floor, now looking at Constance. "She's dead."

It had been a bit since Travis first found out his niece had, sadly, died. He had been out there to help locate the girl and her brothers, only to see that the blinking light on the device he was looking at to see her tracker was not moving. It was just in blinking constantly in one spot. So, he had investigated, only to find his dead niece in the pool of the camp.

After his sad discovery, he had called up Bobby and Jedediah to come retrieve her body from the pool and bring her to the house.

Constance scoffs, shaking her head in denial. "No."

"The boys are bringing her in right now," Travis explains.

Constance turns her head to stare at him like he was crazy. "Now I know you got a screw loose in that cop head of yours, there ain't no way to kill her in her kinda condition—"

"Silver bullet," Travis stated, cutting her off. "She's dead, Ma."

He takes a moment to let his words settle in. Constance turns to look at him, a sad look overtaking her features as she shakes her head.

"No!" Travis nods and Constance gets up from the chair, which causes Travis to rise to his feet. "Goddammit... NO! No, no. No, no. Not my granddaughter. Not my only granddaughter! Not my Kaylee! Not my little Kaylee! Not my little Kaylee! Not my little Kaylee!" Her voice rises as she speaks, hysterical. "You goddamn piece of shit. Not my little Kaylee! Goddamn you! What did you do to her?!"

Cassidy shakes his head, messaging his temples as he shuts his eyes. He had just started getting a headache from all of his grandmother's yelling. He exhales shakily as he opens his eyes, feeling the eyes of the others on him.

They all remained silent, though only for a moment, as Ryan interrupted that silence.

"Have you been bitten?" he asks, causing Jacob to turn his head to face him.

"Is she crazy?"

Cassidy furrows his brows in confusion at Jacob's question, but then he sees him turn his head to stare at Laura, who had taken a step closer to the cage the werewolf was residing in. Her shotgun was raised, aimed at the creature inside. Ryan forces the gun down, away from the cage, looking at her.

"Wait..."

"It's him," she snaps.

"Think about it," Ryan cuts in, tightening his hold on the gun as Laura tries to pull it out of his grasp. "Why would they lock him in a cage?"

"Then who the hell is it?" Laura questions.

"Who the hell is she?" Jacob asks, jumping into the conversation, brows furrowed in confusion as he stares at Laura.

Ryan turns around to face Jacob. "She's in charge." he answers before turning back to face Laura. "You've already got it wrong once. It might even be Nick."

"It might be," Cassidy speaks up and they all turn to look at him. "'Cos my cousins ain't even down here. They're... out there," he points up at the ceiling and gestures in a wide circle. "In the woods and at camp. Uh, my family, they don't keep my uncle Chris locked up down here."

Nick hadn't been seen since his abrupt departure from the pool house after turning into a werewolf. He had most likely run into the woods to try and escape, only to possibly get captured and brought here to the basement, getting locked in a cage.

"Your friend?" Laura asks them and Cassidy nods.

"Hey, listen, okay," Jacob starts speaking again, "they said they've already got two of us accounted for. Whatever that means..."

"Whoever this is, they're— they're not going anywhere," Ryan points out. "Remember, we've got to be sure. You promised."

"Yeah, Ryan! Cass!" Jacob speaks up again, calling his two friends. "You guys gotta get me out of here. Okay, seriously, guys."

As soon as the last word left his lips, they all look back up toward the basement's ceiling, hearing muffled voices from above again.

"It... It was mine." Travis says in frustration, pointing to the trapdoor. "They took it— They took it!"

"You fuckin' idiot," Constance exclaims in rage, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"Ma—"

"God- dammit," Constance turns around momentarily, blinking tears away, before turning back around to face Travis once again. "You fuckin' piece of shit!" Travis opens his mouth to speak, but Constance interrupts the action. "Get away! Get away from me!"

"They're close," Laura says quietly, backing away from the cages and heading across the room. Cassidy and Ryan go to follow her, but Ryan stops, deciding to try and help Jacob first.

"Help me through it," Ryan says.

"Okay... so... all I know... is you have to open my door and that door," Jacob points to the door of the cage he was in and to the vestibule door. "And definitely not that door," he then points to the door of the cage the werewolf was in.

"Oh, cool, thanks, detective," Ryan mutters.

"Okay, fuck you, man, I'm trying to help."

"No... fuck you! I'm trying to help!"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Jacob warns, glancing around nervously before eyeing the breaker. "Okay, there's a console on the wall over there. Like a box, or whatever. You should be able to use those switches to isolate each cage."

"Okay, hang tight," the Erzahler boy heads over to the breaker.

"Okay."

"No, Ryan, you're gonna fuck it up," Cassidy butts in, grabbing Ryan's wrist and pulling his hand away from the breaker. "You gotta do it a certain way or else you risk opening the wrong one."

"How do you know that?" Ryan asks, furrowing his brows.

"I've been down here before," Cassidy lets go of his arm. "I ain't ever seen 'em use this, but I think I know how it works. Since there's only four breakers, I think it's just simple math. One," he reaches for the switch for Breaker 1 and pulls it down, "plus two," he pulls the switch for Breaker 2, "equals three." He looks toward the cage Jacob was in to see the door for it swing open. There's a click noise and he looks back toward the breaker to see the switches have flipped back up automatically.

"Okay. Well done," Jacob praises, watching him. "Now just the middle one. Don't fuck this up."

"It's just simple math..." Cassidy reminds himself quietly. "Two plus three equals five..." He pulls down the switch for Breaker 2 and then the switch for Breaker 3.

The door to the vestibule swings open. Jacob peers out, looking around to make sure the werewolf's cage wasn't open, before heading out.

"Oh, damn," Ryan says to Jacob once he walks out and Cassidy closes the breaker box. "You look awful."

"Thanks," Jacob replies. "Hell, where's everyone else?"

"Um, Jake..." Ryan starts. "Emma wasn't with them. I don't know where she is. But you should go catch up with them. Be careful. We came in through the mines. I don't— I don't know if there's a way back up."

Jacob nods, before heading out.

Once he leaves, they walk out and realize Laura was now standing on the ladder for the trapdoor that lead up into the house. She points up at the ceiling and they look up, listening.

"Not my- god- not my little granddaughter... not my Kaylee. Not my little Kaylee." Constance shakes her head as she goes to sit back down in her chair, keeping her eyes focused on her eldest son as she speaks. "So you— you had, those motherfucking counselors in your goddamn jail for two whole mother fucking months, right, and you're tellin' me now... that instead'a puttin' a bullet into each one of their little sorry shitstain brains, you— You gave them your silver bullet gun and they shot my Kaylee with it? Is that what you're tellin' me now, Travis?!"

Travis raises his hand and points his finger at the woman as he speaks. "No more blood on your hands, that's what you— You said it."

"Oh my God, oh my God," Constance snaps. "We are way past that now."

"Ma, what— what if it had been me or... or... or Bobby? What then?"

"She was your family," Constance says as she leans forward in her chair. "A good boy, protects his family. You ain't no good boy. If you were, Cassidy wouldn't be out there while— while they are running loose tonight on a goddamn full moon, and those goddamn counselors— Where is he, Travis?! Where is my youngest grandson right now? I bet you don't even know where your own son is, yeah? He could be dead right now and you don't even—"

"He's fine, Ma... Look, I- I wish I could take it all back," There's regret in Travis' voice as he speaks. "I wish I could take it all back. But I can't."

"Well, I just don't— I don't understand why you— you couldn't have just taken care of the problem when you had the chance. Like when you had locked up Mary in the basement four months ago. But look where she is now, gone, escaped."

'''Taken care of the problem?'" Travis looks at her. "Do you hear yourself?"

"Yes, I hear my goddamned self," Constance spits with anger as she gets up from her seat, "I may be old, but I ain't deaf!"

"I'm a police officer!" he yells, pointing to his badge.

"Ooh, so now I'm blind!" Constance flails her arms in rage. "You motherfucker! Now, I'm blind. Oh, you just flashing that badge around like it's worth a million dollars. Only reason you got it is because Hank got killed in that fire."

"Ma—"

"Don't 'Ma'," Constance snaps. "Don't 'Ma' me."

"Would you sit down, please?" Travis holds his hand out, palm facing her, asking her to cool down a bit.

"Don't you tell me what to do."

"Please—"

"And don't you go round- don't you go round like you better than everybody else, 'cos you ain't!"

"Would you please sit down?" Travis repeats calmly.

"Don't you tell me what to do, you piece of shit!"

The trapdoor creaks as Laura takes a step down from one of the rungs of the ladder. Ryan and Cassidy go to help her down, but the action was short-lived. The trapdoor opens and Laura's seized by her ponytail.

"Gotcha!" Constance says, pulling the girl up.

"Shit!" Cassidy mutters hurrying over to the ladder and grabbing onto Laura's arm.

"No, just go!" Laura tells him, before glancing behind him at Ryan. "Ryan, run!"

Ryan turns away from the ladder and takes off running back into the other room.

Cassidy glances up toward the trapdoor to see Travis peering down at him while Constance pulls Laura up.

"Should've expected you'd be here, Cass," the man says, shaking his head in disappointment. "Ma, send Bobby down!"

Well, shit...

author's note
well shit is right,
cass 🤭

08.05.22