Holiday Romance: Halloween Movie Marathon (Parts 1 - 4)
Holiday Romance: Halloween Movie Marathon (Parts 1 - 4)
James walked from the living room to the kitchen, his buttered bowl in hand. A creak in the floor before he stepped onto the tiles of the kitchen caused him to pause.
Had he heard the creek of the door, then maybe he would've had time to prepare.
James finished the last movie of his Halloween marathon, an empty bowl still coated with butter from his popcorn beside him, the pillow he'd used during the last movie to cover his eyes nestled under his arms, and his heart pounding in his chest as evidence of the trials he'd witnessed. His dog, Cranberry, a golden retriever rescue, was asleep at his feet.
"I take it you didn't care much for the ending of that one, pal?" said James. He rose to his feet and placed the pillow back on the couch. "Can't say I blame you, but they're coming out with a reboot next year and I know you'll like that one."
James walked from the living room to the kitchen, his buttered bowl in hand. A creak in the floor before he stepped onto the tiles of the kitchen caused him to pause.
"Hello?" he asked. Silence was his only response. "Cranberry, come here. Girl? That tired, huh?" He shook his head. "Get your sleep, it's late. Your mom should be home soon." He placed the bowl into the sink and pulled out his phone to check the time. "No text. She must be running late again."
Cleaning the bowl took less than a minute. A simple scrub and all the butter was gone, the evidence of his movie marathon erased. He put the bowl back into the cupboard, then walked back over to the couch.
"Cranberry? Where'd you go?"
He thought to himself for a moment, where the dog could've gone. She was asleep when he'd left and it hadn't been that long.
"Cranberry?" He let the name linger in the air for a moment. "Girl? Where'd you go?"
The house, once full of screams and clashing piano keys, was silent.
He pulled out his phone to see if his girlfriend, Kristen, had arrived. Surely then Cranberry would rush to her side, but he would've heard her get up. It didn't make any sense.
The stairs leading to the bedroom creaked as James made his way up. Cranberry had a bed beside theirs and would sometimes go there to sleep when James and Kristen would stay up late watching television. He entered the bedroom and turned on the light. His four-legged companion was nowhere to be found.
"You can't just up and disappear, Cran," said James to the silent room. He tapped his finger on his chin as he paced around. "Where could you have gone?" He thought back to the creak he'd heard before reaching the kitchen. "Did you somehow get there before me?" He shook his head and smiled. "She must've gone for her food and fell asleep by the bowl."
He smirked as he made his way back down the stairs, feeling as if he'd solved the case of the missing dog, but when he arrived at the kitchen his feeling of accomplishment faded into dust.
"There's a reason for this," he said, his hands in his hair. "Cranberry is," he thought of her favorite spots to sleep as he walked from the cupboards to the dishwasher, back and forth, "in the basement? No, she hates it down there." He glanced over to the door of the basement and noticed it was ajar. "Every movie I just watched has taught me this is a bad idea," he said in a whisper, "a very bad idea."
He took the first step into the basement and flicked the light switch. The stairway ignited with light, then with a pop followed by a decaying orange glow his path grew dark once more.
"I just changed that bulb," he muttered. "On sale. Yeah, last time I fall for that." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and ventured into the depths of despair, otherwise known as, the basement.
The glow of his phone wasn't nearly close to what the lightbulb would've offered. At the bottom of the stairs, he had a choice to go either left or right. To the right was a small area he'd put together for when he had friends over and wanted to play videogames. There was a couch and a TV, along with a small display of his favorite movies and videogames. To the right was the washer and dryer, along with a portion of the basement dedicated to storage. Cranberry wasn't asleep on the couch like he thought she'd be, when he was down there playing games was the only time she'd brave the basement, to be by his side.
"This is getting too weird," he whispered. He checked around the couch, making sure his dog wasn't resting behind it or to the side. "Cran?"
A patter of footsteps on the cold concrete floor caught his attention. He pointed his phone at the commotion, only to see the washer and dryer sitting dormant.
"A mouse? Do we have mice? That's the last thing I need tonight. Cranberry, was that you? What're you doing?"
James walked closer to the storage space, the last section of the basement he wanted to check before heading back upstairs. The light on his phone blinked. He turned it over in his hand and checked the battery on the screen, and then it went dark.
"This isn't a good place to be after watching all those movies."
His heart was pounding. He went to place his phone back into his pocket and missed. It hit the floor and he dropped to his knees to find it. As he searched in the darkness, he could hear a deep breathing coming from the other end of the room, cutting through the silence.
"Hello?"
He patted the floor with his hands for his phone.
"Found you." He shoved the phone into his pocket and got to his feet. He took a step forward, and then stopped, unable to move. The breathing from the other end of the room had gotten closer. He could hear it; he could hear it right in front of him.
"Who's there?" he asked the darkness.
He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He was dripping with sweat.
"Who's there?"
The breathing stopped. He took a step forward. The breathing started up again, this time behind him. He ran for the stairs, leapt up the creaking steps, and slammed the door behind him.
"It was all in my head," he repeated as he paced around the kitchen. The door to the basement remained closed, there was no one chasing him. "Too many movies. There's no way someone could've gotten down there."
He plugged his phone in at the counter and the screen lit back up. A text from Kristen appeared on screen - "I'll be home soon."
"Okay, so she just left. She'll be here soon. We'll investigate the basement together. Yeah, that'll work. Cranberry, what about Cranberry?"
At the mention of her name, the golden retriever came trotting over from the living room.
"Where've you been?" he asked. The dog's eyes didn't give an answer. "Good thing you fell asleep during those movies. They did a real number on me."
As he sat on the couch, he heard the creak of a door. He turned around to see the basement door wide open.
"Hello? Who's doing this?" He looked to his dog, but she was once more at his feet. "How are you not seeing this?"
He got up from the couch and closed the door to the basement. His hands once more were lost in his hair as he tried to piece the evening together.
"It's the movies," he told himself. "You can't watch all those movies in a row and expect the world to sit in silence afterwards."
"Who're you talking to?"
James looked up to see Kristen walking down the hallway toward the kitchen.
"Me? What? Well, I was…" He paused for a moment. "How long have you been home?"
"Not long. I couldn't find you when I got home so I went upstairs to change out of my scrubs. How was your night? You watched some movies?"
James sat on a chair at the kitchen table.
"Too many," he replied. "I had a Halloween marathon. I should've stuck with the family friendly movies."
"Well I hope it was still a nice evening regardless. What do you say, ready for bed?"
"I don't know if I could sleep. Not yet at least."
"I figured you'd be tired after how fast you went up those basement stairs."
"Wait. What?"
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Dan Leicht is a romance, mystery, and science fiction author living in Upstate New York with his wife Barbara and their mischievous tortie cat. He has a Bachelor's in Creative Writing from SUNY Brockport. His work has appeared in Sci-fi Shorts, 365 Tomorrows, The Kraken Lore, and Ripples in Space. You can find him online at danleicht.com and on Instagram/Threads @danleicht.
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