by Stella Noir
For the most part, I knew exactly where I was going down there and barely needed a light to get around. I’d been running around in the tunnels most of my life and I’d gotten to know them like the back of my hand.
One time when I dropped my flashlight and it went out I found my way home from the salon just by feel. I could tell approximately where I was by how long I had been walking in one direction and when I started to think that I needed to turn I felt the wall for the cross tunnel and took the turn. It was just dumb luck that I wound up stopping at the right door though.
It was also somewhat risky to walk around with a flashlight because you were clearly visible to anyone who might be hiding in the dark. But the danger of tripping on something or running into a pile of junk was just as dangerous and unless you had a reason to turn off your light there’s no point in risking any of that.
As I made my way past the metal doors that lined both sides of the tunnel walls, I passed the massive wooden arch supports and structures that kept the whole thing from caving in. Periodically I would pass the same piles of old boxes and appliances that had been discarded years ago and that had been there as long as I could remember. Then there would be the piles of garbage and bedding that came and went as people abandoned their crash pads and then other people would come along and move everything piece by piece and start using it all somewhere else.
As I turned the corners I mentally kept track of what was coming next; right then left then right again, and I counted blank doors that were interspersed with the occasional painted door. Some doors had old logos and markings on them from the days when the tunnels were used for transporting goods, and other doors were completely bricked up.
I finally reached the salon door and there she was, right there in the laundry bag where I had left her. That always surprised me, that the girls had never gotten up and run off or even moved from the place I put them. But, then again, where would you run to in the pitch black dark when you woke up in a bag and didn’t even have the vaguest idea where you were.
It was a little bit of a risk leaving the girls there until I was able to make my way back since anyone could just wander by and take my stash, but in all the years I’d been doing this I had never lost a single girl. I figured either nobody frequented that particular section of the tunnel or maybe there was less activity during the day.
I put the pen light in my mouth, picked up the girl and threw her over my shoulder, then headed back exactly the way I had come. It was sort of soothing to name off the landmarks in my head as I passed them by and it became a sort of rhythm for me as my mind counted everything backwards and I made my way back home.
Bardoon and Sons door, five blank doors, garbage pile, wooden arch, bricked doorway, pile of blankets, Zaler’s Deli door, old refrigerator, wooden arch, four blank doors … turn left, turn right, turn left again, but as I made my final turn and counted the last doors I saw something I never seen before and I stopped dead in my tracks.
One of the doors was open down this stretch of tunnel, and it was the stretch that my house was on. The doors along this section of tunnel all led to the basements of houses that had been private residences for a very long time and most of the doors were locked up and buried behind piles of junk.
The thing is, most people didn’t even believe that the tunnels actually existed so it was incredibly rare to see someone who lived in one of those old houses even open up the door that led out there. It was either a case of mass denial or just plain old fear, because the cops hardly ever went down there either and I couldn’t imagine that many people would take it upon themselves to wander around in a pitch black, lawless, no-man’s-land.
Light was shining through an open door but there was also a bright light coming from a flashlight that was being held by, what looked like, two people who were walking very close to each other about four hundred feet in front of me. Their outlines were silhouetted by the light coming from the doorway and they were huddled so close together that it was impossible to make out any physical features.
I immediately turned off my flashlight and stuck it in my pocket, then slowly continued forward, trying to get a better look at the whoever was holding the flashlight. I knew they couldn’t see me but I was pretty sure they’d heard my footsteps because suddenly one of them said “Let’s go!” and they turned and ran back to the open door. Then the light in the tunnel disappeared and everything was black again.
I pulled my flashlight out and picked up the pace back to my door, slid the key into the lock, then slipped inside, locking the door behind me. After I took the girl out of the laundry bag and locked her in the cage in the basement I couldn’t help going over and over what I had just seen.
They were girls. Two girls down in the tunnels. I heard the voice of one of them. I didn’t know if I’d heard exactly what she said because of the echo down there, but I knew it was a girl’s voice. Plus, when they turned and ran I could see their hair and the shape of their bodies.
What were two girls doing in the tunnels?
And not only that, the door they ran into had to have been the one that went to the basement of the house next door.
Avery’s house. Was that Avery in the tunnel?
There just seemed to be too many coincidences now.
I had lost interest in the girl in the basement so I turned out the lights and left her down there for the night, then headed up to my bedroom. On the way up I decided that if the lights were off in Avery’s room I would know that it was her in the tunnel. She always seemed to be in her room in the evenings with at least a dim light burning, and sometimes she spent most of the evening reading a book while she sat on the window seat.
That was the reason I had stopped turning the light on in my bedroom at night. I wanted to be able to watch her at any time, for as long as I wanted, without her seeing me. I knew she’d seen me a couple of times but after that I made sure I was better hidden because I didn’t want her to know just how much time I spent watching her.
I’d actually been hoping against hope that she wasn’t planning on buying curtains anytime soon. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if she decided to put something up that obstructed my view because I needed to watch her. Sometimes, if it was dark enough outside I stayed out on my balcony and looked in through the French doors because I was able to see into her room from a different angle. Unfortunately, I was never able to see the whole thing though.
I got to my bedroom window and pulled the drapes back a little and looked out. Her room was completely dark.
Suddenly, the lights went on in her room and a flood of excitement coursed through my body. I watched her walk in front of the window and throw her jacket down on a chair, then she disappeared for a few minutes and the lights went off again.
I know that was her in the tunnel. But what was she doing down there?
A small flame ignited in the window and for a brief moment Avery’s face was lit up as she touched the flame to a candle wick. The candle started burning steadily and she sat down on the window seat. Her head was hanging down a bit and she ran her fingers through her long dark hair. She looked so sad and all I wanted to do was hold her in my arms and run my own hands through her hair and make her understand how perfect she was.
I closed my eyes and imagined my fingers pushing back into her soft hair and my lips gently brushing her beautiful, perfectly shaped lips. I felt the softness of her skin on mine and her hot breath quicken as I moved my tongue in and out of her mouth, licking and sucking those lips. It was almost as if it were a memory, like this had happened before.
I know that’s not possible … but why does she feel so familiar?
I snapped out of my fantasy and she was still sitting there, staring at the candle flame that flickered and lit up her face with a shuddering glow that accentuated her eyes and the hollows under her cheek bones.
She held something up into the flame and then touched it to the skin on her opposite forearm and when she did it looked like she
flinched a little. Over and over again she repeated the same movements, placing something in the flame, then touching it to her skin and flinching slightly, and I eventually realized what it was that she was doing.
She appeared to be heating some small piece of metal in the flame of the candle, maybe a pin or a needle, and then she would touch it to the skin of her arm. It looked like she was creating a design there, like a tattoo that was made out of tiny dots of burnt flesh. This went on for over an hour and I was hypnotized as I watched her eyes and her hand travel back and forth from the flame to her arm, over and over.
6
AVERY
I opened the French doors and walked out onto the balcony and into the cool night air. The breeze felt incredible and when it moved across the burns on my arm the stinging sensation made me close my eyes and suck in my breath. I looked down at the swirls and spirals I had just created and wanted to run my finger over the raised dots but didn’t because my arm was still very sore. Branding the dots into my skin hurt but it kept my mind off of the fact that I had just been ditched. That I had once again been rejected by someone I was starting to really like.
I didn’t understand why Trevor had canceled at the last minute. I had really been looking forward to tonight and I thought he had been too. I looked down at the street below and watched a couple walk by holding hands.
Ugh. Why is it always a couple? Don’t they have anything better to do than walk down the street holding hands and showing off?
My eyes filled with tears and when I closed them the tears spilled over and ran down my cheeks. I listened to the breeze blowing through the leaves in the trees and I smelled fall in the air. It was such a beautiful scent, the dying and decaying leaves, and I started to feel better as I let the smells and feeling of the cool night air wash over me as the breeze pushed my hair back from my face.
I stood there with my eyes closed for a long time, imagining that I was floating through space with the fall leaves when I heard a noise that sounded like it came from the balcony of the house next door. I looked over but I couldn’t see anything from where I stood. The street lights lit up most of the balcony but there were some shadowy corners that remained completely black. I didn’t know if it was in my mind or not, but I could have sworn I’d seen something move in one of the corners. I stood there and watched the balcony for a while longer but I didn’t see any other movement so I decided it must have been the wind, although there was a part of me that hoped the guy that lived over there would step out of the shadows and smile at me. I couldn’t help thinking about him looking in my window when I first moved in and decided it was just a fluke, that he was probably looking at something else, not me.
I went back into my room and just before I turned around I looked through the glass doors and I could have sworn I saw something moving from a shadowy corner on the balcony of the house next door again.
That’s really weird, I thought as I turned back into my dark room. I flopped down on my bed and stared at my phone for about five minutes trying to will Trevor to text me again, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen so I pulled off my jeans and performed the bra-through-the-t-shirt-arm-hole magic trick, then crawled under the covers and stared at the ceiling until I eventually fell asleep.
“HEY, what’s up?” Barbara said when she opened the door to her apartment. Another week had gone by and I was excited because I was finally going to see Trevor outside of class tonight. It was Saturday morning and I had woken up really late after a night of tossing and turning and dreaming about someone standing on my balcony just outside the French doors and watching me sleep.
For a while it was Trevor on the balcony, but then he texted me in my dream and said Gotta cancel again. I’ll see you in class, then disappeared. I was really sad for a while but then the person on the balcony turned into the guy next door. He didn’t do anything but stare and even though I kept thinking it was really weird that he was just standing there staring at me while I sat on my bed, there was something kind of comforting about it.
When I woke up I got dressed and walked to a coffee shop, then decided on my way back that I wanted to go down into the tunnels again. I knew it was dangerous, but I figured maybe going down there during the day would be better somehow, even though I knew that was bullshit. I was just too intrigued not to go.
“Hey, Barb. I was wondering if I could get the key to the door in the basement.”
“To the tunnels? Seriously?” she said as she peaked her head around her apartment door. “You really want to go back down there? Man, you’re gonna have to go by yourself because there’s no way I’m going back down there again.”
“Yeah I know, I know. I really just want to check it out a little bit more for my paper, you know for that history class.”
“For class,” she said, clearly not believing that was the only reason.
“Ok, I’m just really intrigued by the whole thing, you know? I mean I have to admit it is kinda scary down there, but it’s also really cool. And it really will make a great subject for my paper, when I actually start it.”
“Are you going to get that Trevor guy to go down there with you?” she said with a smile and raised eyebrows.
“No. We’re supposed to hang out tonight though, if he doesn’t bail on me again.”
“If he does, give him the axe. Two strikes and you’re out, man.”
“Yeah, whatever. He’s cute but I’m not that hung up on him,” I said, but I wasn’t sure whether or not I believed that. I could never tell if I really liked a guy or if I just latched onto someone because they showed a little bit of interest. It was like some part of my brain took over that made me believe I liked them more than I really did. Like that guy next door. I was having a really hard time not thinking about him and I barely knew him at all.
More like not at all, Avery. He’s said probably a grand total of 10 words to you.
“So you’re gonna go down there by yourself? Dude, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Look, Barbara, I don’t want to drag you down there again and I really just want to check it out. It’s the middle of the day. What could happen?”
“Well, as you pointed out last time, it’s not the middle of the day down there. I really don’t feel good about letting you go down there, seriously. I’m responsible for what goes on in this place, but I might consider going back down with you again if you add another night on the town to the package. I’ve got to work all day today though, so maybe we can go down tomorrow or something.”
“How about if I go down by myself today and we go down together tomorrow?”
“You just don’t give up do you? I’m just worried is all. What’ll you do if something happens?”
“I’ll have my cell phone with me and I get an ok signal down there. Really, I’ll be fine. I’m not even going to go walk around that much. I’ll leave the door open and I’ll stay close to it so I can run in and lock it at the first sign of trouble.”
“Ok, but you’re going to take my pepper spray with you, and my Maglite. I don’t need you disappearing on me. That would freak my shit out completely. I seriously can’t believe you’re not afraid to go down there.”
“Well, it is kinda creepy, but guess I’m not really afraid of the same things a lot of other people are. The thought of death doesn’t really freak me out too much. I mean, if someone kills you quickly you wouldn’t even know that it happened. You’d be dead.”
“Yeah, I think a slow, painful death is what I’m afraid of. Not to mention getting raped or getting chopped up into tiny little pieces.”
“Ok, ok. I get your point. I’ll be careful.”
“Alright, here you go,” she said as she handed me the big wad of old keys and a teeny spray can.
“I’ll be sure and tell you everything that happens down there today,” I said with a smile as I walked past her out into the hall.
“Great, I can hardly wait. Hey, text me when you’re back up here with us in civilization, will
ya? I won’t be able to relax until I know you’re safe.”
Okee dokee,” I said as I turned toward the basement.
“You sound like my grandpa,” Barbara said as she shut her apartment door behind me.
I descended into the same murky yellow light and musty smells that I had the week before, but it really didn’t seem as creepy as it had then. I looked around a little for something I could use to oil the door hinges because I remembered how loud they creaked last time and I didn’t really want to alert the entire underworld when I opened up the door today. I found what I was looking for on a big tool bench that was filled with old tools - an old, rusty can of WD-40 - then grabbed it and headed over to the metal door. When I got there I sprayed the hinges and the padlock, then unlocked it with ease and took it off the door.
I pulled the heavy door open just enough for me to squeeze through and moved the flashlight up and down the tunnel. I stood there for about a minute but didn’t see or hear anything so I headed to the right, thinking that it looked like there was more stuff laying around in that direction. I didn’t know what I was looking for and I knew most people would think I was nuts for even wanting to be down there, but I found it all really exciting.
There were stacks of crates and old paint cans piled against the wall about ten feet away from the basement door, and just beyond the boxes was, what looked like, a pile of blankets or sleeping bags. That made me a little nervous to think that someone was sleeping just outside my basement door. Someone who might not be very far off right now. I decided to go a little further until I got to another door, which I assumed was the door to the basement of the house that bordered the other side of the house I lived in. It was hard to tell in the dark but it felt like it might have been about fifty feet away from the basement door I had just come out of. I turned to get a better idea but my basement door wasn’t open anymore.
I started to feel a little panicked as I headed back in the direction I had come but I froze when I heard those same footsteps again. I didn’t know where they were coming from but they sounded like the same ones Barb and I heard the other night. I was right next to the stacks of wooden boxes so I shut off my flashlight and ducked between two of them so I was concealed from both directions and I waited to see where the sound was coming from. Like Barbara said, noises bounced off the walls down here like crazy, so the footsteps could have been coming from far away, or they could be really close.