It was a dark time in my life when I first learned of the legend of the Basemen

It was a dark time in my life when I first learned of the legend of the Basement. It was a careless mistake, born from a genuine misunderstanding of my intentions, that introduced me to the commonplace superstition that surrounds it. Life was in chaos after the events at Thompson House, and I was in desperate need of an escape. My friend Jamie offered up his cabin as a place I could go to gather my thoughts, and get away from all the craziness. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take my mind off of things and find my bearings. So, I packed my bags and made my way out there.<br><br>It was a serene summer morning, everything about it was perfect. The air was crisp, the sun was shining, and I had a window seat on the plane, so I got to witness the beauty of it all from 30,000 feet. For a moment, I forgot about all my troubles. It was a moment of freedom, with the unbelievable majesty of the world unfolded below me. Still, I knew it was just a moment. It would be over soon, and I would have to face reality. The excitement of being on a plane and taking in the wonders of the world overshadowed my personal strife for a moment, but nothing more. The truth is, Jamie’s cabin was an escape. I had no illusions about it. When the plane touched down, and I stepped off onto the tarmac, the weight of my reality was waiting for me. There was no relief to be found. There was no peace. It was an illusion, a short lived reprieve from my woes. I knew that, and I was okay with that.<br><br>As I waited for my bags, I called Jamie to let him know that I was there. He was planning on picking me up, and I didn’t want him to waste his time. I was pretty quick, so I figured he could just hang back until I was ready. Jamie agreed, and I hung up the phone. I sat down in one of the seats at the gate, and waited. <br><br>I didn’t know the specifics of the trip, but Jamie had said that it was going to be a long drive to get to the cabin. He explained that we would have to drive to a small town, and from there we would make our way down a dirt road. From my understanding, it was remote. Still, it was perfect. Everything I had been through over the past few months had been in the midst of civilization. I was tired of people. I wanted some solitude. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I wanted to process it all. I wanted to go through my complex emotions at my own pace. I couldn’t do that anywhere else. And I couldn’t do it with anyone else. The cabin was exactly what I needed. It was my only hope. I was relying on it, and it alone, to save me. I was depending on it.<br><br>As my thoughts wandered and I waited for my bag to appear on the luggage carousel, I noticed a young couple sitting across from me. They weren’t the first people I had taken notice of, but they were the first people I took an interest in. There was something about them that I found intriguing, and I couldn’t pull my eyes away. I watched as they sat, side-by-side, and lovingly held hands. They were smiling, and taking in the sights and sounds of their new environment. It took me a moment, but I recognized the look in their eyes. They were on their honeymoon, and they were in the same blissful mindset that Heather and I had once shared. It brought back old memories, and I quickly became resentful. They were naive, just like we had been. They were unaware of the horrors that the world had in store for them, and they were better off for it. I hated that. I wished I could go back to being like that. I wanted to be naive again, to be innocent. But I wasn’t. I had been through too much. I had seen things I couldn’t unsee. There was no going back. I envied them.<br><br>“Sir? Sir, is this your bag?”<br><br>I looked up to see the Airport employee holding my suitcase. I nodded, and he handed it over to me. I stood up, and made my way toward the exit. As I walked away from the grieving couple, I heard a voice from behind me. It was a soft, meek voice. It was addressed to me, and it caught me off guard. I stopped in my tracks, and quickly turned to face whoever had delivered it. The young woman that stepped out of the seat was just as startled as I was. She hadn’t expected me to stop so abruptly, and she had to leap out of her seat to avoid running into me. Once she stumbled out into the aisle, she regained her composure, and stood upright. She explained herself. <br><br>“I couldn’t help but notice where you’re headed. I’m just curious. Are you familiar with the area?”<br><br>“No,” I responded. “I’m just visiting a friend.”<br><br>“Okay,” she responded. “So you’ve never been there before?”<br><br>“No,” I confirmed. “And my friend isn’t from there. His company bought an old cabin up there, and he uses it every summer.”<br><br>“Oh, they’ve been buying up a lot of the old properties in that area. My parents live there. I’m headed home to visit. I grew up there,” she explained.<br><br>In my experiences, people don’t usually engage in conversations with strangers. Especially not in airports, where you only cross paths for a moment, and never see one another again. Still, this young woman seemed nice enough, and I wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Plus, I had questions about the town that Jamie wouldn’t answer. He had offered very little about the place he was taking me, and had instead focused on the cabin itself. So, I decided that this was a good opportunity to learn a little bit more about it. I decided to engage her. <br><br>“It’s a beautiful area, I can see why he chose it.”<br><br>“It is. Sometimes you forget about it living there. Being away and coming back reminds you of all its beauty. I had a great time while I was away. I met new people, and I saw a lot of new things. When I got on the plane, the view, and seeing the forest from the air, it was a real treat. I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said.<br><br>I agreed, and we talked for a moment about how beautiful the world could be. Once we finished marveling at the majesty of the view from the plane, she switched gears. Her demeanor quickly changed. Her voice became very serious, and her expression turned stern. She was about to say something important. I could see it in her eyes. I could sense it in her body language. Still, I didn’t expect it.<br><br>“Listen, I don’t mean to intrude. I’m sorry. I don’t usually talk to strangers. Like I said, I couldn’t help but notice where you’re headed. You seem like a nice person. So I’m going to share something with you. If you’re going to that part of the country, you should know, there is a legend. It’s an old legend, one that everyone around there knows about. It’s about something called the Basement.”<br><br>“What’s that?” I asked. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t think about the fact that we were in an airport. I had completely forgotten. All I could think about was the Basement.<br><br>She paused, as she scanned her surroundings. She looked over her shoulder, and leaned in closer to me. She lowered her voice. She looked into my eyes to make sure I was paying attention.<br><br>“The Basement is a house that’s somewhere in the woods. It’s like a secret. Nobody knows where it is, but everyone knows that it’s there. There are a couple of different stories about it. Some people believe it’s a house that was built into the side of a mountain. Some say it’s just an average house like you would see in the suburbs. They disagree on the location, and the appearance, but everyone agrees that the Basement is the most terrifying place on Earth.”<br><br>“How?” I asked. I was intrigued. I wanted to know everything I could about the Basement. <br><br>“I don’t know,” she responded. “I have heard a lot of different accounts. Some say that if you go inside, you will never come out. Some say that if you spend the night there, you will go insane. Some people say that there is something inside, something that will kill you if it catches you. There are a lot of different theories about it, but the one thing everyone agrees on is that it’s not good.” <br><br>I laughed out loud. I believed it to be nothing more than a myth, a legend. Something to scare children into behaving. I didn’t believe it was real. I had lived through too many horrors, seen too many things, to put stock and belief into some silly old legend. I had to be there, first hand, to believe it. So, I scoffed at the notion.