When it rains they come

I live in the desert

It never rains

Cacti and vultures

My grandpa use to tell me stories

Mainly about rain

He says no rain is good

But what about the plants and animals

He just smiled

Lately grandpa has been worried

The forecast cause for the first rain in 40 years

I hear noise

I look outside to see my neighbors in a panic

Grandpa grabs my arms and drag to the basement

I grab my cat Luna Eclipse

He pulls back a heavy door from the ground

We climbed down 

The stairs felt like the went for miles

We came to a huge door

He opened it with a key

Inside it looked like an apartment

I looked wide eyed at my grandpa

He kissed my forehead

Pointed to a room

I went in to the room to the right

There was a bed, chair, and desk

I put my cat on the bed 

I sat down hear my grandpa scramble to lock all the doors

Then silent……..

I fell asleep

Woke up to an earthquake

Our state didn’t have earthquakes

I held on to my cat

I started to cry

My grandpa came in 

Shhhhhhhh

Don’t

Let

Them

Hear

You

My mouth opened to agree

No words came out

The quake lasted what seemed like days

Grandpa woke me up

I grabbed Luna

We walked back all the stairs

Into the basement

Back to the living……..

Our home was destroyed

My neighborhood gone

I looked at my grandpa who was so calm

We will rebuild…….

I was five when that happened

I’m going to be 45 this month

I turn on the tv and the forecast cause for rain

I looked at my husband who nods

We faced our kids as we prepare them for rain

Basement

I hear it at night

Those bumps in the night

The shuffling is there

Underneath my bed

I stay quiet and listen

Now the noise is close

There’s knocking coming from downstairs

But I have no basement

The Basement Door

The house was old like super old. The parents said it was built-in the 1800s. I thought to myself how on the green planet is this house still standing.

I heard many horror stories about how a man went insane and murdered everything then built them into the house. A lot of babysitters were afraid to go inside the house but not me. Like an idiot I agreed to go into that creepy house.

I walked up to the old door and it was a chilly fall day. I wore only a hoodie because I had boots on which were adorable by the way. I knocked on the door to the parents who were so relieved to see me. They told me they hadn’t had alone time since the kids were born. They had three kids and the eldest was 8 years old. That is a long time…….

I walked in to a normal cozy home with furniture and toys all over the floor. You know a typical home with a bunch of kids in it. They handed me a list, my pay, pizza money, and hugged me. As they left out the door I thought they were too friendly and that was creepy.

I pulled out my cellphone and ordered the pizza which the kids screamed cheese for 5 minutes straight. I sat on the couch while they asked me a bunch of questions and I tried to stop the little fuzzy one from crying. It was the normal questions. How old are you? Do you have kids? Did you know we live with dead people? I wasn’t amused plus kids have a huge imagination.

After dinner, I go them ready for bed but the little crawler, Josh, refused to sleep. I kept in a pouch in front of me so I could carry him. He didn’t mind he just kicked and giggled. As we walked to the kitchen I noticed there was a basement door. The door had salt, sage, and locks all over it. I didn’t think nothing of it. It was late and I was washing dishes with a baby pulling my hair.

When the dishes were done, I turned around to find the locks on the door unlocked. I didn’t hear anybody behind me and the kids were still sleep, according to the baby monitor in my hand. Unlike a horror movie, I refused to investigate so I locked all the locks back and went to the living room to sit with the baby.

He finally fell asleep and was so adorable. Then I heard the locks. I got up with the baby to check the basement door but when I got there the door was cracked this time. I closed the door and locked all the locks. I went upstairs and got the kids up. They looked confused with their sleepy eyes. I told them we needed to get in the car and leave.

I called the police to check the house and we waited in my car that was parked in the front of the house. The police never found anything but I refused to go back in that house. When the parents arrived, I apologized and handed them their children. I explained what happened and they understood. I left and went home. I found out later that the stories were true about the house. The remains of the family were in the basement. I never went back to babysit.