I never expected my attic to hold so many secrets. It started as a normal Saturday morning as myself, my wife, Barbara, and my kids, Quandale and Sky, were packing all our belongings into boxes. There was a sense of anticipation in the air as we were moving into our new house next Tuesday. 

“Hey, Joe, we've got pretty much everything packed up. I think the attic is the only thing left now,” Barbara told me as she carried a big brown box labeled “KITCHEN” on it. 

“Alright, cool. I’ll check it out,” I told her, secretly dreading it.

“Just hurry up, though, because the movers are coming tomorrow morning to pack up everything,” Barbara replied. Why does she always have to be so motherly? I wondered, shaking my head and grinning. It’s almost like she took the place of my mother when she died. Speaking of which, my mother is the exact reason why I was dreading one final trip to the attic- all of her stuff was still up there from before she died. I hadn’t gone to the attic in years, and I wasn’t planning on going back either.

I’m not ready just yet, I thought. I’ll take a walk and then do it. With that, I headed out the door to take a walk. It was an average Eerieville morning. As usual, there was a foggy gray overcast and mist that made it hard to see too far out. The surrounding woods were a dark green and slightly brown color since it was the beginning of autumn. There were rows of large houses in our suburban neighborhood. I had lived here ever since I was a kid, and by now the strange rustling, eccentric people, and gloomy weather felt normal. Suddenly, there was a strong gust of wind, that spun me around as if I were a miniature tornado, a loud BOOM, and for a second I saw a figure completely covered in black looking right at me, but then it was gone. He looked familiar in some way, like a type of action figure that I had seen in the past. Like something I had seen in the attic so many years ago. Briskly, I walked back home.

“Honey, I’m home,” I called out to my wife as I opened the door. 

“JOE! Where were you? I was so worried!” Barbara exclaimed as she ran to me and embraced me in a hug so hard that I couldn’t breathe. What is she talking about? I wondered. 

“Barbara, what do you mean? I was only gone for 15 minutes,” I told her, frowning. 

“Joe, have you gone insane? It’s 4 in the afternoon! You’ve been gone for five whole hours!” She shouted. “We were all worried sick about you.”

“Wait, what?” I asked, checking the time. My eyes widened as I realized the clock read 4:00 pm. “But… how? It felt like hardly any time passed by.”

“Just check the attic now, we need to be quick. That’s the last room that needs to be cleaned out for the movers,” Barbara sighed, shaking her head. Before I could say anything else, she walked away. Well, there’s no more procrastinating I can do now, I thought. Besides, it might help me understand what happened this morning. 

The door to the attic made a loud creak sound as I pushed it open, holding my breath. Dust fell from the doorframe, showering me in specks of grey. At last I exhaled and sneezed loudly.

The attic was a small dark room, dimly lit by a singular window shining light through the ceiling. All around were mostly boxes and trinkets- things I didn’t know the purpose of or couldn't name in general. It was a minefield of crates that may have dangerous things inside them. I shivered as I heard low chattering noises. Rats must have made this place their home ever since it was abandoned, I thought. Hopefully nothing bites me. Huge cobwebs covered whole sides of crates, and the dark brown, musty floorboards creaked at every step. I flinched every time I heard a sound, but then, there was a slight rustling noise. I spun around, but nothing was there. I shook my head. I must be going insane. Anyway, I might as well get it over with and put all of this stuff into boxes. 

CREEAAAAK. I spun around, looking wildly. How is it possible that I was standing completely still, yet the floorboards were creaking? Surely, I wasn’t alone. A draft of wind blew in, shifting the fabric covering one of the crates. Something gleamed in the dark: a shiny black object. Slowly, I made my way towards that crate and found a small metal door the size of the attic door in it. I don’t know what it was, but something was calling for me to open the door. I took one last look behind me, but my heart stopped as it wasn’t the attic, yet the face of a figure covered in black with red eyes and shining white teeth staring right back at me, smiling. That was all I saw as I was struck in the head, and everything went black.

The next time I woke up, a bright white light was shining overhead, stinging my eyes. A wave of relief washed over me as I realized that I must have been taken to the hospital, hearing a beeping sound next to my bed. It was probably just a panic attack, I thought. But that wave of relief quickly vanished as I tried to get up, only finding myself pushed back in the bed. I was held there by restraints around my arms and legs, and an array of needles were placed on my bedside. This certainly wasn’t a hospital room at all. Looking around, I only saw a white room with tiles on the walls and ceiling, and a single chair outside of everything else I had already observed. My heart sank as I saw the face of that same man in black.

“Welcome,” He said. It turns out that he was wearing a mask and hood with an all black tactical outfit, which somehow still gave a mysterious look that almost made the man look otherworldly. 

“Why am I here?” I demanded. “What are you going to do to me?” I lashed out, struggling against the shackles that had bound me to the bed. The man laughed.

“Well, you sure are a feisty one,” he replied. “If you really want to know, it’s got something to do with your mother. You didn’t actually believe her death was accidental, did you?”

“Well, sort of, ” I admitted. “She was old, and it made sense if she just hurt herself. ”

“Well then, I guess I did my job right. Your mother was an exceptional woman. Aced all her classes in college, had a very respectable job, and turned out to be very successful in general,” he told me. Through the slits in his mask, I could tell that his face fell. “You see, it’s nothing personal. I was about to marry her and I would have been your father had she not found another man. Just like that, she left me, and it truly hurt. Eventually, I became so enraged about it, put in such as bad position, that all I could think of was that woman. Everything was going so well until she left me, and I had to find my revenge in some way. The attic was the best place to do it, being such an old, wonky place. I thought that would make everyone close to her hurt enough, perhaps cause a few suicides, but none of that happened. So, when the opportunity arises that I have her son in the perfect place for murder, fulfilling my lust for revenge, and of course getting his belongings with it, I decided to take it. Now, here we are.” He grinned as my face widened in shock. 

“What kind of sick person would do this?” I yelled. “I have a family and kids, you idiot! You’re not going to get away with this.”

“I already did it once. How hard can a second time be,” he countered. “Don’t worry, I’ll make your death slow and painful like I did with your mother. ” Before I could say anything else about the man, he walked out of the room.

I struggled against the shackles on the bed, looking for everything and anything that could help me escape. The syringes were out of reach, as well as everything else sharp enough to do at least some sort of damage to the shackles. It was almost like the man was trying to tempt me into escaping yet not give me a single chance to do anything. The door opened as he came back into the room with an array of knives that looked particularly vicious. Their edges were sharper than shards of broken glass, rigid and rough in every way. Without saying a word he walked up to my bed and slowly yet intently pressed the rigid knife into my arm. I grimaced in pain as it made a gash, blood slowly trickling out. He applied more and more pressure, moving the knife downwards steadily into my forearm to make a cut a few inches long. I gasped, feeling light in the head. 

“Ouch,” he said. “I bet that doesn’t feel too great.” The man laughed as he did the same to my other arm. Blood gushed out, and it felt like 1,000 bees were stinging me at once thanks to the sharp blade. Tears sprang into my eyes as my body felt as if it was set on fire and a blanket of needles covered me. As he made more cuts progressively quicker, I couldn't help but let out a scream. 

“What have I done to deserve this?” I wailed.

“That,” the man told me, “Is thanks to what your mother did.”

After what felt like an eternity of torture and pain, and when it was as though my guts were turned inside out, he finally stopped.

“That’s enough for now.” he at last told me. Then, the man took one of the syringes and without warning plunged it deep into my neck. Almost instantly, I plunged into my bed and fell asleep. 

The next time I woke up, a shockwave of pain covered my entire body. I cried out in suffering as every little movement hurt, shivers sent through my body with even a twitch of a muscle. It was like the pain of the whole world was being endured by me, and my body was carrying everything in existence. Never in my life had I felt excruciating pain that was as bad as this. Tears flooded my eyes. What am I even doing here? I thought. How did all of this happen to me, a regular, middle aged man with nothing unusual about his life? My brain felt foggy, like something was trying to cloud it up. I figured that was thanks to the syringe too. If I didn’t get out of here soon, I would either go mentally insane or get killed. Either wasn’t ideal. There had to be some way or some flaw in his plan. I looked around everywhere, using my eyes to survey every square inch of the room, until finally I found something that brought a smile on my face in what felt like an eternity. A small bunch of four metal keys were left on the bed, near my feet. It only made sense for them to be the four that unlock my shackles.

I sighed. Perhaps there could be a way out of this mess, I thought. The keys were a few inches away from my feet - a challenge, but perhaps still doable to figure out a way that would get them into my hands before the man returns. With all my strength, I moved my foot out, struggling against the shackles, in attempt to retrieve the keys. I grimaced in pain and groaned.

“Come… on… just… a few… more… Got it!” I exclaimed. My toes burned as it felt like they were stretched out of their sockets from the strain, but I knew it was better than whatever may have happened to me if I stayed in this place any longer. Slowly but intently, I balanced the keys on my foot and gently rolled it up my leg by twisting and turning my body. Every sudden movement of the keys gave me a little heart attack as one wrong step could mean not getting out of here. At last, they were just within the reach of my hands and I picked them up. After the first wrist shackle was off, the rest was a piece of cake to undo, and a minute later I was free. Leaping out of the bed, a grin spread a mile wide across my face. Every tensed muscle was loosened, like a stretch after a good night’s sleep. I must have gained a few inches of height with all the stretching I did, feeling all my muscles move after so long like a burden that had been lifted. While I was at it, I let out a big yawn. However, I wasted no more time.

“I’m not done yet,” I muttered to myself. “I’ve still got to get out of this wicked place.”

Briskly, I swung open the pale white doors to head out into a dimly lit hallway of what seemed to be some sort of abandoned complex. I heard spiders and cockroaches chitter about, creeping around in cracks and crevices. Ever so often, the light flickered on and off, sending shivers down my back. It seemed to be an endless maze of pale yellow and dirty white walls with occasional rooms of what seemed to be lab equipment and complex mechanisms. I began to jog around, my heart pacing faster as everything started to look the same. Luckily, just around the next corner there was a map which showed my location in the complex and a door marked EXIT a few hallways down. My heart took a leap as I sprinted towards the exit. Finally! As I looked down the next hallway, there was a matte black metal doorway similar to the one I saw in the attic with an exit sign above it. But when I was a few feet away from the door, the lights shut off completely, and cold hands tightly gripped my throat. 

“Not so fast,” A cold voice said in the dark. Slowly, I looked over my shoulder to see the all too familiar set of red eyes and glistening white teeth matching my gaze. 

“Let. Me. Go,” I furiously demanded, with my teeth gritted. The man laughed. 

“The next time I let you go, you’ll be a pile of crushed bones in a lifeless body.” With that, he gripped his rough hands around my throat with brute force and the intent to slaughter.

I had no clue where this man got his brute strength from, but it was exceptional and painful at the same time. Hands still clenched around my neck, he slammed me against the side of the hallway. I could see blood, well, everywhere, for the few moments when the lights attempted to flicker back on. Something was coming out of my mouth too, but it was hard to place what that was. The man further dug his nails, which were sharp as knives, deep into my neck. I could feel them piercing my organs and going further into my throat. My eyes started to close as I felt woozy. My breath became even more shallow. As if that wasn’t enough, he started beating me with his bare fists, and every few seconds I heard a solid crr-rrrunch. Half of my body was going numb, whilst the other half was on fire as if someone was picking me apart and shredding me alive. Every punch loosened my consciousness, the only lifeline I had. If I lost that, I lost my life.

“Had enough yet?” he asked, his eyes glowing a fiery red. The man bared his glistening teeth back in an attempt at a smile, but that only further terrified me. 

“I-it h-hurts,” I managed to croak.

“That’s good,” he replied, grinning. “Why don’t you make it easier for yourself and get knocked out already? It’ll be less painful.”

“Nah, I’m fine,” I told him, stronger this time. 

“Well then, suit yourself,” he said. Pulling out a wickedly curve knife, he placed it on my cheek and slowly dug it in.

There was absolutely nothing I could do as he dug it even further, until the point of the knife reached the inside of my mouth and even scraping my tongue. I wailed loudly, struggling against his grasp. 

“Hold still now,” he commanded. “It would be a shame if I couldn’t hear your screams if your throat was slit so soon.” I could hardly take it anymore. I’ve got a family and kids back home that I have been taken from, I thought. Not even the worst of criminals could do something so horrible to have deserved this. As the man started punching my face once again, knocking teeth out and grinding it all in with the blood around my mouth, I had enough. No. I’m not going to take this any longer. I need to do something to stay alive. It can’t end like this, I thought. Firmly, I repeated this in my head like a mantra as I took the man’s punches and put my hands up in attempt to block them. My bones cracked, blood flew, and I was mentally calling for anything to happen other than my pain. 

“Help,” I whispered, praying silently. “Please. Please.” And after a few more moments, the damage stopped. I waited for the next punch or slit to come, but nothing happened. The lights flickered back on, and a single gunshot sounded. 

“This is the FBI! Get on the ground and put your hands up, slowly. Don’t you dare think about pulling any tricks,” A voice sounded from across the hallway. My cries for help were heard!

I loudly gasped for air, sighing in relief. A mixture of blood, sweat and tears blanketed my entire body. Every movement hurt, from the twitch of a muscle to adjusting my body so I could see what was going on. 

“This is agent Trey Johnson of the FBI. Take the mask off slowly. No sudden movements or we’ll shoot,” he told the masked man. Doing what he told, under the mask was the face of a wrinkled, older man with gray hair and pale skin, like a ghost. His eyes gave off a look of experience, like he was all-knowing and at peace. At the same time, he looked like a psychopath and murderer with his ruffled hair and darting looks. 

“Stephen Adams,” he slowly said. “You’re a renowned international criminal, psychopath, mass murderer, and supposed mad scientist who has done many wild expeditions resulting in mysterious outcomes. ”

“That’s me,” Stephen replied, with a grim look on his face. “You won’t be getting any information out of me for as long as I live.”

“Well, that’s what they all say,” Trey sighed. “As for you, Joe,” he said, addressing me with a smile, “Your family is waiting on the other side of that door. Thank you for everything you have done today. ”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied, hobbling out of the hallway as fast as possible with all the pain I had. Nothing mattered more than getting back home now. As I opened the door back into the attic, all my fears, pain, and stress melted away.

“BARBARA! QUANDALE! SKY!” I exclaimed with all the energy left in me. 

“DAD!” Quandale and Sky squealed in unison. “Where were you?”

“I went on an… adventure in the attic,” I replied. Then, I faced Barbara. “Barbara, I-”

“Shhh,” she said as she hugged me tightly, and the kids joined too, to the point where I could hardly breathe. It didn’t matter, though, because I was fine with it. All that mattered now was my family, and that nothing like this would ever happen again. “We called the police after we heard loud sounds in the attic and you disappeared. I’m so sorry for ever doubting you, and forcing you to go back into that horrid place,” she whispered into my ear. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Besides, I learned quite a bit about myself and my mother from it. I turned out to be okay in the end, didn’t I?” I told her in my most convincing voice, smiling. She laughed. 

“Well, that’s debatable. What matters now is that you’re okay.” She replied. I yawned and stretched. 

“Besides from being pretty badly hurt, I should be fine,” I said. 

“Get some rest now, we can get you a doctor.” She commanded in her motherly tone. I only grinned and did as I was told. With every step towards the bedroom, my eyes grew heavier and heavier. As soon as my body touched the sheets, I was fast asleep, taking in and recovering from perhaps what was the riskiest, most eventful day of my life.