Extend the Story - Add a Room

Bradley scrambles up from the floor and propels himself through the door. Once in he slams it shut and locks it. He can hear Tom and Terry pounding on the other side but the door looks sturdy enough to withstand the assault.

His back is throbbing where he landed against the door knob, making him feel like vomitting. He walks around in a circle while he rubs his back. He is thinking. It's obvious that there is no way back, at least not by the way he had come. The only way now was to continue forward.

Bradley also realizes that he is without his torch. He dropped it and never picked it back up after he lunged for his brothers. He stands still, listening.

Breathing, somewhere behind his right ear. He stands motionless, waiting. The breathing seems to be getting closer but the dark makes it harder to judge.

Bradley hangs his head down and begins to cry silently. He feels arms embrace him from behind. This is an unfamiliar sensation. While growing up there had been no affection shown within the family.

"Son, I knew I'd see you again," says a soft voice, spoken right into his ear.

He turns in shock and sees his mother standing there. The sight horrifies him. Her head is split open and her throbbing brain exposed.

She laughs at the look of shock on his face and begins to squeeze her arms tighter around him, her face looming closer and closer until finally she tries to place her lips onto his.

He pulls away in revulsion.

"Surely you wouldn't deny your mother a kiss, would you Bradley?" she asks, with a little throaty laugh.

Ah yes, his mother. The great alcoholic whore. It's no wonder his sister Ariel had turned out just like her. He'd lost count of how many times Mother had left home and abandoned the family for this man or that one, usually after a drinking binge at the local beer dive. She never came back because she missed them. Usually her new man would beat her and leave her for dead, or dump her somewhere on the road. She'd come back, mad as hell, and Bradley was a convenient mark for her anger. She liked to hit with a well aimed stiletto heel and one time had tied him up like a dog and made him sleep on the cold kitchen floor, just out of reach of food, water or the toilet. It was even rumored in town that Mother had been having sexual relations with his brother Jake.

Bradley wasn't going to allow the she-devil to get near him again. He furiously looks about for an escape and sees a set of gates just beyond his mother. He also feels air coming from an opening somewhere in the passage.

look for the opening