My Saturday started as it usually does. With the buzzer of my alarm clock waking me from my questionably good night of sleep. I slowly hunch my way over to the bathroom to start my morning routine. Once showered and dressed: I finally make my way down stair and into the kitchen. Like most Saturday mornings, I was the only one home. I started to walk up to the fridge when I noticed a small piece of paper on the counter. It couldn't have been any bigger than a sticky note. It was a note from my mom. I could tell because of the cryptic handwriting that she considers to be her form of cursive. After squinting my eyes and processing the lettering for a second, I finally made out her note. It said, “Walter got into the basement again. Please don’t go down there. I’ll take care of it when I get home.”

In shock I dropped the note and thought about what she could have meant by this. I didn’t know any Walter. Why did she say again? And why would she keep him down there until she got home? So of course the first thing I did was run to the basement. I opened the door and looked down at the bottom of the stairs. Not daring to go down to turn the light on I tried looking through the darkness for a face. I found nothing. I started getting freaked out, so I yelled down and said, “Walter, Is anyone down there.”

No response. I decided that the only way to find out what was really going on was to go down. I found myself taking my time walking down the steps because with every step I took, more of the basement came into my field of vision. Almost to the bottom I look out into the darkness of the room once more. Everywhere I looked the outline of a body appeared. Knowing that it was all just junk that had been transformed in my mind out of fear; I made a fast dash for the light switch. The light illuminated the room. Showing the phantoms in my mind for what they really were. See no sigh of life I from my initial scan of the room I decide to look further. I made my way to the back of the room hoping that my mom was playing some kind of joke when I stopped in a frozen state.

Still unable to move, I felt a cool liquid being absorb into my left sock. I look down to find that I had stepped into a puddle of water. I followed the puddle back until I reached the wall where the source of the puddle came from. As I stood there pondering it, I suddenly looked up to the ceiling mouth wide open and just smiling. It was as if I had found the cure for cancer. I ran back upstairs to the kitchen. I scrambled to the floor to pick up my moms note, as if it was a winning lottery ticket. After knowing what the note was supposed to say, the words became very clear upon the second viewing. While still shaking my head at myself, I couldn't help but laugh while reading it, “Water got into the basement again. Please don’t go down there. I’ll take care of it when I get home.”