What do I do? Lauren thought to herself as she sat alone in the dark room. She could hear the taps of footsteps on the ceiling above her. She wondered if he was going to come back down. Lauren felt like a gazelle entering a lion’s den. She was scared for her life. Why did he do this? Tears fell down her face. She was weak from all the fighting. Her fingers touched the cold, damp basement floor, and she cringed at the horrible sensation.
3 months before… Lauren sat in her fuzzy blue chair browsing her Facebook wall on her large desktop computer. Just as she usually did late at night, but that night she received a message. The message was from a boy named Grant Thomason… I don’t know anyone named Grant she thought. She replied back asking who he was. He responded by saying they had never met, but he thought she was extremely beautiful and wanted to get to know her. Lauren being a hopeless sixteen year old girl was very attracted to this perfect guy figure. She was blinded by all the compliments and didn’t think anything could go wrong. Lauren and Grant talked every night for a month. He told her that he was seventeen years old and only lived thirty minutes away from her.
One Saturday morning, Lauren woke up and received a text message from Grant. He begged her to run away with him. He told her instead of driving to school she could just drive to the gas station at 47th and Brandon road. She was in over her head, so she promised she would come and meet him… and that’s exactly what she did.
Laura lies there on the floor shaking and trembling wondering if she would get out alive. She tried to work up the courage to yell and scream, but when she opened her mouth not a single word could come out. As she sat there leaning against the concrete wall, she tried to think of anything she could do to save herself. The basement was dark with a faint glare from a small window, but the window was up too high for her to reach.
Suddenly, she sees a light reflecting off what looks like a door knob. She stands up and approaches the door praying that it would lead to the outside and she could go home. She passes the staircase cautiously watching just in case he came down. What could possibly be behind this door? Laura ponders. Laura’s hand raps around the door knob she could feel the rusty filth seeping into the sweaty palm of her hand. She slowly turns the knob hoping for the best yet expecting the worst. With a creak that makes her uneasy the door opens.

A disgusting sensation reaches her nose. She instantly starts to cough. Laura peaks one eye into the closet because her curiosity got the best of her. The unbearable sight made Laura sick to her stomach. There were 4 long shelves, placed on each shelf were jars. Each jar was stained red and contained a slimy squishy organ. Are those hearts…? Laura thought to herself. She placed her hand onto her heart and began to feel very worried. Then, she heard footsteps on the stairs and her stomach sank. She quietly tried to close to closet door, but it was too late.

“So I see you’ve found my collection,” said the gross man. Laura just stood there tense and didn’t say a word.
“I really wish you hadn’t opened that door,” he murmured, “now you have left me with no choice.” The fear takes over Laura’s body and she can’t even face him. She feels him getting closer and closer until she can smell the foulness of his breath and the heat of his breath on her neck. He taps her lightly on the shoulder. She forces her eyes to look at him. In his grimy hand he held a jar…and that was the end of it. Someone may seem like an innocent 10th grade chemistry teacher can be hiding behind a great wall of secrets.