PART ONE
The moment before my father died, he grabbed my arm so hard his nails dug into my skin and whispered something that still haunts me. At the time, I thought maybe the cancer had finally taken his mind.
Now I know it hadn’t.
I watched as the light faded from my father’s eyes. The hospital machines made one last ticking noise before settling into complete silence. His chest rose and lowered one last time, his dark sunken eyes settled onto mine before he passed. Even in death, he still looked afraid.
There in the dark I stayed seated, with no one to comfort me, hoping my mother would answer my call.
My father, Jim Simmons, had no other family, no one to depend on. The few times I’d met him growing up weren’t pleasant. He always seemed distracted, like he was never really there in the room with you. His eyes had this way of drifting toward the floor mid-conversation, like he was listening to something coming up through it.
I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised. My mother had said he had a mental breakdown. That he was no longer safe to be around.
Back then, it had taken him weeks to realize we were even gone. There were days he would lock himself in his own office and no one would see him till the next morning.
I may not have known him well, and I was honestly kind of afraid of him, but I still cared for him. To see someone go like that, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. His last dying moments were soaked in a fear I didn’t yet understand.
His words repeated in the back of my mind over and over again. None of it made sense, not then at least. Looking back at it now, I wish he never said them. To die in silence would’ve been better.
Before death had taken him from this world and into the next, he looked at me with fear and anger. His lips trembled as the words parted from his mouth. “I can hear them…They’re still down there. All those…lights. The emptiness. I tried.” A tear gently rolled down his face. The heart monitor beeped louder. “I really tried. I’m sorry…I’m afraid. I’m afraid I’ll—”
His last breath left his mouth with his eyes settled on mine.
******
“He was deranged, Alex.” My mother scoffed on the other line. “Look, whatever he did, or whatever he said…just forget about it. It doesn’t matter anymore. It doesn’t concern you.”
“What about his apartment?” I said. I stepped outside the hospital and looked up at the stars. It was one in the morning and I could tell my mother wasn’t sleeping. She had ignored my calls earlier.
“What about it?” She hissed.
“Well, maybe there’s something there that would explain whatever he was talking about. He gave me his keys.”
“He gave you his keys?” She sounded annoyed.
“What else was he supposed to do? Let the apartment complex take his stuff?”
“Guess that makes up for all the years of not being your father.”
I rolled my eyes. Like you didn’t run away from him after all these years. You never gave him the chance to redeem himself before his death. Still, she had a point, but none of that mattered. Not now.
She continued, “I don’t like how he just popped back into your existence without talking to me first. You deserved a better father, Alex.”
“Like you would have listened to him?”
“I gave him plenty of chances. He destroyed our family with his stupid obsessions. It drove him mad.”
I could hear her breathing heavily now, she was pissed and maybe rightfully so. “What obsessions? What drove him mad, mom? Every time I asked you, you just turned the other cheek and didn’t respond. What was it that you were so afraid of about him?”
I waited and watched as an ambulance turned on its lights and sped off. “Mom?”
“I wasn’t afraid of him, Alex.”
“That’s bullshit mom. How many times had you moved us across the country to get away from him? Did you really think that would work anyways? He was a damn detective.”
“What do you want, Alex? It’s getting late.”
I can’t even begin to think about sleeping tonight. Not with that look he had on his face. Not after what he said.
So, I confessed. “You keep your secrets then. I’m gonna go check it out, see what’s there.”
“This late? No. You stay put and get some sleep first. We’ll talk more tomorrow. I want to be there when you go.”
“Okay.” I said, biting my bottom lip. Knowing damn well if she did really want to go, she’ll take her sweet time in doing so.
“Alex, promise me you’re not going over there tonight. You need the rest.”
“Okay. Okay I promise mom.” I lied.
Without another word, I ended the call. I opened my right hand and looked down at the reflective metal in my palm. He had given me the key to his apartment. There was no way in hell I could sleep tonight.
******
The apartment door creaked open so loud, I was afraid I had woken up all of his neighbors on the ground floor. I stepped inside and shut the door behind me.
I watched as goosebumps crawled up my arms and across my skin. I wasn’t alone. Something was there. Something was waiting for me all this time.
The feeling of guilt settled in the pit of my stomach for being here so soon and lying to my mother. Like a spoiled child waiting to open their gifts before Christmas. Everything in here was mine now. No one else wanted it, or had any right to claim for it. I doubted my mother would’ve wanted any part of this.
The truth was though, I didn’t care about his belongings. Sure maybe someday I could use it or sell it, but I wasn’t here for that. I wanted to understand what my father was so afraid of. What he must’ve felt guilty for, a burden he carried until his very last moment.
It had only been two hours since he passed, and seeing his single recliner in the living room, no other chair or couch waiting for any company, I regretted not trying harder to get to know him after all these years away from my mother’s grip.
In the living room, stacks of books and papers were spread across the room. The air was stale. When I turned on the living room lights, three out of the four bulbs of the main light were out. It was too dim to get a good look at anything, so I pulled out my cell phone and turned its flashlight on and began looking around for clues. Anything that would point me in the right direction.
The first thing I stumbled on was the living room wall behind the recliner. I moved closer to see, ignoring the sounds of the upstairs neighbor stumbling around above me. In large and small letters alike, my father had written words and sentences all across this wall with black ink.
ALL THESE LIGHTS
ALL THESE ROOMS
THEY FOLLOWED IT
WE FOLLOWED THEM
DON’T GO INTO THE TUNNELS
DON’T GO
DO NOT GO
DO GO
NOW
I stumbled backwards. There were drawings of what looked like pipes and boxes. So many of them I followed his trail which led me straight up to the ceiling and I gasped. The entire ceiling was coated in black scribbles. More of the same words. There in the middle of the room etched into the ceiling by what I can only imagine was made by a knife.
DO YOU HEAR THEM?
I shook my head and felt my stomach turn. Maybe I shouldn’t have come here, not so soon. My father’s words were still ringing in my head. I’m sorry…I was afraid…
I was in a room where a madman had lived.
I felt sick. I headed straight for the door to get some fresh air, but a blue flickering light from another room caught my attention.
I crept towards the nearly closed door and opened it. Inside was a computer and monitor, humming away through the night. The screen flickered on and off, a blue screensaver showing what looked like a blueprint. I walked into the room and turned the light switch on. Nothing happened. Did he really live like this? For how long?
I raised my phone light and revealed the small desk room. I pulled out his desk chair on wheels and sat down. The screensaver was a blueprint of the tunnel systems below the city of Omaha. I then looked over down to my right. There was a newspaper on the desk covered in dust. I lifted it up, dust scattered to the air as I brought it closer to view the date and title.
APRIL 20th 2010
NINE CHILDREN MISSING
On the front page for the City of Omaha News were small pictures of each child that had gone missing. All their faces smiling from what must have been a school yearbook. All of them were eighth graders. As I looked at each one, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
A floorboard creaked behind me.
I quickly turned around, expecting somehow my dead father to be standing right behind me, his terrified sunken eyes looking down at me.
No one was there.
A white stripe on a shelf behind me caught my attention. I pulled it away from the shelf and looked it over. It was a DVD case with a single disc in it. The label written with a black sharpie.
BODY CAM FOOTAGE: APRIL 2010
Without hesitation, I opened the case and inserted the disc into his pc. I was met with a lock screen. Irritated, I looked around at his stacks of papers and sticky notes. No indication of what his password would be. I sat there thinking, wondering how long I would be here and how much more I could handle of this presence I felt hovering behind me.
My first attempt was simple, admin and ADMIN. Neither of them worked. I buried my face into my sweaty palms and sighed. I don’t know him well enough and I sure as shit wasn’t good with computers. So I tried my mother’s name, doubting every second of it as I hit the enter button. Nope. Finally I landed on mine, and to my surprise I was in. Great. Another thing to add to the guilt.
My heart raced as I hovered over the disc icon and sat there in the still darkness. The screen brightness reddened my eyes. There were four video files waiting on the screen. I played the first one and turned the volume up.
BODY CAM FOOTAGE ONE
The video opened with a burst of static before the image slowly came into focus. There he was. A younger version of my father staring back at me as he adjusted the body cam’s lens. He looked healthy and full of life, a man I barely recognized.
The camera jostled as he stepped out of his car. It was 5:17pm, the sun was bright and made it hard to see as he moved forward outside towards what looked like a giant parking garage ahead. My eyes shifted back and forth as I waited to see what happened next.
As he stepped inside the parking garage he was met by a police officer.
“Hey Jim.” The police officer said. He was overweight and clearly out of breath as he spoke.
“What you got for me today, Hopper?” My father asked as they walked towards what looked like two kids further inside, waiting for them.
Hopper shook his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Several kids, nine of them to be exact, eighth graders, they’ve been missing since this morning. None of them showed up for school. Parents are worried sick. There’s a pair up ahead that we’ve been questioning, I think you’ll want to talk to them.”
“Wonderful.” Simmons said. “Another waste of my damn time. So they skipped school and were afraid to suffer the consequences at home.”
“Maybe.” Hopper hesitated then and scratched the back of his neck. “To be honest with you though, I don’t think so, not these ones.”
They then caught up with the two kids who waited for them. Both of them looked nervous and uncomfortable as they waited inside the parking garage.
“I’m detective Simmons.” My father said to them. He then turned his focus to the one on his left. “Let’s start with you son. What’s your name?”
“Adam.” He said, his voice shaking.
“Nice to meet you Adam. You wanna tell me what’s going on?”
Adam tried to speak, but struggled with his nerves. The other kid spoke instead.
“They went down there.”
“What’s your name?” My father spoke, his voice was calm and mostly gentle.
“Kevin.”
“Down where Kevin?”
Kevin turned and pointed towards a maintenance door. “Through there.”
“Was the door locked when they tried to go in, Kevin?”
Kevin shook his head no.
“Did you watch them go?”
Kevin nodded yes. “They tried to make us come, but I didn’t listen.”
“And why did they want to go down there?” My father asked.
“The rooms.”
“The sewer?” Hopper said.
Kevin and Adam shook their heads no. Kevin spoke again. “They wanted to see the rooms. Kids at school talk about it all the time.”
“Other kids have been going down into the sewers?” Hopper asked.
“I dunno. They talk like they have, but I’m not so sure.”
Adam then finally said something. “Billy told them about it.”
“You’re not talking about the homeless guy that usually hangs around in this garage are you?” Hopper said.
Both teens nodded.
Hopper turned to Simmons. “They’re talking about Billy Costigan. I’m sure you’ve met him before?” He grinned.
Simmons rolled his eyes. “That addict always finding something new to cause trouble with. Doesn’t surprise me one bit he’s started living down in the sewers.”
“That’s luxury for him.” Hopper laughed.
Simmons turned back to the boys who stood there nervously. Neither of them wanted to make eye contact. “You saw the kids follow him through that door?”
Both of them nodded. Adam answered, his voice shaking. “We watched them follow him down. He said he found something.”
“Just like that? Follow the junkie down into the sewers?” Hopper said.
“I guess so.” Kevin responded.
The footage ended. I leaned back in the chair and rubbed my eyes, almost missing the start of the next scene. I looked down to my right and saw I was still on the first tape.
Both my father and Hopper were now descending a rounded metal staircase, their feet clattering against the metal steps. Every now and then they would pass a light bulb on the concrete wall. The stairs seemed to go on and on. I could hear them talking, but I couldn’t make out any of the words they were saying amongst the rattling noise of their footsteps.
When they finally reached the bottom, there were voices on the other side of a large metal door. Hopper opened the door and they walked into what looked like a large tunnel.
There standing on a platform were several more men in different uniforms and what looked like a small fire crew. All of them were wearing hard hats.
One of the men in a blue hard hat spoke to Hopper first.
“I can hear them. But it doesn’t make sense.”
The men surrounded a large wooden table with a blueprint laid across it.
My father cleared his throat. “Where do you think the children are currently?”
One of the firemen moved in closer and pointed to the map for my father.
“This area right here. Now if you look over here just about a block away, that’s where we are. We can hear the children chatting, whispering to one another. I think they’re still trying to hide from us.”
“Take me there?” Jim asked.
The fireman nodded and moved away from the table and blueprint. The whole group followed him down the tunnel. They rounded a corner and eventually they came to a new opening built right into the side of another large tunnel. In it were several vertical pipes on the left side and on the right was a single small pipe sticking out of the wall. Three other men were already inside, talking to each other. The room was no bigger than a bedroom.
The fireman paused and then pointed towards the horizontal pipe sticking out of the right side of the wall. “If you listen, you can hear them through that pipe.”
My father got down on his knees and leaned in, the camera shifting in its place. I could no longer see the pipe itself, but it was tilted at an angle just enough I could see the other men standing in the room with him, watching. They looked helpless and confused.
The first thing I could hear from the footage was giggling. A child’s giggle. Then a kid’s voice telling someone to give it back.
My father moved closer to the eight-inch diameter pipe. “Hello? Can anyone hear me?”
The children continued to giggle and laugh. Sometimes what sounded like words were said, but nothing sounded clear enough to understand.
Simmons took his metal flashlight out and banged it hard against the pipe. The sound carried through a ways before going silent.
“Hello? Anyone there?” Simmons yelled.
One of the men in blue hats shook his head. His face was bright red as he confronted the rest of the men in the room. “Look, I get that we all can hear them in that pipe. But I am telling you none of this makes sense.”
My father got off his knees. “They’re in there somewhere. We need to find the entrance to that room. Where is it?”
The man scoffed. “You’re not listening to me god dammit. None of you are.”
“Take it easy Carter.” Hopper said, his arms crossed against his chest.
The man stood there and lowered his head. He then looked straight at the pipe, his eyes heavily focused. “That pipe was abandoned years ago. It leads to nothing, just concrete upon more and more concrete. It was originally to help with overflow but those plans got scrapped for something else. I was here when we put it in. I am telling you… It’s not connected to anything. Not other pipes, not other rooms. Not even a toddler could crawl inside it. There’s nothing in there.”
The room fell silent. All their eyes focused on the pipe sticking out of the wall. Only the voices of the children echoed through the silent room.
End of Body Cam Footage One.
PAR TWO
I’m not sure how long I sat there just staring at the screen.
Every now and then I would turn around and make sure I was still alone in that apartment.
My eyes shifted toward the second video file. I was eager to press play, even though I knew I shouldn’t. This didn’t feel right at all. It was like I was watching something that no sane person should see, especially not by themselves. The children’s voices were still ringing in my ears.
I could hear my mother’s voice telling me to go home, to go to bed, begging me to stop.
I shook it off and ignored the guilt rising inside me.
I pressed play.
BODY CAM FOOTAGE TWO
The computer speakers rattled the desk.
The video started with my father standing behind several other men wearing hard hats and reflective shirts. All of them waiting as the loud noise continued. As their bodies shifted around, I could see in between their gaps that something was being pushed into the pipe.
I leaned closer to the monitor.
My father, Jim, pushed through the group to get a better view.
A man I had not seen before was standing by the pipe with a laptop resting on top of it. He had turned the screen so everyone in the room could see what he was seeing.
Both Jim and Hopper were near the front, close enough that the body cam footage could clearly see what was being recorded as the man continued pushing a long cable through the pipe.
“Ten feet now,” the man said as he continued to carefully and slowly push the video cable through.
My eyes shifted to the time stamp on the top right. It was now 9:45pm. They had been down there for several hours now.
The cable feed only showed more pipe and bugs roaming around inside of it. The inside of the pipe itself looked wet and rusted. Only pitch black darkness was ahead.
“Fifteen feet.”
Carter stepped forward.
Every now and then between the sounds of the cable moving against the metal pipe, I could hear the kids still talking, still laughing inside there.
“Twenty-five feet,” the man said and shook his head. “How far did you say this went again?”
All of them looked over towards Carter. Sweat rolled down his face as he stood there looking dumbfounded. “Fifteen feet tops.”
“You might want to update your blueprint there.” One of the men called out.
“Thirty-five feet. Approaching forty. Wait a minute.”
The room fell silent.
My father stepped forward, enough so I could no longer see the other men. Only the laptop screen.
There through the long cable video feed, a static bright light appeared at what looked like the end of the tunnel.
“Maybe the wall is reflecting the cable light.” Someone said.
The cable man shook his head. “No, that’s not my light. There’s a room ahead.” He then thrust more cable through the pipe. A new environment emerged on screen as the cable camera had finally exited the other end. “What the hell is that?” He paused and held tightly onto the cable.
Carter stepped even closer. “That’s not fucking possible. That was never there when we built it. No way!” Frustrated, he took off his hard hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
I paused the video as the body cam footage settled on what was being shown through the laptop. I could see a part of my reflection on the monitor. My hand lay gently onto the screen as I leaned in closer to what I was seeing.
The cable camera had been pushed through into what looked like a yellow room. The entire room was lit by fluorescent lights. The walls covered in some sort of yellowish wallpaper with a pattern too blurry for me to see. Carpet covered the floor. Openings in multiple directions that led into more of the same rooms. The entire thing looked as though they had punctured through some emptied corporate office space.
Why would any of this be down in those tunnels?
Then I saw it.
I felt something crawl up my spine as I zoomed in.
I could see what I assumed was one of the children slightly peering at the camera from afar, behind one of the yellow walls, smiling.
I leaned back into the chair. What the hell was I watching?
Unable to stop, I continued the video.
My father was the first one to speak. I noticed the child’s face had vanished out of sight, no one had noticed. “I don’t care what you remember about laying this area down. We need to get into that room. They’re in there somewhere. I don’t know how, but right now I want this area sealed off. No one comes in or out of this system without me knowing about it.”
“I don’t want any part of this.” Carter said as he rolled up his own blueprint. “Whatever fucking game you guys are playing at, I’m done. I’m out of here.” He walked out of the room by himself.
“Carter, the hero everybody.” Hopper shook his head.
No one else said a word. Each of them looking back and forth at each other, questioning what they were seeing.
Through the laptop’s speakers, you could hear the children more clearly now. Running around, laughing and stomping their feet. Yet none of them showed up on the feed.
My father turned towards Hopper and the others. “How soon can we get in there?”
One of the men cleared his throat before speaking. “I’ll go over the schematic one more time, assuming there isn’t a closer spot we can breach from, we can start tonight but it’s not gonna be till tomorrow at least until we have enough clearance to get through in there.”
“Let’s bring them home.” My father said.
As the men began exiting the room, Hopper pulled my father over to the side where none of them could hear.
“You really think they’re in there?” Hopper said.
“Don’t you hear them?”
Hopper paused, looking at the laptop screen and listening to the children’s giggles echoing in the room, then nodded. It was clear to me he no longer wanted to be down there. “What about Billy? Maybe he knows how to get in there?”
“We need to assume he’s in there with them, Hopper. We can’t waste too much time on this, not with this many kids…in this place.”
End of video.
There were only two more recordings left to play.
I felt my heart race as I continued the next one.
BODY CAM FOOTAGE THREE
“Do you hear that?”
My father had woken out of bed at 4am. He stumbled across his wooden floor as he approached the shower curtain. The body cam was gripped in his hands, facing towards himself.
“Listen.”
He paused next to the shower curtain.
I leaned closer to the monitor, the chair squeaking underneath me. I was certain by the walls and the layout, this was the same apartment I was sitting in now.
My father turned the camera around to face the shower. He quickly pulled back the curtain, the metal rings on the curtain rod clanged together. He then lowered the body cam closer to the drain.
A child’s laughter crawled up through the drain.
I felt dizzy from just listening to it.
“Who’s down there?” My father called out.
Another laugh.
“I said who’s down there?” He yelled.
“Come play with us,” a voice hissed.
The first scene ended there. All I was left with for what felt like an eternity was my own reflection in the monitor and the stale empty air of the apartment. It wasn’t what was just said that disturbed me. People can play tricks on others like that easily. What disturbed me was knowing that his apartment unit was on the ground floor. No unit was underneath him. Yet even worse, this was the same apartment. Even with the voices toying with him for god only knows how long, he stayed here the entire time.
The next scene began.
My father was walking down the main tunnel I saw earlier when they first arrived. The camera feed said it was now 7am. As he got near the pipe room, Hopper handed him a cup of coffee. Loud machinery noises came from the room ahead. “They should be through soon.”
“No other way in then, huh?” Jim said.
Hopper shook his head. “This was the most direct route they could find, and the easiest one to chip through. They’ve been at it since eleven last night.”
“Forty fucking feet of concrete. Jesus. Glad they have the tools.”
Hopper laughed. “Those parents better get their pocket books ready. Something like this? Shit the city usually would take their sweet time on a project like this. If it wasn’t for those kids, we’d be waiting weeks at least.”
“No shit. Any word on Billy?”
“No one’s seen Billy. I had a few of my guys check the homeless camps. Some of them even mentioned they hadn’t seen him for a couple weeks. They figured he was long dead.”
“If he really dragged those kids down in there somehow, he’s gonna wish he was dead.” My father said and took a sip from his coffee. “Listen, Hopper…something happened this morning. Pretty sure I got it on video, but…”
A man covered in dust and tiny bits of concrete stepped out of the room and walked over. “We’re in.” He then turned and looked towards the now silent room. “You gotta see it for yourselves. Whatever this is, the city has no idea about it. It looks gigantic and all that’s above us right now is dirt, the parking garage, and a road. Doesn’t make any god damn sense why anyone would leave this down here, and shit the lights are even on.”
“You stepped inside?” Hopper asked.
The man shook his head as he brushed off chunks of concrete. “Ain’t no way in hell I’m stepping in there. My job’s done. It took twelve of us to clear it. Not a single one of us wants to go in there. Place gives us the creeps.” He then patted Hopper’s shoulder. “You guys are up next.”
Hopper sighed.
My father set down his cup of coffee onto a concrete ledge and walked with Hopper into the room.
The pipe was gone, completely annihilated by the large drill they used. There was now a much larger opening, big enough for a single man to walk through.
“Damn.” My father said as he peeked into the newly formed rough edged tunnel.
A man stepped in beside him. “There were open layers as we drilled in. Just either filled with dirt or barely any concrete at all. That helped us tremendously, otherwise this could’ve taken days if not at least a week.”
Hopper whistled and they listened as the whistle echoed through the new chamber. At the very end you could see a tiny bright light.
End of the scene.
The camera turned back on the moment Hopper and my father set foot into the unknown room. Every now and then the video feed would cut for a split second or two, like something in the room was affecting the camera.
I could hear them both breathing heavily as they pushed forward carefully with each step. Their footsteps sounded hollow. The fluorescent lights hummed above their heads.
“Hello?” Hopper called out, but no one responded.
“Your parents are worried sick, kiddos. It’s time to go home.” My father said.
Hopper waited and then shook his head after no one answered. “Years ago when I was living in Maine, there was this case that always stuck with me.” Their footsteps echoed down the empty hallway as they pressed forward. “I got a wellness check from an upset mother who said her daughter wasn’t returning her calls anymore.”
They rounded a corner. More yellow wallpaper. More fluorescent lights humming. Hopper continued.
“Anyways I get there and there’s blood everywhere. All over the daughter’s living room and bathroom floor. Come to find out, she was pregnant. Never once did she tell her parents. She was due soon, too.”
The lights above them flickered. Both men paused, then kept walking. “She committed suicide. Stabbed herself multiple times, even towards the womb. She eventually bled out on the living room floor. I knelt down and turned her around.” Hopper stopped in his tracks and turned to Jim. “I’ll never forget the look in her eyes, Jim. It’s like she saw something she wasn’t supposed to see. And then I hear a whimper and I look down towards her legs. Somehow in her dying moments she gave birth to the child she had tried to kill. The child was unharmed. Survived.”
They continued walking. The silence of the rooms pressed in around them.
“But there was something off about that apartment. The detectives we brought in confirmed it was suicide, but I couldn’t shake this feeling that someone was in there with me when I found her. I stumbled upon a pair of white padded gloves soaked in water and blood. They ran it through the system, but it belonged to no one. Not even her.”
“You sure know how to comfort a guy.” Jim said.
Hopper shook his head. “That feeling I got in that apartment, like someone or something was there with me, watching me find that body…it’s here now, Jim. Ever since we stepped foot in this place. We’re not supposed to be somewhere like this.”
“Just ignore it.” Jim replied coldly.
Hopper turned to him. “You feel it too, don’t you?”
“Yeah…I feel it too. But I swear to god if I find Billy, I’m going to fucking kill him myself.”
Hopper nodded. “Can’t say I’d blame you.”
I watched as they continued making their way through the large room. There were columns and walls pointlessly placed all around, leading to nothing but more of the same. Sharp corners all around, creating the illusions of fake paths leading to nowhere. Why would someone build this? None of the area was being used. No office equipment, no tables or desks, nothing but vast empty rooms and hallways as far as the eye could see.
Time passed as they continued walking down a straight path as far as they could, until they eventually would have to choose going left or right. On the right, there was even a small crawlspace with more of the same carpet and wallpaper. Jim got down on his knees and peeked through, it looked like it led to another big room of more of the same.
Hopper leaned down and looked through. “I don’t understand this. What the hell is this place? It just keeps going on and on. No doors, nothing to indicate any reason what this even is.”
Jim got back onto his feet. “You know what bothers me the most right now?”
“What?”
“The moment we exited that tunnel, I don’t hear the kids anymore.”
A sudden loud beep made both of the men flinch. It was Hopper’s radio.
“Hopper you there, over?”
Hopper took a slight moment to calm his nerves and gather himself before returning the call. “Jesus you about gave me a heart attack. What you got, over?”
“We found Billy…oh and Hopper, you guys should know…he’s got blood all over him.”
Both Hopper and Jim looked at each other.
Hopper grabbed his radio, his face turning red. “We’re on our way.”
Without hesitation both of them backtracked their steps, rounding the previous corner they had just passed.
“I’m gonna kill him myself,” Hopper growled.
“That better not be their fucking blood.” Jim said.
They finally made the last corner they had to go around and headed straight back towards the man-made tunnel. That’s when I realized something was wrong before they did.
The tunnel was gone.
End of Body Cam Footage Three.
PART THREE
I finally understood the burden my father had carried all these years. A burden that had torn him down to whatever was left of his own humanity. As I sat there in the dark pondering what I had just witnessed, I could not deny the creeping sensation that I was next.
The monitor flickered as I opened the last body cam footage file. An uneasiness clung to my bones. I pressed play. Not like I had a choice anymore. I sealed my fate the moment I heard my father’s last words.
BODY CAM FOOTAGE FOUR
Some time had passed since they realized the tunnel was gone. It was obvious both Hopper and my father had made multiple attempts to navigate through that endless maze, questioning if they had just gotten lost or if the tunnel really had just vanished and replaced by the same yellow wallpaper of this new hell.
They were now sitting on the carpeted floor of where they started, their backs against the walls, facing each other.
Hopper called over the radio unit. “Anyone there? Over.”
Static silence filled the void between them.
“What now?” Hopper said.
My father shrugged. “They have Billy, which means he knows a way out. It also means he probably left the children in here with us.”
“You think we’ll find them…Alive I mean?” Hopper asked.
“I have to believe. I didn’t come all this way to just get lost and not find them…not for nothing.”
“Hopper it’s Dan. Over.”
Hopper quickly held up his walkie talkie. “Good to hear your voice, Dan. We seem to be lost in here. Over.”
“The tunnel is gone, Hopper.”
Hopper looked straight at my father, his face turned white.
Dan continued. “I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s like it was never made, I’m looking at a concrete wall of where it was earlier today.”
Hopper closed his eyes and slammed the back of his head against the wall. “Billy knows a way out. You need to get it out of him. We need to figure out where he left those kids.”
Over the radio I could hear men shuffling around and someone yelling at someone else to sit down and stay still. Then a panicked voice blared through the radio’s tiny speaker.
A new voice cried out through the radio. “I can’t….I can’t….please p-p-please please. I don’t want to g-g-go back there.”
Dan yelled at the man. “How did you get out? Where are the goddamn children? Answer me, dammit Billy!”
Billy Costigan cried. “It was the only way. I’m s-sorry. I just wanted to get out. I wanted to live…I…P-please!”
Jim told Hopper to give him the radio, Hopper tossed it to him.
“Dan, it’s Detective Simmons. Keep Billy on the radio.”
“Roger that, he’s all yours, Detective.” Dan said.
“Please!” Billy cried out.
“Billy… you listen to me and you listen good. We’re stuck in here, in this place you found. You need to tell me what you’ve done with the children and how we can get out.”
“It won’t…”
“Listen. If you don’t, we’ll put you away for good. I don’t care what it takes, I’ll pin all those missing children on you, you’ll be begging me to not put you in prison. You know what prisoners like to do with guys who mess with children, don’t you, Billy?”
Billy whimpered over the radio.
“Everyone’s going to know your name.”
Silence filled the airways.
My father continued. “But if you work with me. If you just tell me what we need to know, I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
The other end was silent with some static humming.
“Billy?”
Billy stuttered as he spoke. “It…told me to d-d-do it. I was in there for weeks-s-s. Maybe-be even m-m-months.” Billy whimpered. “It said I could g-g-go, only if I bring them d-d-down here.”
“Okay Billy. Who’s it? Who told you to bring them down here? Where are the children now?”
“He’s got blood all over him, Simmons.” Dan called out.
Billy cried once more and continued. “You d-d-don’t understand…they’ve been dead since y-yesterday morning. I had to. It was the only w-w-way…the only f-f-fucking way!”
The radio fell silent, and no matter how many times Hopper or my father tried to call anyone, no one answered. It was as though the space they were in knew what was being said and left them where it wanted to leave them.
The next scene began, it was now four hours after the conversation with Billy. Both my father and Hopper were traversing through the endless maze. They discovered sections where the carpet was wet or dirty. Wallpaper torn with what looked like a knife.
Then when Jim was about to cut the feed to save battery life once more, they stumbled upon a single closed door painted in bright white. They stood in front of it for what felt like ages, neither of them saying a single word to each other.
The door was too tall. The knob had to have been at least seven feet off the carpeted floor. There was enough height for what I could only imagine some sort of giant needed in order to walk in and out of.
“You hear that?” Hopper said looking over to my father for acknowledgment. He was closest to the door.
I leaned in and turned the volume up.
Voices. Lots of voices. None of them sounded like children, though. Laughing, talking, yelling. All of them sounded cheerful. It sounded like a busy restaurant or a large gathering. Sounds of glassware and tables and chairs being moved around on the other side.
My father moved forward and on his tip toes, he managed to turn the door knob and push the creaking door forward.
The voices instantly stopped.
Hopper and Jim stood in the doorway, facing only the pitch black darkness ahead.
Hopper reached for his belt and pulled out a metal flashlight. As he clicked it on, I myself heard something heavy move in the kitchen of the apartment I was in.
I quickly paused the video and got out of my chair. With my heart pounding incredibly fast against my chest, I felt like a heart attack was imminent. I stepped outside the desk room, my phone flashlight raised high in front of me.
No one was there.
Suddenly the video I had paused resumed without my control and I jumped from where I stood.
“Jesus.” Hopper said as he stepped forward in front of my father and looked around the large room. There were tables and chairs everywhere. Empty drinking glasses and plates stacked on top of each other. Purple and black and gold confetti spread all across the floor. There were signs of some sort of graduation ceremony displayed everywhere with purple and black balloons.
No one was there. Not a single soul.
There was one sign in particular I could make out clear as day written in gold letters, hanging from the ceiling.
CLASS OF 1993
The scene ended there.
I paused the video once more before the next scene began. Cold sweat rolled down my face as I felt my heart tighten in my chest. My hands and fingers shook, unable to steady myself, I then felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise slowly to a presence I could not see nor comprehend.
Unable to move from my chair, I looked out towards the dark living room and waited for something to happen.
SSSSSHHHHHHHHH
Static buzzed through the computer speakers as the next clip began without my control. I wanted to look away. To keep my eyes away from the screen. But then I heard the children again.
“Yeah I hear them.” Hopper said to Jim. They were now standing in a long hallway. At one end, I could see the hallway came to a T crossing.
“They sound close, come on.” My father said, leading the way down the hallway towards the sound of the giggling children.
As they approached a T section, my father looked both to his left and right. Each end came to another T section. “This fucking place.”
Then a sound of a child calling for help came from his left side. Both my father and Hopper began running towards the cry for help. As they got closer to the other T section, the children began giggling again, louder and much closer now.
They were almost at the end of the section when Hopper stopped my father in his tracks.
“H-hold on for a second.” Hopper said, trying to catch his breath.
My father turned to him, the children’s laughter loud and clear were coming from somewhere behind him around the corner or so. “What’s wrong?”
Hopper shook his head and wiped the sweat from his eyes. The lights above them flickered twice. “This isn’t right. I don’t feel right about this.”
“We’ll get out of here, but first we need to get ahold of these kids and get them to safety.”
“It’s not the kids, Jim.” Hopper said, his eyes wavered back and forth. “You heard what Billy said.”
The sounds of the children grew slightly louder.
“You’re saying something else is making those noises?”
“Don’t you feel it?” Hopper gasped. “Look I know I sound crazy, but this isn’t right. None of this feels right.”
The lights flickered again, this time it was the whole hallway. Both Hopper and Jim looked up towards the ceiling and then back down to each other.
The sound of footsteps and the children grew closer. I was certain any moment now I would see them on the camera.
“If you’re wrong about this…” My father began.
“And if I’m not?” Hopper said.
I watched as my father pulled out his pistol and turned around. The gun pointed straight down at the end of the hallway. “Who’s there?” He called out.
The sound of the children grew even closer, this time with even more footsteps. It sounded like a whole parade was stomping now towards them.
“Jim…” Hopper whispered. “We need to go…now.”
My father took a few steps back. “Fuck it.” He then turned around and both of them started running down the other end of the hallway away from the crowd that was approaching. As they rounded a third corner, I could hear the children behind them screaming with excitement.
“GO! HIDE!” My father yelled. Both men continued running as fast as they could in the endless maze. The humming fluorescent lights above them flickered on and off like some sick twisted game.
They rounded several corners and eventually came to an abrupt dead end, taking the wrong turn. The sounds of the children still growing closer every second.
“Fuck!” Hopper whispered.
My father pointed towards an opening that they had missed, a small opening to their bottom right.
“You want to hide in there?” Hopper said.
“Do we have a choice?” Jim hissed.
Both men crawled into the small opening. It was built like a small hallway that only led to a dead end with no lights. Both of them turned once they reached the end and waited, my father gripped his gun tightly and pointed it towards the opening.
The sounds of screaming, giggling, laughing children had now entered where they had once stood. The lights in the hallway still flickered on and off. Both Hopper and Jim kept silent as they waited and hid in the small tunnel.
The room fell silent.
Shuffling of feet came to an abrupt end.
I watched as a large shadow casted on the wall emerged in and out of focus multiple times.
Hopper was right, it wasn’t the children.
There was something large standing there just out of sight, perhaps waiting and listening for where the men were.
“HELLO?” A child’s voice echoed down the hallway.
“I can see them!” Another child’s voice said.
My father’s gun shook violently as he still held it, pointing towards whatever this entity was.
Then emerged a sound of a newborn crying frantically.
The hairs on my arms and my neck stood straight up.
What sounded like a mother’s lullaby quickly followed after and the sound of the newborn stopped.
The lullaby continued as the entity slowly stomped away from their location.
Slowly but surely, the sound grew too faint to hear anymore.
“This whole time,” Hopper whispered. “That…thing…was luring us this whole time.”
End of scene.
The next scene began immediately. My father was looking down at the camera. Sweat and tears rolled down his face as he started crying. I had never once in my life seen him react this way. A sadness I wish I hadn’t witnessed. Hopper was nowhere to be found. The fluorescent lights above him flickered on and off. His face covered in dried blood.
“I’m sorry.” My father said. Wiping away the tears from his face.
I looked over at the top right of the screen and a heaviness filled my chest as I sat there frozen in my seat. This scene was recorded five weeks later after the tunnel incident. How long had my father been down there all alone? How did he survive with no food or water?
My father continued. “I had to do it. It was the only way. I’m not strong enough for this, not anymore. I had to leave him there…in the dark.”
A child’s giggle emerged somewhere from off camera.
He then quickly looked up towards something out of sight from the camera, as if something had entered the room with him. My father then quickly got up from the floor and turned the camera towards what looked like a ladder bolted at both the bottom and top. In the ceiling lay a wooden hatch.
“Do you see it?” He said as he pointed the camera towards the hatch. “It’s his turn now. I’m sorry…you shouldn’t have come.” My father then began climbing up the ladder. The fluorescent light next to his head buzzed louder. He laid his hand on the wooden hatch and pushed with what little strength he had left. Dust particles fell down onto the camera lens and his face as he pushed it open and crawled into a new dark space.
“I’m sorry.” He said one last time as he shut the hatch from where he came. There he stood in a dark room, the camera pointed at the wooden floor. “It was always meant to be you.”
He then pointed the camera towards what looked like his very own desk room in the dark. He was now back inside the very apartment I was sitting in.
I felt my face grow pale as the camera focused on what was sitting in his desk room.
The camera showed my body looking down at the monitor with the same fear my father had in the hospital.
End of Body Cam Footage Four
I quickly got out of the chair and pointed my phone light towards where he was supposed to be just now filming me. I felt sick to my stomach as I realized no one was actually there. How the hell was this possible? How could he have recorded me from 2010? I stepped outside of the desk room, my hands and legs shaking as I carefully walked towards the kitchen. Something shifted beneath my feet. I pointed the flashlight down towards the kitchen floor and there I saw the wooden hatch my father had used.
As I stood there unable to move my own body, I heard the mother’s lullaby coming from the other side of the hatch.
Everything has led to this.
Even now I feel it pulling me in.
The space beneath us is real.
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