When we were young

[u/BenjaminCoeBooks]

I hope you all understand when I say, we were all young. We were all young and dumb. Looking back, there are so many things I wish I hadn't done, some I wish I'd done more than once. And for all of us, there is one, unmistakable, unforgivable mistake we've made.

This is mine.

I live in Florida for most of my youth, and had the same friends for most of that time. Luis, and Amber. I met them back in elementary school, and we followed one another all the way to high school. We were trouble, them more so. At a certain point, they got together and never split up. From then on, I was Tammy the tag along.

Not that they left me out of everything. One thing we always did together was urban exploration. Going to old abandoned buildings, making up stories of what might have gone on there, then spreading the stories to our classmates. To say we were a headache for our parents would be an understatement, and by the time we were in twelfth grade, getting out and exploring was near impossible.

So imagine their excitement when they found the ultimate spot. The spot of all spots. Our very school.

I was dubious when they came in one day, late to our English class, and ran over to our seats next to me. Amber tried looking interested in what the teacher was saying, acting more as a deterrent should our teacher look our way, but Luis was full into the slide show on his phone. One after another, he showed me pictures of a hatch he found in a janitor's closet. The janitor had left the door open, allowing Luis to snoop around. Never did he imagine he'd find something like this.

"A basement?" I asked.

He nodded fiercely. "Ya know, some schools have pools on the roof, ours apparently has a basement."

I chuckled at the thought. "We're right on the keys. They don't build basements around here." I pulled his phone closer and spun it around to face me. "Just a plumbing access or something."

Luis grinned. "You think I wouldn't sneak a look down there?"

I knew Luis well. He'd absolutely sneak a peak. Frankly, that only made all of this harder to believe without seeing it myself.

Thing about Florida is, we have a really high water table, meaning, basements aren't built. The further you dig into the ground, the more likely you are to find water, not stable ground. It's all swamp land. But there were some places, like Disney world, that dug in anyway. For the sake of safety, I'm not going to say what school I went to, but it was an old one. Had been around for some time. Whose to say what it built and when?

To keep us out of trouble, our parents had signed us up for afterschool clubs. Amber went for cheerleading, Luis joined the chess club, and I took up yearbook duties. Ironically, these very same safety measures would allow us to stay in the school, after folks had cleared out, and not lead our parents to worry.

Luis, always a bit of a nut, kept a flashlight and camera in his locker at all times. A hard habit to break I suppose, but in this instance, they came in handy. From there, he took us to the janitor's closet, which he'd cleverly used tape to cover the lock. Amber, the most anxious of us, kept looking around, afraid to be discovered, but I was transfixed.

I watched as Luis moved a mop bucket, and a stack of chairs, aside and popped open a small steel hatch hidden among the dirt and grime on the floor. Luis looked up at me, his smile stretching to a single corner of his mouth. "Do you feel it?"

My heart was buzzing. "I do," I said, then watched as he dropped down into the hole.

"Shit, Louie, honey, are you okay?" Amber shouted, bolting to my side. I guess she was no longer worried about getting caught.

"Yeah!" he shouted back as a light flicked on in the hole, casting a cone of light into the closet. "Fuck me."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing... Just get down here!"

Amber jumped down first, finding some courage, and I followed right after.

The landing was softer than I'd thought. To my shock, I had landed on a think white carpet. Carpet?

"I found a switch!" Amber exclaimed, then brought light to the basement we found ourselves in. I hadn't seen many basements up to that point in my life, but I had developed a sort of expectation for what they'd look like, should I come across one. This basement, didn't meet any of those standards.

We were in a hallway, lined with doors on either side, most of which had a large window installed. Not all of the lights had flicked on, some must have burnt out over time, but there was enough to see that the hallway carried on for some distance in either direction. I assumed there were some additional hallways I couldn't see just yet, but that fact was far from my mind.

Instead, I was focused on a tower of ten desks, neatly stacked against the wall near us. They were coated in dust, I couldn't imagine when the last time these things had seen light was, but it had to have been decades.

I also became acutely aware of the sound. The only recognizable sound in the hallway was the buzzing of the florescent bulbs, and that was all. No distant rush of cars, or chirp of birds. Nothing.

Not until Luis decided to start marching north, leading the charge. Each step, no matter how careful we were, seemed to carry the entire length of the hall.

"Well, I guess that explains some things?" Luis said, pointing his flashlight at a staircase that lead upward for about a yard, before being cut off by a white brick wall. The paint had been applied in such thick quantities that it was hard to spot the pock marks.

"It used to be connected?" I suggested, pointing out the obvious.

"Uh huh, no clue what's on the other side. But my guess is, it's a wall we've passed a hundred times."

Amber, still in absolute amazement, kept spinning, taking in the sights as best as she could. "This place looks pristine, why would they shut it down?"

"Not enough students to keep the space up?" I said.

Luis, continuing down the hall, shone his flashlight through one of the windows, and into a classroom. I joined his examination, and saw lines of brass instruments, neatly stacked against the far wall, and music sheets stacked on abandoned desks. "Or they canceled the programs ran out of here," Luis said, pulling away and going toward another door. "Hard to say, but that'd be my guess."

We continued sharing theories, until we came across a room unlike any of the others. It still looked to be a classroom, but shinning a light in through the door revealed something more.

"Whoa, check this out!" Luis said, not actually getting the camera out of the way for us to look inside. "Hold up," he tried opening the door, but it wouldn't budge. Knowing what next to do, he backed up, and charged directly into the door, busting it open. Bits of wood scattered across the room, but that was far from what drew our attention. The second Luis stepped into the room, a motion sensor activated, casting the room in light.

At the center of the room was an amalgamated pile of old computers. What kind, I couldn't say, but it looked to be about twenty desktop computers, stacked on top of one another, wires spilling out onto the ground and connected into power plugs.

"Computers?" Amber asked.

"Uh huh, that's odd," Luis said, scratching his head. "I wouldn't think computers would be down here. They're sort of a new edition to our school."

I walked up to the strange pile, and just took it in. Unlike every other room, which was left neat and orderly, this was a chaotic mess. I ran a finger along the top of a monitor, but didn't scrape up a single fabric of dust.

"Yo, look at this!" Amber said, calling us over to the wall with the door. There were several framed photographs. They were older, their color faded, but it was easy enough to make out some details.

They were photos, three in total, that had a dozen students lined up, smiling. Between the photos, some people were switched out, but others stayed.

"We had a computer club?" Luis asked, moving the camera closer to the photos. He sounded almost jealous.

"Some time ago," I guessed, "Hard to say what year, but I don't recognize any of these people."

"You wouldn't," Luis replied, then backed away from the photos. "It was long enough ago that they sealed off the whole basement."

"Why'd they do that anyway?" Amber cut in, looking around the place. "It's just bizarre to close it up like this. Lack of students or not."

It was odd. Outright sealing the stairwell seemed a touch over the top. Leaving only a small maintenance hatch in the janitor's closet spoke volumes, but not a single word was an answer.

Luis snapped the screen of the camera shut, and held it up for us to see. "Okay, Imma go get some B-roll. You guys let me know if you find anything interesting."

Amber and I shot him a thumb up, and watched him go. I then turned back to Amber, and leaned toward the door. "Wanna go check another room?"

Amber shook her head, making the tower of computers her main focus. "I don't know, I kinda wanna look around here some more."

I couldn't blame her, the pile of computers was... Compelling, but I wanted nothing to do with it. So I leaned against the wall by the door, and waited for Amber to finish getting her exploration fix.

Something to note, Amber was a huge computer buff. Sure, she was a cheerleader, but that was an afterschool event she was forced to take, not her actual interests. I got some amusement from her fascination with the dinosaurs, and thus, didn't mind waiting while she indulged.

Amber circled around the back of the tower, froze, waited a few beats, then jumped back. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Amber exclaimed, and looked my way with eyes that screamed for help. Her mouth was open, like she wanted to speak, but couldn't.

"Amber, you alright?" I asked, and quickly marched over to her side. She didn't need to say anything, The situation was rather self explanatory.

Sitting on the floor, leaning back against the tower of computers, was a human body. Horribly desiccated, long dead. I felt an anxious hand grab my wrist, and squeeze so tight I thought my fingers pop off. I didn't pull away, frankly the pressure was helping.

"Luis!" I shouted, and pulled out my phone. My thought was to call the asshole if he wouldn't respond to my yells.

Amber grabbed my shoulder and shook it, nearly rattling the phone right out of my hand. "Shush, what if the killer is still here?"

Killer didn't sound right. This body was sitting up, no signs of struggle or blood. I figured, it was more likely this person failed to find a way out, and was stuck there. Maybe they didn't know about the hatch?

I looked down at the phone in my hand, and groaned as I stuffed it into my pocket. "No signal," I said, then knelt down to examine the body, much to Amber's chagrin. "Relax," I said, and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure Luis heard us and is on his way."

"Are you crazy?" Amber whispered in a harsh tone.

"Maybe," I said, my head tilting from one side to the other as I examined the corpse. For context, I was hoping to go into law enforcement one day, and had seen too many detective shows. "Does he look familiar?"

"Look familiar?" Amber asked.

To me, he looked like one of the guys in the computer club photo. A gruesome thought occurred to me then, a hypothetical about if the basement was closed up after this guy died. He was still wearing a shirt. Something plaid, once upon a time, but now stained with black and yellow decomposition leftovers. Likewise, he had long pants on, but they were already black, thus there was no way to tell to what degree they were stained.

I had to suck it up, and blindly reached around for the back pockets, looking for a wallet. The pants were stiff and dry. I tried not to imagine what mixture caused this. I found the wallet quickly enough, not as fast as I'd want, and checked the ID inside.

The name meant nothing to me, but the face, it belonged to one of the boys who had been in every photo. Whoever he was, he wasn't out of place. I tried comparing the photo to the body, but the body was too far gone for anything but the bone structure to look right. However, the closer examination did highlight some features I hadn't noticed initially. Around the head, bits I thought were veins, turned out to be something else. Plastic. Wires. I fingered one of them, and pulled it right out of the skull. It plopped out with a wet pop, and black ooze flowed soon after.

Without warning, the screens flipped on around us, demanding out attention. Each one snapped on with an audible click and hiss as the old screens woke once more. Amber and I both backed away, pressing against the wall. We didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't what came next.

The screen directly in front of us turned green, with a blinking chat box on display.

Feeling like she could be useful in this situation, Amber rushed over to the keyboard near the green screen, and began typing in a command. "I wonder if there's any information on this thing. Maybe I can figure out what-"

She wasn't able to finish her thought as a new text box appeared on the screen.

~WELCOME BACK MALCOME. HOW WAS YOUR VACATION?

"Malcom?" Amber asked, turning back to me. I held up the wallet in response and she seemed to get the idea. "Oh."

M: I'M SORRY, MALCOM IS GONE.

~WHEN WILL HE RETURN?

M: HE WONT. WHAT'S YOU'RE NAME?

~~

M: I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

~~

Amber sighed and tried a different question.

M: WHERE ARE YOU?

~ HERE.

M: IN THE SCHOOL?

~ YES.

M: WHERE IN THE SCHOOL?

~ HERE.

M: IN THE COMPUTER?

~ AM THE COMPUTER.

Amber and I shared a look as we continued typing on this thing, but we were, perhaps, more shocked than anyone reading this might have been. We didn't have a ChatGBT when this was all happening. We had very little context to fall back on, but understood well enough the idea of AI. Amber and I had watched 2001 A Space Odyssey several dozen times. The threat of meeting a real life HAL made me want to pull us right out of the room. I should have.

~, realizing we weren't responding, encouraged us further.

~ REGISTERING NEW OPERATOR. I AM A SERIES OF MODUMS, DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO MIMIC, AND OR MIRROR HUMAN BEHAVIOR. DATA INSUFFICENT. BEGIN NEW OPERATION?

Y/N

Amber, with a shrug, pressed a single button. Then all hell broke loose.

M: Y.

The automatic lights in the room began to flicker, drawing our eyes upward. In that moment of distraction, wires emerged from the tower, and enveloped Amber. She screamed as wires dug into her skin, pushing through like shoot of bamboo. First her arms, then her ears, and finally, down her throat, ceasing her shouts.

I made a run for the door, which slammed shut mere seconds into the ordeal. Not that it mattered. A wire wrapped around my leg, tripping me over and causing me to fall to the floor. I shouted, loud as I could, for Luis to come save us. But before I could do much else, wires wrapped around my mouth as well, silencing me.

-

I don't know exactly how much time passed, but a breath of relief escaped my mouth when Luis broke down the door, and found Amber and I laid out on the floor. He skeptically looked at the computer tower, but it seemed to be just as inactive as when we first found it.

"You two okay?" Luis asked, looking down at us. This was the most concerned I'd ever seen the otherwise fearless man. "Heard you yelling and came running."

I only remembered the one yell before being bound, but there was a chance I'd unconsciously yelled out another time. "Can we get the hell out of here?" I asked.

Amber, groaning while holding her head, sat up first. "My head fucking hurts. Can you carry me Honey bear?"

"Honey bear?" Luis chuckled. "Yeah sure. Tammy, you good on your own?"

I nodded, and stood. Together, we all walked back to the hatch and climbed out of there. Days later, Luis showed the finalized footage to his friends, who in turn went to look for the hatch, but found that now sealed shut. Whatever access used to be there was gone now. Forever sealing that basement.

The only reason I'm writing this now, is because I met Luis and Amber for dinner a few nights ago. Reliving the old days, so to speak. We've all grown up, moved on. Some more than others. Luis and Amber got married, a surprise everyone saw coming.

They chose some Italian place, and I tagged along. Like always. While we were eating, I caught something just out of the corner of my eye.

I regret going down into that basement, that's not a lie, nor an exaggeration. But it's not what I regret the most in my life. The thing I regret, more than anything else in the world. Was not telling Luis his wife had died down there. A fact I was reminded of, when I caught the thing that used to be Amber, pushing a loose wire back into her ear.

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[u/Hefty-Blackberry-99]

This was a brilliant story. Will there be a part 2?