The Passed Note Issue 5 October 2017 | Page 23

“What?” Lenora whispered, her flashlight still hovering around the doorknob.

“I just got this image in my head. The woman locked herself in there and turned into a statue.”

“There is NOT a statue of her freaking corpse!” Lenora raised her voice, dropping the light to the floor and turning to him.

“Whoa!” James held up his hands, his light illuminating the ceiling. “I don’t really think there is. I was just…you know, it was just my imagination.”

“I just don’t want you to think anyone would…create anything…like that,” she said. “A statue of a corpse, I mean.”

“Uh, all right,” he said, confused, but decided to drop it.

They both stared at the door in silence a moment longer before backtracking to the main floor. They lingered near the front door, away from the painting.

“I guess it’s just the basement, right?” James asked, watching their shadows waver on the wall. He stepped further away from the wall and watched his grow taller, but then the light winked out.

“Oh shoot,” Lenora said.

“No worries,” he said, “I brought a spare in my other pocket.” As he pocketed the burnt out flashlight and pulled out the other from his coat, he heard the sound of lightweight metal hitting the floor, and he winced.

“Hey, I think you dropped something.” Lenora’s flashlight found it before his hands could. “What is that? It looks like wings or a plane or something?”

“It’s nothing,” he said, quickly stuffing the object back into his pocket.

“Uh…okay,” Lenora said. “Um, I don’t think there’s another room down here that I can see.”