Birds singing, flowers blooming, people walking hand in hand as they stroll through a park. All the wonders that signify spring is here. But, in a dark basement, a man sits alone. He keeps the windows closed and scorns human contact. He seeks no pleasures of any kind, preferring to live a life of dark and emptiness. On any given day, he contemplates a hundred ways he could commit suicide. But most of them require that he leave his basement.

So, still he sits in the dark, growing paler and skinnier by the day. His skin is of a sickly pallor and his face carries a gaunt, starved look. He stares with pale blue eyes at his world of forever night. No one dares to venture into the basement, too afraid of those haunting eyes. They bulge out of his skull, large and bright, taking in the world around him, analyzing every little thing in the dark. Not even a cat can see as well as he in the dark.

One day, a young boy was told the stories of the creature in the basement. He was an adventurous boy, always looking for a challenge. So, when he heard of this man, he vowed that he would see him with his own eyes, to see if the stories were true. He rang the doorbell, asking to use the bathroom. Once he was let in, he sneaked around, looking for the basement door. When he found it, he quietly opened the door, cringing when he heard a creak from the opening door. Quickly as possible, he shot down the stairs, into the dark, cold basement. He wasn’t sure what to expect in the dark, perhaps a deformed creature with yellow eyes, or a skeletal person with stringy hair. He didn’t know, so he moved cautiously, listening for breathing.

He never heard the creature move, never saw it stalking him, until it was too late. The creature was upon him! He tried to scream, but a hand clasped his mouth. He tried to run, but a strong arm held him still. The creature spun him around so that he could see the huge, pale eyes. Then, with an almighty shove, he sent the boy up the stairs, pursuing him until the boy was out the door. With a final shove, he pushed the boy back into the hallway and slammed the door shut.

Since then, no one has tried again to see the strange one in the basement. He remains a mystery to all those in the outside world, while he still sits in his basement, contemplating death.