Chapter 5

Basement Buddies

Sitting on my bed, with headphones on, reading was my favorite thing to in my free time. Especially at night, or when it’s raining. Dunno what the stranger is doing down in the basement, but on another note, I didn’t care. Getting up, I decided to pour myself a drink, but on the way outside, I tripped.

   “Stupid loose floor tile.”

I lifted it up to put it back in its place, but when I did, a shocked face took over my neutral one on my face.

   “What the… Duct tape?”

Yep, that’s right. There was ing duct tape plastered where a floorboard was supposed to be. What is this? Guess I’ll have to find out. Slowly, I peeled a piece of tape off from the floor. It revealed another layer of tape. Annoyed, I ripped apart all the tape on the first layer, then did the same to the second layer, and finally I grabbed my scissors and cut up the third layer. Letting it fall, I wiped my hands on my jeans, and went back to reading my book.

   “Seriously though, what is under that roof?” I murmured to myself.

   “Nooo! My hair! It’s covered with duct-tape!”

That probably answered it. Looking down, I saw him. Picking pieces of tape out of his hair. I had to stifle a laugh, and I failed to do so, causing him to look up at me. Crap.

  “Well,” I said, “I gotta go… bye!”

  “No way! Now that you’ve come by, you should stay!”

What? He isn’t going to yell at me and stuff, but insisting me to stay? Oh well, why not?

  “I guess. What is there to lose?”

I slipped myself through the floorboard and landed on the basement floor. Everything was now familiar. The textbooks scattered around on the table, the sink filled with two dishes, the same t-shirts on the floor. Truth is, the place looked pretty cozy.

   “Seeing the expression of your face, you must like this place, don’t you?” The stranger asked.