Close Your Eyes and Walk Downstairs

Close your eyes

And walk downstairs

It’s not about trust

Nobody’s asking you

To trust anything

Certainly not the stairs

Certainly not the dark

You can’t trust the stairs

And you can’t trust the dark

But you can’t just stay upstairs

With your eyes open
Acting like you don’t know

There’s something down there

That needs to be dealt with

And whatever comes upon you

Will startle you so

That it’s indisputably better

To shut as much of yourself off as you can

Before you make your way

Towards the knock, knock, knock

Hold onto the railing

Steel your nerves

Feel the creak of the wood

As you hit that first step

The second more solid

Reinforced

Or maybe you’re just getting

Lighter on your feet

Tighten your jaw

Or the fear will cause

Your teeth to chatter

And any sound

Great or small

Can send whatever’s down there

Running up

You are all that stands

Between a quiet house

A slumbering family

And the thing

Behind the washing machine

The phantom

Alongside the furnace

The spectre

Slinking its way

Down from the ceiling

Waiting for you

To appear

Fear is what puts you

At a disadvantage

And the fear is fed

By what you can see

The dark of the basement

Makes everything a shadow

And a shadow is always worse

Than what’s casting it

So block it all out entirely

Let your other senses

Fill in the blanks

Nobody ever felt anything

Strong enough

To make them cower

Sounds can send shivers

But it won’t send you reeling back

And then down

Tumbling

From stair to stair

You may smell the dank

Syrupy odor

That clings

To the slug that’s biding its time

Beneath the rotted out sofa

You keep meaning to throw out

But a smell will repulse you

Not recoil you

Keep moving forward

Keep going down

Keep your eyes closed

All those other senses

Will beg you

For some sight

But you must blind yourself

To alleviate any temptation

To play the coward

What else can you do?

Barricade the basement door

With chairs and nailed planks

And a sign that forbids entry?

Someone will go down eventually

Possibly a child

Possibly your child

Whatever this is

It must be dealt with

And swiftly

Put your foot down

Then the other

And when you hear a snap

And a hiss

Swallow your hesitation

And continue to move

Into

Who

Knows

What