“H-h-help me stepbrother, I-I’m stuck…”

Those five words rang out from the basement, my stepsister’s voice becoming louder and more desperate with every syllable.

I slowly pushed open the door. All I could see was a rickety set of stairs and part of a stone wall. “Sarah? You down there?”

“Stepbrother I’m stuck,” she shouted back.

The pull switch dangled directly in front of my face. After the bulb failed to blink on, I stepped onto the first, creaky step. “Sarah what are you doing down there?”

“I’m stuck.”

“What do you mean you’re stuck?”

“I came down to do laundry but got trapped in the washer, then the bulb went out. Stepbrother helllpppp.”

I took another hesitant step. The wooden board creaked and groaned as the middle dipped six inches, struggling to cope with the weight of my right foot. “Sarah how the hell did you get stuck in the washer?”

“I’m sorry stepbrother I know that I’ve been a bad stepsister and shouldn’t have climbed into the machine but I really need your help. Our parents are gonna be home soon. I don’t wanna get in trouble.”

Odd. Why would a twenty-three-year-old woman be so concerned with ‘getting in trouble’?

I took another step, holding onto the rail in a futile attempt to make it shoulder some of my weight. Still the boards seemed teased toward their breaking point.

My eyes failed to adjust to the shadows. “Sarah there’s something wrong with these steps—I don’t think they’re gonna support me. Can’t you just pull yourself out?”

“I’m not surprised stepbrother what with you working out so much and everything. Those big muscles must weigh a ton. That’s why I need your help, I need your strong arms to pull me out.”

This whole situation seemed seriously out of character for Sarah—she was a med student, for crying out loud. And how could she even get herself stuck inside the washer?

My train of thought was interrupted by a call of, “Stepbrother hellllppppp.”

As I bobbed up and down, the stairway pleaded for mercy.

“Stepbrothhhheeeeerrr.”

“Sarah, these stairs are seriously sketchy. Can’t you just…wriggle free?”

“…Stepbrother I’m naked.”

“What? Sarah it’s freezing down here, why are you naked?”

“I don’t know…I lost my clothes.”

Gross. I sighed. “Okay, just hold on. I’ll be there in a sec.” Slowly, carefully, spreading my weight over as wide a surface area as possible, I continued down the steps.

Navigating past the loose boards and rotted planks took almost five minutes. When my feet finally touched solid ground, I cast my arms in a wide arc, feeling my way around. “Okay Sarah, where are you? Say something.”

“Gary?” called a familiar voice from the top of the stairs.

I whipped around, confused, toward the rectangle of light above the stairway. Was that Sarah? But then who…

Before I could make a desperate break for safety, cold, hard fingers clamped around my ankles and reeled me into the thick darkness.