“I have to go out,â€? My uncle told me. “You’re welcome to wait around if you want.â€?

I had stopped by to hang out with my cousin that afternoon, but he hadn’t yet gotten home from his job at the bagel shop. After my uncle left, I was alone in the house with nothing to do but wait. After flipping through forty cable channels (this was the 80’s), I decided there was nothing on TV. Then I remembered my cousin kept his comic books in the basement. I went down for some reading material.

The basement was musty and damp and contained some junk left by the previous owner. The comics were at the end of a long hallway that mysteriously ended in a blank wall. The whole situation creeped me out, but I needed something to do so I went in. Halfway down the hall, I heard it.

“What are you doing here?â€?

It was a small child’s voice. It wasn’t angry, only curious. Still, I froze in my tracks, then backed out of the hall and up the stairs. Twenty years later, I still don’t go into that basement by myself.