Sinister (Crap title)

This was my piece for my English composition exam almost 10 years ago (Wowzers, how time literally teleports!). I think the theme was "A memory that haunts you to this day" or something like that. It's not the best, but it was what I could manage in an hour. I struggle to comprehend how I could have achieved this feat, as it takes me at least thrice the amount of time to complete one essay now. 

I have left it as it is, with only minor edits to paragraphing and grammar. 

~~~ 

Adelle, Kaine and I were the best of friends. Everything that we did, we did it together. There was not a single secret amongst us, and it wouldn’t be surprising if we were siblings in our past life.

One day, we decided to go on a road trip after our examinations. We joked and laughed throughout the journey, but our fun came to an abrupt halt when the car suddenly broke down. “Just our luck to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with a dead engine,” Kaine sighed.

“Are you sure we’re lost?” I asked, searching through a map. “Even if we’re not lost, how are we supposed to get out of here with a car that refuses to budge?” Adelle muttered dully. I started to speak when we heard a rumbling noise.

A moment later, a truck stopped beside us. The driver poked his head out of the window and called out, “What are you kids doing out here?” We explained our situation to him, and were filled with relief when he offered to let us spend the night in his home not far from where we were.

“It’s dangerous for you three to wander out here after dark. There are a lot of wild animals roaming about,” Mr. Hanks, the driver, explained. That’s weird…was it just me, or was Mr. Hanks’ eyes glinting as he spoke? My friends didn’t seem to notice anything, so I just brushed the thought aside.

“Here we are, kids,” Mr. Hanks announced 10 minutes later. His house was not exactly big, and the inside was a little messy, but we were thankful to have a place to spend the night. We had canned food for dinner, but since I wasn’t hungry, I gave my share to Adelle, who was starving.

I woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep. Suddenly, I heard sounds from Mr. Hanks’ room. It sounded…inhuman, like that of a wild beast. But somehow, it also sounded pitiful. I turned to see if my friends were awake, and panicked for a moment when I did not see them.

‘Relax, they probably went out to get some air or something,’ I assured myself. When they were nowhere in sight after 20 minutes or so, I decided to look for them, but to no avail. The only place I hadn’t searched was Mr. Hanks’ room – the source of the sound. Although it seemed wrong, my instinct told me to search there.

Slowly but steadily, I pushed the door open.

Empty.

There was no one in sight, not even Mr. Hanks. I was about to go out when I heard the inhuman sound again, and it was coming from directly beneath me!

After casting another quick glance around the room, I noticed a hole on the tiled ground. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a staircase leading to the basement. Taking a deep breath, I went down.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw what was in the basement. It appeared to be some sort of laboratory filled with caged animals. Horrorstruck yet awed, I peered into one of the cages.

Terror filled every inch of my body when I realized that it was no ordinary animal. It was half human, half animal – a chimera! And the face of the chimera I was staring at was none other than Kaine’s! Apparently Mr. Hanks was a mad scientist. Kaine and Adelle had unfortunately become experiments of his twisted mind.

“Help… me…” he whispered, but it sounded more like a growl instead. His onyx black eyes bore into mine, filled with sorrow.

“I… I’m sorry, I can’t,” I stammered and fled out of the basement and out of the house. Mr. Hanks’ truck was nowhere in sight, so I ran. I ran and I ran until I reached the very spot where our car had broken down.

Yanking the car door open, I slid in behind the steering wheel and started the ignition. Miraculously, the engine started and I raced back home. I reported the incident to the police, but they could not find the basement. No one really believed my story.

I have been living with the guilt of leaving Kaine and Adelle behind for years. But no one can really blame me. There was nothing I could have done, and I was just protecting my life, right?