"They say writing helps to express emotions," Lewis wrote in that same old tattered leather notebook he always kept under his bed. "But does it? I don't think so. Nor do I feel like this ever helps, but I suppose it's better than listening to my voice. God knows I shouldn't listen to my voice…right?"
As Lewis scribbled along his tattered notebook, the splattered ink from the dreary black pen blots and jerks along the old pages, only his slow, ragged breaths broke the silence within the house.
However, a faint static sound buzzed within his ear. Before he even has time to react, the computer flashes white, the screen lighting up with a photo of a pill bottle held by a figure in purple.
But just as Lewis stood up to investigate the ominous glow of the screen and the image within, the monitor died down, flickering to a still blackness that feels somehow eerie within the now dark bedroom.
"That can't have been real," Lewis mutters to himself before hearing that familiar click of the door lock signaling his parents are home from their trip. "Oh, good…it's been a while. I was getting worried about them," Lewis mutters to himself before walking barefoot on the soft velvet carpet of his room towards his bedroom door, opening it with a sharp pull and rushing towards the stairs.
Yet something felt wrong…the stairs seemed to stretch downwards, the world spinning and buzzing, the light that was once at the bottom of the stairs signalling the hallway below fizzling out into an endless void. Only the endless flight of stairs remained within the haze but just as Lewis is about to pause and question what is going on, the stairs shift and…he was back where he started…on the stairs as if nothing has happened.
As if that endless stairway never existed.
"Can you just stop?" Lewis called out to…nobody special…but even so…a small nagging voice shouted out from the darkness, a distorted and broken voice that seemed to call out from all around him "Why? Are you scared?" the voice shouted out, its voice echoing around the endless staircase.
"Please stop" Lewis whispers, his eyes darting around the staircase as the lights flicker a deep grey, the room seeming like the exact opposite of what it had been, where the endless staircase constricted and groaned under an infinite pressure, constricting and closing in around him until he smelled a familiar scent of strawberries and lavender…his mother's perfume.
"Lewis!" Her voice grounded him, the chaotic mess of closing yet infinite stairs disappearing back to their original form of a normal staircase as Rose stood at the bottom of the staircase in a ruby red strapless dress with a worried look in her ocean blue eyes. "Are you okay, honey?" Those four simple words hit Lewis harder than he could ever admit…of course he wasn't okay…when is he ever okay? After…everything…that happened to him...
"Yeah, I'm okay, Mom. Just…thinking" Lewis replied, offering a weak and hesitant smile whilst glancing away almost shyly, only to get shot down by Rose instantly, her brown hair whipped around like a leaf in the wind as she shook her head in response. "I know when you're lying to me, honey" which she immediately followed with "Did you…take your pills?"
"Not yet, Mom" was the simple reply from Lewis, sounding tired but thankful for her reminder. "Thanks," he added, looking over to her with a small hopeful smile.