“I dare you to go up to the tower on the next full moon.” Tyler’s mocking voice rang through her thoughts. Those words haunted her; almost as much as the rumors and stories she’d heard for years about the tower.
Yet here she was, standing outside it. She had brought her phone and started the video as soon as she got close, to prove she had gone. She flipped the angle to show her face. “I’m going in.”
It took a minute to get around to opening the door. It was so heavy she almost dropped her phone as she pushed.
Once inside, the dark was oppressive and she would have ran back outside if the video wasn’t streaming. She was going to get massive cool points for actually doing this. No one had believed she really would. Even her best friend Heidi had laughed, saying that she would never go.
A few deep breaths later she was heading for a flight of stone stairs that spiraled the wall of the tower. Whatever building had been attached was long gone but somehow the tower itself had not crumbled at all. Sure it looked old but it wasn’t falling apart. The stairs stayed sturdy under her feet as she climbed.
The further she went, the colder she became. Rubbing her arms she groaned. “If I’d known that it would be winter in here I would have brought a warmer coat.”
Immediately after saying it out loud she regretted it…for two reasons. One, everyone watching her video was going to hear her grumbling and two, it instantly grew colder.
Shaking her head, she kept walking.
“A tower full of endless stairs. Not so scary.” She flipped the camera to talk to her viewers. “All of you were too scared to climb a tower of really cold stairs.”
Two steps later she encountered black ice coating a full step. She slid dangerously close to falling down those same stairs.
“Ice on the stairs.” She spoke into the camera. “I don’t know how but somehow it is cold enough in here to have ice on the stairs. If I fall and die I want everyone to know that I blame Tyler and will haunt him forever.”
Nodding as if to confirm it to herself she was more careful as she continued forward. It was a lot slower going after that but somehow she missed the fact that the end of the stairs was coming. In fact, she was so occupied with making sure she didn’t fall to her death that she almost ran into the large wood door.
“Alright. Door. If it is locked I’m leaving. No one said they expected me to break down doors or go ice-skating on death stairs.”
Trying the door, she didn’t know whether to cry or sigh when the door opened with ease.
“I guess I’m going in.”
As she spoke an odd noise, kind of like a thump, was followed by what she thought might be a metallic clang.
“Noises and no wind. Now I’m a little creeped out.”
It took more than a few slow deep breaths to convince herself to go any further. If she wasn’t holding the phone doing a stupid live stream she would have been down those stairs and gone already.
“In. Go in.” She tried to keep as quiet as possible, on the off chance that it would be picked up in the video. And again she mentally chastised herself for feeling like she had to record it all in the first place. Stupid Tyler.
Once inside she slumped with relief. There was no scary anything. It was an empty room. Nothing that would cause a thump, bump, or rattle.
“There’s nothing in here. It’s empty.” Her voice echoed, filling the space.
After scanning the whole room with the camera she pointed it back to her. “I guess I am going to turn this off now since there’s nowhere else to go and nothing else to see.”
With a click she slid her phone into her back pocket and gave out a relieved sigh. “Well that’s done.”
With nothing to sit on she plopped down on the floor against the cold wall. Ice stairs were not easy to manage and her legs were shaky. She closed her eyes and sighed. The trip back down was not something she was looking forward to.
Seconds later a thump startled her, her eyes popping open.
“Where did you come from?” She screeched.
Standing just a few feet away from her was a man dressed in well-worn leather with one arm chained to a post.
As she jumped up and put her fists up to defend herself, he rippled out of existence.
“Hello?”
She took another slower step forward. She could hear the rattle of his chain but couldn’t see him.
As the seconds passed she started to laugh. “I must be more tired than I thought.” Still laughing she headed for the door, only to be stopped by a really real hand grabbing her by the elbow.
She screamed and turned in the direction of whoever or whatever had touched her. And the man was back. As soon as she turned he let go and put his hands up.
“You…you can see me?” His voice was scratchy and deep. “You felt me?”
“I…well, yes?” Tabitha backed up a few more steps toward the door and he didn’t move to stop her. “What are you? Are you real?”
“I’m real. Just stuck in a curse.” He lifted his arm and dropped it. “And in this chain.”
“Curse?”
He nodded. Somehow the room grew even colder. Shadows darkened. She shivered, rubbing her hands on her thighs.
“And how do you break your curse?” She folded her arms as a gust of cold wind shot around her.
He held out a hand to her. “I can’t. But maybe you can.”
“Me?” Her head was shaking as she fought to make sense of it all.
The man didn’t move. “The curse can only be broken by a woman willing to release me from my chain.”
“Why would that be hard?” She took a step forward.
His hand went up quickly. “Stop. I must warn you. If you approach with the intent to release me from this chain, when you get within a few feet of me I transform into a strange large cat.” He took a deep breath.
“Really?” She took several steps forward, watching him closely, and he instantly dissolved into a large white Siberian tiger.
Jumping back with a scream she clung to the wall until he reappeared.
“Are you alright? Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She sucked in an icy breath. “Not hurt. Freaked out of my mind? Yes.”
The man’s shoulders slumped. “”It is alright that you leave. I understand.”
Tabitha stood there debating. “I’ll be back.”
He didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge her.
“I will.” She turned and quickly stumbled out the door.
