There's a Cave in My Attic - Teddy Hyde

I’ve learned any electronics are useless

Oil lanterns

Maybe a burning newspaper if I’m low on oil

The attic’s at the top, but the cave goes straight down

I don’t really know how that works

It’s not my job to know

Apparently

I’ve only gotten so far

Maybe three hundred feet at most

There’s nothing in there so far, but every step I take

Fills me with more dread, more anxiety, more anticipation of something

Something just ahead

Or something just behind me, just above

Somehow underneath

In the walls

I just can’t seem to walk any farther

There’s one line of rocks

One gate of pebbles formed by my stopping every time in the same spot

Rationally and clearly I think to myself

What’s different from any of the steps you took before versus that one?

It’s just one more

Maybe a couple more after that

But there’s something unspoken

Some yelling, some slicing, pinching

That pulls me back out every time

I locked the attic weeks ago

My wife and daughter stopped yelling up to me