There's been a tornado warning for the past three days. I don't think what's outside is a tornado. I live in the Midwest and I won't say where and that's irrelevant but I live in an area that is prone to weather warnings specifically tornado warnings and we mostly get them between April and June but it's not too unusual to get them later in the year. What is usual however is having them last for three days.
It began three days ago. I had just gotten home from another long day's work and I had plopped myself down on the couch with a beer. I microwaved dinner and my dog Sam was a small rescue dog. I don't know her exact breed. I planned on getting a little drunk and then falling asleep to some shitty late night TV my usual weekday routine.
When I was rudely interrupted by my TV and phone blasting a tornado warning. Looking outside I could see that it was a little stormy but it definitely didn't look like tornado weather. So I pulled myself off the couch and I took my dog and dinner down into the cellar below my house. I only realized after I closed the door that I forgot my beer.
My cellar is just as glamorous as my house and I'm sure you can imagine what that means. As I was walking down the steps my hand made its way across the wall before finding the light switch. I knew that power would last long so I began to warm up the generator. After that I double-checked I had some food and water before sitting down to my old chair that I kept down here and I switched on my radio.
Wait what? I sat bolt upright and almost choking on my food. I quickly leaned forward and turned up the radio volume hoping to hear the warning for a second time. Residents are also advised to lock all doors barricade cellar entrances and to not answer any call for help or requests for entry until an official signal. Stay safe and good luck.
The radio had finally cut out just as rain began to pelt the roof of the rest of the upstairs. No matter and I heard it again for certain. Lock all doors barricade cellar entrances and not to answer any call for help or request for entry until an official signal. It had played again off my hat. Oh don't get me wrong and this isn't my first rodeo when it comes to big storms or tornadoes.
I spent countless hours holed up in here while rain lightning and tornadoes wreaked havoc above me. But never in my life had I been told that I needed to lock my doors or not to answer any call for help or a request for entry. That was weird. Initially I thought of there possibly being looters who would enter the homes of hiding people and rob them. It's happened before but never during a storm and never to such an extent to where the county would warn about it.
Besides the looters don't try to alert homeowners to their presence in any way. I tried my best to not think about it and eventually I drifted off to sleep much earlier than I would have normally done to boredom and with nothing to do other than now listen to the pelting rain above. It's pretty hard to stay awake. I was awoken around 3:00 a.m. to Sam barking and growling at the cellar door.
It was weird she never barked in storms only at people at the door or some other dogs. I walked up the stairs and I pressed my ears against the cellar door. All I could hear was the heavy rain and occasionally some thunder. It was weird the tornado should have passed by now but we still didn't get an official signal. It's not like I would have slept through it behind a light sleeper and I made sure the radio volume was up really high.
Just as I was about to go back to my chair I hear it the creak of my front door opening. Shit I thought to myself I forgot to lock it. Sam started barking louder and despite my attempts to shush her the house was quiet for a moment. I used this time to stick a wooden board between the door handle making the door almost impossible to open from the outside.
But then I heard it footsteps. They were light but definitely there. I followed them with my ears as they made their way around my house. It was hard to pinpoint where they were but I definitely heard them in my living room on the carpet and going up the stairs and into my bedroom. My eyes rushed around the room as my panic rose. I felt like there was a pit in my stomach. I was nauseated with fear.
I had left my rifle upstairs and down here the best excuse for a weapon was the couple of inch long steak knives that I brought down before. I switched off the cellar light which I had stupidly left on before and I stuck my eye in between the two cellar doors that opened out into my house. Sam had quieted down but was still growling at me. I glanced around the limited field of view that I had. I could see my couch stairs and closed door to my bathroom so not too much.
It was then that I noticed that the footsteps had stopped. Was this what the radio had warned about? I thought over all the scenarios. I had a looter here someone seeking shelter a wild animal maybe. None of it made sense. And then there was the knock. I wasn't sure if I had heard it properly at first but it quickly progressed from a quiet tapping into a banging crescendo.
It sounded like the pounding of fists had descended on my cellar door thrashing and pounding against it. Whoever whatever was banging I knew I couldn't let in. This must have been what the radio had warned about. Instinctively I jumped back and I nearly fell backwards down the stairs leading into my cellar surprising me but I composed myself and I yelled at whatever was out there. "Get out of my house I'm armed!" I shouted it. I don't think it was too convincing probably thanks to the slight tremble in my voice.
The banging on my door stopped. Did I scare it away? I thought to myself. It was quiet for a few minutes but the uneasy silence was shattered when it spoke. "Hey man you need to let me in it's really dangerous out here I don't know how long I can last." Impossible it was the voice of my brother. I hadn't seen him in years and not since he moved to the west coast. There is no possible way that he was in state. He didn't even know where I lived.
Every ounce that might be in me knew that whatever spoke was definitely not my brother but something else and yet I still replied. "Mark yeah it's been a while let me in I need to see you." And at the end of its sentence its voice trailed off. It was deeper almost raspy yeah not the voice of my brother at all. I knew I couldn't respond. It spoke again. "Look Alec for the love of God let me in it's dangerous out here the storm is strong."
I didn't give it the satisfaction of a reply which only seemed to make it more angry. "Let me in!" it screamed out of frustration. Ah its scream was sickening a high-pitched wail that filled the air and made me want to throw up. After that it started banging on the door again. It was quiet for a couple of hours after the screaming. The storm continued seemingly without a tornado however I was startled to hear my radio crackle to life.
Emergency weather alert cancelled residents are advised to leave their cellars to secure properties that is all. I let out a sigh of relief however my relief was short-lived. The broadcast seemed off. Usually at the end of a storm there would be a damage report in locations where you could go to receive aid and even maybe a bed for the night plus I could still hear the rain and thunder above me. There is no way a signal could get through. It must have somehow hijacked my radio signal.
Even though I didn't give any response to the message my radio continued to say that I could leave if it every few minutes the same line would be repeated with perfect sound quality. It was enough to make me want to unplug the thing altogether if I wasn't afraid of missing the actual end signal. Since all of that it's been rather quiet. Three days have passed without the storm or my radio subsiding. That thing whatever it is is still out there occasionally banging on my door to remind me. I'm at my wit's end if it wasn't for Sam I think I would have gone insane by now.
That's all for the moment I'll update if I can until then wish me luck. It's the eve of the fourth day now and the storm is showing any signs of stopping not from what I can hear anyway. Reading through my last update a lot of you gave me some really good advice that I ended up putting into action and I managed to get a few little chunks of sleep over the past few days. It's hard but that thing in my house occasionally bangs on the door and calls for me to open it and my freaking radios blast in the same message.
When I have not been asleep however now I've been digging out the back of the cellar. You see when I first bought this house the previous owner told me that there is a cellar door that opened to the outside but it was buried under a pile of rubble after the walls on either side of the cellar collapsed. It was strange but I think it might be my only hope. In my last post I usually recommended that I should try and call one of my neighbors. I have a landline stored down here so I tried to give them a ring.
For the first few calls I got no response. I assumed that they had either evacuated or it was stored inside of their house. I was ready to give up on that. The thing outside of my freaking door spoke again. "You're not going to get through to them I can help let me in I will help you I have food and water." You know food and water thank God that wasn't an issue. I even had a couple sacks of dog food for Sam and so she wouldn't go hungry.
Sam actually seemed to enjoy the situation when she wasn't barking at the thing outside the door. Also someone in my last post made a comment about Sam using the dog as a distraction while I run for it. While the idea is definitely valid I'm afraid that I couldn't do that to Sam. She's been with me through thick and thin. Even though my cellar is a bit too crappy I still kept it constantly stocked with supplies for these exact situations. Well maybe not this exact situation but one where I have to stay down here for a few days anyway.
I tried one last time to call my neighbors. This time thank God and they actually picked up. "Hello Mr. Robinson," I try not to sound too shaky on the phone. "Do you need help Alec?" I paused. I couldn't tell them about what was outside of my door they wouldn't believe me and probably just tell me to screw off. One Mr. Robinson would come over and potentially risk his life by initiating contact with that thing. "Yeah I'm in a bit of a spot I'm running out of food and water and my generator's broken. Would it be alright if I stayed with you guys until the storm's out?"
"Yes I think that would be okay we still have plenty of supplies so come on over here just knock on the door around the back of the house and we'll let you in." "Alright thanks see you then." I hung up and I prayed to God that I just spoke it to Mr. Robinson and not whatever the hell was out there. I had a hunch that I was safe going over there day because if this was the thing that had picked up the phone I think it would have been much more keen for me to go and despite its incredible ability to change its voice subtlety is something that it lacked.
In the time between these posts I've also done some research on what it is. A commenter on my last post said that it could have been a Wendigo. I'll be honest I've never heard of the thing outside of a couple of horror stories and it says on the Wikipedia page that it's a man-eating creature that has some human characteristics but it also resides in the forest regions of the East Coast and Great Lakes so I don't know if one could get all the way down to Kansas.
Although I don't quite know what it is I know that I don't want to come into contact with it. And before I made a mad dash into my neighbor's yard I had to work out how to distract the thing. Luckily I still knew that it was right above me due to its constantly banging on the door. Looking through the crack in between the two doors I still couldn't see anything despite the constant banging. I'll be honest I'm kind of thankful for that too. I think I would have a heart attack if I looked out and saw an eyeball looking back at me or something like that.
I knew where it was though and that was the main thing. For the rest of the fourth day I used a small sand shovel to dig out the back of the cellar. Even though the weather outside was stormy the digging left me sweaty and thirsty and thus water in Kansas heat. The work was hard and especially with my limited equipment. Most of what I dug up was just dirt however there were bits of rubble from what I assumed was parts of the walls that had caved in.
It despite the mud from the leaking ceiling and my shovel breaking I eventually managed to dig out the back side of the cellar by about 6:00 p.m. Now I just had to figure out a way to distract the creature and get me and Sam into my neighbor's cellar without being found by the thing. I spent the next half an hour setting up and gathering the materials for my plan and then I gave Sam some dinner and I made myself some minute noodles in 59 seconds.
I was in a rush to get out. And my plan as quietly as I could I replaced the board between the cellar doors with an old bit of wood that I dug up that was weak in the center. I attached a bit of rope up to it tying a loop around the weakest point and then I packed my backpack with a bit of food water and batteries. On top of all that I packed in Sam. Luckily she was quite small and then with the rope on one hand took my knife in the other.
I made my way over to the recently excavated outside door and I prepared to make a run for it. "All right come on in!" I screamed at the top of my lungs before swinging the outside cellar doors open and without looking back I made a run for it. I sprinted across the dry grass in my yard and I leapt over the poorly maintained hedge into my neighbor's before banging on their cellar door and screaming for them to let me in.
Mrs. Robinson opened the doors and ushered me in. "Come in come in you're already drenched standing out there." I jumped down into the cellar and I was shocked to find that there is no light it was almost pitch-black inside. "Oh Alec you finally arrived," Mr. Robinson's voice always glad to have visitors here sir. "Sorry it's a bit dark our generator died about an hour ago." "It's fine really better than being out of food," I replied just glad to be away from that thing.
"Yeah I bet anyway when was the last time that you saw your brother Mark?" "What do you mean?" "Oh he popped in a moment ago he was looking wondering where you were." I started to sweat my adrenaline pumping again after a brief calm period. "Is he here? Hello hello?"