August 1969

Again, I was awoken from slumber. I looked at my Spiderman clock and saw it was after midnight. I scrubbed sleep from my eyes, grasping in the dark for Growls. As I found my bear, I heard banging from downstairs along with several voices.

I slipped out of bed and went to my door. The lights downstairs were off, but I saw beams of light cutting through the black.

Flashlights?

I called out for my parents but saw their bedroom door was wide open. I knew they weren’t in bed then. More voices from downstairs followed, along with scraping across the hardwood floors. I jumped as a bang shook the night and then the voices faded.

There’s people going into the basement, I thought, frightened. Our basement was unfinished, an expanse of empty cement.

Why are they going into the basement? I thought.

Silently, assuming my parents were down there, I crept to the first floor, clutching Growls to my chest. Sure enough, the basement door was open and I saw light reflecting off the dusty floor.

I could hear my father’s voice, and then the familiar voices of our neighbors. They were speaking to someone. They were angry.

My heart froze in my chest as someone laughed from the depths of the cellar.

“Hehehehehehe.”

Making sure to not make a sound, I slunk to the open door and descended the first two steps to look out at the scene below me.