Like No Rat

92.

"Do you see anything dear?" Clarissa had been in the basement for twenty minutes and aside from dust and more awful 70's decor it was mostly just a boring basement. She had actually been on her cellphone on the last 10 minutes trying to figure out what rat signs look like.

"No Mrs. Clausen I'm not seeing anything, but I'm giving it a thorough once over I assure you." Clarissa was disappointed, she assumed something had to have been down there, but she was more increasingly convinced the only thing haunting Clausen was her loneliness. She found lots of pictures in the basement, boxes and boxes of them of family members who probably no longer visited, it broke Clarissa's heart.

"Well you be careful down there dearie, whatever it is it makes an awful sound." Clarissa hadn't heard anything, she could barely hear Mrs. Clausen above her. In desperation she called Gilbert.

"So what's haunting Mrs. Clausen?" Gilbert was chewing on something Clarissa thought it was rather rude to be eating while talking.

"What do Rats look like?"

"Brown, big tails, big ole buck teeth." Clarissa rubbed her temples for asking an obvious dumb question.

"No I mean like signs of them."

"Oh," Gilbert smiled he knew what Clarissa meant the first time, but wanted to be a dick anyway, "Usually be some large holes, things chewed up, droppings, you'll hear them too, if they are big enough they make an awful thumping in walls as they go, its no shock people think they are monsters sometimes, you see any of that?" Clarissa didn't see any of that, She hadn't seen a damn thing in the basement other than the photos and furniture.

"No nothing just some sad old memories of a lonely old person."

"The real monster loneliness, god knows I've been there, maybe she just needs someone to talk to." Clarissa was about to agree when movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. She thought at first it was Mrs. Clausen, but whatever it was had been white all white and not as big as Clausen.

"Gilbert I just saw something."

"Was it a rat?"

"No I didn't get a good look but it looked to be like chalk white and about the size of a small child." Gilbert stopped his chewing for a moment, that description reminded him of something, but he couldn't remember what. He moved to his books and took one down starting to just thumb through pages.

"Clausen wasn't acting funny was she?"

"Define funny she was fully dressed in like a pants suit and her house looks like a tribute to the seventies."

"That's definitely acting funny, hold on put me on speaker phone and keep your eyes open." Clarissa did as she was told, she didn't see the white creature, but she felt it watching her now. The feeling was like finally noticing the garbage smell in your house after months of not noticing a rotten egg, it put her at ill ease just standing in the basement.

"I'm not seeing anything, but its rather dark down here Gilbert, could just be my imagination."

"You ever hear the phrase your first instinct is usually correct?"

"Is that a phrase?"

"Yeah its a damn kids swear to god," Clarissa chuckled it was the nervous laughter of someone trying not to lose it, "Do you see any photos down there?"

"Loads of them."

"Is Mrs Clausen in any of them?" Clarissa felt that chill up her back again, she hadn't even thought about that as she'd looked at the photos, but she hadn't seen a single one with Clausen in them.

"Oh god she's not, she's not at all Gilbert." Gilbert himself felt goose bumps on his arm, he frantically flipped pages until he got to the creature he remembered.

"It's a Reeb."

"A what?"

"Pick up your phone, get your shit and get out of there."

"Who are you talking to dear?" Clarissa damn near jumped out of her skin, Mrs. Clausen was uncomfortably close to her, and now Clarissa could see her clothes didn't look neat, they were in fact frayed and didn't fit properly. Clausen's skin also sagged in a way that no normal human persons would and her eyes were too large with no white just black. How Clarissa had misssed this the first time, was probably related to what was in the basement.

"My uhh boss, I thought I saw some rats down here, but I uhh this is embarrassing I didn't know the signs of rats."

"Oh I see a rat too my dear, I see one right in front of me." The line went silent for Gilbert and he knew the Reeb had gotten Clarissa. Gilbert knew he had some time, but not a whole lot, thankfully she had texted him the address before she left. He gathered some things and didn't even tell Doris good bye, Gilbert didn't even belt himself in before starting the Van.