"Hey lady, how's it going? Come on in," Barbara said as she stepped back so I could walk through the door into her apartment.

"There you are Joey-Jo-Jo, you little cutie," I said as I crouched down and scratched the sides of his furry little face. He jumped up and put his paws on my knees and I squealed when he started licking my face.

"Hey! Get down! Bad boy, Joey!" she said as she pushed him back down to the ground.

"Oh, that's ok. We've gotten really familiar with each other over this last week. I think he may be my new best friend."

I walked over to the couch and Joey jumped up right next to me and snuggled up to my leg when I sat down.

"Thank so much for taking care of him for me, Avery. Seriously, you saved my life. I had no idea what I was going to do with him in the evenings when I got this new job. It looks like they're going to need my help for at least another month, so do you think you can keep walking him?" she asked as she crossed the room to a kitchenette area. Her apartment was the only one in the building that had a small kitchen in one corner of the room with an oven, sink and full size refrigerator.

"Sure, no problem! I love taking Joey out at night. I forgot to tell you, I ran into the neighbor the other night when we were out for a walk."

"You're ok with pizza right?"

"Of course! I'll eat it with pretty much anything on it."

"Cool, cause I've got one with everything in the oven right now. What neighbor? You mean someone on your floor?"

Barbara walked over to the oven and pulled out a pizza and the room filled with the scent of salty meats and pizza sauce. She sliced it up then brought it and some napkins over to the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Oh, wait! Drinks! What do you want? I have beer and coke and water."

"Coke's fine. With ice, please," I said as I grabbed a slice and brought it to my mouth with the assistance of a napkin. "No, the neighbor who lives in the house next door, on the right with the McNab's Market sign out front. That totally hot guy with dark hair and insanely intense eyes. Joey and I totally spazzed out and made fools of ourselves in front of him. Didn't we Joey?" I said as I looked down into his begging eyes. "Awww, here you go." He just about jumped in the air as I held a mushroom out for him, then settled back down next to me, keeping his eyes glued to my pizza. "Do you know what his name is?"

"I don't know, McNab, maybe?"

"I mean his first name!"

"Yeah, I don't know that guy at all. He totally keeps to himself. I've never even see him coming or going. What did he say?"

"Nothing really. He seems kind of interesting though. I've seen him through his window a few times."

"What do you mean you've seen him through his window? What's he doing?"

"Nothing, really. Just looking out."

"At what, his driveway? There's nothing out there to look at except this house. Don't tell me he's looking in your window."

"Well, how would I know what he's looking at? I've just seen him a few times and then he disappears pretty quickly after that."

"Wow, he sounds weird to me. I'd stay away from him if I were you."

"You sound like my mother," I said as I laughed. I didn't want to tell Barbara that I was actually really into that guy so I played it off like it was nothing and changed the subject.

"I met a guy at school though. We're supposed to hang out tonight. He's gonna text me later so we can meet up for a drink or something," I said as I shoved more pizza into my mouth.

"That's awesome. Is he hot?"

"Yeah, he's really cute and he seems pretty nice. We always sit next to each other and talk every day in class. Actually, that reminds me, remember the day I moved in you told me about some tunnels under the buildings and that this building has an entrance through that weird metal door in the basement?"

"Yeah," she said with a mouthful of pizza. "I've never been down in the tunnels, but I've heard a lot about them. Why?"

"Well, in one of my classes, the required one about local history, someone asked a question about the tunnels and the professor said she didn't know much about them and that she wasn't even sure if the tunnels were still open or if maybe they'd caved in over the years. The professor said it's even possible that the whole story about the tunnels is just a rumor, and then I remembered what you said about them and the door in the basement. So it's all real?"

"Oh, they're real, alright. All you have to do is unlock that door and you'll see. I've always been too scared to go down there myself, but I have friends who have and swear up and down that the stories are real."

"What stories? What happened down there?"

"There's a lot of stories, like, hundreds. Apparently, at the end of the eighteen hundreds this town was a big port town for ships that brought all kinds of stuff to the west coast from all over the world. I guess a lot of these old Victorian houses were owned by wealthy people who stored food and coal and other stuff in their basements. And some of them were businesses like hot guy's house with the grocery store next door, but I think most of them were just houses with servants and the tunnels were built to make it easier for the servants to bring supplies back to the houses and businesses."

"It was easier to move stuff back and forth down there? That's crazy."

"Well, I don't think all of the streets went all the way down to the docks, so maybe that was the only way they could get some of the stuff delivered. They started down at the docks and went on for miles through this old part of town. A lot of the docks and tunnel entrances are totally blocked off now because the sections of the tunnels that came out at the end of each street had collapsed and almost the entire area between the buildings that were above the tunnels and the water started to sink. In fact, some parts over there are just cesspools now with patches of quicksand and the buildings on the last block have mostly been abandoned."

"Quicksand? Here in the middle of the city?"

"Yeah, it's all blocked off now though. They built concrete walls along the sides of the buildings so that people wouldn't climb around on the crumbling docks and fall into the nasty, murky water, but people still get over the walls and get in the buildings and hang out down there, God knows why. People also still hang out in the tunnels. Most of the entrances are locked or bricked over, but they find a way to get in, because I've heard that homeless people sometimes sleep down there to get out of the rain. But, as far as I'm concerned they'd have to be pretty damned desperate to sleep in those tunnels, with so many people disappearing in this area over the years."

"People disappeared in the tunnels?"

"Tons. Well, that's where people assume they disappeared to. The rumor is that in this part of town, over the last one hundred and fifty years or so, a whole lot of people have disappeared. And I guess why most people say that it's an urban legend is because a lot of them were prostitutes or homeless that nobody really missed so there's no way to prove that they disappeared. And, really, I guess there's no way for me to prove any of it since I've heard about all of it second or third or fourth hand, like an urban legend, but I personally think it's real."

"But don't people always think urban legends are real?"

"Yeah I guess, but I grew up here and I have friends whose families lived in this neighborhood for decades and they believe it. Some of them even know people who disappeared."

"But I thought you said that it was prostitutes and homeless people that disappeared."

"Well, a lot of them were, especially in the first half of the last century. But in the 70s and 80s a lot of young girls that were going to college here disappeared. And some of them lived in this very apartment building."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and there are friends of mine who's parents lived in this neighborhood when they were kids and they said that there were curfews almost every summer. And there was always a new story in the news about a college girl that had disappeared. I also have a friend who totally became obsessed with the tunnels after a childhood friend of his disappeared from this very street. He's researched them and gone down in them a whole bunch and he told me, from what he read, that the disappearances slowed down in the 90s, but every once in a while there's a story in the news about a young girl that's missing."

"And none of the cases have been solved?"

"Well, I guess nowadays they figure they're runaways or something and runaway cases aren't very high priority. A lot of the bodies haven't been found, so there's nowhere to start looking."

"Why all young girls?"

"Well, isn't it always young girls?"

"Yeah, it seems like it. Doesn't creep you out to live here?"

"Sometimes, but as long as I don't go down in the basement by myself I'm fine. I usually do my laundry around the corner anyway because I can just throw everything in my car and take it over there. But I don't really even like having the key to that door. And I told the landlord that I wouldn't deal with the recycling if he put it down there so he comes once a month to take care of it."

"You have a key to that door?" I said as I sat up straight. The idea of going down there by myself totally freaked me out, but checking out those tunnels with Barbara sounded awesome.

"Don't look at me that way, Avery. There is no way I'm going in those tunnels. And there's no way I'm even unlocking the big freaky lock on that door."

"Seriously? You're not even remotely curious about what's behind that door? You've never even been in there. Not once."

"No way! There is no way you're getting me down there."

"I wasn't trying to get you to do anything, I just thought it might be fun if we went together. It would be like an adventure."

"An adventure? You've got to be kidding me. It would be scary as hell."

"Well yeah, I mean, it does sound a little creepy, but it also sounds really cool. Plus, the main project in that class I have is to write a paper on some historical part of the city and I think the tunnels would be freaking amazing to do it on. I could research it and see if there's any more information online but having first-hand knowledge and pictures of what it's like down there would be so cool. And we'd be together. You and me. Best buds. On an adventure in the tunnels."

I could see by the look on her face that she might budge if I brought out some bribe ammo. The more I talked about it the more excited I got and I really just wanted to go down there and check it out and she was the only person I knew who could take me down there.

"Ok, I will walk Joey every night for the rest of the year if you will take me down there."

Barbara still didn't say anything but started to shake her head like she was about to say no so before she could I continued.

"And I'll take you out to dinner! Wherever you want to go. And drinks afterward. And anything else you want, it will be your night!"

"Ok! Ok!" Barbara said as she flopped her head against the back of her chair. "I'll do it! I'll go down there with you!"

"Honestly, I can't understand how you could not want to go down there. It's sounds so interesting and mysterious and the tunnels have such an amazing history."

"Yeah, an amazingly freaky history. I just don't like dark places like that is all. I don't even like watching horror movies. But, ok, if you really want to go down there we can do it this weekend. During the day and with a whole bunch of flashlights and I'm taking my pepper spray."

"But what difference will it make whether it's day or night if it's underground? I mean, it's gonna be dark down there no matter what."

"Dude. The bad things that happen, they happen at night. You know, the witching hour and all that."

"Yeah, but if we're together we'll be ok. Let's just go down there open the door and look."

"Now? You want to go down there right now?" she asked with her eyes as big as saucers.

"I just want to see what it looks like. I seriously don't think I'll be able to sleep or stop thinking about it."

"Ugh! Ok. But just for, like, less than a minute. Less than thirty seconds would be preferable. I mean, anything could happen."

"Don't worry, I'll be there to protect you," I said with a smile as I got up from the couch.

"Ok, let me grab my keys. I think they're in here," she said as she opened an old antique side table that stood next to the front door.

"And I'm carrying my mag light. I'm pretty sure I have another flashlight in here for you too," she said as she rifled through the same drawer that she got the keys out of.

"Here it is," she said she handed me a small flashlight.

We both put on our jackets and went out into the hall and then through the basement door, which was never locked. I reached my hand up and turned the light switch on and we both just stood on the top landing for about a minute.

"Go ahead," said Barbara as she nudged me forward. "This is your freaking adventure."

It was just like the other time I'd been down there. The dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling barely cast any light around the room, let alone all the way up the staircase. We both started down the stairs slowly but then I felt a push from behind me and I screamed.

"I think something just grabbed my foot!" Barbara squealed as she squeezed my shoulders, pushing me down the last few stairs.

I turned around and reached down and picked up a section of hose that was popping out through one of the spaces in between the steps then turned back and held it up to her.

"Ugh. Ok, I'm being a weenie," she said as she feigned a laugh. "I can't help it though. This basement really creeps me out. Let's just get this over with."

"It's not really so bad with both of us here, right?"

"Sure, whatever you say."

The metal door stood there at the end of the creepy chain link fence lined corridor. On either side, behind the fence, were small sectioned off spaces that were separated by more chain link fence, and each section had a door that was padlocked with a rusty old lock like the one on the metal door. The sections looked like storage spaces but the furniture and boxes that were inside all looked like they had been there for at least twenty years. I couldn't imagine that any of the college students that were living in this house we're storing any of this stuff.

"What is all this junk?"

"Oh, it's just old storage. It's been here since before I moved in and that was six years ago. I guess maybe old tenants that moved?"

"But why would they leave their stuff?"

"I don't know. Are we doing this or what?"

"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and unlock the padlock."

Barbara tried to put the key in the hole but it wouldn't slide all the way in. She tried to push it in and out a few times to loosen it up but she couldn't get the key to turn.

"I think we need to come back with WD 40," she said as she turned and looked at me.

"Here let me try." I took the key and wrapped my hand around the cold metal of the padlock then inserted it into the slot.

"Ok, but don't break the key. I'm pretty sure it's the only copy."

I wiggled the key back-and-forth a little bit and finally felt the lock start to turn. It was slow going, but I finally got the key to turn all the way to the right and I felt a click. I pulled down on the lock then turned and looked at Barbara and her eyes were as big as saucers.

"Are you ready?"

"No, but whatever. Let's do this."

I turn back around and slipped the curved bar out of the holes that held the lock in place, then grabbed the old metal handle on the door and gave it a tug. There was a popping sound and some dust puffed out around the door frame and as I continued to pull a long low sound came from the hinges. As I opened the door further the sound turned into a high-pitched squeal that set my nerves on edge. The sound echoed throughout the basement and down the tunnel, which added an incredibly creepy depth and made it sound like there were three or four different sounds being emitted at the same time.

The first thing I smelled when the door cracked open was an incredibly musty, dank smell, kind of like the basement, but way stronger. My hands were shaking as I reached into my pocket to grab the flashlight so I could see something, anything. There wasn't a sliver of light coming from anywhere except for the dim bulb in the basement and that was almost non existent at the end of this corridor. I pulled the door all the way open and as it gave out it's final moan the entire space in front of me lit up. I turned to my left and Barbara was standing next to me with a flashlight that was the size of a loaf of French bread with the most powerful light emitting from it I had ever seen.

"LEDs. They're the shit," she said as she squeezed my arm.

"I'm really glad you brought that monstrosity," I said as we slowly started moving forward through the doorway.

"See? See? I told you! It's real. It's a freaking tunnel!"

"Holy shit, it is."

I moved to the right out the doorway and tried to look around but the stream of light from my little flashlight didn't go very far.

"Oh my God, Barbara, your flashlight is insane," I said as I turned in the other direction. Barbara's flashlight lit at least a couple hundred feet of the tunnel, showing wooden arches and metal doors and piles of junk for an incredibly long distance.

"Will you hold that thing still? I can't see anything with you waving it around like that."

"Ok, Ok. I'm just trying to make sure that no one is sneaking up on us."

She still had her arm linked with mine and was grabbing it with the opposite hand so I put my little flashlight back in my pocket and we both held onto the big flashlight with both of our hands and moved it together. I steered us both to the right side of the basement door because I had seen a pile of boxes there that looked interesting. They were old wooden crates and that had been stacked up against the wall on the opposite side of the tunnel, and looked like they had probably contained food or produce at least fifty years ago.

"Let's go back that way," Barbara said, pulling me back in the other direction. "I saw a door down there. And keep the flashlight low so we can see if there are any rats running around in front of us. I know there are rats down here."

Barbara was moving very slowly so she could keep an eye out for rats and evil doers, so we were barely moving as we shuffled down the tunnel towards the other door.

"Hey, do you think that's the house next door? The one with the convenience store?"

"Yeah, maybe. Man, it's so creepy down here."

"I wonder if anyone ever uses this tunnel anymore, I mean for getting around. I really want to walk around some more."

"You're crazy," Barbara said as she kicked a can to make sure it wasn't moving.

Suddenly Barbara jumped and grabbed on my arm even tighter, almost knocking me over.

"Holy fuck, what was that?"

It sounded like someone yelling or laughing but it also sounded incredibly creepy and distorted because of the tunnels and I was having a hard time not imagining a freaky clown with big, sharp teeth.

"I don't know. Do you really think people live down here or hang out down here?"

"I have no idea. I really don't want to know either. Let's get out of here," she said as she pulled me back towards the basement door. Then suddenly the sound of big heavy footsteps came from somewhere up ahead of us in the blackness. The crunching of gravel kept getting louder and louder as the footsteps got closer, but we couldn't see anyone coming at all.

"Dude let's go now!"

We both turned and ran back through the basement door and slammed it shut and I quickly put the padlock back on.

"Holy shit what was that? It sounded like someone was walking right toward us!" Barbara said, her voice shaking as she tried to catch her breath.

"But how could anyone have been walking toward us? We didn't see any other lights down there, and there's no way someone could walk around down there without a flashlight."

"Maybe it was an echo or something. Man, that place is just crazy. I'm going upstairs. You can stay down here if you want to," she said as she headed towards the stairs.

I jumped as my phone went off in my back pocket, then pulled it out and read Gotta cancel tonight. Sorry.

"Are you coming back to my place? We can watch TV or something," Barbara asked when we got to the top of the stairs and shut off the basement light.

"No, I'm tired. I'm gonna head home."

"Ok, catch you later," she said with a smile as she disappeared behind her apartment door.

I went up to my room and turned the light on briefly while I rifled around in a drawer until I found what I was looking for, a candle and a pin cushion. I lit the candle and set it on the windowsill then sat on the window seat and held the pin head in the candle flame.

Of course, Trevor bailed on you. What did you expect? He probably ran into someone much hotter and more interesting than you, I thought as I watched the pin head turn red in the flame, then pulled it out and pressed it to my skin and watched a tiny trail of smoke rise into the air.