Microhorror Writing Contest

It was supposed to be a dare.  A stupid prank.  How did it come to this?

Katie struggled in the dark, damp room.  She couldn't see two feet in front of her, but occasionally, she heard shuffling and muffled sounds in the distance.  Occasionally, those sounds came off like whispers, other times like people moving in the dark.  Was she even still in the basement?  She didn't know anymore. 

Over the last few months, Katie and her friends Mike, Jeremy, and Lizzie scoped out the weird house on Wittmore Street, the one on the corner that looked abandoned.  At least, it looked abandoned.  There was always a car in the driveway, and had a home security system.  Occasionally, they would see the blinds move as they scouted the area from a distance.  However, outside of that, nothing was known about the house or its occupants.  

It started as a joke between Katie and her friends.  Lizzie was dared to simply touch the door knob.  Mike was dared to knock on the door before running away.  When it was Katie's turn, Jeremy upped the ante.  She could still hear his voice. 

"Here's what you're going to do.  There's a window in the back that appears to be broken.  You're going to squeeze you're way in, knock on the window on the opposite side so we see you've made it, and GET OUT", Jeremy had said.  It sounded so harmless.

Katie had done just that.  She slid in the back window into a darkened basement.  When her feet hit the floor, it sounded damp to her.  She saw the window on the opposite side of the basement and was heading over when she lost consciousness.  

When she awoke, she found herself strapped to something that felt like a chair.  The person who did it did an excellent job.  Katie couldn't move a muscle.  She tried to scream for help but found her mouth had been taped shut.  She had to get out.

Out of nowhere, she heard a door open at the top of the stairs.  Moments later, the lights went on.  She was dazed, and it took her a moment to focus.  When her eyes finally adjusted, she began to scream again from underneath the tape.  The room she was in was more like a torture chamber.  There were stains on the walls, and the fluorescent lighting gave her the impression she was in a hellish hospital.  That wasn't the worst of it.  Those muffled sounds she had heard were others.  5 other people sat in the room, all seemingly in the same boat.  Some were teens, some were adults.  They were strapped into chairs with bedpans underneath them. 

As the horror around her worsened, footsteps began to descend the stairs.  Katie expected a monster but saw a painfully normal man.  Hell, he could have been anyone's neighbor.  "There they are, the "Seen Too Much" Club"!  He laughed, grabbing a hypodermic needle from his pocket as Katie tried to scream again.