she entered the midnight-black basement
she'd been scared of throughout
the months she'd lived
in the old Victorian

continuing downstairs
despite the lessons of a dozen
horror movies and her own
vivid imagination as the
violent thunderstorm made the
darkness even darker

she carried no weapons
only an offering of freshly
baked chocolate chip cookies
the batch still somewhat gooey
because the house had lost power
with two minutes left to bake

she had faith that
whatever was down here
growling and rustling and howling
was still better than what
awaited her upstairs
her boyfriend
trapped here for the night
drinking beers by flashlight
as he hinted a bit too heavily
about what they could do
to pass the time
even though they'd only been
together a few weeks and hadn't
done more than kiss

"hello," she said softly
to the impenetrable shadows
"if you don't attack me, I promise
I can bring you cookies more often.
I just want to hang out here and talk
if that's okay"

she heard a shuffle
the click of a claw against ceramic
as the plate became lighter
"okay" said a rumbly voice
"cookies are tastier than human flesh
anyway
what'd you like to talk about?"