Pentober 2026 - Day 9: Ladder

Ok so, what is Pentober? Promptober? It's a writing tradition that's been around the web for a while where you write up a short story every day in October based on prompts. Some go for pen and paper, some digital; everyone has their own style. I'll be posting here, and I'll be using the prompts from https://www.topinfiction.com/p/pentober-2026 

House rules are that I vomit-write the story; no planning, just taka taka taka on the keys. I get ONE edit at the end of the draft (if I even have time, lol), then we post it. House rules also say that I get to play catch up and do multiple days separately on one day or combined if work gets wild and I can't write. Get it? Got it? Good! Here we go.

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"Chute!"

"What's wrong?"

"No, not shoot, chute, look over there," Tyler pointed in the direction of his flashlight's beam. There was a chute going down to a deeper layer of the abandoned asylum.

I made a face of consideration, "I guess that's the way down then? We've been on this floor for a while and it's the only way down that we've seen. Or we go back up."

"Don't be a baby, we're so close to hundred-percenting this place, c'mon," he walked over to the chute and opened it, found a piece of rubble and threw it down, listened to hear if it was a clean ride, "Sounds good, let's go!" He was gone into the maw, light fading as he made his way further down. The door to the chute, which was spring loaded like a laundry chute, closed back up. I heard it clang. The reverberation sounded like echoing whoops in a cave. I clicked on my flashlight to make sure I didn't trip on my way over.

The chute was gone. Where it had been was replaced by flat wall covered in yellow wallpaper. I turned wildly looking for what I missed. There was nothing. I got low to the floor and listened. I could still hear Tyler sliding down and down and down. The gentle woosh of denim on metal rasped gently through the building.

It almost sounded like speech if you listened close enough. Through the tinnitus in my ears it almost sounded like it said "...Why should it be let so cheaply?..."

There was a clang at the bottom. From some unknown space I heard Tyler yell, "I'm down! You coming?"

I shouted back, "I can't find the chute! It's like it vanished or something!"

Tyler responded, "What did you say?!"

"...Only god to cry now..."

"...Now he's crying for an axe..."

"I think there's someone here!"

There was nothing but silence in response. I couldn't let Tyler stay there alone, at least not without him knowing I was going for help. I decided to do a second lap of the floor. Perhaps there was a door I hadn't seen or something we had missed. There always was. Plus, we had already gotten enough trespassing charges that getting help may mean jail time.

About three-quarters of the way back, past the large classroom and near the auditorium, about two hallways over to the left of the library, I saw a ladder. Some rubble must have shifted to reveal it under a pile of ceiling debris. It was large. "Perhaps this would help?," I thought, "But where to use it?"

I thought through all of the inscrutably deep holes on this floor, ones far too deep for us to leap down, on foundations far too weak to rappel down. The one in the library might be the ticket. It was on the opposite side of where the chute had been and two rooms over. I doubled back again.

The library was ornate despite the decay. You could see it had been a place of dark wood and warm leather, filled with oil light and green bankers lamps throughout the years. The smell of mildew, mold, and bookworms hung low and heavy on the air.

I walked over to the far corner where a small gap in the floor had opened up to the level below. I shoved the ladder down and in; I must have used up twenty-nine of its thirty-or-so feet before finding the bottom. I pressed hard on the ladder. It seemed secure enough. I turned to step on the first rung and, in changing my direction and elevation, noticed a small, well-preserved leather-bound book just barely sticking out of a collapsed book case's underside.

I don't know what possessed me, but I had to have it. I stepped back up, walked over, and picked it up; I took the time to read its cover before stowing it in my bag. It was in a language I didn't understand. It looked like German, or perhaps Dutch? It was entitled "Erstaunliche Geschichten der Finsternis: Die gelbe Tapete, Der König in Gelb, und andere Erzählungen"

I figured it would be a cool keepsake even if I couldn't read it, so I took it. I began to walk back and descend the ladder.

"...What she was doing with the paper she turned around as if she had been caught stealing...

"...stealing a glance at his face, “I suppose—I suppose you are in love.”..."

There were the sounds again. I could have sworn it was the rustling of pages, but where was the breeze? I felt a slight cool rush from the lower chamber coming up from the ladder as I began to step down. That explained it. Old buildings make noise and have weird phenomena. It's scientifically explainable. I continued to descend into the black. Feeling the bottom, I clicked on my light.

"Tyler?" I shouted.

"Where are you?" he responded.

"I found a ladder and a way down! Keep shouting, I'm heading your way."

Tyler shouted. He continued to shout. I made my way towards him at a normal pace. Then, realizing he was still shouting long after what should be possible, I broke into a sprint. This entire room seemed empty except for columns upon columns upon columns, as if we were in an old sewer, but made of wood instead of stone.

Eventually, after what felt like a five kilometer sprint through near-black, I found the shouting at its loudest. It was coming from inside of a pillar.

"...Now he's crying for an axe......I suppose you are in love..."

I pounded on the column. It was hollow.

"Tyler!"

"What? I'm right here."

I turned to find the voice behind me now, "Keep talking!" I said, "...she turned around as if she had been caught stealing..."

"I'm right here in the chair. Turn your light on."

"My light is on! There's no chair in here it's...it's like an empty basement. Can you hear that?"

"Where are you? I can't see you. Are you fucking with me? I can hear the singing yeah, I think there's a radio down here or something." The voice was coming from another pillar.

I pounded on that pillar. Hollow again. I scanned the room with my light. A hatchet was leaned up against a third pillar. I picked it up and. Not knowing what else to do except either leave to get help, which would mean police and possible jail time, or to start hacking pillars open, I opted to start swinging.

"Back up!"

"From what?"

I began to cut away at the first pillar, sweating the entire time, until I was clear through on one side. The darkness in there was impenetrable, even when holding my light directly up to it. I hacked at a second pillar, the same result, a third, more of the same.

"What's that banging! Shit's falling down all over here! Quake? We don't get those."

I tried to explain what was happening as I made quick work of a fourth, then a fifth, then a sixth pillar. A side of the floor came down, kicking up dust and debris as I dove into a far-off corner of the room. I was cut off from where I had came.

"What the fuck was that!"

"Cave in! Stay put."

"...What she was doing with the paper...stealing a glance...Why should it be let so cheaply?..."

The shifting of the rubble mocked me with more whispering. I felt I must be losing my mind. Not knowing what to do, and needing to catch my breath, I pulled out the book and flipped its pages. It was illuminated. There were wondering engravings done up in multicolored ink.

The third section of stories I found particularly wonderful. I stared at the drawings for a while: an ancient castle, a gigantic mansion, a theater, a cavern. Heroes, and victims, and villains wandering into the dark and light. The artists used similar faces for each of the stories; it was like the characters were walking in and out of the stories from some backstage connecting them all. The book itself was a play within a play, I decided.

"Les? Are you there? I'm scared."

I looked up. One of the pillars that hadn't collapsed fully was still dark on the inside, but Tyler's voice was as clear as day.

"Why are you scared?"

Tyler was crying softly, "I don't know what's going on. I can't find a way out of here except climbing up the chute, but it's too slippery."

"...Only god to cry now..."

I got up and walked into the dark spot. It didn't hurt. I took a step further in, then another, then another. I saw Tyler through the shadows. There was another room. We stared at each other, not sure what to say, or do, or feel.

I led him back through the shadows. We exited into the room of pillars. We explored each shadow, finding our way about, forgetting about the night or day, forgetting about the above, forgetting to climb out to the surface.

We were together down here.