The Thing from the Crypt

The thing in the crypt moved without purpose. It was conscious that it had only just arrived in this place and wondered where it had come from. If it once had memories of any previous experience, then they had been purged as a side-effect of its arrival. It wondered where it was. The crypt was large and the thing explored its surroundings and achieved flickerings of comprehension, building up a mental map of what enclosed it – the width, the height and the shapes within. But it felt empty, as if there should be more for it to experience.

A sliver of sunlight hit the gap underneath the door that led down to the crypt. The creature experienced it as a new sensation – one that differed from the touch it had used up until then. First, it ambled towards the beam but, initially afraid of the weak rays, it reversed and retreated to contemplate this new event before plucking up the courage to investigate further. Extruding an extension that wasn't a paw, it pawed at the tiny opening, exploring the difference of sensations between of the wood on the upper side of the gap and the gritty stone that made up the lower part. Discovering that neither the faint light nor the feel of the materials surrounding the gap caused it any pain, it pawed with renewed vigour.

Clarence whistled as he busied himself tidying up after the service. He glanced at his watch – half-past three – about an hour left before sunset. He was looking forward to getting home and putting his feet up.

He was about to finish up when he remembered the organ. The organist had reported one of the middle white notes on the upper keyboard had been sticking and Clarence, as the church's odd-job man, had promised to investigate. The organ was a bulky, electronic model from the seventies. Without a doubt, it had seen better days. The plastic of one of the bass note pedals had shattered last year and the organ now sported a crude piece of wood in its place – one of Clarence's quick-fix innovations. He sat down on the built-in wooden seat, worn from years of use and switched the instrument on, waiting a few moments while it warmed up.

The thing in the crypt learned something new about itself. It was large but it could make itself small in certain directions if it wanted. It made itself long and thin, small enough to pass through the opening from which the light shone. For a while, it hesitated wondering if it would find within the light that which it sought, even though it had no idea what it was seeking.

Once it had squeezed itself through, it resumed its previous shape, finding itself coming to rest upon a stone floor that was warmer than the floor and walls it had first encountered within the crypt. The warmth was another new sensation and it remained there for a while absorbing it, adding the experience to its, as yet, short list.

The light had waned but now waxed and, discovering that the light was now enveloping it, the creature felt afraid again but didn't know what to do about it. In the brightness, it had become disorientated, no longer able to locate the gap through which it had come. However, the light itself didn't seem to be hurting, so it spent time analysing its surroundings. After a while, it found that, by adjusting the sense that responded to the light, it could bring things into and out of focus. As an experiment, it evolved a second eye and discovered depth perception.

It surveyed its world using its new vision, experimenting with comparing the feel of the items it encountered with how they looked. Was this what it was searching for?

To its right, a large portal led to even brighter light while, to the left, was a dimmer area. The thing determined that the latter was the more inviting. It experienced the light outside the portal as a prickling sensation upon its epidermis. It therefore flowed towards the dimmer section, passing rows of similar structures that bordered a central passageway. It marvelled at how identical the structures appeared until viewed up close, whereupon small differences became clear. It flowed over the structures, initially revelling in the feel of them, spreading itself thinner and lighter until it was almost diffused into the air. But, apart from the unfamiliarity of the experience, it found there was little reward for this action. The structures returned nothing of value other than that of their initial encounter. The creature rendered itself more solid and returned to the central aisle.

Ahead, the scenery changed and singular constructions could be made out. The creature decided to investigate them one at a time. Maybe what it sought would be here. Before it went too far, however, it stopped as it experienced a brand new sensation.

Clarence, as unmusical as they come, hit keys at random until he located the offending one. The organ blasted a shrill pseudo-oboe cacophony throughout the church. He pushed his foot down on the volume pedal and smashed out some more non-chords accompanying them with haphazard stabs at the pedals. A loose window nearby rattled in protest.

The thing from the crypt was astounded as symmetrical wavelengths hit it. The sound waves shimmered over and through its body, stimulating senses the creature hadn't known it possessed. The experience was gorgeous, erotic and all too abrupt. In the silence afterwards, the creature mourned, unable to detect the source of the wavelengths.

Clarence tweaked the key up and down and then sprayed some lubricant in between it and the adjacent plastic keys. He was glad the keys weren't wooden like the old piano whose carcass still took up space at the back of the church. Someone – not him – had tried to oil the keys on that, which had only made things worse.

Clarence bashed out more tuneless noise to test if the quick fix had worked. It had.

The thing from the crypt, hearing the sounds again, dissipated into vapour and rose upwards where it swirled up under the church roof amongst beams and tiny gargoyles carved centuries before.

Clarence switched the organ off, packed away his tools and headed for the door. On his way past the entrance to the crypt, he stared at something glistening on the floor. Outside, the sun fell behind the hills and the 'something' on the floor stopped glistening. Clarence shrugged and locked the door behind him.

In the church, the thing from the crypt had traced the origin of the new sensation. It floated down onto the organ, enveloping it and becoming part of it. It felt the warmth that pervaded the artefact and traced the circuits, discovering how the silicon and carbon components could move to their own song. Although the source of its experience was now silent and its body was cooling, the creature felt certain that it would sing again. And it wanted to be here when it did. The thing settled into the workings of the organ and came to rest.

It was now content. It had tasted, felt and seen what it had sought.

It had found love.