The Cellar

She folded her arms tightly across her chest, gripping her upper arms as she hugged herself in an attempt to comfort herself. The cellar was dark and gloomy. The air thick with damp and dust. She concentrated very hard on breathing deeply and steadily. She turned around slowly, taking in each corner of the room. A single bare lightbulb hung from the ceiling, too dim for the light it was giving off to reach all the way into the corners. She heard a noise in the furthest away corner. The frantic scrabbling of some unidentified creature. The walls were thick, old looking grey stone and there was a heavy wooden door set into one of the walls, fastened tightly with a rusted iron lock. There were various trunks and crates stacked around the room. They were covered in a thick layer of dust and ropes of cobwebs. She shuddered as she wondered what was inside them, quickly deciding she would rather not know.

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The idea of the exercise is to convey an emotion via the surroundings. My character is supposed to be frightened.