Callous (Part 12)
The Cavern
Note - This is the continuation of a vanity project. A novel written in parts, with minimal editing or fuss. If I like the end result I may gather up all the parts and rewrite them into something better. This is a learning process.
You can find parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 here.
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Jon had dinner in peace that night. There were no scratches or wails. The absence of the sounds was somehow more horrifying than anything else, it meant they were waiting for him. He knew he’d have to go.
He grabbed himself a torch, the last bits of jerky left, and all the milk he had. He decided he’d move the goats outside the cabin just in case and then opened up the hatch. The torch was an old square one Fred had shown him. He’d been told to only use it in extreme emergencies. Jonathan decided this was one.
For a good ten minutes he sat there staring down into the dark, dreading what he’d find but unable to step away. Eventually, he swallowed his fear and began.
Into the dark he went, down the steps. Once he reached the earthen floor he looked up, the candlelight in the cabin flickered and lit up the ladder and the way down, but then the tunnel was pitch black. He shined the light down both directions, and neither presented anything interesting. Just a long dark tunnel, about 8 feet in diameter. Jonathan could hear dripping, and shuffling sounds he couldn’t discern. At his feet was a thin trickle of water running down the length of the tunnel.
Without any idea of which way to go, Jonathan headed down the direction that the shuffling seemed to be coming from.
Hours, it felt like he’d been walking for hours. Nothing changed much, though the tunnel did seem to get a lot wider. Earlier Jonathan could reach the roof, but now he could see it was a good 10 feet over his head. The strange shuffling sounds didn’t increase but always seemed to be just ahead of him. He kept covering up his flashlight and then shining it in either direction hoping to catch a glimpse of movement, but he saw nothing. Jonathan belatedly realized he’d been going on a slightly downhill slope for a long time.
As he continued the tunnel widened even further, until it seemed to become a vast sort of cavern. Jonathan pointed the torch around but only a faint light could reach the cave roof. The flashlight shut off and Jonathan gave it a jiggle which kicked it back in. He traced his way around the edge of the vast space, seemingly finding nothing but small rocks. The dripping of water was much louder now, but he couldn’t see the source. Suddenly there was a great crunch, and Jonathan tripped on something. He shined his light down and was horrified to discover he was surrounded by bones. At first he assured himself they were just from goats, but the human skull he’d nearly rolled his ankle on dispelled that delusion.
He got up, fighting against the desire to flee.
”I’m here!” He called out, attempting to sound confident and strong but his voice coming out wet and flatulent like a deflating balloon. Jonathan made sure to keep glancing at the floor now. If he’d missed the bones he didn’t want to miss anything worse. At the far side of the cavern he noticed the walls themselves seemed different. Instead of the natural sort of rock he’d been experiencing since the tunnel, he could see ornate brickwork. Massive stones that reminded him of shows he’d seen about ancient Mayan cities. Large blocks that would be impossible to move. This brick wall made up one vast side of the cavern, which now Jonathan could see was absolutely immense. It had taken him nearly an hour to cross one side to the other.
Right in the center of this brick wall was a door. A normal wooden door, with an ornate knocker at the center. Jonathan found this baffling, and without even really thinking about it grabbed the knocker. *BANG BANG BANG* The noise rang out through the cave, echoing for what seemed like minutes. Jonathan froze in terror at the sheer noise of it. There was no response.
He grabbed the handle of the door, which appeared to be gold, and turned. The door opened with a vast creak that seemed almost painful in the dank quiet. Inside was a corridor, vast and rectangular, all entirely built out of the same large bricks.
Jonathan’s flashlight sputtered again, he tapped it and it came back on, but this time only for mere seconds. He banged, tapped, and shook the flashlight again and again, but to no use. He was now in the dark.
He reached around in horror, realizing he could feel the wooden door just behind him. Beyond it he couldn’t see a thing, and the thought of crossing that cavern in pitch blackness filled him with horror. He turned back down the brick corridor and peered into the blackness.
He sat down in exasperation, simply staring into that void. He didn’t know how much time passed, but after a while he saw something glowing in the distance. He was sure it was just his mind playing tricks on him, as he stood up and rubbed his eyes, but no there was clearly a reddish glow in the distance, further down the brick corridor.
Jonathan paced over to the wall, and keeping his hand on it made his way towards the glow. It was strange, it didn’t seem to give off light that would help him see, it seemed a localized red point of light a few hundred meters away down the tunnel.
Jonathan walked, in absolute terror, slowly and steadily.
Soon enough the red glow was closer, and Jonathan could see that it was some sort of crystal, a large red crystal, exuding some sort of mysterious glow. Jonathan couldn’t help himself, he reached out and touched it. As he did so the glow vanished, snuffed out like a candle under a blanket. He was once more again in the dark, but this time he heard that shuffling sound, all around him. Jonathan began to panic, banging the flashlight in desperation. It simply wouldn’t work. After the fifth bang and just as he was about to throw the flashlight away in frustration it flashed once more. He was surrounded by a literal horde of the creatures. He screamed in abject terror and turned to run away, sprinting head first into the brick wall….
Blackness..