Earl moved his flashlight up and down the skeleton. It had a full uniform, blue and gray with a hat on too.

The outfit seemed familiar. He lightly kicked the hat off the skull and saw the logo written on it “POGO Mechanics.”

'Mh... Simon!' The name flashed in his mind, 'Yes, it's Simon! How’d you end up like this?'

Although Earl was getting used to the stronger smell in the cave, the corpse smelled awful.

Simon was one of those men who knew everyone in town, but they forgot about him when Earl was in his late teens.

Simon, a 60-year-old mechanic, always wanted to go to Mountain Cadaver and find out what's in the smelly cave.

Something not unusual for people to say in town, especially old folk who had grown in Cadaver. Earl thought there was something that drew people to the cave, like a call to adventure of some kind that builds over time and, when it reaches its peak, it’s nearly irresistible.

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Simon's uniform was still intact, like the day he disappeared. He even had car keys attached to his belt.

Earl took the flash away from the corpse, walked ahead for a bit, passing by skeleton after skeleton. Soon, it became awfully normal to him.

Sometimes he heard voices, echoing from afar. Echoes so feeble, they seemed to come out of the cave walls themselves.

Something about this place made you feel like there was more than met the eye.

Once in a while Earl would walk into spiderwebs with no spiders. Or he would pass by wet, slippery ground but water was nowhere to be seen. Other times, he heard whispers in his ears, which gave him chills, yet he was alone.

Maybe it's just what happens when you're alone in the dark: your mind can't comprehend such an environment so it starts making things up to fill the void.

Earl wondered if the latest voice he heard was real.

'I think it's time to go guys...' A delirious female voice echoed. She sounded like someone who hasn't drank water in a while.

Earl stopped and waited, to know whether the voice would continue. He waited about 10 seconds...

'I've prayed to you God, but you haven't answered. No one has come to help us. We are all going to die here... Maybe it's true, you are a lie. Maybe if I prayed to Father Christmas, he’d come pick me up. If he can go through chimneys, he’ll have no problem down here. Or, maybe I’ll pray to the boogeyman... Bet he's friendly...' She struggled to laugh, coughing between chuckles.

Earl followed the voice.