The Chido is a limestone cave. It’s a solutional cave, which means that it’s been formed by naturally acidic water trickling down through the ground and dissolving away the limestone across millions of years. Many species of cave-dwelling animals, or troglophiles, live within, most prominently colonies of bats. There are also many stories in local folklore about the cave, notably about a powerful ghost living within. However, auragraphical scans have shown no indication of any spectral lifeforms inside the cave system.

This and more was explained to us on the tour that is currently concluding. The guide’s voice echoes off the orange-lit walls of the cave as she speaks, answering a question our teacher, Mr Isobe, has asked about bats. I doubt many of my classmates care what she has to say. Seiichi and his cronies certainly don’t, still whispering to each other and snickering like they’ve done for the whole tour. I think I heard them mention my name once or twice, but I’m not sure. Still made me clench a fist.

“Any more questions?” the guide asks, a smile on her face and her hands behind her back. Sunlight peered in through the cave entrance behind her.

Not one member of our class speaks up. I think everyone’s hoping for this to end soon. This is our final class for the day.

“I guess you explained everything so exhaustively that no one has any questions left,” Mr Isobe says.

The guide chuckles. “Well, that’s good to hear. But if you change your mind, you can always come back here and ask any one of our staff.”

Mr Isobe nods, then checks his wristwatch. “We still have about fifteen minutes left before we need to get back to our bus,” he says to us. “You’re free to roam around the tour area freely until half past. Meet me here then. And don’t be shy to ask the staff for directions if you get lost!”

It’s basically impossible to get lost here. The tour path is a single loop, if winding, and has multiple informational signs along it that have arrows pointing to the next location of interest. If you really had to ask someone where to go, ninth grade is probably too high for you.

The other students talk amongst themselves for a moment before dispersing. Most of them disperse, anyway. Seiichi and his friend stay by the entrance. I guess they also just want to go home. Shame. It would have been nice if they’d gone back and beat the odds by managing to get to a dangerous place unsupervised. Then they could have tried to do something stupid and gotten themselves injured. Perhaps killed. Wouldn’t that be something.

I’m about to leave when Mr Isobe locks eyes with me and steps closer. Damn it.

“How did you find the cave, Red?” the short man asks, a cautious smile on his round face. I catch a glimpse of Seiichi looking at me and snickering some more. I clench my jaw.

“It was alright,” I say.

“Did you like the pond?”

“Yeah.” I was kind of impressed by it, really. I was going to go back and see it. I’m just not about to show any emotion when Seiichi or anyone in league with him is watching.

“Would you say that you learned things?”

He’s persistent. How annoying. But I suppose his optimism when it comes to interacting with me is a breath of fresh air. Most teachers try to have as little to do with me as they can. That’s because they’ve seen what I am. Mr Isobe is too new. And naive. He thinks there’s still a chance for me.

“Yeah,” I say, hoping my deliberate choice not to mention what it is I’ve learned will get him to take the hint.

“Like what?”

No such luck. I take a moment to think. “That stalactites are the ones that come down from the ceiling, and stalagmites are the ones that come from the ground.”

“Very good,” he says, his smile widening. If he was a dog, he’d be wagging his tail.

Then his smile wavers for a moment. What’s he thinking?

“You know, you should go back and admire the cave some more,” he says. “It’s twenty dollars if you come here on your own later.”

Finally. “I’ll do that.”

I glance at Seiichi. He’s immersed in conversation. He doesn’t see me as I take my leave. Hopefully that means he won’t come after me.

My footsteps echo off the walls as I make my way back through the tour path. After a bit, I pass Haruki and her friends. They quiet in their conversation as I walk past, eyeing me in apprehension. But I want nothing to do with them. They don’t have to shun me. Still, they do. Every student that isn’t brave enough to bully me shuns me.

It used to feel nice to be feared. Now, I have to wonder how much better my life would be had I not chosen this path for myself…

After some more walking and passing a few signs, I reach the pond area. There are quite a few students here. They, too, glance at me and lower their volume. I sigh and ignore it, stepping up to the railing on the pond’s edge.

The water is calm and clear, partially showing what’s underneath the surface while partially reflecting what’s above it. Both views are pale stone, but the cave’s ceiling has stalactites hanging down rather than just bumps and crevices. I wonder how cold the water would feel to touch, but the surface is far too low for me to reach safely. Even if it wasn’t, I don’t think the staff would appreciate people shoving their greasy fingers in.

That wouldn’t have stopped me once, but I’ve become too tired of it all. I don’t want to play with fire anymore. I’ve been burned too many times.

Yet I know it’s going to happen again. It’s inevitable - it’s just the way I am. I’ll lose control, worse than ever before, and end up in juvie. And then it’ll get a hundred times worse. They don’t have kids like Seiichi there. They have actual psychos. Ones that don’t put others down because they’re insecure and looking for peer approval but because they simply take pleasure in others’ suffering. People that the kind of kid I used to be grow into if the fear and the doubt never set in.

I envy them. I wish I could be like them. Well, I wish I could be normal. But that’s even less likely to happen.

I keep staring at the water. Minutes must be passing, but it feels like time stands still.

…

Oh, shit. How long have I been here?

I look around and see that all my classmates are gone. I check my watch. Twenty-five past two. I’m supposed to be back in five minutes. I better get going.

I leave the pond area and head back through the passage. I turn a corner and --

Seiichi. Seiichi, Rokuro and Jake. With aggravating smirks on their faces.

“Got lost, Red?” Seiichi asks. Rokuro and Jake snicker.

I don’t answer, simply standing still.

“Or maybe you just… got lost in thought,” Seiichi says, stepping closer. “I mean, with those pointy rock-things rising from the ground, I could see you getting some ideas.”

What does he… wait, did he mean… oh, fuck you!

“You’d love them up the ass, I bet, faggot.”

Rokuro and Jake laugh like it’s the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. My fists clench as my jaw tightens.

I still don’t know if he actually knows it. It’s very likely that he just says it because it gets a rise out of me. But if it gets a rise out of me, there’s the danger that he realizes it’s personal, and then he would actually know. I don’t know if it would change anything, since he must have already told everyone I was gay, but I still don’t want that to happen.

“I don’t hear you denying it,” Seiichi says in the most fucking infuriating tone. The first violent thought crosses my mind, and I’m honestly surprised it took that long. I see myself grabbing his face and smashing his skull against the cave wall. He would shut up then. He’d shut up, and Rokuro and Jake would run away screaming.

No, try not to dwell on that thought. The more you dwell, the more alluring the idea becomes.

“Hey! Earth to faggot!” More laughter from his friends.

The thought comes back. Repeats, repeats, killing Seiichi over and over. My fists begin to shake. How can I be this weak-willed? How can his words, meaningless words, generate such brutal hatred in me?

Do it. Do it. He deserves it. You deserve it. No. I’ll get arrested. My life will get so much worse. If I bear this, I can live free another day.

It’s going to happen anyway. Just give in. You know you want to see him bleed, see the light leave his eyes.

I do, I really do, but I have to be smart about this. It’s not going to be worth it.

It’s going to be worth it.

Seiichi slowly raises his hand. What is he doing? Is he going to touch me? If he touches me, I’m going to lose it for sure. I cannot allow fuckwits like him to touch me and get away with it. Yet I’m paralyzed. I can’t move, because if I move, I’m not gonna be able to stop. I’m going to go through with killing him. And yet I know the same will happen if I let his dirty fucking fingers make contact with my skin.

If we sum it all up, I have nothing left but seconds until it all descends to chaos.

He’s bringing the hand to my cheek. I think he’s going to prod me, because I’m supposedly stuck in my thoughts. I guess I actually am, but not through any kind of absentmindedness. Not that he would care. I’m nothing but a joke to him, so I don’t actually have any kind of thought process or internal experience. But soon he won’t have those either.

My heart pounds in my ears as I stare at his fingers. He’s about to do it. He’s about to do it.

And he’s going to be sorry.

He looks past me. His eyes widen, and he recoils, pulling back his hand. What?

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“What the fuck?” he breathes. There’s confusion in his voice… and fear.

I glance at Rokuro and Jake. They seem to see something as well, their expressions no longer shit-eating grins but rather those of alarm. It’s obvious what this means. There’s something behind me. Something bad.

Seiichi turns tail and runs away. “Go, go!” he shouts at his friends, who flee as well. I look over my shoulder to see --

Nothing?

I turn around fully and try to see what got the others so afraid. There just isn’t anything. Just an empty passage.

I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel like I should get the hell out of here just to be sure. I begin to run --

“Wait.”

Huh?

I stop and turn around again. Still nothing. But I’m sure I heard --

“You did.”

The voice is deep and masculine, and the words are delivered calmly. It feels as if it’s coming from all around me rather than any one direction.

“Who are you?” I ask. “Where are you?”

“Look to your left.”

I look to my left, seeing nothing -- hold on. A portion of the wall is… fading. Revealing a new passage behind it.

“Go there.”

I take a step towards the opening before I catch myself.

I can’t just follow a mysterious voice into a secret passage in a cave. This has to be a ghost playing tricks on me. Maybe the ghost they had all those stories about. Maybe they didn’t see anything with their scans just because they got sloppy or something.

“I am not a ghost. I am something else.”

He read my mind. Actually, he already did it before. How is he able to do that? Has he already possessed me?

”I maintain that I am not a ghost.”

“Stop doing that,” I breathe, feeling fear creep in. “Stop reading my thoughts. A-actually, leave me alone. I need to go home.” I hold my head.

”Stay, please. Stay and come to me. I can help you.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. I feel… strange. Unreal. Maybe this isn’t real. Maybe I got so angry that I lost it.

“I assure you, you are sane. Come to me and it shall all make sense.”

I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t… I should. I should go to him.

“Thank you.”

I let go of my head. Suddenly, things seem much clearer. The air is pleasantly cool. It’s been like that the whole time, I know, but somehow it seems different now. Like I’m experiencing it for the first time.

I step into the new passage. It’s dark - the light from the main passage reaches in only by a few meters…

”I shall help with that.”

Sparks alight in the air, illuminating the way. They’re like fireflies, only orange. I reach out cautiously and try to catch one in my hand, but it phases through me.

”Pay them no mind. Come to me. Quickly. You do not want to be gone for too long.”

That’s true. I press on. After perhaps a minute, I arrive at a larger chamber where --

Oh Gods. That’s a skeleton. That’s a human skeleton sitting against the back of the chamber. Somebody died in here. I’m sure he was killed by whatever being has led me here. And now it’s going to kill me. I’m an idiot.

”No. Calm yourself. This man died over three thousand years ago, and he chose his fate. He died happily and without pain.”

Of course you’d say that. You just want to lull me into a false sense of security before you do whatever it is you do to your victims.

“Do you not think I would have removed the corpse before luring you in if that was my intention?”

Well… could you have done that?

“Yes.”

If you say so.

”Let me get to the point. Do you see the stone in the man’s lap?”

Yes, I see the stone in his lap. It’s an ammonite fossil. A big one. Almost as big as a dinner plate, though the rock it’s embedded in is roughly triangular.

“That is me.”

Huh?

“I reside in that fossil.”

So you’re… possessing the rock?

“I am still not a ghost.”

What are you, then?

“A god.”

Oh.

But gods aren’t… real.

“Most gods mankind knows are indeed false. But I am real.”

This ghost has an ego.

“Not a ghost.”

“Can you stop reading my mind?” I snap. “If you don’t stop, I’ll leave.” If I can. If this ghost will even allow it.

“Very well. I shall only answer to what you have spoken aloud.”

“Thanks,” I mutter, then sigh.

Why am I even here? I should be going back. The others are probably already looking for me. I might get into trouble… but I am still curious about this ghost. Maybe if he makes his case quickly…

“What did you want with me?” I ask.

“I want you to take me with you.”

“Why? Can’t you leave on your own?”

“It is you that I want to follow.”

I raise a brow. “Me? Why?”

”You are strong.”

“...Physically? There are kids a lot stronger than me.”

”You are strong of mind.”

“Me? No. I’m weak. If I was strong of mind, I could actually control myself.”

”It is only because your limits have been pushed that you find yourself lacking composure.”

I huff, sneering. “Right. You know that there are people who get messed with worse than me, right?”

I pause. If he’s actually been in this cave for millennia, he probably doesn’t know that.

“I have watched humans for eons. I know how your kind can torment each other. It is true that you have not experienced the worst that has been done, but you are the most promising candidate that I have witnessed enter this cave so far.”

“Candidate? For what?”

”To carry on my legacy.”

“What does that entail?” Why am I asking? I should be leaving. Why haven’t I left yet?

”Do you see the bag to the left of the man?”

Yeah. There’s a bag that’s pretty damn big. Did that guy bring it here? He must have been strong.

”Look inside.”

I walk up to the bag made of brown leather. It looks ancient. Should leather even be able to last for millennia? Shouldn’t it decompose? Did the ghost keep it from decomposing?

Regardless, I open the bag. Inside are scrolls upon scrolls with writing on them that I can’t understand.

”This is what remains of my kingdom,” the ghost explains. ”Everything else, according to my knowledge, was destroyed.”

“Huh.” I pause. “You had a kingdom?”

“A glorious one.”

I guess he really is a god.

Wait, what? No, he’s not. This is still a ghost. A ghost that’s trying to trick me. These scrolls, this bag, the fossil, they must all be fake. I shouldn’t be here. I should go home. For real this time. I can’t stay here any longer.

I turn around, but the ghost interrupts me. “Wait. Take me with you. I am the only one who acknowledges your strength. I am the only one who can help you.”

“No, you can’t help me. No one can.” I head out of the chamber.

”Are you sure? I have already helped you once.”

I stop. He’s helped me…?

…Right. Seiichi and the others… the ghost must have shown them some sort of illusion to scare them off.

“That does not have to be the final time.”

I blink. I turn around, facing the chamber again. “What did you… show them?”

“An ancient form of mine.”

“Which looked like…?”

“It had many limbs and a mouth full of teeth.”

I frown as I imagine something disturbing. “That doesn’t really make me want to trust you.”

“Humans often fear what is foreign to them.”

I sigh through my nose. What should I do…?

“So… you want me to bring that stone with me, right?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“It looks pretty heavy…”

“I can make it lighter.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. Come and try.”

I walk over to the stone and grasp it, trying my best not to touch the dead man’s bones. I begin to lift it up. The full weight of it never comes - it’s light as plastic.

“This isn’t plastic, is it?” I ask.

“I can make it heavy again if you want.”

“...No,” I say. I place it down a bit further away from the skeleton and take off my backpack. Having opened the zipper, I grab the light stone again and --

What are you doing? Why are you --

I blink hard. What was I thinking? I guess it was nothing. I fit the fossil inside my backpack, zip it back up and hoist it onto my back. I’m about to leave, but my gaze lingers on the bag full of scrolls.

“You can come back for it later. I shall seal the chamber in the meantime.”

“It’s twenty bucks to come here again…”

“Trust me when I tell you that is not an issue.”

I shrug. I leave the chamber and walk through the spark-lit passage until I’m back in the main passage. I hear a crackling behind me, and look over my shoulder to see a wall of stone grow to hide the secret passage’s opening.

Only seconds after the seal is complete, someone enters the stretch of the main passage. It’s one member of the cave’s staff, an older woman, and her eyes widen as she notices me.

“You there!” she shouts. “Are you Red?”

“Yeah,” I shout back.

“Your class is looking for you. Come with me, I’ll take you to them.”

She really doesn't have to ‘take me’ anywhere, as this place is impossible to get lost in, but I suppose she did just see someone presumably get lost anyway. I walk up to her without a word, and she escorts me to the entrance of the cave. I can see Mr Isobe rubbing his hands together nervously until he catches sight of me.

“Oh, thank the Gods,” he says, stepping up to me. “Where were you?”

“In the cave,” I say.

“Were you hiding? Nobody could find you.”

“Not particularly. I was just… hanging around.”

Mr Isobe sighs. “Well, don’t go doing that again. We were very worried. There may have even been a ghost in there.”

“...Maybe I did meet one and it’s the one that made me invisible to you guys?” I try.

“Maybe,” Mr Isobe says. “Well, all the more important then for us to get going. Class! We’re leaving.”

Relieved chatter breaks out from the students gathered by the bus. I notice Seiichi staring at me. I can’t really figure out his expression. At least I’m pretty sure it’s not mocking.

We board the bus and the vehicle drives off. I glance at my backpack, which I’ve placed at my feet.

This has been an interesting day, and I have a feeling that it’s gonna get more interesting once I get home.