After a full month of Eve being in a coma, no child suffered from headaches or nightmares anymore.

*******

Eve was crawling inside one of the ventilation shafts. The tunnel was dark, with some light filtering through its cracks. Eve's hands had turned red from the intense cold, until she finally saw an end to this path.

"At last… here’s the end," Eve said this in a different tone of voice.

Eve hurried toward the exit with all her might. She peered out to find a strange place—a chasm with some light filtering in from above, as if from a full moon, with a light mist hanging in the air. But what stood out were the ropes stretching from nowhere, like a spider’s web made of strong ropes extending from above to below. Since Eve found no other way out of the tunnels, this was the only path.

Eve jumped to grab the nearest rope. She managed to hold onto it, and luckily, these ropes were close to each other, and the mist wasn't too thick, though it slightly obstructed her vision. Eve tried to stand and walk on these ropes, managing to grab another one. She felt a light breeze, and moments later, Eve found herself flying between the ropes.

"What just happened?" Eve remembered the light breeze.

"There's something beneath that weakens the current… could this place… be the center that connects the ventilation shafts?"

When the current returned to its normal state, Eve quickly grabbed the nearest rope.

'I must be more careful in this place… who knows… since this place is important, it might be dangerous for me.'

Eve continued her way toward the top, noticing that the higher she climbed, the closer the ropes got to each other. She took advantage of this by grabbing the nearest rope and clinging to it, then grabbing another repeatedly. She felt something dripping on her head but didn't pay attention to it, focusing instead on climbing higher. Every minute, the violent current returned, which Eve used to ascend further. However, this eerie atmosphere inside frightened Eve, forcing her to be cautious with every step.

"With this current… I'll reach the top quickly," Eve said, exhausted and with a deep sigh.

Ten minutes passed, and Eve felt a light breeze again. She jumped, and suddenly the strong current returned, helping her move upward. Eve grabbed one of the ropes but felt it was sticky, barely able to hold on. She let go of one hand and found it covered in a red liquid.

"Disgusting… what is this sticky stuff?" Eve shuddered.

She smelled it and said, with bewilderment and shock, "Blood…!"

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A drop of blood dripped onto Eve's head, causing her to slowly look up, only to find bags tied to those ropes, dripping blood. Eve froze in place from fear, as if paralyzed, sweating cold sweat.

Eve looked at the nearest rope, and with all the pressure, she saw it as distant as the sky and the earth, but she jumped nonetheless. Eve kept climbing and jumping from one rope to another until the strong current came again. Eve let go of the rope, allowing it to lift her upward. She grabbed a rope that had one of those large bags attached to it, clung to it, and then jumped to grab another rope. Suddenly, that bag fell, making a sound upon impact after a while, causing great anxiety and confusion for Eve.

"I must not back down," Eve said with anxiety and exhaustion.

Eve wanted to stand on that rope to jump, as the minute would end soon, but she couldn't. Her hands had stuck to that rope as if it were coated with glue.

Eve felt panicked by what happened, tried to let go of the rope, but couldn't. She swayed forward, and her foot stuck to another rope. She was trapped in those ropes like a butterfly caught in a spider’s web.

Eve struggled with all her might and noticed something strange—every time she moved, all the ropes moved, as if they were connected.

"Wait… weren't the ropes just a few centimeters apart…?"

The feeling of an impending end crept closer and closer. She was trapped—between the powerful current and these webs. Was climbing upwards a bad choice or the right one? If she descended, she wouldn’t see the ropes, and the fear of the unknown would overwhelm her. But climbing upwards was also one of the worst choices. These thoughts took control of Eve’s mind. She didn’t know what to do, as if all of this had been planned—to push her to climb higher, only to be trapped like insects in a spider’s web.

“Was this a trap… to catch anyone who enters here…? Wait… no.”

Eve quickly looked up to see something approaching her. It moved along the ropes like a spider on its web. Fear gripped Eve’s heart. She couldn’t move due to the exhaustion from climbing.

Yet, she resisted. The shape of the entity became clearer as it got closer. It was enormous, with eight arms and two severed legs. Its face hung more grotesquely than the Ferryman’s, like a hybrid between a spider and a human. It held in its front hands the crushed bodies of two children, both about the size of Eve.

‘No… what should I do… I can’t… escape from it… no… I can’t.’ Eve thought to herself, in a state of utter despair.

Eve suddenly felt that light breeze on her back, wet with sweat, as if it gave her a glimmer of hope for survival. But it was false hope in her eyes, as the creature had reached her, ready to grab her with its deformed hand.

At that moment, the current surged with more force than ever before, freeing Eve from its grip and sending her floating in the air. Even the creature wasn’t spared, as the current pushed it upward, as if it was targeted by it. In that moment, Eve noticed on the circular wall to her right eyes drawn on it, their twisted pupils fixed on her.

When the current stopped, Eve tried to avoid touching those damp ropes as she fell.

“I’ll try to pass through those gaps.”

But the creature didn’t give up, beginning to descend into the depths to catch its prey. The light gradually faded, and Eve grabbed onto a rope. Unfortunately, the ropes were spread apart, but she spotted a ventilation shaft. An idea crossed her mind as she looked at the nearest ropes.

The creature drew closer and closer. Despite her intense anxiety, Eve worked to calm herself. She breathed slowly, sweat pouring down her forehead.

Just moments before the creature could grab her, Eve let go of the rope, landing on one of the ropes and putting all her weight into it, then jumped, grabbing another rope near the vent. She swayed forward, then let go, managing to grab the edge of the vent. The deformed creature lunged toward the vent as Eve quickly entered it before the creature collided with the wall. It reshaped its arm into a spider-like limb, jamming it into the vent. Had Eve not hurried inside, it would have been the end of her, as the creature’s limb grazed her right shoulder. The creature was on the verge of falling, dragging Eve with it. Eve clung with all her might, and the creature finally let go, leaving her in a wretched state. A deep wound in her shoulder began bleeding profusely.

“That bastard…” Eve muttered, exhausted and in extreme pain.

*********

Eve continued crawling through the tunnels, her blood leaving a chaotic trail on the ground. She couldn’t bear the pain any longer, so she sat down to rest for a bit. Her strength was completely drained, and she felt her vision blur.

"My wound is still bleeding… I need to stop it…"

She collapsed, unconscious, in those tunnels, like a mouse hiding from a cat after being wounded—alone, waiting for someone to save her. Or rather, waiting for her inevitable fate.