“This is much more difficult than I originally thought. Fuck. I don’t think I coulda done this by myself even if I had everything planned out.” Moving dear old dad, turned out to be much more difficult than I originally thought. He was ridiculously heavy, his body was oddly proportioned, making strapping him down to the sled awkward and unbalanced, and he was fat as fuck. I know I said that already but, I feel I needed to emphasize, just how fucking heavy he is.

Karen, taking that point to chime in, said: “Four people. Four goddamned people, and we can barely get him through the brush. I’m reconsidering helping. Fuck this, I wanna go take a shower.” I could go for a shower too now that she mentions it.

Matt, being the supportive boyfriend adds his own remark: “I’ll join you in the shower later, but Stephen I have a serious question. How the fuck did he and my aunt make you? You look nothing alike, and act completely different as well.”

A question only a god can answer. Too bad there’s none of those here. “Fuck if I know. I’m guessing she cheated. No one could be loyal to that… thing.” Can’t blame her either. I don’t remember much from before mom died, trauma or some shit. It doesn’t matter at this point.

The idea of not being related to this sack of flesh does make me pretty happy though. I should get some blood or hair off of him before we bury him for a DNA test.

“Ya know, we’re three hours into this and I dunno how close we are. Steph, any clues?” Andre asked a question I was trying to avoid. Mainly because they won’t like the answer.

“Judging by the pace we’re going… I’d say we’re a bit over halfway there. We’re gonna need at least two more hours to get there, an hour or so to dig, and an hour of walking back.” Ladies and Gentlemen, the truth. But the response?

“““Ugh!””” A unanimous groan of disappointment and dissatisfaction has resounded from our not so merry bunch. “Hey keep moving! I don’t wanna be here any longer than you guys, so please keep going.” They had stopped to groan out the frustration. I didn’t want to be out here any longer than I had to, especially at nightfall, the forest got cold as shit, and I didn’t want to know what wildlife would like me as a snack. I also wasn’t very confident in seeing the markings I left in the dark.

And so, we kept moving, forward and onwards to our grave destination. Get it? Jokes aside, it took us about an hour and a half to get there, probably with good motivation. The clearing felt different from before though. It’s almost dusk, so the lighting isn’t that good, but it feels different. I might be paranoid though, since we’ve been dragging a body the past four hours. “Let’s take a break before we go back to ‘working’ alright?” I gave a suggestion that was sure to get a sitting ovation.

We took a ten minute breather, but my paranoia kept getting stronger, and it didn't get any better after we started digging. I made sure to grab some hairs from his head, well the only hairs on his head but still.

“Okay that should be deep enough.” Matt said, the hole was about three feet deep, and wide enough to just barely fit my father. Obviously he didn't know some things so I elaborated for him.

“Nope. Too shallow stupid. It needs to be six feet or more so animals can't smell the corpse.” We put in all this work so I would be pretty pissed if a passing coyote found all this food and screwed us over when a hunter found the coyote.

“Ugh. Alright, fine, but why'd you call me stupid, harsh much?” The annoyance in his voice was easily audible.

“I dunno. Because I felt like it? I'm a little paranoid right now, so sorry if I sound testy”. I told them the feeling I've been having since we got here. It's uncomfortable and I wanted to know if it's just me.

“I've been feelin’ the same too. It's a creepy feeling an’ really unnervin’”. Andre said what he was thinking, and the others agreed with us. It felt like we were being watched. It's not even night, and it didn't start until we got here. I haven't been here in almost half a year, so I don't know if an animal or person made this their hunting spot.

“Well...feelings aside, I wanna finish this quick, so let's get a move on”. With that we got back to work.

Despite the feeling getting worse, nothing happened. The body burying was uneventful and the only words that were said, we're about him being a pain in the ass. Despite the feeling of paranoia, I was feeling pretty good. Andre looked like l thought he would. I don't think this bothered him much. Karen was looking pretty ghastly, tired, pale, out of breath, and there was probably something psychological going on. The realization of her actions are probably kicking in. Matt looked much better than Karen, but not as good a mood as me and Andre.

“Alright. He's buried, gone for good. Let's get out wh-” I see a light in the distance. Further into the woods.

“Yo Steph, what's up man?” Andre asked, calling me by my nickname for the second time tonight.

“There's a light that way. See? Over there. It's flashing between red and purple.” Just by the color alone I could tell you that it wasn't a hunter. You might as well be scaring away your prey. It looked kinda like a rave, but there's no way someone would do that shot way the fuck out here. There's no roads, and no one would walk that far for a party/headache two for one combo.

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“I think we should go investigate.” Matt sounding like a detective over here. “Aight’ I agree with officer obvious, we need to check it out.” Andre surprisingly agreed with him. I thought he would've said no to that.

“I ain't goin’ first though, the black guy always does in this sorta shit.” There it was, his black guy comment.

“Hehe, We all down for taking a look?” It was pretty funny so I gave out a chuckle. Karen didn't say anything, so that means she's split equally between not liking it, and curious about it.

With no objections we made our way over. I can't speak for the others but that feeling has been getting worse and worse by the inch. It wasn't that far from where we buried him. About two hundred feet or so.

The light was coming from a small hole in the ground, about a foot in diameter and a high pitched sound was coming from it. It was ominous and creepy, and my headache was forming fast.

The others came over to take a peek, but before we could discuss it or move away, we heard a crack and we stumbled. Looking down, even with poor visibility I could see that we sunk down about a foot in the ground.

“Fuck, get o-” Before I could finish my sentence the ground gave way, and we started falling. Sliding really, with the ground as our sled. Karen and Matt were screaming pretty much at the same pitch, I really couldn't tell whose voice was who. I kept quiet, but I was gripping the ground-sled so hard I could probably crush a rock with my hands. Andre started out saying fuck, but I think he's extended the ‘u’ part a bit too much.

We probably slid down that tunnel cave thing for two minutes before we hit the bottom. When we ‘landed’ we crashed, hard, and everything went black.

Then I opened my eyes, can't keep 'em closed forever afterall. I looked around, seeing if everyone's alright, and everything was dyed in a purple and red light. Matt looked alive and uncomfortable with Karen using him as an airbag. Andre, looked like he was in shock. He might've passed out, I can't see his eyes very well.

“Everyone OK?” I asked, just to make sure.

Matt said: “My back hurts… I landed on a root I think and my chest hurts as well. A wild Karen appeared and used me as a cushion.” Matt's shitty Pokemon joke aside we all seemed fine.

“The fall wasn't that bad. Kinda like a rollercoaster that just goes down.” Good to know she had fun.

Just to see sure, I tapped Andre's shoulder, and asked him if he was good. He responded: “I'm good bro, just need a new pair of pants, maybe a new heart.” Seeing as how I didn't actually smell anything, and he can joke like that, then he's good.

Ignoring the point of us needing to get out sooner or later, we landed in a tunnel, a naturally formed cave by the looks of it. The lights though are not in here, but further down the tunnel. I get up and look around again, no real reason but I just now noticed that we don't have the equipment we needed for burying dead old dad.

“Well fuck. The shovels n’ shit are gone. We need to move. We fell down here, we might as well look at the cause of it.” The paranoia, that feeling I had before is gone. I feel energized as well, and despite the pain from falling that far, the wounds from earlier today don't hurt as much.

“Hey guys, that noise is gone, and I'm feeling a lot better now.” Karen literally said what I was thinking. The tunnel we're in is decently sized. I'm not a geographer or anything but we can all stand up and still have a few feet to spare, or rather yards than feet.

We started going down the tunnel, to whatever was making the light show. We didn't have to use our flashlights on our phones luckily. We might need them later to call for help though. Hopefully not, that would screw us, me in particular.

After about thirty minutes of walking we finally found something. It wasn't the source of light, but a big underground lake. It didn't smell like sulfur, or salt so it was probably fresh water. The lake was about the size of a football field, and it seems we weren't gonna have to swim across it to get to the other side. There was ground going around the edges of the water making for easy passage.

Taking the opportunity I got a handful of water, and took a big gulp. It was really good water, now I know why people pay so much for spring water, even if it was overprice in a bottle. “Guys, what the fuck are ya doin’? This is the best water you'll ever have. Drink up, I know you're all thirsty.” The others follow suit soon after. We'd been with water for a while now after all.

The lake looked beautiful, especially with the lights coming from our destination. However, while beautiful it is ominous as well. The whole room was dyed in red and purple. At this point the lights were rotating rather than flashing. I assume it's like that because we're closer than we were before.

It wasn't until almost another thirty minutes that we finally found the source of the lights. It looked like a big ass meteor, or is it asteroid? I'm not sure. The only thing that's concerning is that rather than being a solid rock, it looks kinda like if red and purple crystals were turned into lava. The meteor-asteroid things body is constantly in motion.

“Wow” “It's beautiful” and “Damn…” we're all mentioned by the members of our group. It's certainly all of the above. It's surprisingly cool in here, and very comfortable. It looks kinda like lava so I thought I'd be hot in here.

“I know it's a really dumb idea to touch the glowing space lava rock, but I really wanna touch it.” I can't help but want to touch it, to know how it feels. I don't think it will burn but…

“You're right. That is really fucking dumb. Don't do it.” Karen the Party pooper, legendary buzz kill.

“I gotta say… I wanna touch it too, based off of looks but I know it's dumb. We should just look for a way out and quick.” Matt's in agreement but also not.

“Me too. Even though I know it's a bad idea”. Andre's in the touch club too.

“I understand that we shouldn't but… I feel like I need too.” This isn't good. It feels like I'm drunk and high at the same time, but times ten. It feels like I almost can't control myself.

Shaking my head, I snap out of it. Well as well as I could. My head's still really fuzzy. “Let's go guys. And quick.”

Walking around the thing there's nothing there, just more cave. It looks like we'll have to go back the way we came. “Hey guys let's go ba-“Arrrrrgha!””

Suddenly I hear a scream, turning around, I see Andre with his hand on the thing, and it looks like it's slowly going in. Rushing over to him I start pulling on him, and Karen and Matt soon start pulling on him as well.

Pulling on him by itself wasn't working, so in my panicked stupidity, I put my hand on the thing as well to pull him out. That didn't go so well since I felt ridiculous pain, worse than any beating that I've ever had wracked my senses. It felt like jagged rocks were snaking, no, scratching their way up my bones.

I was further panicked by the new onset of pain, so much that I started pulling my arm out, but stuck out my other hand to assist in that. If the last pain was bad, this was much worse. Whatever this thing was, started going into the fresh cut that was on my hand. It was a sizeable hole, so the stuff was literally pouring through my wound, and it felt like someone was pulling thorns through my veins. Much worse than the last pain, and I found myself finding it harder and harder to stay awake.

Looking over I see that Karen's hand, which was holding onto Andre's shoulder, was now in the thing as well. Matt opted to plant his feet on the thing to try and pull us out, but his feet started sinking in, and he too was screaming in pain, just like the rest of us. Only he was dangling there like a leaf on a branch. I don’t think that leaves claw at the ground like that though.

I didn't stay conscious much longer after that. I passed out before my head touched the stuff, wondering if I was gonna die.