Jake sat up with a gasp. Looking around, Alice lay beside him, still unconscious. They were sprawled out in a spacious corridor of carved stone and pilled dirt. He could see no source of light anywhere around him, yet he could see all the same, a sort of dim, unnatural glow seemed to hang in the air. His throat felt dry, and his body cold. Shivering, he looked around and saw nothing nearby. The luggage He and Alice had been carrying was gone, lost during the fall into the unknown. They were stranded.
His head roared with pain; he reached up to grasp the side of his head as the ticking sound from before continued ever-present, louder than ever before. Every tick seemed to send shockwaves through his body, making him feel ill. Looking left and right, he could see nothing down either end of the corridor. The unnatural glow hanging in the air intensified the longer he looked, causing him to squint his eyes and blink in hopes of dealing with the ever-increasing luminosity.
There was nothing to do but wait, shivers running throughout his body, he drew his knees up to his chest and sat still beside Alice. He tried a few times to shake her awake, to call you to her, yet got no response in turn. Worried, he’d felt her pulse but found it remained steady and consistent. Sitting beside her, shivering in the corridor's glow, Jake’s frazzled mind busied itself trying to form some sort of plan.
They were trapped, both of them underground. Trapped with no easy escape, they couldn’t simply wait for sunrise to flee from here. He wasn’t sure how real anything they’d seen so far was. The unnatural forest, the swaying grass, and even the ground below their feet had all melted away into nothingness. The only thing left had been the sky shining unmoving above their head as they fell into earth's gaping maw. Whether it was some trick that allowed the voice that had hunted and taunted them to control everything, Jake couldn’t say, but he was certain of one thing. The sun was frozen in place, unmoving, and so now the two of them were trapped.
Lost in thought, Jake failed to notice Alice begin to stir till she was sitting up next to him, groans escaping her as she looked around. Her head was killing her; she couldn’t recall a time it had hurt this bad, and the incessant ticking that surrounded her wasn’t helping. Taking in the bleak surroundings around her, Alice turned toward Jake,
“Any idea what’s going on?”
“No, your guess is as good as mine. You heard everything I did, saw everything I did. Don’t know where the voice went, but it gives us a moment to talk…” Jake said, casting a suspicious look down the corridor yet receiving no reply.
“What do you want to do then?” Alice asked, flopping back to the ground after she tried to stand, head rising to her head as the ever-present pain worsened with every moment she made.
“We should stay put for now. Who knows how much of this is real, if we're lucky, the sun is already starting to rise and will be out of here any second. Plus, I don’t know about you, but my head is…”
“Oh no, no, no, please don’t be so… disappointing.” The shrill voice returned, echoing all around. It seemed to ooze from the walls, making its source impossible to discern. “Sit still and wait? Hope it’s all a trick? I had such hopes for the fun we could have, but if that’s how it’s going to be…” The voice stopped instead, replaced by the scraping of stone against metal and a deep rumbling that shook both Jake and Alice to their core.
“I may just need to clear the board…” The voice sounded bored, not even interested in whatever punishment it was enacting on the pair. As it faded away once more, its discontent echoed clear across the corridor as with each metal scrap, each rumble, Jake and Alice felt their seated position grow more and more unstable. The two watched one of the piles of dirt stacked against the far wall begin to slowly crumble and break apart, unable to withstand the stress brought about by the constant shaking of the corridor.
The two watched as the dirt pile collapsed to the floor, slowly rolling to the right. Both Alice and Jake shot up with a jolt as the corridor continued to shake violently, swaying slightly as their heads throbbed, feeling fit to burst. Watching more and more piles of dirt that surrounded them collapse and begin to roll toward the right, picking up speed with every rumble, the two took off running to the left. It wasn’t an easy run; the corridor sloped upward at an ever-increasing angle.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Soon, the pair found they could run no longer, forced to come to a steady walk as they hiked up the slowly climbing corridor. It wasn’t long before this climb also became impossible. Desperately, both looked around for some outlet or ledge to hold onto, yet nothing seemed to exist. Out of ideas, Jake grabbed hold of Alice's hand and reached into his pockets, and grabbing hold of one of his knives, jabbed it into the floor, which, with one last rumble, now stood perfectly parallel to the pair.
They were left dangling from the singular blade, quickly and forcibly jabbed into the stone. Glancing down, they could see nothing below. The horrid glow of the light continued forever, giving them a perfect view of the endless drop that awaited them. A cracking sound rang out not even a minute into their hang as the knife began to slide loose from the floor, pulling bits of rock with it. Jake looked around for something, anything he could do, yet found nothing. Alice tried to feel the strings within her, tried to think of some solution her curse could provide, but was too panicked to focus.
With one last sickened crack, the knife came free from the wall, and they fell, hand in hand, into the blinding forever below. Yet they crashed into the stone floor of the corridor not even a moment after they started falling, not even given time to start screaming. Both lay still on the stone in shock, unsure how to react. Where they were now exactly was a mystery, they’d landed in pitch-black darkness. Yet beneath them, the cold roughness of stone was present. Soon, loud applause wrung through the corridor, echoing everywhere and drawing winces of pain from both Jake and Alice.
“Extraordinary, Extraordinary! I knew you would be perfect! It’s been so dull around here…” The voice began a roar of excitement in his voice, “When you started moping and whining, well, you can excuse me for my little games, can’t you?” The voice asked with feigned innocence, yet bladed malice lay behind his words.
“Hope you don’t mind I cut your fall off; I really can’t stand screaming. Now then, my wonderful guests, if you wouldn’t mind…”
A trail of lights appeared along the floor, dimmer than what had surrounded them excessively before but still unnatural looking. Staring directly at them left Jake feeling sick to his stomach, and it seemed to only worsen Alice’s already substantial headache. Still, the lights were the only path they had to follow, and refusal no longer seemed an option. If they refused to play along or follow commands, it probably wouldn’t take long for the voice to grow bored of them.
Standing up on unstable footing, Alice and Jake both leaned against the wall and began moving forward after the trail of lights ahead of them. The wall felt sturdy when they leaned into it, unlikely to collapse or reveal a secret way out. Unfortunately, their proximity to the wall did serve as a way to amplify the unending ticking that prevailed through the entirety of the corridor. Now, right next to the wall, the two could hear nothing else save for the ticking.
The two walked a while, following the endless trail of the dim flickering lights for as long as their legs could carry them till both collapsed to their knees, feeling exhausted. It felt like they’d done nothing but walk without food or rest for hours, days now. Their feet felt like they were cracked and blistered, and both could swear they were leaving trails of blood behind them. Yet they continued, following the endless trail of lights for fear of what the voice would do if they refused, only to find nothing waiting for them.
Falling to the ground, pangs of hunger and thirst fit them anew, yet they didn’t complain. Simply sitting beside one another in silence, hoping the voice would leave them with enough time to rest. It wasn’t to be, as soon the voice returned, echoing across the corridor,
“What a picturesque seen, you two together. Yet something isn’t right; I feel like I forgot something…” The voice spoke with a tone of mock forgetfulness as if trying to tease the two with what it could have possibly forgotten.
“I remember now!” The voice said, sounding excited. Suddenly, without sound or warning, brick by brick, a stone wall appeared separating Jake from Alice. The pair had no time to react. To scream or speak to one another before they were separated, a thick stone wall standing between them.
“I simply can’t stand the sight of you two together. For my sake, dear guests, travel separately, won't you?” He asked the question with a voice dripping with cruelty. Jake paid it no mind. Shocked from his stupor, he began pounding on the wall, trying to find some weakness in its design or crack to force his way through. He pounded and pounded so long he thought his hands might crack and fall off, they’d always been so brittle.
Yet no sooner than he’d started pounding against its side that the wall fell way to reveal nothing on its other side. Jake fell to his stomach and sat upright, looking round in vain, hoping he might find someone on the other side, yet no one was there. He was alone. A desperate wail escaped his throat as the sickening sounds of the voice’s laughter forced its way into his ears.
“Remember when I said I couldn’t stand screaming, dear guest? I lied.”