"Alright. We're almost done with the steps. Then there's some confusing hallways, but I know my way don't worry." Jakob tells us after we've been descending the staircase for what now seems like hours. It may have been, I really don't know.
"Are you sure? You told us that an hour ago!" Freddy says behind me exasperatedly. I hear his stomach rumble.
"Yeah, I lied back there to keep you going. . . Ah ha! Here we go! Okay stay close behind me because if you get lost, we may not find you for a week or so."
"Well that's great! Mom and Dad send us away to some underground maze camp! Remind me to get them a crappy Christmas gift this year." Freddy is really taking this hard. I'm not too thrilled about this mess either, but at least I'm staying calm, unlike my dear brother.
Jay ignores Freddy and continues on. "So the easiest way to remember the maze is by counting to 3. You make 3 left turns, then 3 right turns, then back to 3 lefts, again 3 rights, and you do that until you get to 18. I know it doesn't sound hard, but there are some long tunnels to walk through, so it's easy to lose count."
We walk behind Jay and I count the turns. Left, left, left. Right, right, right. Left, left, left. Right, right, right. Left, left, left. Right, right, right. Finally, after walking miles of tunnels, we walk down a long straight one that could easily be confused as a wrong turn.
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We are all silent until light starts to appear. It looks like natural light, but it can't be. We're probably a mile underground at the very least. Maybe they've created some sort of artificial light source made to look like the sun. I'm not sure what it could be, but I'll find out soon.
The light keeps getting brighter and after what feels like an eternity, I get some good news. "We're going to be in the main square in a few minutes, so hold tight."
"Jay, what's that light from?" I find myself asking before I can stop myself. Curiosity killed the cat? No, one of these days it'll kill me.
"I think you'll want to see that for yourself." He responds. I nod my head and realize he can't see me, so I reply with an okay.
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A few more minutes of walking in silence and I see it. Its so beautiful and I don't know how to explain it.
The tunnel opens into a huge underground cavern lit so well, you'd think we were outside. I look around at the walls, towering many stories tall with spiral walkways that give entrance to tunnels inside the walls. They're at least 5 rows high in some places while others reach 7 or even 8. There's a river somewhere in the cavern. I can hear it rushing past at a high speed.
I look up and see a skylight. Wait. . . We're underground how can there be a skylight? It isn't small either. It takes up the whole ceiling. How does that not give away this "secret" location?
"Are you people idiots?" Freddy nearly shouts and a few groups of people close by give him dirty looks. I swear I even heard one of them call him a pill.
"No, Fred, we aren't and you may not want to say that too loudly." Jay explained between us.
"I mean, why would you put such a huge skylight in! Won't people up there notice?"
"Well yeah, that's why its a video screen. People used to go near insane when they went back into the world. Everyone got used to not seeing the sun and so they built this. It's a live video feed from the top of the Bellin building." Jay put simply.
Did he say the Bellin building? That's in Green Bay. So that would mean we walked roughly 30 miles. . . No wonder I'm so sore and hungry. My nerves are probably the only thing keeping me going right now.
"This is all so beautiful and great and everything," I say, "but do you think we could get some food or sleep?"
"Of course! That's why I'm still here. I'll show you to your dorms." Jay bounced along happily as he lead us toward the wall. Something tells me that a fear of heights is not reasonable here.
