Decemberland

Chapter 44: Before the Storm

Darkness overtook her eyesight after the first few steps inside. Perhaps the fact that she was surrounded by it so often could be some kind of symbolism that some god of the forsaken had been trying to get across to her. Hopefully, she thought, it could be portrayed more as an allusion to her past rather than an omen or foreshadowing. Her heart told her otherwise.

The overwhelming smell of mildew filled her nostrils and the air thickened. She hid in the shadows for most of her life, so why did they cause her heart to beat so fast now? The only thing that prevented her from stopping and turning around was the soft echo of nearing breath and the continuous shiver running up and down her back. She didn’t dare look behind her.

After a while, her eyes adjusted and she saw the vague shapes of the jagged wall to each side of her, but the pit of darkness in front seemed to go on forever. The walls became smoother for every foot she took. If the cave were this deep, then either Trust would never find her, or she would have no way out. Her hopes dangled on a thread as she forced the latter from her mind. There had to be some fork in this burrowing of a cave for it to be this long. Some split to help her have a chance at losing him.

Suddenly, fire lit up at the side of the cave from out of nowhere. Nico jumped back ten feet. A torch stood mounted on the wall, held by and iron clamp. There was no mistaking—this was someone’s home.

The light only reached so far. But it made her nervous. There were no strings or levers or buttons to be pressed. Some kind of unnatural force lit it. And beyond being noticed by Trust, it meant someone was expecting her.

But between a lesser of two evils, there was no choice. Whatever awaited her couldn’t be any more terrible a fate than behind her. She moved on.

Feet away from the torch, she saw its glow fading behind her as she looked over her shoulder, along with the menacing breath chasing her down from afar. But to her bewilderment, yet another torch lit up right in front of her again, and a pair of dark, slanting eyes appeared from nowhere right next to the torch, sending her jumping three feet into the air. She hesitantly took a step forward to get a better look at the ‘eyes.’ They belonged to a stone creature, sitting stoic on the wall. It’s mouth sealed shut, two slits for its nose and curling stone horns on its head. It stood lifeless on the stone pedestal, its whole figure chiseled from the stone out of the cave walls, its sediment eyes following her wherever she went.

“Feckit all,” she cursed under her breath, “Who the hell put you here?”

She walked up to it, carefully examining it, peering through her one eye and huffing her cheeks.

“Stupid statue.”

The echoed breathing gradually became louder and almost sounded as if it were getting closer. Nico shot a nervous glance down the other end of the tunnel, and without a second thought she made her way further down. She had to get to the end. Almost as if the tunnel signified the last dark, lonely moments of her life. She had to get to the end no matter what it took.

The tunnel itself, however, had a different idea in mind. She made her way down, her feet picking up pace. Another torch lit up, revealing yet another strange, stone creature hanging on the wall, every one of them watching her. Then another lit up, and another. More and more torches, bringing more and more statues to light from the dark. The echo followed the lights, getting faster and faster, roaring  in a threatening crescendo to a diminuendo as if lost again. Every time it came back it became louder, until it was right next to her ears. Her breathing became frantic and she only just realized that she launched into a sprint, a torch lighting up every few feet, every five seconds. She tripped and landed on her knees, curled up and put her arms to her ears, ready to scream.