Dark Places || ONC 2023

Rise

It's hard to get to the crack. They hold hands and wind their way down the walls looking for the right way to get down, and as the world turns under them, they get lost, then get closer to the ground. 

As they move they watch and listen as the crack widens. Bits of trash fall into it. The stone people look interested, and poke around near it, but no one ventures in. When they get to the ground, Adam and Janelle carefully pick their way through the trash until they are right up on it. Adam keeps a sharp eye on the floor for grasping hands, and tries his best to stay present as hands grasp for his pants and voices heckle him.

Janelle kneels carefully.

The crack is deep and dark, and just wide enough for her to put her body into. It doesn't mean much to Janelle at all, except from the correct angle she could swear she sees light.

"This might be the way out," she says. Her body tingles with excitement. That's light. Real daylight, it has to be. She flips so her feet are dangling into the gap. She can shimmy down. It's wide enough for her to fit.

"What the hell are you doing?" Adam reaches out to grab her. His fingers grip the collar of her shirt in a desperate catch. Oh right, she has to get him out safely too. She looks down, it's not far. It's a little skinny, he could make it. Janelle feels the grimy stone floor beneath her fingers and watches the colorful lights float around the room. She wants out, and this might be it.

It might also close suddenly and crush her to death. It's not like she's been particularly lucky today. The stone people are looking at the crack like they've never seen something like this before.

No one's ever come out of the hole alive. At least not yet.

"Adam, please," Janelle says. "Let's at least try." What's the worst that could happen. They die quickly by being squished instead of slowly by dehydration, starvation, blood loss or infection. 

She holds his eyes and waits. His fingers slowly slacken from her collar and he kneels down. Hands grasp at him. He swipes them away and leans in to see what Janelle sees. A thin crack of white light.

"Okay," he says. He looks around the giant cavernous room one last time then moves over to join her in the hole. He fits. It's warm in the crack, but Janelle can feel a cool air blowing slowly up. She starts to move down. It's an unusual climb. She's not going to fall. As long as she keeps herself braced on both sides, she's not going anywhere, but it's exhausting to keep her muscles engaged. She was so tired to begin with. 

Luckily the climbing is second-nature. She looks to Adam and even he's figured out the strategy. They wiggle and crawl and Janelle feels the stone rub into her raw skin. There's red streaks all over Adam's arms and back. They use every piece of their body to hold tight, and every last bit of their strength and resolve to keep moving.

Janelle doesn't know when the sliding down turns to crawling up, but as the crack of light nears she finds herself pulling her body upward. It's harder. The stones slips from under her feet, and her bruised and cut hands don't want to grasp. Adam pants.

"We can do this," Janelle says. She's sweating and shivering as the chilly air blows in.

Adam doesn't look up. He's laser focussed on finding footholds. His toes slip from their spot. He curses and his shoulder slams into the wall to hold himself up. Janelle braces herself against the wall and reaches out. Adam looks to be hanging on by a thread. She puts a hand on his neck, then cups the back of his head. She motions for him to look up at her.

"We got this," she repeats. She thinks of her cross country coach in high school, the one who got her over more finish lines than she deserved. "We didn't come this far just to give up."