Ruby Shimmer (re-write)

CHAPTER TWO

I don't know how long I was out, but, all of a sudden, I found myself back in reality and quickly realized that I was now standing outside a towering black metal gate. And when I saw what was on the other side of the gate itself, I went into a state of shock and awe.

Even through the heavy rain, I was able to make out an enormous mansion built in the middle of a perfectly manicured lawn decorated with colorful flower beds and several pieces of topiary. And not just that, for there was also a large white marble fountain set up right in front of the mansion's front entrance. Though what surprised me the most was how they managed to keep this place so green even in the middle of a midwestern summer.

As I took all that in, the rain, while weaker, was still falling. So I shook my head to bring myself out of my own thoughts. After doing so, I opened the surprisingly unlocked gate and began making a beeline for the front door, praying that I would indeed be lucky enough that whoever lived there would be willing to take me into their home until the bad weather cleared up.

However, according to the luck I had had in my day so far, I wasn't feeling too confident in my chances.

As I got closer and closer to the front door, I was becoming incredibly nervous about having to ask for help from complete strangers. But, thanks to the current storm, I knew that the longer I had to walk, the more soaked I would get. Even at this point, I was sure that I already looked like a drowned rat. Because of this, I had also begun to shiver from the cold, so the moment I reached the actual entrance itself, I immediately rang the doorbell.

Unfortunately, it was still five minutes before someone finally answered. And the person in question turned out to be an older man wearing a black tailcoat, a pair of matching black slacks, and a black ribbon tie.

"Is there something I can do for you, miss?"

Right off the bat, I desperately tried to give him a summarized version of what had happened, only for him to stop me mid-sentence with a raised hand.

"My apologies, miss. But, this is a private compound and I'm afraid I must ask that you quickly vacate the premises. If you refuse, I shall have no choice but to call security."

His sharp, no nonsense tone had me at a loss for words, and by the time his words had actually sunk in, he had already slammed the door in my face, leaving me outside in the cold and wet.

Disappointed and more than a bit upset, I could only stand frozen in place, unable to move as I tried to process what had just gone down.

My mind was eventually able to slow down enough for me to think properly, my shock had been replaced with a strong feeling of fear and panic as I frantically struggled to figure out what I was going to do next.

However, even after several minutes had ticked by, all that came to mind was to find a way to secretly sneak into the mansion and maybe see if I could also find a towel or something similar before finding a place to hide out until the storm was over.

For the record, I did wrestle with the urge to follow through with such an obviously stupid and highly reckless plan for a few extra minutes. However, I was almost positive that if I just kept walking around blindly in this kind of downpour, I would just end up in the hospital with nothing to show for it but a bad case of pneumonia.

Feeling more desperate than ever before, so as risky as I knew it was, I went ahead with my half-baked idea, starting with walking away from the front door. Just in case anyone was still watching, I pretended that I was headed towards the gate to leave like I was told. I even made sure to keep my body language where it would seem as if I were truly feeling guilty. And as I was doing this, I began secretly scanning the entire compound in hopes of finding some way to get inside the mansion while doing my best to ignore the rain still falling all around me in heavy sheets.

Once I felt it was finally safe, I searched around for nearly forty-five minutes, but despite all my efforts, it was all for nothing. In fact, I was just about ready to give it up when my foot got caught on something, effectively causing me to stumble a bit before hitting the ground with a soft thud.

And I just have to say, when this happened, I could only think about how relieved I was that the lawn was made of such soft, well-tended grass that it actually padded my fall, even if it did get me a bit muddy.

Feeling confused and extremely curious, I brushed myself off as best I could, then started crawling on my hands and knees to try and locate what had made me trip in the first place.

Lucky for me, this didn't take me near as long as I had expected it would, because it only took me a mere five minutes before I found what I had been searching for. And by the looks of it, I had fallen thanks to what appeared to be some kind of thick metal ring.

My infamous curiosity immediately took over and I couldn't resist the impulse to study it closer. And what I found was the answer to all my current problems.

At that moment, it was revealed that the ring itself wasn't just a ring. After brushing away the excess dirt to get an even better look, I found that it was, in fact, the handle to a large trapdoor made of the same type of metal.

After thinking this over in my mind for another moment or two, I quickly realized that this may very well be exactly what I had been searching for all this time.

Directly after coming to this conclusion, I took hold of the handle with both hands and started pulling on it with all my strength. However, because it was badly rusted over in several places, it took quite a bit of my precious and highly limited time before I got any real give.

I continued to struggle against the door as best I could, when the door suddenly gave way all at once and without zero warning. And this unfortunately surprised me so much that it caused me to lose my balance and fall back on my ass, getting me even more dirty.

I ended up sitting there for several seconds in a daze over what had just happened, after which, I slowly stood up and dusted myself off. Once satisfied that I had gotten most of it, I immediately headed over and got closer to the newly opened door and peeked inside, only to find that it was far too dark to actually see anything.

Feeling oddly determined to figure out this new mystery, I reached into my backpack and pulled out my phone to use the flashlight feature to try and clear some of the darkness so I could get an idea about where the trapdoor might possibly lead.

Once I had hit the button, the bright light from my phone did indeed part the shadows just enough for me to be able to make out a set of stone steps that continued deep into the depths of the earth that most of them were lost to the shadows themselves.

I stared into the inky black darkness of the earth in curious contemplation as I thought about what I should do with my newfound discovery. Did I dare to explore the tunnel? Or do I simply give up and leave as I was told earlier?