A Little Insane: Building A Monster

Chapter Eight - Stepping Into Hell

“Why is it bright?” Riley whimpered, using all his strength not to look down. “And hot.”

“I'm going to pull you up now, okay?” he said.

“Hart,” Riley whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek. “My skin is burning. It's burning.” His head slowly tilted down and he ignored every angry shout coming from above him not to look down. He blinked when he saw what was under him, but not because he couldn't believe it, but because the heat was intense. There was no floor below him, just whiteness. It was too bright to make out if there was even anything down there. But fire was slowly climbing up the walls, and if he wasn't pulled up now, they would devour him any second.

“Give me your other hand! Now!” Hart ordered.

Riley tried, he really did. He swung himself, trying to catch Hart's other hand but the fire made his skin sweaty and slippery. To make things worse, his other hand was slowly slipping. He had never seen Hart like this before; so scared, so weak and fragile. It might as well be more terrifying than death.

And once again, he was proven wrong as his hand slipped out of the tight grip Hart had on him and fell.

“Riley! No!” Hart roared, his voice echoing down as Riley fell through the fire.

Riley didn't scream. No, he faced it. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. The fire swallowed him and everything became so bright that he began to question if he was still falling or if he was now dead.

He still felt the heat blowing through him as he spun around uncontrollably. When the burning became too immense, he shut his eyes and waited for his death.

It didn't come. He still felt like he was falling, but when he opened his eyes he was standing on a rocky surface. It was still hot and fire still engulfed the walls around him, but he wasn't positive where he was. Not to mention the big question; how did he stop falling? How was it that one second he was in the air, dropping God knows where, and the next he was firmly standing on the ground?

First thing he did was look up. Instead of a hole, he saw just rocks, like he hadn't even fallen at all. He was in a cave, no doubt about it. He wasn't imagining things and it wasn't dark, the fire around lit up the whole cave and he visibly saw no hole.

It's happening again. The illusions. The strange, and scary, visions, he thought. Just like that day when I saw all of those dead people roaming the house, and the blood filling up to my neck. I'm seeing things again.

He took a careful step forward, tapping the ground with his foot, checking that it wouldn't suddenly break off and he'd end up falling again. He took another cautious step forward, certain that something would happen this time; he could feel it in his chest.

ROAR!

His eyes looked up nervously as he heard the loud husky voice. He tensed up, bending his spine a little as he became a scared little pup. In front of him was a path that led into the darkness. Would it lead him out of the cave or further into it? He wasn't confident with guessing, but going back didn't seem like such a good idea. Every time he casually looked back, he felt a cold breeze tickle his skin and make the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight.

A second roar, this time it was closer. Something was coming. Something knew he was there.

Quickly, he ran towards the giant boulder close to the rocky walls and he sat down, hiding behind it as he waited eagerly for the owner of the terrifying growls. He took a peak when silence settled in. There wasn't anyone on the path, and his heart was racing fast, as if telling him that something was there.