The Last Summer

26: Don't Go (Day 3)

"At this point, I'm too terrified to scream."
(Chapter 27)
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Together, we all peer down from our positions on the hill, down...down into a dark opening in the land below.

"Could be a mine," Terrell says.

Not unlikely, considering coal mining used to be a huge industry in Kentucky during the late 1800's and early 1900's. There has to be many abandoned minefields all around the state. It might even explain the old chimney not far from this entrance, a building that once stood--a home for workers or an office of some type?

It makes me wonder what happened to the building, and why only the chimney remains.

"No," Nelia says. "It's just a cave."

The opening is rather narrow for a cave entrance, but I've never actually seen the entrance to an old mine before, so I really cannot judge it either way.

The darkness lying within gives me the creeps, and I suddenly feel cold in the rising eighty-degree weather. Maybe this is an irrational feeling, but considering everything that has happened in the past two days, I think I have a right to be paranoid about dark and scary entrances into the unknown. Going in there would be like making a cliche decision in a really bad horror movie, one that anyone with common sense would know not to do. Something that would make the audience groan and say, that's so stupid. They're all gonna die now.

There's no way I'm setting foot in there, no matter how much it tugs at my curiosity.

Paul starts descending the hill.

I watch with my jaw dropping.

He's not stopping. He's not changing direction. He's headed straight for the opening.

"Stop him!" Nelia warns, just as Eugenia shouts her brother's name.

Wes rushes forward, and for a split second, I think he is going to trip down the incline, but his careful navigation steadies him.

Nelia starts to shoot after Paul, but I grab her elbow and yank her backward.

This is as close as we are getting to that cave. There's no way we're getting any closer.

Wes grabs Paul's arm just in time, forcing him to a halt at the bottom of the hill, right in front of the opening. Eugenia and Justin follow close behind. Della and the rest of us hang back, eying the cave warily.

I have a feeling that Della and Isabella are thinking the same thing I'm thinking: going in there would be like committing suicide in a lame horror movie.

Terrell moves forward, descending the hill slowly and carefully. He doesn't take his eyes off of the darkness.

"No," Nolan repeats quietly. His eyes are wide with terror.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I ask, glancing from him to Paul, and back to him.

Terrell is wrapping his arms around Paul from behind in a protective hug, keeping him from moving any farther.

"We can't go in there," Nolan tells us.

"Why not?" Nelia asks.

Nolan seems like he's taken aback by the question, like he doesn't know the answer himself. After a few seconds, he shakes his head again. "I--I just have a really bad feeling. It's almost like a part of me already knows what's in there, and it's not good."

"Wait, you know what's in there?" Della says, moving toward us so she can hear Nolan better.

I shake my head, answering for him. "No, not like that. It's his subconscious. But his mind is blocking out whatever it is that his subconscious remembers. It's from the sleepwalking, isn't it?" I don't really wait for a reply as I look down at the darkness again. "It's what's pulling Paul toward the cave."

"Do you...do you think he's being possessed?" Nelia asks quietly.

My heart skips a beat.

I don't want to think that's he's being possessed by a malevolent ghost. But maybe...maybe something else is reaching out to his subconscious. Some sort of powerful energy.

"He's probably possessed by a demon," Maggie tells us quite simply, nodding as if this is the most plausible explanation.

I shake my head, breaking away and taking a hesitant step toward Wes and the others. "It's time to wake him up. He needs to wake up. Now."

"We already tried that," Justin replies.

"I heard somewhere that waking up someone who is sleepwalking is dangerous," Terrell tells us. I see him start to struggle against Paul as the boy tries to step forward.

Wes makes a confused expression, before quietly telling Terrell, "I think that's from a movie."

Before I know what I'm doing, I move closer to Paul and Terrell, closer to the cave, closer to the darkness.

Something shifts inside, and I freeze in my tracks, going stock-still. I blink twice, but nothing else moves from within the cave.

But something had moved. I saw something.

"No!" I hear Nolan say, and I turn around to see Nelia coming down the hill after me. Maggie, Della, and Isabella are all following.

Only Nolan remains on top of the hill, fidgeting from foot to foot.

"I wonder what's in there," Della says quietly, more to herself than to anyone nearby.

"Guys--!" Wes hisses, and we all whip around to face him.

His eyes are wide, and he's bringing his hands up to silence us as he stares into the opening.

"What?" Maggie disturbs the silence.

"Shhh!" Nelia cuts her off, elbowing her in the side.

"Did you hear that?" Wes whispers.

We all fall silent again. I hold my breath as this ominous feeling comes over me again, and every muscle in my body tenses.

There's something in there.

"You're scaring me," Della says, and she backs away, clearly spooked.

The hair on my arms stand on end, and every response in my body is screaming at me to run.

"What--what did you hear?" Isabella finally asks, her voice tight. She almost sounds like she really doesn't want to know the answer to her own question.

Wes opens his mouth to reply, but then Paul mumbles something under his breath, and we all turn to stare at him in shock.

"Paul?" Eugenia says, inching toward him hesitantly. "Are you awake?"

Then it all happened so fast.

Terrell collapses to the ground.

Paul breaks free, sprinting into the cave.

Eugenia screams, running after him.

And we all fall into desperate, terrified pursuit

The last thing I remember before entering, before the daylight disappeared behind us, is Nolan calling out from his position on the hill.

I hear his horrified voice piercing the back of my mind.

"Don't go!"

The darkness engulfs us.

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Next chapter (The Screams): unfortunately, some will never make it back out alive.