Magnolia's Code

Breaking Ties

It was so, so cold.

That was the thing that Tim gradually became aware of as he descended farther into the caves. He wondered how he didn't notice it the last time. It was bitingly cold, so that even though Tim had his protective gear on, he was still shivering from the ache that had reached his core. He couldn't see anything, even with his head lamp at full power. It was like the cave was putting a muffler over his senses. There was a ringing sound in his ears that wouldn't go away, even when he spoke to himself out loud.

He wondered if he should have made the message he'd left for Jay more specific. I'm going into the Magnolia Caverns, he'd written on a piece of scrap paper. If I'm not back in four hours, come and look for me. Make sure you at least find my body. Then he'd left it in Jay's mailbox for him to find early that morning.

Looking back on it, the note did seem a little harsh. Half of Tim cowered in fear of this greater, braver self. But the other half of him snapped that Jay deserved it, because he had called Tim crazy in the first place.

Drip, drip, drip. Tim jumped, heart rate soaring, head lamp swinging wildly so that he could pinpoint the source of the noise. His heart rate slowed when he figured out the sound was just water dripping from a stalactite.

Maybe Tim should have made the note a little more specific. Maybe he should have said two hours instead of four, and to head over to the caves as soon as he got the note.

Whoosh. Something moved in the area just outside of Tim's lamp beam. His breath sped up again and he directed the light at the area he had just seen the movement, but there was nothing there. Frozen, he stared hard into the darkness, making sure there was no trace of animal or human. For a second, he thought he saw one of the rocks move, but it must have been just a trick of the light.

Slowly, and numbly because of the cold, Tim turned away from the spot just as he heard another whooshing noise. But it was closer this time. He stumbled backwards, falling into a shallow pool of icy water. It made a huge splash that forced a scream out of Tim, and he started shivering even harder as the water seeped into his clothes and dripped off of his hair and ears. There was no doubt that whatever was in the cave with him knew he was here now. Tim took a chance and spoke quiveringly into the darkness.

"P-p-please," he pleaded, teeth chattering, "d-d-don't hurt me."

There was no answer. Tim had expected as much. But now, still sprawled in the pool, he heard something else: the very soft tapping of feet on stone. Someone was walking toward him.

"Please," Tim said, the word barely more than a whisper. Even so, his voice seemed to ring out in the silent cave. The footsteps stopped, and Tim waited with baited breath for something to happen.

A second later, something hard struck him on the side of the head, and he knew a moment of blossoming pain before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell face-first into the freezing water.