All she could see was black. Black clouds, black sky and black absolute nothingness. They had landed with a thud and there was no light in sight. She couldn't tell if it was night or--something else. She was scared to even speak let alone yell out Ethan's name. She didn't even know what was in front of her face or what lay lurking in the shadows.
She felt around her. It seemed like it was a dirt and gravel mixture--a cave?
She felt the ground some more and felt what seemed like walls. Stone walls. And vines. It was cold, she noticed that. And water dripping down. She felt her clothes, checking for rips or any wounds.
Her arm.
She couldn't even move it. She glanced down at her hands and flipped the palms over. The previous injury was still there but barely noticeable now. The pain had subsidized but she knew she would have scars.
A memory of this horrible experience.
She winced as her arm throbbed. Why was it doing this? She tried to remember what had caused this injury but everything was so faded. All she could remember was being in the station, seeing the bright light and then...nothing.
She didn't have anything she could use for a sling and the pain was too much to bare. She didn't know what to do.
Guess I will have to just suck it up and deal with it, like everything else.
Sighing she figured that she would try to at least get up. Worst case scenario I yell for Ethan and then I die or something attacks me and then I die. She struggled to support herself against the weight, crying out in agony as her arm was stretched to its limits. Tears began to form in her eyes and she sucked in a huge breath. This was going to hurt. A lot.
She pushed down on her palm, attempting to get herself up. She ignored the pain and continued to hoist herself up. She didn't have anything to grip onto; using her good arm, she steadied herself and then eased herself up into a squatting position. She took a huge breath in and willed herself up.
She staggered against the wall for support and clung onto it. Her nails too short to dig in and her palms too swollen from the injury before.
Her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, now she understood where she was.
It was a cave and she could hear water running...somewhere.
She hesitated to speak out loud, not knowing what or who could come after her if she did.
"Ethan!" she whispered loudly.
Silence.
She slowly walked forward, fully aware now that her arm was in absolute pain. She ignored it and instead, focused on the silence. Her converse failed to provide any grip and she feared she would fall off a cliff, unaware in the blindly dark.
This is where it ends, I suppose. She thought. If I die, I die.
She walked a little more, taking note of the rocks and small pebbles that pelted her feet.
She wished so desperately that there was light.
"Ethan!" She whispered his name again, this time more forcefully and loud.
There was grumbling and then all of a sudden, two white eyes glistened in the blackened air.
This is where it ends, she thought. All 16 years of my life, gone.
Why did they end up in a cave? And where was James?
She carefully took several steps before the white eyes were in front of her face.
"Ethan?" she asked again, this time loudly saying his name.
She heard a muffled sound and then, "Cass?" it was faint but distinct.
That was Ethan's voice, but where was he?
She felt around before she felt something. Or someone.
The eyes were still glowing. She winced at the pain in her arm, wishing desperately that it would heal itself somehow.
Suddenly, the eyes glowing intensified and she stopped dead in her tracks.
They began to illuminate the entire front part of the cave, as far as she could see.
Almost like headlights but on the face of a human.
She realized that the light was coming from Ethan. His eyes. Both of them were white hallow now, the light bursting through for each one.
She suddenly remembered it, he had the skill of navigation. Maybe that's why his eyes were glowing like little headlights on a car. They looked like small flashlights
He was supposed to navigate them. Maybe that's why they were in this cave, as a test.
She approached him slowly, careful not to get in the way of the blinding light.
"Cass, what's happening to me?" he cried out—scared and confused. "I literally can't see anything, it's almost like I'm blind or something but I'm not." He fumbled around in the darkness, not sure where to move his head. Cassedee watched in confusion as he felt the walls of the cave, carefully taking small steps so he wouldn't fall.
Cassedee had never seen him like this. Looking around frantically, reaching out, his headlight eyes swinging wildly about in the darkness.
"I—I'm not sure, I think, I mean I'm pretty sure we are being given our powers but I'm not sure why. Remember what Nole said? You had the sight of navigation. I have the ability to alter time. James has—"
James. It suddenly occurred to her that James was missing, unless she had left him behind but that would have been impossible. She would have noticed that. She would have heard the crunch of rock and gravel.
Ethan struggled to understand what she had just said.
"Cass, I don't think we're in our own reality. I think we are in an alternate dimension or in the same place where everyone had disappeared to. I think someone is watching us. Right now. I think I might've hit the button on the camera but I don't remember. This is all my fault." Cassedee could hear whimpering and sniffling. "Cassedee, I'm scared. What do we do?"
Ethan suddenly closed his eyes, and the light disappeared. He opened them again after a few moments.
"I don't know what's happening to me. How do I work these things or turn them off?" He closed his eyes tight for a few seconds then opened them again. Nothing. It was still the same, the beams of light shooting out from his eyes.
He blinked a few times and each time he did, the light flickered on and off.
"Cassedee, what if I was the one who made us vanish? What if I was the one who made Nole vanish? What if—I was the one who made everyone vanish?"
He began whimpering again and started shuffling his feet back and forth uncomfortably, trying to steady himself against this situation.
He rubbed his eyes as hard as he could, hoping that it would make the light go away. It didn't.
"Cassedee, what do I do?" He cried out in confusion, a frustrated tone soon followed.
"I'm—not sure. I guess figure it out as we go. That's the only thing we can really do."
Ethan nodded, the headlight eyes bouncing in rhythm to the nod.
"Okay, maybe if I try steadying myself and looking straight ahead I can figure it out or at least try to learn how these things work."
Cassedee gave a weak smile. "That's the best we can do. Until we learn how these powers work, if they are that—we'll just have to learn as we go."
She winced and clutched her arm tight. Ethan glanced down at this, his headlights forming together in concern.
"Cass, what happened to your arm?"
Cassedee glanced down at her arm, which was now protruding her bone. Black and bits of purple began to form on her skin around the break, an infection would likely form soon.
"It's nothing, just something that happened when we fell, I guess. I'll be okay. It doesn't hurt all that much, its fine." Even in the darkness she could tell that Ethan was not having it.
She gritted her teeth against the scraping. She could feel the cartilage rubbing against the joint, she could hear it.
"Cass, you obviously aren't fine. Oh, my god, I did that too." Cassedee suddenly grabbed him by his shoulders and spoke urgently.
"Listen to me. You did nothing, okay? It's that weird camera and we have no idea if we are even in some other world. Don't worry about that stuff, let's just try and figure out a way out of this cave, okay?"
Ethan's whimpering quieted down and Cassedee noticed that the light in his eyes faded a little. Were the lights connected to his emotions?
"You have to trust me when I say that. Come on, there's no point in standing in this stupid cave. We have to find James and figure out what the heck's going on here. And where we are. And what we are now."
Ethan nodded—the headlights eyes bouncing along with the movement. Cassedee gave him a half hug and squeezed him tight.
"We'll figure it out, I promise. I'll figure it out. We'll be back before we all know it. You're going to have to light the way, Ethan. I think that's why your powers turned on."
Ethan sighed. "Cass, I'm not too sure how to do this. I don't know what's going on or what's wrong with me. How do I do this? How do I turn this off—if I can."
Cassedee gave a weak smile; she knew certainly that Ethan couldn't see it.
"I'm not sure either. But we can only do what we can. We can only do our best. That's it."
He nodded and turned around slowly, still gripping the stone wall next to him for support.
"You can do it, I believe in you. Let's go, Mr. Navigator. Lead the way."
Ethan hesitated for a moment before taking a few steps forward. Cassedee could hear the gravel and stones crunching under their feet as they began to walk.
Ethan's headlight eyes made the entire cave glow in front of them. Cassedee could really see it now. There were strange drawings on the walls of the cave and stones of various shapes and colors. It was not an ordinary cave—it all looked manmade almost hand-built. Nothing like what nature would have created.
Purple vines reached throughout and small orange dots lined the walls of the cave. Access points? They looked like small orange buttons.
The cave's ceiling was layers of thick mud and dirt, like clay that had small ports carved out every two feet.
Cassedee wondered what this cave could have been used for, if it was still used at all.
Suddenly, Cassedee's vision was black and tinted.
What was happening?
She saw the two of them walking, a loud popping sound echoed through the cave and they fell.
Their screams hallowed out the silence of the cave and then there was nothing.
They had fallen to their deaths in the black abyss that lay beneath their feet.
Cassedee snapped back into reality and yanked Ethan's shirt back. He stumbled and then stopped walking. Irritated now by what she had done.
'Hey, what gives?" he said.
She sighed and right on cue, pointed at the spot in front of him which was now crumbling down. They could hear loud cracking as the dirt around them rumbled. Then a huge boom soon followed after.
They paused for a moment, only waiting a few moments after.
There was a large hole where they had been walking. He glanced down in it, his eyes still glowing.
It was a bottomless pit, nothing but darkness that followed.
And they almost fell into that.
Ethan gasped, "Dude, how did you—know—"
"I had a vision, or what I think was a version of what I'm supposed to have. My ability, I guess. I don't know. All I know is that I saw us walking, we fell and then died. But it wasn't like real or something, like I knew it didn't actually happen."
Ethan blinked, his glowing eyes closing only for a moment.
"Holy—"
Cassedee nodded, "I know. I don't know why we have our powers all of a sudden. Maybe it's to help us. Maybe it's to hurt us. I don't know but we'd better take advantage of them now while we still have them. And try and figure out how they work."
Ethan gave a weak smile, "Maybe you could speed us up out of here and back into our town."
Cassedee gave a slight chuckle. "Maybe. I am not too sure how these powers work or how to control them. Let's just try to get out of here first."
Ethan nodded and started walking again, hesitating. Cassedee suspected it to be him anticipating another one of her visions. She suspected she had no control over when they did happen. And this terrified her.
She tried to think of any possible reason why they suddenly had their abilities, just like how Nole predicted they would. Why now? Why in this moment? Wherever they were and how did they get them. And how did Nole know they were going to get them?
Cassedee didn't understand any of this and decided to not worry about it. They would have to figure it out later.
Right now, she was only focused on figuring out a way out of this strange cave. She hoped that they were still in their time, in their world but something was telling her that they weren't. She had this strange suspicion that they were being watched—she got the feeling that they were not alone.
This presence was following them through the cave—it almost felt like they were guiding them to the end. She hoped that whoever it was, wasn't leading them to their doom.
They began making their way through the dark tunnel. It was cold and damp but Ethan's headlight eyes were illuminating the blackness, almost providing a sense of comfort.
Cassedee suddenly stopped, another vision? She whispered to Ethan.
"Wait, hold on. What is that?" Ethan stopped walking, the light now paused on something that was certainly not from their world.
The creature or whatever it was, was transparent with a black outline around it. Its eyes were sunken in where the sockets used to be and its teeth were sharp—almost like a shark.
It was curled in a ball in the fetal position, feet tucked under and arms reached around itself. It looked like it was sleeping but Cassedee wasn't sure.
She hesitated, almost uncertain if they should even walk toward it. She reached for Ethan's arm with her good one and pulled him back gently, wincing again at the pain that was throbbing in her injured arm. She had to find a sling for it or something and fast. This was going to cause permanent damage pretty soon if she kept moving it around.
The creature was breathing rapidly and Cassedee watched as it took one breath in then one breath out. Slowly.
Cassedee kept her voice low, almost stopping Ethan from hearing her, afraid that she would wake up the creature from its vegetative state.
"We could try to walk around it?" Ethan suggested, his headlight eyes still glowing in the darkness.
Cassedee hesitated. "We could...but there's also a chance it could wake up."
"Hey Cass, what if you tried using your teleportation ability thing?"
Cassedee paused. "I could try but I'm not sure exactly how it works. Maybe if I close my eyes and concentrate..."
She did just exactly that. She closed her eyes and envisioned them crossing over the creature, into safety away from it. She concentrated, focusing on trying to bring her vision to life. Nothing.
She suddenly opened her eyes again. They were still in the same position they had been in before.
"Do you feel any different? Did you see anything? Did you feel anything?"
Cassedee closed her eyes again and concentrated.
"Nope, nothing." She said frustrated. "I don't understand why it's not working or if it's something I can turn on or off, or control at all."
"Maybe it's something that you feel instead of want or need." Ethan suggested.
Cassedee sighed, "I don't know, maybe. The last time it happened, it seemed like it was random like I didn't have any control over it."
Ethan turned around so that his headlight eyes were shining on Cassedee's face.
She was beautiful.
Her long light brown hair was curled at the ends into a wave and her emerald green eyes flickered against the light. Her face was thin and nose small with eyebrows that went into an arch. She was thin but not overly thin with a short torso and long legs.
Absolute perfection. Ethan knew that she would never go for a guy like him. After all, there was James.
Cassedee started walking toward the creature, hesitating with every step she took.
"Cass, what the heck are you doing? Are you out of your mind? You don't know what that thing is or what it'll do."
Cassedee shot him a look. "I know that, Ethan. But what other choice do we have? We can't go around it, it's too big. We can't turn back. I'm telling you, something is drawing me to this thing."
She turned around and began walking again, her breathing increasing with every step. She crouched down, almost trying to make herself seem smaller.
There was something odd about the creature, almost identical. Could it be? No, that would be impossible. How?
As she approached it, she noticed the creature had on clothes. Odd. They were ripped everywhere. Huge slashes all around the top of the shirt and pants. Fur was sticking out of where the slashes were and the creatures face looked like an animal.
There it was.
The camera that zapped them all. It was lying next to the creature's left hand, upside down, covered in dust.
How long had this thing been sleeping here for?
Cassedee squatted down slowly, trying not to make any noises as she studied this things face.
"Cass, be careful. We don't know what it will do or what it's capable of."
She ignored Ethan and continued to gaze at its face. It looked almost human like.
What if? No, impossible.
She bent down, now on her knees in the dirt and gravel.
"Ethan, shine your eyes over here." He grunted and swiveled his headlight eyes around to face where she had been squatting.
Ethan began to understand what she meant by familiar.
His ripped clothing—was that?
That couldn't be.
Nole's watch was resting on the creature's wrist.
"Hey Cass, do you remember what James said that Nole had on when he disappeared?"
Before Cassedee had a chance to answer, she watched as the beasts eyes suddenly shot open. They were yellow and red, the pupils a dark orange. The only thing that Cassedee heard was a growling sound coming from the beast's mouth. Its breath was so foul, it made her eyes water. She plugged her nose with her good hand, trying to ease the smell that bellowed in front of her.
Its claws grew out and its breathing increased as it struggled to get up. It had been here for a while it seemed like.
Cassedee began to shout. "Ethan! Try blinding the thing with your light!"
Ethan focused all of his attention on doing just that but it was no use. The creature got up on its back legs and stood up. It was at least eight feet tall and towered over the both of them. You could stack three Ethan's and it wouldn't be enough. The light was not strong enough. They were goners.
"I—can't. I'm trying!"
Foam started to form from its mouth and its eyes narrowed at the both of them. They were invading its territory and it was ready to pounce. A deep slow screech ensued as the beast stared down the both of them. Ethan's headlight eyes making the creature even more terrifying. It's shadow cast over the rocks in the cave, the ceiling just barely touching its head.
"Cass, I may sound crazy but I think this thing is Nole."
Cassedee shot him a look of confirmation.
"I think so too."
__________________________________________
Do you think this beast is Nole? If so, how did he end up like this? Could it have been Mr. T? And will Cassedee, James and Ethan realize that they could possibly be not in their world?
Comment your responses below!!
Don't forget, new chapters drop every Friday at midnight! Chapter 12 will be set to drop next Friday, 11/24!