Chapter Text
A new day. The sun rose, hitting my eye. Although I am still a kid, my body ached like that of a middle-aged person.
I usually don’t expect it when I wake up this early in the morning. It was around 5:45 AM, with the sun three-quarters of the way up as my eyes adjusted to the bright light. It was weird doing this.
All the while, I tried to convince myself that this was all normal. I knew what was coming; We all knew.
I’d asked my parents if I could invite my friends to the beach. Recently, we’ve discovered a strange gaping hole in the ground. I had told my parents, but I suppose it would be hard to supply evidence—I decided to dismiss it after.
I sat up on my bed and basked for a moment in the sun. I knew Isha and Josiah’d be here soon, that I knew. For all I know.
I got up and got ready. No one else was awake then. I’m not used to this much independence, because I hate being alone, alone with my thoughts.
And my thoughts are terrible.
I stood up from the dining table and opened the villa door to take a breath of fresh air. For some reason, we had saved enough to stay in an Airbnb for a three-day beach trip. How nice.
There was a short stone road within some cut hedges that led to the pool. I didn’t like the constant presence of beach dogs, as I always feared that I might catch rabies, but situations were dire, so I tried not to let it get to my head too much. I chose to take the road leading towards the beach.
The smell of the breeze as it hit me while wearing my shoes was strange, almost feeling like this would be the last time I’d feel the minty, refreshing cool breeze the way I did now. Or the way I did before, when I was young. The breeze was already tinted with the scent of mortars, gunpowder, pig guts—or it was all in my head.
I stretched my arms as I looked into the great unknown ocean beyond view. I stood there, pondering. I knew we were going to prove it now, but we had to prove it without anyone else knowing, otherwise we’d be done for.
My soles were made of dirty white rubber, making a soft squelch as I stepped on the road. The ocean drifted closer and closer, but I didn’t plan on taking them off and basking in its ruthlessly icy cold water. I was waiting for them.
I forgot to bring my hat. I hoped nothing really entered because I realized I had forgotten to close the door earlier. Gosh.
I skedaddled from where I was to the door, grabbing my hat and hot cocoa from the dining table and putting both where they had to be. I slowly closed the door with it creaking in a freakish, outlandish, horrific way.
I walked back down, blowing on my hot cocoa. When were they coming? Somehow, we needed to start digging.
I put my shoes in the sand at last, but the heat barely penetrated. I wasn’t in any sort of beach outfit. We saw what was below the ground, somehow, and its dress code was not any casual outing.
I stood there, basking in my senses after months of staying in my head. The places below demand nothing of that sort. You were tasked to be in the present, constantly.
Scanning the area, I felt the familiar feeling of wet sand under my shoes. It felt just like the previous time we had investigated holes like that.
“Ieiri!” a familiar voice called.
“Stick your hand in it.”
“What?”
“Reach your hand inside!”
“Alright, I trust you…” Then, with both eyes closed, he slowly, but hesitantly, bent down. With his left hand groping the dirt for support, he went fingers first, then hand, forearm, and kept reaching until his whole arm was inside. Curiosity struck, and opening his eyes, he reached down a bit more.
“Careful, silly, get up!” I reminded him, tugging the back of his striped shirt, and pulling him upright again.
“Wait a minute, there was something down there,” he alternated between shaking his hand and wiping it on his sandy jeans.
“Cold air.” I turned to him, squinting in anticipation of his response while his focus seemed to have shifted to the hole. I saw his eyes almost blank.
“Sort of, the temperature DID feel like it was... dropping...”
“Josiah?! Is that you?! Hey, silly, I’m over here!” I called, waving my right hand. I think I saw a backpack slung over him.
“You’re up early,”
“I told my parents last night I was sleepy, and they let me sleep earlier than usual. What might you think we find under there? Paris?”
“Arty said we’d land in the Catacombs if he's right.”
“This looks like a good site, though, with how strange the sand feels. We should wait for Isha first, no? What do you think?”
“I think we should dig.”
"I mean, if you guys want to,” we heard an androgynous-leaning female voice reply. “Poof. Surprise, I’m here.
“Hey, Isha,” I said. “How’s it going?”
No reply, hands behind her head, she shrugged. Her face was nearly unbothered. “Let’s get to work already. What is it anyway?”
“Alright, Isha, we went on a trip once and decided to dig some holes for fun. One hole grew bigger without our notice; we found something underneath. And it looks like a sort of hidden catacomb or fossils.” I listed, all fun dissipating from my voice.
“If you say so. Heh, that does sound like a bunch of B.S., though.” She doubted, scratching the top of her head, almost attempting to roll her eyes, although she couldn't take her eyes off that hole.
“I have proof, even several pictures of it.”
“I—I mean, you could trust her!” Josiah suggested, right out of the blue, perhaps when he noticed my face scrunch in logic and disillusionment, “I’ve seen this thing too, Isha, please.”
“See, Isha, look! He knows about it too. Just trust me, silly.” No, I sound much younger. Not the tone I wanted to give.
“Alrighty,” with a sarcastic tone. Isha lifted her brows, making a cheeky grin. It’s the same question often, “Is Gav here?” she smirked, adjusting her glasses.
“Coming a bit later. This place is far from where he lives, I think. It’s far from where I live, anyway,” I replied, Isha’s expression blanking out in disappointment.
I led the duo farther from the rocky pavement. Then I continued, “I’d rather start now so I can prove it to everyone. But it’d be the worst thing to happen if we end up in the wrong place.” I bent down on one knee, scanning the floor. I ran my fingers through the grain of sand. I crossed my arms, heart heavy, grieving a past I would have to leave behind. “And even more so if we get ambushed again.”
“Ambushed? Hmph, ‘the hell does that mean?” She chuckled, shrugging it off, but looking skeptical.
“Hey yo..” said a more masculine voice. I recognized it; it was Gavin, both hands clutching his shoulder bag, and a camo bucket hat covering his wavy hair, which overshadowed his somewhat serious expression. Isha lit up, and using the same grin she used on us earlier, she elbowed his arm. “Heyy Gavin, how’s it goin’, huh?” She teased.
“Do you mind?” I interrupted. “Alright, guys, we’re going in this freaking hole.”
“Uh, hello, Ms. Pres.” Then, he turned to me, unaware of Isha’s quick, disappointed sigh. “Where is the hole?”
“Somewhere around this area, I’m sure of it.”
“Oh, nice.” His expression unchanging
Josiah interrupted, “Uh, I feel like we were actually supposed to dig the hole a couple of minutes ago..”
“And do you think we’re gonna do well if we get in this hole?" Gavin added, "It’s more like we’re entering the military, even more so, like entering a slow siege.” A delighted smirk grew on his face.
“I know. We’re just going to send recon into it today. Hope the zombies don’t ambush us like last time.”
“We just have to drop a rope in,” Josiah suggested. “Then we can send in devices, like drones, I think.” Once beaming at the thought of his idea, though his expression quickly shifted to uncertainty. He wasn’t like this before, although my ideals of him were honestly proven to be slightly misinformed.
“Wait, wait, wait, dude. DRONES?? Good gosh, gang, we’re high schoolers.”
“Whatever we can do, we have to do. Josiah, do you have your spade? If you do, where’d you put it?"
“Hm? Yeah, uh, I’ll get it!”
For a while, we had been digging until we spotted a small hole under a bunch of rocks. We used the spades we had to crack it open from a distance, thus forming a large hole, around a meter in diameter. Josiah took a rope from his backpack and, slinging it over his shoulder to carry the long, heavy, and voluminous rope, he slowly lowered it until he heard a minute, small, echoing thump.
"YOOOO.” Isha jumped, exaggeratedly flailing her arms; a blend of sarcasm and actual shock in her voice.
“This is what I’m telling you, a pathway to what we might not even know about the Underground is right under this beach,” I replied, tracing the entrance with my own palm.
“‘Could just be rocks though?” She proclaimed, stepping back a few steps. Gavin takes her shoulder, stepping forward, and kneels right next to me. Right in front of the hole we just dug.
“Not just that, Isha, the rope wouldn’t echo if it hit any regular cluster of rocks,” his tone deepened. “It’s a hollow space.”
“Effing portal dude! Hehe, sick!” She laughed, but it soon faded as her posture slowly fell.
But then—did I say any of those things I said earlier? All I know is that somehow, many memories rushed into my head as I steadily recount the events of this morning. No, that's all in the past.
All this chaos demands a different me, or say, her.
The one who’d never speak like a child.
Never will I wish to be one.
But we hadn’t heard any growling then—just silence, just beneath that hole, just from where we are.