The Twilight Zone

Chapter 3

 Ellie mulled it over. Tongues? She shook herself. It was disgusting, but she guessed that it was the best possible scenario. She had been stepping over tongues. What else could it have been? She was sure something much more sinister. But then, what made the tongues not? Where had they come from?

Amelie's voice, up ahead, started to shake.

"You aren't staying close enough..." She stopped abruptly at the edge of the rock outcropping. "See, this is what I meant. They're awake now."

Ellie stepped next to her, looking down at the sight. Her newly acquired glasses saw everything in color, and the fleshy pinkness of the squirming things gave them a worm-like appearance. Some of the tongues lapped over the edge of the rock, flicking every which way. They did have spit-Amelie had been right. The liquid spattered on Amelie as she took an exaggerated step forward.

"The bigger the steps, the better," she said as she took another large step and planted her foot firmly into the sea of pink.

Ellie winced-the thought of it was horrible. Amelie turned back to her, looking disgusted.

"Are you coming? Or do you want to go back to the lamppost? We can always do that, too."

Ellie jumped forward, her shoes immediately drenched with saliva. She felt the tongues pulling her in, and she started to panic.

Amelie rolled her eyes.

She really liked to roll her eyes.

"They can't hurt you if you learn how to balance. It's really easy, actually. There are small holes that look perfect for your feet." Ellie extended one of her own to set it in the small circular area free of tongues. "But don't put it there!" Ellie retracted her foot just in time. "If you do that, they come up and crowd around you. You can feel their pull. They leave marks sometimes-I'm sure you have them now." Amelie took another step. "This sounds disgusting, because it is, but put it in the most crowded spot. That's how you balance. Easy."

Amelie jumped nimbly over the rest of the tongues.

Ellie was far, far, far behind. Her lips trembled along with the rest of her body. She wanted to cry. She wanted to flop down and let the tongues consume her, coat her in their saliva and never return her to Earth again. She got why the people who stayed by the light-she wanted to take Amelie's original offer and just go back. Her eyes closed tight and she refused to move, falling back into the hungry, wriggling mass.

All of a sudden, a force was pulling on her, moving her forward through the sea. Tongues reached up to grab her, moving her along to the other edge. Her feet touched the edge of a rock mass, and she hit solid ground. 

"Wow. That's never happened to me before." Amelie looked distraught. She then walked through the entrance of another cave, dragging Ellie along with her. The two girls were consumed by the darkness of the cave. Something scurried across the path.

"Just a Scuttle," Amelie said before Ellie even asked the question. "They usually don't hurt people. Unless they're aggravated."

Small flickers of light appeared as Ellie and Amelie continued. Soon, the dim light was enough for the girls to remove their glasses. As the light grew, Ellie's hope did as well. Soon, the end of the trail was reached.

"Welcome to The Cavern." Amelie walked away, leaving Ellie on her own.

Finally, Ellie felt a bit of comfort washed over her in this new, twisted world.

Light.

Civilization.

Hope.