I turned around to see a young girl probably around the age of 10 standing near Leo. She had pale skin, slightly rosy cheeks, and big dark hazel eyes that appear to be sparkling. She seemed quite normal at first glance but it was not until I noticed her clothing, things started to seem a bit weird. She was wearing a white half-sleeve turtle neck and the pants were blue with white stripes and had suspenders. She looked like she was out of a 1980s movie.
Leo was looking at her in shock. "Where did you come from?" He asked pointing his finger at her. The girl just looked at Leo and walked towards me.
"There are numerous tunnels and passages in each of these tunnels except for the way you came in. If you try to go through any of these passages, no doubt, you two will be lost forever. This place is like it was made to make people lost because from the outside and a little bit to the inside, it's just a normal cave. But once we pass this point, it tunnels out into various directions." The girl explained while moving closer to me.
"Uhh... Okay, so do you know how to get out? Leo is getting really scared and we don't wanna be stuck here forever." I replied trying to sound friendly. The girl just laughed.
"My name's Mandy, by the way." The girl extended her arm for a greeting. I greeted her back.
"I am-"
"Lera, I know. And that's Leo, your little brother, am I right?" Mandy said smiling.
"Err... Yeah! How did you know?" I asked in shock. Mandy giggled at my question.
"Isn't it obvious?" Mandy asked and circled her hand towards the cave walls indicating the voices. 'Lera... Leo... Lera... Leo... Lera... Leo...' The voices kept repeating our names. It made my whole body shudder.
"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that." I shuddered again. This is getting creepier each minute.
"Mandy, do you know how to get out of this place?" Leo interrupted our conversation. Mandy turned around towards Leo and gave a smirk.
"Of course I do! I have explored every tunnel in this cave. Oh, how I wish I knew the way out 39 years ago." Mandy sighed as her eyes teared up. But I and Leo just looked at her with our mouths hanging wide open.
"Excuse me, Mandy. I think we might have heard you wrong. Did you say... 39 years?" I muttered slowly unable to believe my ears. Mandy turned back towards me and smiled without her eyes. You know, the creepy sort of smile.
"Yes! Yes, I did say 39 years. Unable to believe me? It's alright. I still can't believe it either. It's 2016, right? I was lost here on 1977 August 17 at 2 pm in the afternoon and I still remember every single detail of that day including how Harry had dared me to go into this cave ONLY TO MEET MY DEATH." Mandy screeched the last five words and I could see her getting emotional, not just sadly emotional but mad. Her face was scrunched tightly in an angry glare and her breathing was heavy.
*sob* I heard a sob and I looked behind Mandy to see Leo had started crying. He was scared. I ran over to him, knelt down, and hugged him tight. "Shh! It's alright, I am right here. We are gonna get out of here. Stay strong buddy." I rubbed Leo's back trying to calm him down. He was crying a river on my shoulder.
Mandy cackled listening to what I said. "And how do you expect to do that?" She stepped towards us menacingly. I pushed Leo behind me. I was starting to feel not so safe around her. It's either that Mandy is crazy and she is making all this up or she is telling the truth and she's a ghost. Neither of them sounds safe.
"Mandy, you said you know every single tunnel in this cave. Can't you just show us the way out?" I asked her in a pleading tone.
"And what's in it for me?" Mandy asked as she knelt beside us with a smirk on her face. I looked back at her in confusion. "Can you give me my life back? If yes, then I will show you the way out. Do we have a deal?" Mandy reached her arm out with that same wide smirk plastered on her face. I just looked at her with my eyes wide open and my mouth slightly open in disbelief. Mandy took one look at my face and broke out laughing. "You should have seen that look on your face. Priceless!"
"So...*sob* were you joking about everything *sob* you said so far?" Leo asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Mandy looked at him and reached her hand toward his chest and punched him with full force. He screamed out but then he just looked at her hand in disbelief. Her hand went right through him. He stood there frozen in shock still looking at her hand. Mandy pulled back her hand and got up. As if Leo was woken up from a trance, he suddenly started to scream at the top of his lungs.
Mandy clearly didn't like him screaming so loudly. "Stop with your screeching you little brat" She glared at him. I quickly cupped his mouth fearing that if he keeps screaming we might be dealing with an angry ghost and ghosts aren't known to be non-violent when they are angry.
"Mandy, he's just a kid and you are scaring him. How do you expect him to stop screaming?" I asked maddened at Mandy for how she is acting. Like I said, I don't get scared easily. I still don't believe the fact that she's a ghost. "If you know the way out, why not just let us go? Tell us which way and we will leave."
Mandy just scoffed at me and said, "Lera dear, it must be clear to you by now that I am not telling you the way out because I don't want you two to leave. For 39 years, I have been here all alone. For 39 years, I wandered around the cave thinking about how things would have been different if I never accepted the dare. For 39 years-"
I got up from my knees and looked straight into Mandy's eyes and cut her sentence short, I said, "For god's sake, it's been almost 46 years since you got lost here, not 39. It's 2023 now!" I shouted back in frustration. I have had enough. Today was supposed to be just a normal day of us exploring Atlantica. Not being haunted by a 10-year-old girl. Mandy just stared at me in surprise. She was clearly trying to have some fun scaring us and it's not working with me. But I wasn't done yet, I have stayed silent for long enough. I was boiling with rage. I noticed that Leo got quiet because of my scream. He was just as shocked as Mandy when he heard me talking back to a ghost. "It was you who wandered onto a cave just because of some stupid dare and got yourself killed. You are the reason for your own death and now you wanna kill other people too? What kind of monster are you? You look like a 10-year-old innocent girl but have the mindset of a serial killer."
"You speak as if it wasn't you who stranded yourself AND your brother in here. At least I only dragged myself into this mess." Mandy shouted back at me. I took one look at Leo, he wasn't looking at my face. He clearly blames me for getting us into this trouble.
YOU ARE READING
The Whispering Caves
Short Story6 paths and which one will lead outside? Lera and Leo go exploring around Atlantica on their own because their parents were busy at work on their vacation. They lose their way and in hopes of finding people that could point them the right way, they...
