Chaotic

Chapter 7

——- Sorry for the late update and any mistakes. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!——-

We had been swimming for fifteen minutes now and I soon realized that this was a bad idea - the water was icy cold. 

"How much longer?" I managed to ask Theo.

"Just a little more, promise," came his reply. His voice sounded completely normal, like he was unaffected by the water. But he did say that he had been trained to get through this tunnel, so he was probably used to it.

But he wasn't lying when he said a little bit more, since I soon sighted land. More like a bunch of rocks, but the water ended there.

Theo got there first and helped me climb up, since the rocks weren't really in level with the water. Our clothes were completely wet and I was starting to shiver. Now I shouldn't fall ill, that really wouldn't do. 

Theo seemed to be fumbling with a small rock, and I knelt down beside him. He finally managed to move the rock. I realized that there was a little opening in there, and he jumped in, motioning me to follow. It was a small cabin built carefully into the rocks, and was definitely much hotter than outside. 

"Here," Theo said, handing out a white towel and a fur-coated dress to me. "I'm not sure if it will fit but this was the best I could find..." He continued.

"Anything is better than this," I said as I pointed at my wet clothes, taking the towel. I stood there uncertainly. I wasn't going to change in front of him, surely he realized that? He did, as a sheepish look came over his face and he climbed out of the hole, muttering what sounded like a sorry. I heard his footsteps move away. I quickly changed and climbed out; he needed to change too. The clothes I was wearing were dark and a little lose; but they were warm and fresh, and hence they were good enough.

Ten minutes later, Theo placed the rock back onto its original spot and it blended away perfectly - you wouldn't realize that it was movable. 

"Let's go," Theo said. "We're almost there." 

He started probing a rock above our heads. By the looks of it, it was using up a lot of his energy. Finally, the rock moved a little, and then some more, till Theo ultimately gave it one last push and it stumbled to a side, creating a hole. I was guessing there was another cabin or a tunnel up there.

Theo turned to me. "Need a push?"

"That might help," I replied as I started to grasp the edge of the hole. Theo gave me an upward push and I managed to get in though it, emerging into a tiny cabin. Thank heavens that I was quite athletic; or I wouldn't have made it this far. Theo hoisted himself up and settled down beside me, pushing the rock back into it's place.

"And after this?" I asked him. 

He pulled a lever nearby, revealing a yet another downward tunnel.

"There is a ladder to go down this one," he said. "But it is very slippery; and you cannot afford to fall. The rocks at the bottom will definitely break your bones if not kill you, and the ladder doesn't go all the way to the bottom so if you do survive, you cannot come back up without the help of an insider. There's another tunnel after a little way down the ladder, and that leads to Escait. The ladder ends shortly after that, even though the tunnel is much deeper."

If the fall had been scary, this was definitely catastrophically frightening. What if I fall?

"I'll go first," said Theo, "so that you have a little support - you won't fall immediately. But you will need your guts and wits about you for this one, Avis."

"Yes," I replied shakily.

Theo started to move towards the hole in the wall, and lowered himself onto the ladder. 

"Come on Avis!" Came his echoing voice.

I quickly got to the tunnel and tried staring down, but there was nothing visible except the glint of the metallic ladder and Theo's silhouette on it. I carefully put my legs on the ladder's rounded rungs, and almost slipped right off. It was more slippery than I had assumed it to be, and that only heightened my fear. 

"Keep calm, Avis. If you keep trembling like that you'll definitely fall down," Theo said, in a soothing tone. 

I forced myself to be still; Theo was right. I had greater chances of falling if I trembled. I heard him slowly moving down and I followed his pace, till my right foot almost slipped off and I gave out a little scream. 

"Are you okay?" Theo called out in a scared voice.

"Yeah," I replied, regaining my balance. 

"Be careful now. We're at the hole. Getting into it is the trickiest part."

I glanced down and saw Theo's body disappear into the side of the tunnel. 

"There is a handle to the side of the ladder," Theo said. "Use that to get into the hole. Careful!"

I moved down till the point I thought Theo had disappeared, and carefully removed my one hand from the ladder to grasp the handle, which was thankfully not slippery. But unfortunately, I wasn't able to balance properly with one hand, and my feet slipped, leaving me dangling in the air, as I frantically moved my other arm to get a hold of the handle as well. The hole was a bit to the side of the handle and I realized that if I tried to get in, I would fall.

"Help!" I screamed, beginning to panic.

"Avis?!" Theo quickly appeared at the edge of the hole and cursed as he saw me. 

"Here, grab my hand!" He said, reaching out as far as he could. For the first time, I thought he lost his calm demeanor. He was scared too, and that only made me more afraid. 

I tried to hold his hand but it was not near enough. He leaned out a little more, and finally, our hands came into contact. I quickly tightened my grip on his hand and let go of the handle. He slowly pulled me up into the hole, and I collapsed on the floor of the tunnel, panting. When I finally got up, Theo quickly gathered me into his arms. That's when I realized how truly afraid he was; he was shaking. 

"I'm alright," I tried to say, but my voice came out in a shaky whisper. 

"I was so scared..." He murmured as he buried his face into my hair. "I've been searching for you for four years... I couldn't lose you just after I found you... And that too when we're right outside Escait..."

"Theo, I'm okay. You didn't lose me and that's not going to happen anytime soon." I said, my voice firmer this time. 

He just held me tighter and we stayed there like that for a few minutes till he finally calmed down. He pulled away and looked at me. It was a little bright here and I could see a small smile on his face. I looked around and realized that this wasn't exactly like the other tunnels; you could actually stand up here. 

He took me to a metallic door, and pressed his palm to a little screen next to it. 

"If anyone who is non-authorized does this, an alarm will go off. It's impossible to break this door, so no stranger can do it," Theo explained, as the door started to open. 

It finally opened fully, and allowed a beam of light to enter the tunnel. I blinked my eyes to adjust to the sudden light and saw Theo smiling at me. 

"Welcome home, Avis."