She sat next to him as he flipped to the first book in the New Testament and began scouring the pages until he found the 22nd chapter. She didn't miss the slight fingershake as he located the 14th verse.
"Matthew 22:14," he read aloud, "For many are...
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Star was clearly the brave one out of the three of us. She handed me the book before heading out into the hallway, only taking a few steps before returning. "There aren't any lights."
"We can take the lamps," I suggested, standing.
Star took one, I took the other, and Taylor joined us as we stood on the threshold. The hallway seemed like pure darkness. The lamps only made it creepier. Whatever the slab had been made out of, the walls and floors in the hallway were made out of the same thing; large, yellow-y dusty bricks. I readjusted the book in the crook of my arm. "Which way do we go?"
Both ways looked the same. The left, and the right. There were no windows, and other than our lamps; no light. A sinking feeling in my gut told me we were underground.
"The right," Star answered confidently.
"Why?"
"No idea." She took off without another word, Taylor and I trailing behind her.
The silence was deafening. Without noise, I was useless. I needed music, talking – anything other than our footsteps echoing through a tunnel of thick darkness.
"Where do you think this will lead?"
"No clue," Star called back.
"You think there's another door?"
"Hopefully."
"What if it's locked?"
"Then we'll figure out how to open it. Can you stop talking? I'm trying to concentrate."
"On walking?" I muttered under my breath. We fell into that awkward, suspenseful silence once again. With nothing to break up the darkness other than our lamps, my nerves were at an all-time high. Something clattered far up ahead of us and Star stopped.
"What was that?" Taylor's voice was full of tears. She stood closer to me, twisting the sleeve of her jacket.
"How are we supposed to know?" Star snapped. She resumed walking. I gave Taylor what I hoped looked like an encouraging smile before following after her, even though I was pretty sure it was an ax murderer up ahead that had dropped his ax and was waiting to ambush us. It wasn't too long before the three of us had to stop again.
"Three different tunnels?"
The tunnel split off into three different directions, each identical, each as dark as the tunnel we'd been walking through. I bit my lip. Were we supposed to split up?
"I think we should stick together," Taylor's voice trembled.
"I don't think so..." Star turned to face us so that the three of us made a circle, sort of. "If we split up we can cover more ground and find the way out faster."
"But we only have two lamps," I pointed out. "We can't just wander around in the dark."
Star nodded and turned, checking out the very beginning of each tunnel. "I guess I'll take this one, and you two can stay together?"
