Whisper

Chapter 9, Strange Events

Staring into the beast's sharp rows of teeth, I scream, watching the rotted flesh hanging from its jaws drop at the tips of my feet. Today was not a good day to wear flip flops. My flashlight flickers and goes out, as it does i find that the creature seems to have a dim blue-green glow on its skin. As I finish the thought, the glowing blob hurdles towards me with great speed. Instinctively I slip to the side of the cave, avoiding the sharp teeth that would have been the end for me.
Beginning to get curious, I look down at where I was standing, and where the creature was. I find that the turquoise pigment seems to drip off of the creature and onto the floor of wherever it went. I reach down and touch the glowing substance, and find that it is gooey, and sticky. The trail that the creature left behind also led to where it came, similar to a slug. This would have to be a very oversized, and somewhat mutated slug, but slug none the less.
I step in the goo, and find that there is a fairly thick layer covering the floor. My shoe sinks into the substance, and the goo doesn't seem to let go. Putting my bare foot to the side of the path, I reach down and try to pull up my shoe. Nothing. Attempting to shift the shoe backwards and to each side, I see that it is not realistic of me to believe that I can pull out the shoe.
Giving up on the retrieval of my flip flop, I continue along the outer edge of the dome shaped tunnel. My hand brushes against an edge of a rock jutting out of the otherwise smooth wall. Rubbing my sore hand, I continue to walk, passing by skeletal remains of rodents that are also trapped in the sticky substance that covers the majority of the path.
As I come by the fork in the path that I had passed by earlier, I become confused, as I see that the creature was indeed behind me the entire time. It seems somewhat bothersome that I couldn't figure out that I was being followed. What I find more interesting, and even more agitating, it not that I didn't realize I was being followed, it is that I couldn't. I find it rather fascinating that the creature stayed far enough behind me that it couldn't be seen if I pointed the flashlight on it.
What I am most concerned about is why it didn't stay that far. Wondering if the creature had a reason for the sudden change, I begin to list them off (other than the possibility that I was its next meal). Finding that my results are rather limited, being only that it was being chased or that it simply wanted to just come closer, I continue along the fluorescent path. As I focus more on the path ahead of me, I realize that the sticky goo has shifted its color from turquoise to a dark seagreen.
I kneel down to the edge of the molasses like substance, and touch a dark spot in the middle. It shakes, creating a ripple along the path. Seeing the phenomenon, I become reminded of the only other thing that I've scene do anything like that, jello. As the thought comes into my head, I realize that the creature is actually producing this jello like substance. of, or rather as its form of waste products.
The slime appears to have little figments of glowing dots making it look like a far away galaxy. It is almost as if I were to step in it that I would be transferred into the milky way itself. Kneeling on the side I become mesmerized by the little dots, I watch as they begin to shimmer and shine. They twinkle at the bottom of the cave, illuminating it, I watch as they appear to flicker from one way to another.I follow the last direction with my eyes, and see that there is an increase in how much of glow there is in the tunnel.
I slip into the darkness of the unlit passageway at the fork in paths that is nearby. Silently observing the scene, I watch the creature pass by me. As it does, I find that it appears to place another coating of slime along the outer edge that I had been walking along. Sealing my escape, the creature slides past me, oblivious to my existence.
Knowing that it would be foolish of me to attempt walking behind the creature, even if I could avoid the goo, I turn around and carefully walk down the dark passageway. Placing my hands on the wall I shuffle through the darkness, occasionally bumping into the skeletal remains of racoons and other underground dwellers.
My heart beats faster and faster, as I feel the bones crack and split beneath my bare feet. I struggle not to yell out when my toe gets squished when I step on a long piece of wood with my other foot. Absorbing the small twinge of pain in my foot, I stop and think for a bit. Why would there be a branch down here, there aren't any trees?
Reaching down towards the floor, I pick up the object that I had stepped on not more than a moment more. Due to my flashlight suddenly malfunctioning, I test the trueness of my original hypothesis by poking and prodding at it with my fingers. As I poke the end of the staff like object, I am met by the un nerving conclusion that I was really hoping that I wouldn't come across any time soon.
The object that is resting in my hand is no stick but a bone, a human bone. I reach along the ground around me, searching blindly for the owner. My fingertips brush against a hard object that rests above the floor, I shudder as I feel the brittleness of more of the same remains. At least I think that the other bone is from the same person.
I place the femur inside the rib cage of the remains, hoping that it may give whoever it once was some closure. Crouching down so that I can be level to the ground I peer into the darkness, as I see something white flicker at the edge of my vision. Turning towards where I had seen it, I become disappointed when I find that it was nothing more than my eyes playing tricks on me.
Getting up off the ground, I find that in the thoughtless moment, I can hear a whooshing up ahead. Thinking that this means the tunnel that I am traveling through now, connects to the one that I was in before. Moving cautiously towards the noise along the underground corridor, I do my best to step up and down, more like a deer, rather than attempting the method of scampering, and shuffling around like a rodent.
Getting nervous about the fact that I have been in these tunnels for a few hours and I still have yet to see the slightest sign of daylight, not even a faint draft. Sniffing the air around me, I detect no change in the scent of mold, mud, and decay that heavily hangs around me. My foot has been resting along fragments of ice, causing it to become quite numb. As I hit a patch of rather liquidy mud, I feel the awkward motion of sliding. In an attempt to regain my balance I swing my arms around in the air, and then reach on either side of the wall as my body hits the floor.
Rubbing the back of my head with my injured hand, I sit up. Feeling something squirm around my shoulders, I find that my companion appears to have gotten lost in the thick forest of hair that sprawls along my back. I pull aside a few strands of my long caramel hair, and pluck the little creature from the rest of them.
Stroking the furry creatures fur, causing the tag on its neck to jingle, I open the pouch hanging by my stomach, and have him snuggle up inside. I don't open his little peak hole, because I know that he is as blind as I am in this place. The pouch moves, as he shifts positions inside of it, I hold it still, and look into the darkness ahead of me.
Running along the cold stone floor, I increase my speed and desperately hope that my plan succeeds. I take one last pace, then leap off the floor. Elegantly landing flat on my feet, I skate on top of the mud covering the floor of the tunnel. I twist my body to face forward even though my feet are facing the right side wall of the tunnel. I smile as I speed through the passageway, feeling the still air pass my me, making my hair fly behind me.The smile on my face, quickly disappears as I find that the floor beneath me has disappeared causing me to tumble deeper into the earth.