Lara Croft: Origins

Chapter VIII: Dark

Chapter VIII:

I had to admit I was a little surprised at my bravery. The jump was more than I could climb if I had to get out. Point of no return of sorts.

One question stayed near the back of my mind. Who had made the mineshaft? This whole island was rather odd to put it nicely. Much more of this island and the statement won't be put nicely. I sauntered down the hallway. It too like the cave I escaped about an hour ago was lit by torches. I was just going to stop using the word "strange" and similar words since by now they're losing their meaning. There was just so much going on with this island that raised so many questions. The other question that was at the end of my train of thoughts was Where was Sam? I am the one the convinced Dr. Aighlers to let her come aboard this expedition. If anything happens to her it will be my fault.

Rail tracks littered the floor. Old fashioned type. Later on in the hallway there lay a mine cart filled with coal. The tunnel was held up by wooden supporting beams along the walls. They were rotting and wet. Not too comforting but at least it was a little.

I saw an opening further up. Not an exit but more like a room. Hopefully I wouldn't have to turn back. I've been hoping a lot today.

The room was well, you get it, odd. But for use of a different word, it was actually very unsettling. On the right wall was a collection of lit candles all bunched up together and a place to kneel underneath. Above the candles, a painting of a... It was a painting of the Japanese Sun God Helios. In Japanese Mythology, Helios was the queen of everything the sun touched. Why was there a shrine to Helios on this island?On the left side of the room well elicited this response, "Uuuggh, gross" out of me.

A wooden type shack like you find in tourist locations where you sell stuff contained slabs of bloody meat. Fortunately as far as I could tell it was animal meat not human meat. Evil thought there. The meat was rotting but no flies yet. It smelled disgusting

Out of one piece of meat stuck a metal pick axe with a red handle and razor teeth at the pick end of the thing.

With a wrinkled nose, I pulled it out. I'm not totally sure why. It felt like the right thing to do, like a feeling or instinct. Nice pickaxe though... I twirled it in my hand a little. I moved on to where the tunnel continued. The exit to the room lay next to the shrine of sorts I mentioned earlier. The tunnel wasn't lit in this part. The dark made the shadows more intimidating and made up more of the place now.

The tunnel was caved in and came to a dead end. But there was a crack in the wall. I tried to fit through. Success. The tunnel failed to get any brighter to my dismay.

I walked for an eternity. It got pitch black after about five minutes of walking the rest of the way I had to feel my surroundings. The wet jagged rocks of the hallway represented the cold heart this island had. The island didn't feel like it had soul. Maybe geographic locations shouldn't have souls but what I really mean is the island felt out of place in a place where everything is known. It's an island but it went undetected from satellite images. Why hasn't it been mapped? It gave me the jitters.

I pondered about the shrine I saw earlier. I hadn't seen animals so far. I'm not sure where someone got the meat from. Or why they'd left the meat there. And what was that shrine about? My thoughts were a tangle of strings in knots.

At what point the light at the end of the tunnel became visible wasn't clear to me, I was just happy to see it. The mineshaft ended abruptly. A sheet of limestone rock greets me where I expected a stairway out of here. Major disappointment. Up above was a chimney like structure, that lead straight into the rain clouds, which were happy to pour on me.

I debated against myself on going back. Not an option. Nothing to go back to. I handled the pickaxe I picked up. I wondered how it'd like the taste of limestone.

I was about to find out.

• • • • •

The sharp pickaxe went in surprising my easy. The first two times it bounced off. The third time I really hit it hard and it sinked into the wall. One after the other. Keep striking.

I climbed up one strike after the other. I had to pull myself up each time I stroked the wall with my trusty pickaxe. The hole was about 30 feet tall. I got tired after about 10 feet. Also the height where if I fell I could get hurt. Coincidence. This was more intense than I was accustomed to. This was a full body workout. There were some footholds to help me up.

I needed to stop. I used the opposite wall I was climbing up to rest by pushing against the wall with my feet, suspended in midair. I looked down. I was starting to get a little less unnerved by heights by now. I liked the way it felt to be held in place up so high hands free.

I took deep breaths to prepare me for the rest of my vertical trek. I recalled the picture of Sam I had taken from the Endurance. Funny I took it when I did. I just wanted her with me wherever I went. We'd been together all of high school and now we were in college together and I didn't want to do anything without her because of everything we have already done together. If that makes sense. The photo booth where we took the picture seemed so mundane. I'd only been away from all civilization and the norms of my life for roughly 24 hours and already I felt alienated from society. I needed to keep climbing, even if only to find Sam, my best friend.

Sam was my inspiration which filled me with a will strong enough to carry me not just up that hole but across the island and keep me alive throughout the horrors at the time I didn't know I was about to face. But don't spoil it for myself. Because it was my fault she was on this island and I couldn't let anything happen to her.

I kept swinging my axe the rest of the way up while ignoring the burning sensation in my arms and legs and trying not to slip on the limestone wet from the rain above. The clouds made the sky dark enough to be night. As I reached the top I pulled myself out and sprawled out on the wet grass.

I fell asleep.