Alianna slowly lifted her hand towards her face and waved it before her eyes, nothing. It was pitch dark and she couldn't even see the movement of her fingers in front of her face. She slowly turned in a circle hoping to see a glimmer of light. Nothing. Beginning to feel the first inklings of panic, she tried to keep her breathing calm as she finished what was surely the second rotation. Still nothing.
"Alright Alie me girl, no panicking, you'll get out of here if you just think!"
She had no idea where "here" was, and no recollection of how she had gotten here but she'd figure it out. Raising her arms in front of her she spread her hands and took a careful step forward. After several careful shuffles in what she hoped was a straight line, her right hand brushed up against a rough surface that scraped the tips of her fingers.
"Yes!," she thought, "Now where am I?"
Running her hand up and down the rough surface, she became convinced the wall was not man made.
"Ok, Now which way?" She thought to herself, but in the end it was the fact she couldn't bear to pull her hand away from the wall even to just switch sides that caused her to head left along the wall.
Time passed. It could've been minutes, or hours but slowly it began to grow lighter. It happened so gradually that at first Ali didn't notice. When she stumbled over something, she instinctualy looked down and gasped she could see! Sort of. It wasn't really lighter so much as less dark. Like waking up in the middle of the night and being able to see the outlines of shapes. She could see her legs! She could see what she'd tripped over, a rock?! She bent over to reach for the rock to be sure that was indeed what it was and froze. Her chest was ......glowing.
With a squeak of surprise her left hand swung up and smacked her chest.
"Ouch," she cried as her hand struck something hard with sharp angles under her shirt. Reaching through the collar of her shirt she pulled out the object that was suspended from a chain she hadn't noticed dangling from around her neck. As the object cleared the confines of her shirt the light intensified blinding her with it's brilliance until her eyes had a chance to adjust.
Trying to get her muddled mind to translate the image her eyes were relating to it into something she could identify, she stared harder at the glowing thing in her hand. Slowly as if it was coming into focus, though she could see clearly, she identified the object. A key.?. Yes it definitely looked like a key, although certainly not like one she'd ever seen before. It was huge for one thing, larger than the palm of her hand, made of a metal she wasn't sure of maybe brass or gold. It looked antique. The head of the key was shaped like four stylized butterfly wings with ruffled edges that formed into semi-sharp points at the tips. There was a cross hatch that consisted of what she could only describe as curly Qs that intersected the four wings where they joined in the center. These were what had poked into her skin when she'd smacked it under her shirt. Below the wings, before the key formed into the section that slid into a lock, was an oval stone. The stone was what made the key glow. Because of its brightness she couldn't clearly tell what the stone was for certain, but she thought it might be an opal. The shaft of the key was twisted to appear almost as if it had been braided and ended in an old fashioned Skelton key ... tooth? Teeth? It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She smiled softly as she turned the key back and forth in her hand.
"Well at least I can see now, mom always says to count your blessings," she said softly and lifting the chain over her head she held the key out in front of her at arm's length. It caused a small pool of light to form around her, not enough for her to see more than a few feet in front of her, but she still sighed with relief as the darkness was pushed away. It felt as if the darkness had been an actual physical weight that had been lifted off of her with the appearance of the light.
Looking at the wall she was standing next to she discovered she had been right, it was definitely not man made.
"I'm in a cave!" She cried out, for the first time at a volume above a whisper and her voice echoed around her making her jump.
Turning towards the wall she held the key above her head to examine the wall in hopes of discovering something that would help her determine where she was or at least which direction she should take. However, when she moved her left arm closer too the wall the light began to dim.
"No," she cried out and jerked her hand away from the wall and back towards where she had been originally holding out the key. It instantly brightened. With a smile spreading over her face Ali turned in a slow circle staring at the glowing key the whole time. Just like a dimmer light switch, the key's glow faded until it was nearly out as she completed an about face, brightening again to it's highest level as she competed the 360° turn.
With a small laugh escaping her lips, she continued in the direction she'd been heading.
"It can't get any more obvious than that, Now can it Allianna?"
"Oh no," Allianna cried after she had traveled a short distance. She could see what must surely be the back of the cave wall.
Great now what do I do, she thought in dismay. Sure enough she now stood before a rock wall that rose above her head and faded into the darkness. With no other option presenting itself she turned and began walking along side this new wall, glancing fretfully down at the key as she did so. And counted her blessings once more as the key not only continued to glow, but seemed to grow slightly brighter.
"That's it, Key, just keep showing me the way out," she whispered with a smile. And stopped dead in her tracks to stare.
There on the wall beside her was the most amazing carving she had ever seen. Carved into the rock was an archway that appeared to be a tunnel through ivy, or perhaps cut into a hedge. The sculpture was over 10 feet tall and almost as wide. It had to have been done by a master. The leaves were so finely done as to appear to tremble with a slight wind. Even in the soft light the key put out, she could see the fine veins of each leaf she focused on. With a hesitant hand, she reached out and softly stroked a delicate looking leaf. It was so beautiful, she couldn't help lifting the key this way and that to get better looks at it. It was so skillfully done, the tunnel appeared so true to life she half felt she could step into the sculpture and travel the length too see what was at it's end.
Focusing on the center of the carving where the tunnel ended, she tried to tell in the dim light what it opened onto. It almost appeared as if the very center glowed. Leaning forward until her nose was almost touching the wall, Ali peered at the opening of the tunnel, it didn't so much as glow, as appear to be brighter than the tunnel. As if the tunnel really did lead to somewhere.... somewhere wonderful! There was something strange about the opening at the other end of the tunnel, though the entrance on this side was a traditional arch and the carving showed the arch continuing down the tunnel, but the opening at the opposite end didn't quite match. It wasn't a true arch. It narrowed in the middle and widened at the bottom like a key hole. Like a KEY hole!!!! With a slight squeal, she looked at her key and smiled. Turning the key in her hand, she lined it up, and slid it into the hole.
She gave it a twist to the right and heard a soft click. She tried pushing on the wall, but it wouldn't budge. She felt along the edges of the sculpted tunnel searching for a handle when she heard a soft plop. She looked down in the direction of the sound and found the key lying on the ground. With a cry of dismay, she swooped down and grabbed it. With the key snatched back in her hand she popped back up with the intention of trying to unlock the wall again. But as she went to reinsert the key, she noticed that the key hole had expanded. It was now twice the size it had been. As she continued to stare, the edges of the hole curled inward and the hole increased again.
Taking a step back she took the chain and hung the key back over her neck. The hole was now the size of a basketball and continuing to grow. Once it had reached the size of a beach ball, she stopped looking at the vanishing wall, and looked at what was being revealed behind it.
The carving was an exact replica of the tunnel it had concealed.
Light filtered through jade green leaves making them appear to shimmer as if each were a jewel. The tunnel appeared to be cut into a large hedge that must be over fifteen feet tall and at least 10 feet wide. The walls of the hedge were dense enough that though Allianna tried to peer through the leaves, she couldn't see anything on the other side. As the last of the carving curled back into the cave wall, Ali reached out and gently stroked the nearest leaf with hesitant fingers. It was as soft as velvet, and seemed more vivid than any leaf she had encountered before. She glanced down at the floor of the tunnel and was surprised, though she felt she shouldn't be able to be so anymore, to discover that the tunnel's floor appeared to be the hedge. It wasn't an archway created by planting two hedges near each other and allowing them to grow up and together, creating an archway. It was instead truly a tunnel bored into a hedge, the floor of which consisting of the lower portion of the hedge. She wasn't sure it was safe to walk on. No way could it hold her weight. One foot into that hedge and she'd go crashing through it all the way to the bottom acquiring all manner of scrapes and bruises as she tumbled down.
But what else could she do? Glancing behind her she stared at the deep blackness that seemed to be waiting to pounce. Who knew what was back there. And she really didn't know if she could face trying to stumble around in the pitch black again groping for a way out.
"At least not without trying to follow the path that's lit," she whispered to herself making up her mind.
Grabbing hold of the rock wall with her right hand, Ali placed a careful foot onto the hedge slowly applying pressure to the branches that served as the floor of tunnel. It sank....and then..... held. Other than her hand holding on to the wall, all of Ali's weight was on her left foot. She slowly lowered her right foot onto the tunnel floor, though it felt spongy, it held. She let go of the wall, and took a small step forward. After a moment of panic where she again sank slightly, it held.
"Alright, bombs away," she whispered and began to walk through the topiary tunnel.
There was no real possibility of traversing with any speed, for it was rather like walking on a giant mattress. Her feet sunk up to her ankles with each step into the soft leaves of the tunnel's floor.
Ali hurried as best she could, down the long tunnel towards the opening at the far end. Anxious to get this bizarre ordeal over with, she barely noticed the amazing sent of the leaves, or the gentle breeze that blew down the length of the tunnel.
Although the tunnel was quite long, Ali reached its end in what seemed a few moments and gasped in delight as she stepped out of the tunnel onto the thick grass carpeting of a large meadow polka dotted with flowers in the middle of a forest of towering trees. It was the most glorious thing she had ever seen. Everything was more vibrant in color, texture, and scent than anything she had experienced before. The leaves of the trees, the blades of grass, and the stalks of the flowers were a distinctive green. Greens she had never before seen in nature, the closest thing she could describe them to were jewels. The blades of the grass were deep emerald, the leaves on the trees different shades of jade, and the stalks of the flowers were peridot. The flower's colors too were jeweled in color, here a soft amethyst, there a deep ruby, and over there pink sapphire. Everything sparkled and glimmered like jewels too.
Then there were the scents, all more vivid but never overpowering, that blended together to create the most delicious scent she had ever smelled. She stood rooted to the spot, inhaling deeply, drinking in the scents, though she couldn't quite close her eyes as she did so. She couldn't look away from such beauty. After several moments she finally walked out into the meadow. The place filled her with with so much happiness she began to laugh. She ran into the middle of the meadow and like a small child began to spin in circles as fast as she could. Still laughing, she spun until she fell onto the plush carpeting of the grass and waited until the world stopped spinning. Still marveling at the scenery around her she slowly looked back where she had come from. What she saw had her rising up onto her elbow with vague alarm. The hedge was still there, about 40 feet of hedge who's edges blended seamlessly into the surrounding forest, but the tunnel was gone. It was now a solid hedge.
"Maybe, I'll just stay here for a while," she said softly with a sigh. "Maybe I'll stay for good."
She lay back down with a sigh and closed her eyes. The sun was soft and warm, the gentle breeze softly caressed her skin, and the sweet smells from the meadow all combined to relax her every tense muscle.
After a long while she opened her eyes, and let out a soft ohh of pleasure. She was lying on her side, giving her a perfect view of the meadow. All around her scattered across the grass like jewels were hundreds of butterflies sparkling in the sun in every jewel shade imaginable. No more than six inches in front of her a butterfly the size of her hand rested on a large ruby colored flower. It's wings shades of blue. As it fluttered the delicate wings they shifted in color from a vibrant deep sapphire to a soft aquamarine.
Very slowly she sat up for a better view. All around her sparkled shifting wings of color. Pulling her legs up to her chest she wrapped her arms around them, and rested her chin on her knees.
"This place just keeps getting better," she whispered unable to contain the thought in her head. The gentle fluttering of the hundreds of wings caused ripples of shifting rainbows of color all around her. It was mesmerising, for they seemed to move in unison, like a heartbeat. As she concentrated on the phenomenon, " the heartbeat " began to speed up. What had starred out as a slow steady beat became a frenzy their wings quickly become a blur of sparkling colors.
Ali slowly stood up, her feelings of peace and welcome turning into apprehension.
"What is going on?"
The fluttering hoard began to rise from the meadow floor. They hovered about knee level, their wings beating furiously. Ali scanned the meadow and then the forest trying to figure out what was happening. She was frozen to the ground, not daring to move. Nothing was out there that she could see. And though they were behaving strangely, the butterflies didn't seem to be threatening. As she stood there trying to figure out what to do, the gentle breeze began to blow in earnest, pulling her hair up off her back and whipping it around her head. The sky began to darken though there wasn't a cloud to be seen. The wind began to moan and all the hairs on her body stood up. She spun in a circle frantically looking for the source of her terror.
Her body screamed danger at her, but she couldn't find the source. The moaning turned into a shriek, and the butterflies en masse rose and began to swirl around her their wings beating furiously against the wind. She hadn't realized how much larger these butterflies were to ones she had seen before. The smallest was the size of her hand, and some were as big as her head.
Her heart began to pound and she was in the full swing of panic when the first butterfly flew into her back. She let our a shriek and took a few steps forward, before the mass of butterflies blocked her path. She stopped unsure what to do. When another one struck her back, she instinctively bent down, throwing her arms up around her head. But as her knees bent and she began to sink into a squat, the butterflies in rapid succession smacked into her rear. She popped back up, thoroughly terrified, her eyes darting all around searching for a way out.
Ali took several deep breaths closing her eyes. Slowly she opened them and looked carefully around her. The hoard of butterflies surrounding her had formed into a wedge shape. Thick and dense at her back, surrounding her on both sides, narrowing into a point several feet in front of her. The butterflies behind and beside her were so close she could feel their wings brushing her skin. But there was an open space for several feet in front of her.
"You want me to go this way?" She asked out loud taking a step forward. They butterflies rose several inches higher and then dropped back to their original position. She took several steps forward, and the little creatures spun around in what had to be excitement. Feeling she understood what they wanted Ali picked up her pace and followed the hovering pointer.
The intensity of the shrieking wind escalated and the butterflies were momentarily tossed about. They flapped their tiny wings harder and regrouped once more surrounding her. Again she was struck in her back, but now she felt sure it was to urge her to hurry. They weren't trying to hurt her, they were helping her! She began to pick up their panic. She turned and looked behind her, a thick black fog was creeping over the meadow. Malevolence oozed from it and filled Ali with terror. Whatever was inside that fog hated her! Loathed her, and wanted nothing more than to destroy her! She began to run. Her flying escort tightened around her and continued to guide her. She kept glancing behind her. Every time she did she noticed the fog had gained ground and was closing the distance between her and it, no matter how much she increased the pace. Her legs began to burn and her lungs ached. She knew she wasn't going to make it, and she began to sob. She was certain the fog was about to engulf her she glanced behind her not daring to slow her frantic pace and ran smack into a prickly bush. No no a bush a hedge... The Hedge! The hoard of butterflies now all surrounded her protecting her flanks and rear hovering tightly beside her. A small cluster of six or seven broke from the group and began to fly in a circular motion around a four inch section of the hedge about waist high a few feet to her right. She stepped over there her protectors shifting with her until she stood directly in front of the section they were indicating. The hedge was so dense she couldn't see even an inch into it, except within the circle created by the butterflies. There she found a small key shapes hole. Frantically she tore the chain holding her key from around her neck, jerking the key free as it snagged on her shirt and thrust it into the lock. She turned it and felt the click as the lock disengaged. With in a second the keyhole was too large for her key and she caught it as it fell free. She hung it back on her neck and stuffed the key once more down her shirt as the wind seemed intent on snatching it away from her.
As she anxiously waited for the hole to enlarge enough that she could slip through, the butterflies began to bump and then smack into her. As she stared at them, wondering what else they wanted her to do she realized, it was the wind knocking them about. They were frantically trying to stay in formation around her, but we're constantly being driven off course. The black fog was now only five or six feet away from the edge of the butterflies protecting her back. She screamed in terror and spun to face the hedge once more. It was bigger than a beach ball, but the lowest point was still three feet off the ground but it would half to do. The second she placed her hands on the inside of the opening and began to raise herself up into the hole she screamed at the butterflies,"Go! Get out of here, don't let it get you." She scrambled up inside the opening praying that her weight wouldn't break the door, and keep it from closing once she was inside. She felt when the butterflies left because the wind began to tare in earnest at her clothes and hair. The dust and debris being flung about stung her face and hands and blinded her eyes with tears. She wrenched herself over the opening and fell onto the tunnel floor just as she felt an icy touch that burned on the heal of her left foot. She screamed again and frantically tore at the ground as she crawled and scrambled away from the opening she fled at an angle that bumped her into the tunnel wall which she grabbed and used to pull herself up. She pounded down the tunnel as the wind seemed to howl with rage behind her, but she didn't dare look back she was terrified the fog would be seeping in behind her. She tripped several times in her mad dash down the tunnel the springy floor not lending itself to flight.
She was panting and whimpering as she reached the wall of the cave. She didn't care about the pitch darkness of the cave, anything was better than the malevolence she felt in the fog. She placed the key in the lock and twisted feeling the click and keeping hold off the key as it slipped out of the enlarging hole.
It was then that she couldn't stop herself from turning to look behind her.
The black fog was pressed against the opening at the far end of the tunnel, preventing it from closing it undiluted seeming to shrink back when it touched the doorway's walls, and folded in on itself until another section would push forward to take the shrinking parts place. The deep blackness began to lighten a shape began to emerge from it's core. Ali stepped back pressing herself against the cave wall in horror. The shape emerging from the fog was man-sized tall and thin with long limbs and large hands. It was blurry as the fog continually swirled around it preventing it from being clearly seen. The taint of its hatred towards her poured off it and swept down the tunnel towards her striking her as a physical blow. She gasped in pain and pressed back harder against the cave wall. The creature laughed, the sound scraping on her nerves like nails on chalkboard and sending shivers down her spine. It reached one hand into the opening and wrapped it around the edge. There was a hissing sound like butter on a hot frying pan and smoke began to rise from it's fingers. It grunted in pain but held on and placed its other hand on the opposite side. Slowly it began to pull itself into the opening, and Ali clamped her hands over her mouth to prevent the scream from escaping. She was dead. That thing whatever it was was going to get her. She slumped against the wall in defeat.
She couldn't prevent the scream that escaped her lips as she fell through the opening in the cave wall behind her. It almost muffled the scream of thwarted rage the creature bellowed as she slipped through the opening.
She seemed to fall for a very long time before she crashed to the floor sending bolts of pain through her hip and rump.
"Ow!," she cried as she tried to sit up, tangled as she was in her sheets. She was in her room having just fallen out of bed in her sleep.
