“See, just a glorified pantry.” She said dryly, wrapping her scarf around her shoulders like a shawl. It was chilly down there.
“Your lack of faith in my secret tunnel finding skills, which is excellent by the way, is quite sad,” Casper started searching out all of the walls in the small room, looking for something to give way.
“Well considering there is no ‘secret tunnels’ my lack of faith make a whole lot of sense,”
“Who needs sense when you can have nonsense?” he said quizzically, not really paying attention. He was too busy tapping the concrete with his index finger.
Sophie rolled her eyes “So what are you? Some kind of conspiracy theorist?”
“Not exactly. Though I do have an eye for trouble,” he pondered it, still tapping the wall.“But that’s usually because I have unique gift of generating it,” he shrugged.
“Oh, so you’re some kind of anarchist then? Let me guess, Animal Rights. You’re a vegan, so having a coffee shop that doesn’t serve low-fat organic soy milk in an outrage, so you’ve come to screw around in my cellar? You’re one of Emma’s crew aren’t you? That nutter’s been sending you people our way for months,”
“No one sent me. I was just passing through. I was just about to start my day, actually, but I ran out of coffee. It’s a terrible thing to start a day without coffee.”
“What are you talking about? It was lunchtime when you came ‘round?”
“Yes? Any reason you bring it up?”
“How is that starting your day? The day’s half over?”
He looked slightly offended “Well, that’s because Miss Gallagher, nothing interesting ever happens before 12 o’ clock, I mean nothing. So why should I wake up early when I know nothing spectacular is going to happen till noon?”
“You’re weird you know? Anybody ever told you that?” Sophie looked him up and down, arms across her chest.
“Well of course, all the time. But I prefer ‘adorably eccentric.’”He grinned “It has a nicer ring to it, don’t you think?”
“Oh, so an ego the size of the continent of Africa is something to add to the list too?”
“Hah, funny,” He said dryly, pushing his shoulder against a portion of the wall.
“I prefer ‘Epigrammatic Fox’” she wiggled her fingers.“It has a nicer ring to it,” she jibed.
“Epigrammatic?”
“Creative Writing course in College,”
“Well aren’t you just clever,” he tapped her on the nose, and then threw himself shoulder-first into the concrete. It started to give way.
“Help me?” he asked
Alright, but I don't know if it'll change anything," Sophie shoved her weight against the wall, helping him push.
It creaked open into a rectangular hole in the concrete.
“Aha!” he grabbed his flashlight “Oh, look at that. Haven’t seen one like you in a few centuries,”
“But……How. That was a concrete wall!” Sophie’s eyebrows bunched together, the side of her mouth curled downwards.
“And now it’s a secret tunnel! Told you I could find one,”
Sophie just stared at the hole suspiciously.
Casper smiled. “Cute frowny face, now let’s get moving!”
“But it didn’t even have a seam, or anything, it’s like it wasn’t even there”
“It’s a Rothenberg Filter, light-years ahead of your time. All the more reason to take a look, now come on.”
“I’m not going in there.” Sophie shook her head quickly.
“Why not?” he asked, his hand was outstretched, just hanging in the air.
“I-Its pitch black in there! I could…fall. And uh, break my neck or something,”
“What’s life without a little bit of danger?" He waggled his eyebrows.
“Normal? I’m still not going in there.” she stated
“Are you afraid of the dark?” he asked quizzically, like the question just occurred to him.
“No! Of course not. Don’t be silly. I’m not afraid. Of….Anything. At all. Oh for god sake! Just go, I’ll follow you, alright?”
Casper threw up his hands and gave her a strange look, plunging into the dark tunnel.
Sophie balled her tiny hands into fists and forced her legs to move towards the hole.
You’ll be perfectly fine, nothing can hurt you. You’ll be just-
“Are you coming or not?” his voice bounced off the hollow walls, echoing.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming!” she took a deep breath and lunged into the passageway.
***
YOU ARE READING
I Have Measured My Life in Coffee Spoons (Re-Submitted)
Macera19 year-old Sophie Gallagher was, in the greatest of senses, ordianary. Nothing interesting has ever happened to her, and she wasn't all that bothered by it. Well, this all changes when she meets a strange young man. Casper Jones, was not just a s...
