Spooky Scary Stories 2k16

Highway to Hell

It was on a fateful night of winter some years past that me and my friends made the grave mistake of passing through the "Saikonen Tunnel". Now that I reflect on that event, I realize who foolhardy we were to challenge the legend surrounding it, even if not intentionally. It was past mid night as we were returning to our hometown after our camping trip in Pinewood Heights, there were two paths we could have taken, one was the risky and lengthy route over the hills while the other was the path through the tunnel that cut through the mountains. In our haste and impulsiveness, we chose to take the road through the tunnel, "what could go wrong?" we said to ourselves. We were aware of the daunting reputation it had, it was said to be have been a shelter for a fanatical cult a few decades ago. Whenever lone cars or motorcyclists took this route after evening, the cult used to get ahold of the passengers and performed rituals and sacrificed their lives to their dark gods. As we made ourselves to the entrance of the tunnel, all six of us was shrugging off the entire story to be utter hogwash.

The entrance to the tunnel was undeniably uncanny as red spray paint in the shape of runes and disturbing anagrams was smeared across the two sides of the entrance. Mere pranks made by local residents or "pranksters" to seem funny we assured ourselves. Upon entering the tunnel, there was a visible alteration in terms of appearance in regards to its interior. Unlike the exterior there were no lights lit inside the tunnel but the headlights of our SUV did a splendid job of revealing thick clouds of dust in the tunnel. There was no apparent sign of disuse other than the unattended lights and dust clouds for the road was nearly completely level.

As we ventured further into the underpass, all light from outside seemed to fade as the only thing that illuminated the path was now the headlights of our car. In the midst of our journey, I couldn't help but notice the headlights of our car starting to become dimmer and dimmer until it only radiated candlelight. Everything seemed to grow darker as though some otherworldly mist had enveloped our vehicle, it was true enough in the sense that we could see nothing outside the windscreen anymore let alone each other inside the SUV. One of my companions reached for the dome light, which now emitted a bizarre tint of green light. Our banter ceased almost immediately, as we fixated our eyes on the pitch-black windscreen. After what seemed to be an eternity, the oddest thing seemed to happen, from outside came horrible screams and shouts while a rhythmic chant grew zealous and louder as time passed. The climax of the chanting came when our car seemed to sway left and right as though being lifted from the sides then being flung upon the other. The windows along with the doors began to shudder as though being bashed by stones. In the midst of this chaos, a hellish red-light seemed to emerge from in front us, revealing a road no longer of level concrete but wrought of stone belonging to some primordial cavern. In the shade of crimson, it bore pictographs of an ancient civilization long forgotten to man.

My friend on the driver seat, in an act of desperation stepped on the accelerator with all his might and dashed out of there as fast as possible while a horrible miasma seemed to manifest within our car. It was nauseating to say the least and smelled faintly of dried blood and rotten meat. We dared not open the windows in case of any subterranean creature or madmen might take a chance on our lives. After minutes of traversing through the winding passageway, the hellish red-light seemed to fade and the fervent chanting seemed to die out. What was once a candlelight a few moments ago became beacons and another light seemed to present itself near the horizon, this time, the silver light of the moon.

I do not know what we had been through, but if it is something I have learned from this horrific experience, is that to never give into one's impulsiveness especially so if it involves a cult and a abandoned road in the middle of the night.