Cave of Souls (Short Story)

Devil's Eye Caves

"Are you sure this place is real?" I asked Robert. He looked about as confused as I did. I looked back at my phone, it was telling us to go into the woods. "Just go where it tells you to." Robert told me. I parked alongside the road and started walking into the woods with Robert and Laura trailing behind. We walked for about 6 minutes. I stopped and looked at my phone. There was a little blue arrow on top of a checkered flag. "We must be here" I said looking at Robert with confusion. We decided to split up and look around. My eyes scanned the woods around me looking for some sort of sign. I walked a few paces to my left, then paced back to my right. I looked over my shoulder and my eyes drifted to a clearing of trees. "Hey guys check this out!" I called to them. I started walking towards the clearing. There, a small sign stood, on it were the words; 'DEVIL'S EYE CAVES: THEY ARE DEEP, WINDING AND DANGEROUS. FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY KEEP MAP AVAILABLE' I heard footsteps behind me, so I turned around to see Laura and Robert standing by a tree that I hadn't noticed before. The tree was stripped of its leaves making it look gray instead of the usual golden glow of an oak, also the amount of branches on the tree made it look like a spider web of sticks. Robert looked at the tree and said "I think we should call this tree The Gray Tree" I agreed with him then looked at Laura. She took a few steps toward the sign and read it, Robert followed her and started reading the sign too. Laura turned around and started walking to the car with Robert and I trailing behind her. She started getting into the passenger seat when Robert stopped her. "We can just make a trail of something to find our way out Laura. I mean c'mon we came all this way. At least just try it?" he said, trying to make a compromise. Laura sighed then said "Fine, but if I feel like we're starting to get lost I'm going back to the car." "Deal." Robert replied. He started looking in the back of the car for something to make a trail with. He found a ball of bright yellow yarn. "What's this in here for?" He asked me. "Oh, that. I take a few knitting classes" I responded feeling slightly embarrassed. He decided that the yarn would be perfect for making a trail through the tunnels, so we started making our way back to the caves.

I looked at the sign one more time. Robert was to the right of me. He looked into the cave and said "Did you bring a flashlight?" I held out my flashlight for him to see. He took it and shined the light down the tunnel below. "Looks good to me." He said, looking at Laura. I could tell he was trying to reassure her. It was a nice attempt but she still looked worried. After putting all the gear we needed in a nice neat pile Robert and I started putting in stakes above the cave entrance. I knotted the ropes onto the stakes then lowered Robert into the cave. "All good!" He yelled up to Laura and me. I watched as he detached the rope from his harness. He gives me a thumbs up signaling for me to pull up the rope. I helped Laura tie the ropes to her harness. Then I attached the bile (A bile a climbing tool) tool to my harness and started lower Laura down. Robert helped Laura untie the ropes from her harness. I looked over at the gray tree then jumped down into the cave. As I reached the bottom, I looked around. The cave walls had sort of a yellow shade to them, nothing special really. I untied the ropes from my harness and walked to the nearest wall. It was covered in a light coat of water, I had seen caves like this before. I looked over my shoulder and saw something very unusual. There were what looked like roots going down the cave walls. I tried to follow the roots, but they seemed to go on forever, so I turned around and retraced my steps. I walked out from a crevice looking for my friends. I did not have to wait long because Laura rushed up and gave me a big hug. "I thought you would not be able to come back!" She said on the verge of tears. I looked at her confused. "I wasn't going to go that far anyway." I reassured her. I looked at Robert. "Do you want to follow the roots with me?" I asked him. "Sure!" He replied "Laura, follow us!" He said to Laura excitedly. I know how the topic of exploring interests him. Robert pulled out the ball of yarn and unraveled it a bit. I walked the over to the start of the roots. "These roots look pretty old" Laura said sounding quite logical. "I bet they're from the gray tree" Robert took a piece of the root and pulled. A big chunk of it came off. "Definitely the gray tree" He confirmed. I started walking down the path of roots with Robert and Laura following behind me.