Cave of Souls (Short Story)

Trust your Gut

"Robert!" I yelled. I sank to my knees watching as his body slowly stopped shaking then stopped moving in general. I saw the gray shadow escape his lips. I felt a big lump forming in my throat. I let out a loud sob. My friends, my only friends, They're gone. I can't take it. This is too much. I feel fear rising in my stomach and grabbing my senses. My vision starts getting blurry. I grab my face and put my knees to my head. What is happening? Why is this happening? Laura just screamed and fell to the ground, Robert yelled then fell to the ground thrashing in pain. I felt a deep pain in my chest it started spreading throughout my body. I yelled my skin feels like it's being burned off my bones. I try to stand but I am immobilized. I look at the roof of this cave of horrors. I stop and think. Right before Laura froze she looked afraid. The same with Robert. "It's fear!" I screamed. The pain was still burning in my chest. I thought again for a moment. I know I need to be brave. I think about how much pain Robert was in before the shadow escaped him. I realize it was his soul. I cannot let this happen to me. I see Laura smiling at me and laughing. It's been a long time since I last saw her smile like this. I see Robert laughing with me and Laura. I always loved his laugh. He always sounded so happy. I smiled a bit. He knew how to make anyone smile. I feel the pain going away. I think about what made Robert and Laura leave me like this. The cave. This stupid cave! My sadness is immediately turned into anger. I stand up, the pain now completely gone. I look at the center of the cave. The crystals; Why are they here? They must serve some purpose, crystals don't just form in a place like this. I looked around and found a large rock. It was about the size of my chest and must be very heavy. I felt adrenaline rush through me as I picked it up. I ran over to the black crystals and threw the large rock at them. I heard a great crash as the rock hit the crystals. All the gray shadows fly towards the ceiling of the cave as I look in awe at them.

I hear a sudden intake of breath from behind me. I turn around to see Robert sitting up. I run to Robert and throw my arms around him. "Emma." He groaned. "What happened?" I locked eyes with him. He did look confused. I gave him my theory on how his soul left him and how I think fear triggered it. "Wow." He said. I help him stand. Robert looked around. He walked over to the shattered crystals. "What's this?" He asked. "Oh, that." I said. "I took a rock and shattered them. I think that's what made you wake up." He looked at me shocked then looked around the cave wide eyed. "We should probably go and find Laura." I said. I grabbed his hand and started leading him towards one of the tunnels. "Emma, don't forget the flashlight!" Robert said sounding alike his life depended on that light. "Oh yeah!" I said. I had left the flashlight sitting on top of a rock to have a makeshift lamp. I quickly ran back and grabbed the flashlight. "Okay, let's go." I said. We walked through the winding caves while trying to retrace our steps. I started hearing someone crying. "Laura!" I yelled. Robert and I started running towards the noise. I ran into a big open space. It was the cave full of bones. I left my flashlight on and set it on a rock. I looked around and saw Laura sitting on the ground crying. She had her hands on her face and her knees curled up to her chest. I walked to her and put my arms around her shoulders. I felt her body shake with each sob. "It j-just r-really scared m-me" she said while trying to hold back her tears. Robert comes over to Laura and me. He slowly put his arms around us. "It's okay Laura, it's all over now." He said. "Let's get back to the car." I said. Robert and I helped Laura get up. He took the lead while I stood next to Laura and tried to calm her down. While we walked I tried my best to explain what happened to her. She looked at me sometimes in confusion, but still stayed silent the whole time and listened.

Laura bent down and picked up the yarn from where she had left it and started rolling it up. "We must be getting close" She said. We walked for some time in silence just looking at our surroundings. I looked up at the ceiling and saw stalactites hanging from it. "Do you want to hear a trick to remember the difference between stalagmites and stalactites?" I asked my friends. "Sure." They answered. "Stalagmites might come up from the ground and stalactites hang tight from the ceiling." I said then let out a soft laugh. Robert looked at me and smiled. "I'll remember that." He said. Laura suddenly pointed ahead and happily said "Hey, look!" I looked up to where she was pointing and saw some light. Robert, Laura and I started running towards the opening. It came out of the tunnel and into an opening. Up ahead was a long rope hanging from the ceiling. I put on my bile and pushed the rope through it while Robert helped tie the rope onto Laura's harness. "All set!" Robert called to me. I pulled the rope through the bile and made it as tight as I could then let my feet fall behind me. Laura shot a few feet up the rock. "Start climbing!" I told Laura. Once she got out of the cave Robert tied the rope to his harness. He climbed up the rock around three times faster than Laura did. When Robert was at the top I threw the bile up to him. "Catch!" I yelled up to him. He buckled himself in and watched as I climbed the rocky side of the cave. As I climbed I thought about how this would probably the last time I would see this cave and how weird it was being in it. I looked ahead and saw some grass. I'm almost out. I stuck my hands out infront of me, grabbing at the ground then pulling my body out of the hole. I took off my harness and slung it behind my back. I wrapped my arms around the shoulders of Robert and Laura then started walking back towards the car.