Pinned

Chapter Eight

     I moved forward only by feeling the ground with my feet, I didn't want to risk falling into a hole in the pitch-dark cave. He continued to walk beside me, pulling me occasionally to one side or another, to keep me from walking directly into walls. 
     The cave was not a fun place to be. It smelled wet, and dirty, like soaked Pine shavings left in a sealed, hot bag for too long. I could almost taste the mold I was undoubtedly inhaling, and somewhere far beneath us I could faintly hear running water. "Big fella, I think we're far enough into the cave," I tried to stop walking but the dog just kept tugging me forward. He pulled me on for another half an hour before his footsteps slowed, and eventually came to a stop. I felt the wall of the cave all the way down to the floor, and the wet earth underneath me as I leaned against the surface to fall asleep.

     Early the next morning, the sunrise woke me up. I was surprisingly comfortable for having slept on the ground, so it took me a few seconds to realize that I absolutely should not be waking up to a sunrise while deep in the middle of a cave. I threw my eyes open and put my back against the wall. 

      The light was blinding, it took my eyes a few moments to focus. I tried desperately not to panic as my eyes focused on these weird, glowing little people. 
"Oh hi Violet!"
"What the fuck are you?" I threw a stone at the thing, it really seemed to piss her off. "I'm a fucking fairy you cunt. Stop throwing rocks or I'll go get Irwin." 
"What the fuck is a Irwin?" I had only been asleep for a few hours and somehow missed the emergence of a room full of fairies. 

     Able to see the room around me, I realized now that it wasn't just a cave at all. There were small doors in the walls, and little porches in front of them, it literally looked like a fairy sized apartment block. Each little wooden door was a different color, and there were no windows in the little homes. My dog came walking into the room and I was about to call for him to come over, but he wasn't himself anymore. 

    He walked over to me on his two legs. His skin was a rich brown, and so were his eyes; the same eyes that made me trust him in the first place, the eyes that made me follow him everywhere even in complete darkness, they remained unchanged as he stood before me, fully a human being. I can't say that I was too shocked, his eyes had never really looked canine to me, but I definitely would not have guessed it when we first found each other. He wore a black suit and shirt, with a white tie, and shoes that were probably more expensive than my moms old car. "Well, I see why you don't go running around the woods as a man." He laughed, a deep rumble that shocked me coming from such a small-featured man, and his eyes lit up. 
"Yes, and I guess you understand why I was so offended by you calling me 'Chubs'. My name is Irwin, and I don't believe you've told me yours." The way he spoke was both eloquent and demanding, the way he held himself and the cadence of his speech would leave even the toughest of men intimidated. I just kept reminding myself that he was my friend, and friends don't need to be scared of each other. 

"I'm Violet. When the fairies told me about you, I didn't realize we'd already met."  I laughed nervously, he just stared at me as if he didn't understand the joke. "Look, I'm sorry man, but I was seriously under the impression that this shit was fake. Since when do dogs actually turn into humans? Where did these fairies come from? I'm just having a hard time processing, so excuse my sad attempts at humor." 
"We don't, technically. Not here anyway." He just looked at me as I stared at him, waiting for him to continue. After a couple of minutes it started getting pretty awkward so I just made eye contact and asked, "Hey, earth to Irwin, I don't understand. Mind explaining?" 

  He turned around and began walking away from me, each step thundering through the walls of the cave, as if he were much larger than he physically appeared. I followed, because how else was I supposed to figure out what was really going on? Besides, the further I am from the outside world, the better.

  We strolled in silence for a few hours, before he just stood still and faced the cold, towering walls of the cavern. I stared at it in the dark, trying to see whatever he was seeing, but my eyes could not adjust to that level of darkness and it became clear to me that trying to see in this light was hopeless. However, the air was heavy with silence and I highly doubted my canine human friend was carrying a flashlight, so I just continued to stare, waiting for him to explain what we were looking at. 

  I waited for what felt like an eternity. He sighed a deep, sad sigh, and put his hand on my shoulder. "This," he gestured toward the wall, "Is the history of my people. Engraved in stone, deeper in the earth than any of you humans seem to think is possible to reach. We live within the mantle, because when you all tried to exterminate us, no place on or near the surface was safe." 

"Wait, so you're telling me we're in the mantle right now? How did your ancestors manage that?" I was beyond perplexed, the very idea of being inside what I had understood to be basically lava and not dying was beyond my comprehension. 

He laughed, harder than I thought he really needed to, "My ANCESTORS? My grandparents did this! What on earth made you think we've been here long enough to have ancestral lines. I'm an alien, Violet. Haven't you realized that?" 

  I stared at the area his voice was coming from, wondering how I was too stupid to figure that out when we met. "Well, if you're an alien, why didn't your people just leave when we tried to 'exterminate' your kind?" It was a genuine question, but he took some offense because of the tone in my voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in a rude way, I just thought.. you know, if I was in that situation.. I would've packed up my family and ran back home," I laughed. He stared at me, then back at the wall.

   He sat in silence for a long while, and then suddenly, the black cave was bright with light. Once my eyes adjusted, the wall in front of me came to life. It was a carefully drawn, clearly illustrated story with accompanying words in a language I didn't understand; however, I didn't need the words.
The pictures were more than enough.