The Girl

Chapter Forty Nine

  As I descend further and further, the room grows darker and darker. The darkness is everywhere, only the dim lighting seeping in from the hole in which I entered to illuminate my path. The air feels stickier and murkier as I near the floor. Once my sneakers hit the hard ground, all that surrounds me is the dank and darkness.

"Beth? Can you hear me? Over," My walkie talkie jumps to life a little too loudly. I lower the volume slightly.

"Yeah, I can hear you. But I can't see a thing, hang on..." I say as I fumble for my flashlight. I keep one hand on the wall continually so I don't trip and hurt myself. When I still can't find it, I turn my back to the wall and brace myself up against it so I can find the damn thing.

"Take your time, princess," Minho says sarcastically as the time goes on, but I can hear the nervousness in his wavering voice.

"Wait... got it!" I shout, pulling the flashlight triumphantly from my belt.

"Great. What do you see?" Minho asks curiously. I hear him shout for Ben to get his notepad so he can write down everything I tell him. I click the flashlight on and a beam of light brings the murky cabin to life.

There's mold all around the corners, fitting due to the dampness of the room. I can feel the stickiness on my skin. There's an old wooden desk in one corner of the room, a bookshelf in another, and an old bed in a third corner. The ceilings are decked with cobwebs. I shine the flashlight around. There are water spots covering the dark ceiling. Running my hand over a wall on my right, I notice it's made of hard, cold, gray metal. I shine the light down between my feet. The silver metal floor is illuminated. I stomp my right foot down onto it, and a hollow banging sound results.

I wander around the small room. It must've belonged to the creators at one point. I delicately pull one of the books out of the bookshelf. The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin, it reads.

"A science textbook? Weird..." I whisper to myself. I pull out another book. Philosophy of Nature, Issac Newton.

"What do you see?" The walkie talkie says statically.

"A bunch of... science textbooks?" I say as more of a question than a response. "They're all tucked away in a bookshelf." I blow air across the cover. "By the looks of it, no one's been here in a long, long time." I slide the book back into its place.

"It looks like an old cabin," I report. I walk over to the desk.

"There's a desk here. It's old and wooden," I run my hand along the surface. "And cracked, too." I pull a splinter from my palm. "There looks to be a drawer..." I tell him. I feel around for the handle and gently pull it open. "There's papers in here. They're... old and yellowed-"

My description is interrupted by a snarl followed by rumbling.

"Beth? Are you alright?" Minho asks panicked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But the papers-"

"We're pulling you up, okay? Get into position."

"No, Minho I'm not finished-"

"Position! Now!" Minho yells. Something must be wrong. He never yells at me.

I scramble to get below the opening, barely making it as someone yanks the rope. My feet lift off the floor, but another rumbling noise comes.

"Minho? Minho!" I shout as pebbles begin pouring down the opening. I scream his name louder and louder until my throat is raw.

"Minho!" I shout one last time before a large rock hits my head and I give in to the black abyss that I've been waiting for for so long.