Dell's Journey

Chapter 29: A Fateful Step

Suddenly Monster was shaking him. He had most likely

intended to shake Dell's shoulder or arm, but instead had

clamped down on his thigh, uncomfortably near his groin.

"Are you awake?" asked Monster's voice.

"Yeah," said Dell, twitching impulsively from his

awkward awakening. "Man, I had a really strange, um, thing

last night."

"Oh? For whatever reason, I slept wonderfully –out

like a light."

Dell was too tired to say much more, so he felt around

like a blind man, groping for the matches and the feel of a

lantern.

The travelers had resumed their dimly lit march into

the heart of the earth. Day two, if it could properly be

called day in a place that so adamantly rejected

illumination, felt dull and slow. The adventuresome spirit

that often accompanies the beginning of a journey had

swiftly departed. The two barely spoke, and they barely

thought.

It felt like an eternity, but it was probably only a

few hours later, when the two took a fateful step into a

larger room.

The tunnel was over. Their lives meant something.

They'd set out with will and purpose and they hadn't died,

hadn't vanished, but instead had magically, supernaturally

ended up where they had thought they would: somewhere.

They had reached something new and large: a room of such

giant proportions that their lanterns were utterly unable

to reveal any boundary with their fragile candlelight.

Both creatures realized they weren't breathing. Both

turned to the other and grinned an unsophisticated grin,

and laughed a silly laugh of pure enjoyment. These laughs

flew off into the void and returned, offering a fine echo.

Both experimented at length with this newfound phenomenon.

"I'm hungry!" said Dell enthusiastically, freeing his

shoulders from his pack.

"Me too! oo...ooo" shouted Monster, and did the same,

rummaging about at the mouth of his bag and pulling out

hunks of some hardy bread. He bit in eagerly and pulled

off big mouthfuls, wrenching his head as he separated bites

from the loaf.

"Dell," he said, still in the process of chewing, "do

you realize that we've really done it? We've really

stepped out and grabbed a part of life with our bare hands

and taken control!"

Dell, also chewing a mouthful of bread, watched

Monster vacantly as he elaborated.

"And it hasn't been easy –no, it's been difficult and

painful (at least sleeping on the ground last night was),

and it's felt long and dreary at times, but –but we're

living!"

Dell made that peculiar sound which combines chewing

and laughing at the same time, which is really pronounced

rhythmic exhaling. He was touched by Monster's inability

to hide his self-satisfaction.

"Well," he said in a more serious voice, "we don't

really know where we are. I don't want to be a downer, but

we really have no clue what to do now. When there was a

tunnel, it was obvious."

Monster received this amiably and with more mouthfuls

of bread.

"I guess," continued Dell, uselessly moving his

lantern about, "we ought to begin getting a feel for what

this place is...when we're done feasting," he added.

 "Mhmm."