8 Days

The Bells

Chapter 5:

The Bells

Day 1:

                The skies rained blue with white and gray clouds parting their way towards the horizons. Snow remained on grounds and ceilings, which made no sound while I ran on it. I ran, and ran; I couldn't see any difference in my speed, but I could see a difference in my endurance. My breath didn't fall short after tens of minutes of sprinting, and I wasn't even close to tripping at any point as my spacious view allowed me to see everything in front of me. Kilometer after kilometer, I saw my destination.

                A cave buried deep in the forest kept safe the bunker where Edward, Fatima and I survived.  It was a bit hard to memorize where the cave was at first, but a tall pine tree with a mark I carved with my knife, indicated that the cave was close. Sure enough, I just saw that mark a few seconds ago and it didn't take me more than a minute to find the entrance to the cavern.

                Three meters in height and two in width measured the entry to the enormous maze that was the inside of the mountain. Once I found the entrance, the interior didn't seem so dark as before; my eyes seem like dim lanterns slightly brightening the sunless hallways.

                I walked across the door from light, to shade, to black; my steps bouncing on the walls producing a vivid echo, clearer sound than ever and since the virus is now sailing through my veins, all my senses had become sharper enabling me to take in even the smallest details. My memory also seemed to recall more things because before it was harder to remember the way to our home. In the past when we first settled here I had to write down steps on how to get to the base on the end of this puzzle. The piece of notebook paper always remained in my back pocket of the cargo pants I wear.  The paper included explicit instructions on how to get out and in without any problem, you just had to count your steps. The paper's guidance was recorded like this:

1.       Place your left hand at the start of the cave and start counting your steps.

2.       At step 20, turn right.

3.       Step 35, turn left.

4.       Step 47, turn left.

5.       Step 52, turn right.

6.       Step 59, watch your head. (Crouch)

7.       Keep on straight until you see a faraway light to your right in step 78.

8.       Then turn left opposite to the light and walk to step 103.

9.       On step 103, turn right.

10.    Finally stop on step 108, hit twice on the wall to your right and a LED light will turn on.

                These were the steps I followed to get to my safe space. I used it every time to get there and always forgot a step when I entered (and used the flashlight to check). However, this time I remembered every single step with ease. I followed the instructions as if they were muscle memory, and didn't even count my steps: right, left, left, right, crouch, light, left, and knock twice.  Once I knocked twice a white LED above me shined into the cave, leaving me, two endless pits of darkness and a steel plate with an old box security camera on top. I pressed the button on the side of the plate, and waited a second for Fatima to answer through the small speaker next to the camera. How was I going to approach the situation? Will they believe me? A million questions passed through my mind and cero answers I could think about.