Depthless: Under The Library

Chapter Fifteen// Skye

Skye's POV

I scream into the void, flailing helplessly. For a sickening moment, I thought I was going to die. I could mentally picture my obituary:

Skye Hill, aged 19, croaked by plunging into nothingness like an idiot, in attempt to save Nikolay, who ended up dead anyway because stupid Skye couldn't control her movements and they died. Happy deathly ending.

I close my eyes, preparing myself for the final impact, then it would be all over. No more life. No more Skye. No more, no more...

Why is this stinking hole so deep? I'm partly annoyed that I hadn't died yet. Yes, I know how stupid that sounds. I shouldn't be going around wishing myself to death, but really, why can't I be dead? After all that happened... I deserve death over life--- a pitiful one at that.

Fearfully, I creak one eye open. Huh? I'm not flailing through the abyss? I open the other eye, and let out a long groan.

I'm lying flat on my side, the ground surprisingly soft underneath me. I feel groggy, unfocused. What happened to me? Hadn't I died? Or had I reached Heaven's gates? Then why do I feel unable to move? Slowly, and excruciatingly, I lift a hand, and turn it from side to side, and then bend my elbow. Yes, I could move, but it hurts like a pile of mortar on my head. I tried moving my other hand, then my legs, and my head.

Relieved flooded me, making me feel giddy. "I'm alive!" I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. I did neither. For awhile, I just lay there on the ground, enjoying the feeling of being alive. Then sharp thoughts intrude my mind, and I sit up, fast.

"Ouch!" I howl, clutching my side, tears streaming like crazy down my face. I whimper, then crawl to a sitting position, leaning against the rough stone wall. "Holy---" I glance down, clutching the pain in my side, gazing in horror at my surroundings.

How did I end up here? And what is this place? I tried to get to my feet, but I stagger, my wound throbbing so fast I feel blood rushing from my head, leaving me feeling light headed. Oh no, don't faint now, Skye. I desperately plead with myself.

All around me, the rocky walls rose up to a swirling, hovering mass of air. Well, wind, technically. At first, I had thought there was nothing up there but a large void, leading up to the opening of the pit. Well... we had thought it to be the pit. Apparently, no one had actually dared to fall straight into its depths to find out what, exactly is on the other side.

I study the shifting winds. Had they acted as some sort of cushion? They could've slowed my fall, softening it. I don't know. I don't want to touch that. With a shiver, I look all around me, desperately searching for an escape route. I dig my fingers into the ground, and I'm kind of surprised to find that it's sand--- the softest kind.

I push myself up to a standing position. Urghh. Moving hurts. I must've bruised myself up pretty badly. That or I'd gone and broken a couple of bones. I immediately sink to my knees, tears seeping from my eyes. This hurt. It hurt a bunch.

Where is this place? I'd never given much thought as of where the abyss leads to, where the other end it, what could be found there. So far, I wasn't entertained, much to my disappointment. I mean, I plunge like a psycho down a dark pit, the least that could happen was a welcome song, or some smoothies, maybe. But nothing?

I groan. I simply couldn't sit around doing nothing. I so much want to get up and search this place. But the problem is: I couldn't move. Well, I couldn't stand.

I crawl, slowly and excruciatingly, feeling the walls, hoping to trigger some kind of pop out exit like the caves in the shops. I'd heard about the secret underground passages, but so far, no one had ever found the entrance to one. Would I be the first? I leach out, letting out a noise somewhere between a cross of a moan and a strangled gasp. Tears kept stinging my eyes, each movement only bringing sharp pains to my body, making me double over.