Holes

The Crater

For a short time I thought I was safe. The sense of being approached, watched, had also been cut off. "Did I lose it-or did it lose me?"

"I'll hit the bottom soon. The hard part will be climbing out."
The bottom didn't come. The slide continued. Alarm joined the fear riding my shoulders.

Long afterward I did hit bottom with an impact that folded my butt onto the ground. There was stone under, and around, me as far as my arms could reach.

Turning around, onto my hands and knees, extended my reach but all I found was more stone. Circling changed nothing!

I was certain, for no reason, that this wasn't the floor of a trench, or any part of one, though I had never been in a trench.

Now the fear increased but it was tempered by resignation. There had to be a way out of here. First I needed to find a wall.

I rose to my feet and decided to turn right. Stepping out, steadily, I began to count. I knew the size of the standard room, that I could cross it, length or width, in 5 seconds.

I passed a count of 30 and adjusted my dimensions outward. Envisioning the largest room I had ever been in I continued to count.

At 60 I began the next count and 30 seconds into that knew this was bigger any room I'd ever been in! I didn't expect to brush a ceiling, most ceilings were beyond my reach even if I jumped.

The count continued, through the 2nd minute, and the 8 more that followed before I stubbed my fingers, painfully, against the wall I had been searching for. I found out how close I was when my hands brushed my chest.

I stopped, immediately, flexing my fingers until the pain retreated then reached out, sliding them sideways. My left only skimmed across more stone. My right passed through a mass that was wet and spongy.

Just beyond that I found more stone at the limit of my reach. I shifted to the right a step and that hand went a few centimeters further then swept space. I had found one end.

I stepped back and crouched, skimming down. I had found a wall for the stone met the floor. Starting back up I got on the balls of my toes, then the toe-tips The wall went upward until it passed beyond my reach!

I had expected this and settled back onto my soles. I paused to wonder if this was a room. It had taken her a long time to find this wall.

I rejected the thought of groping through the darkness for the opposite one. I started to the left carefully maintaining my distance from this wall by judging the tension of my arm muscles.

I started the next count at +5 and went from there. I cycled through a count of 10 and figured I was moving along the right side of a hall.

I reached 15 and began to wonder how long this hall was.
At 20 I wondered why I hadn't found a door. At 25 I wondered if there would be a door. Would this hall go on forever?

At 30, at last, there was a change! The stone gave way to a different surface. This was cooler and considerably smoother. I found a hairline crack running upward but carefully traced it down, first.

It went down to the floor to a second seam that was just as thin. I left it for now and followed the first crack back up until I was on my toe-tips, again. I didn't find a crack sideways to anywhere!

Going back to the base of what might be a door, 2 cracks running at left angles to each other did not a door make, I followed the second line and began a count. 15 seconds into it I paused. I should have found one running upward-if this was a door-before I had reached 15.

I didn't find another vertical line until I had gone through 5 cycles. Stunned, I sat back and computed the timespan times the approximate number of meters per minute. What I got was an incredible 4.5 meters! The only door I knew could compare was the door to an airplane hangar!

What could use a door this wide?  The images I knew were the memories of seeing German tanks traveling the streets of Paris. This door was more than wide enough to allow a pair of tanks pass through abreast of each other!

The thought of that prompted me to wonder if I wanted to find out. I was sure that going back wasn't an option. I didn't know how I had gotten here wherever here was!

I didn't waste time tracing the 3rd track. I wanted to leave this dark place!

I tried knocking, first. I knew I wouldn't hear anything but knew sound traveled. It went through things.

Using first one hand, then the other when that arm tired, I knocked with the same intensity I  used at home. That got no response.

I rested then tried again, harder. When that got no response I rested again. For my third attempt I pounded on this, whatever it was, and prayed.

My parents had called themselves Christians and believed in the power of prayer.
They claimed God heard every request they had made, that I had been an answer to the request about having a child to love.

When pounding with one arm also got no response I switched, keeping it up. I rested for a third time. On my sixth round I pounded with increased intensity, using both hands.

This finally got a response and
I was quick to get out of the way. If this was a door then I expected it to open like an oven. If there were hinges they had been out of reach. I hadn't found a doorknob, either.

Mentally, that gave me pause, but I continued. It opened in a way I didn't know a door could.

The entire object shifted, moving toward her then rose!  When I glimpsed what lay beyond I  cried out in terror and backed  into the darkness until it hid the door, itself!