Craig of the creek: From beyond the creek

The Cardboard Cave

. . . nothing happened, he was alive, turns out the "Ground" below him was actually a fake roof, made of cardboard, this broke half of Will's fall, but also broke the fake ground, Will looked around, he was in a cave of sorts, there were stalagmites growing from the ground, water droplets seeping through the stalactites above there even was a. . . Cardboard Pillar? no... that can't be right, but it was a pillar,  Will looked around more, he realized the cave was dim the only light was coming from the hole had made, it looked like it used to be lit by big lightbulbs inside of more cardboard boxes, but since then, they must have all shut down. The more he looked the more boxes he would find, some housing circuits, others being support for the cave, Will looked above, the entrance was too high up to even attempt to rappel up, he was going to have to find another way out, he then remembered, the souvenirs ! were they alright ? Will looked in his backpack, the binder and the picture were alright, it was all thanks to the backpack he had on, which was designed by Twitch, having light metal plating covered in waterproof-fabric, it was perfect for someone who spent most of their days outside, but still, everything inside was fine, Will, relieved that he was fine, along with his haul, stood up and grabbed his fishing rod, he looked around the place it was an odd cave he eventually came to a small puddle with some grass leaves growing out the middle of it, he dug around the leaves, to Will's surprise it wasn't just grass, but rather a blue onion, he quickly left it how he found it, no use eating a discolored onion, probably poisonous, and walked the other way, he came across another odd sight, a hole covered with boxes, it seemed to go to another part of the cavern, he quickly slapped the boxes away, but as soon as he did it, he heard a growl, and something scuttling behind him, Will quickly turned around, there was nothing, but someone was nearby, Will could feel it,  but he still kept looking for a way out of there, every now and then kicking a box, but everytime he kicked a box there was a growl, and the scuttling got closer, but Will couldn't see what it was, he yelled "who's there !"no sound, but the scuttling got faster, it seemed like it was circling Will, it then got closer, the scutling turned to a pitter-patter, Will tried running away from it, but to no avail, it was always nearby, Will then saw something, a box with a lever on it, he quickly ran to it as fact as his legs could carry him, but the creature tripped him, he could hear it breathing, Will got up and tried to kick where the breathing was coming from but hit nothing but air, Will looked around the creature sneered and giggled as it went around him,  Will had had enough of this mischevious creature, he dashed towards the switch he had seen at the entrance, jumping over every attempt that the creature tried to trip him, he got to the switch and pulled it, everything stopped for a second, and then the light closest to him turned on the creature hissed, and backed away to try and stay in the shadows, but to no avail, as the lights around the cave began turning on, until eventually one last big light turned on. 

now the whole cave was flooded with light, and the creature cried out, it's cloak had been removed, and all that Will saw, was a kid with a tattered box on his head, part of it ripped, revealing it's eyes, it writhed covering it's eyes, trying to crawl away from Will and the light, this was Will's chance to attack, he quickly pulled out his fishing rod, and tried to  catch the little gremlin before it escaped, but missed, the creature recovered from the flash and began running from Will, Will chased right after, if anyone knew how to get out, it was this... thing. Will saw where it was trying to dash towards, a dark place in the back of the cavern "OH NO YOU DON'T" Will shouted as he knocked down a pillar boxes which fell down on the kid, blocking his way out, he was cornered, Will walked slowly towards the creature, who seeing there was no way out spoke "I'm sorry I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else, don't hurt me" "who are you ?" Will spoke coldly, almost as cold as the cave they were in, " I-I don't remember" the creature spoke "I can tell that is a lie" Will spoke "Who are you" "I'm serious I don't know my name, or a lot more than having this cardboard box on my head" Will eyed him suspiciously, this could be a game, after all, he had seen some kids earlier believing they were horses (!) so maybe if he broke that game of pretend, maybe... "come here, let me take that box of your head" Will spoke with a warmer tone, the cardboard kid shook his head, suspicious of Will "OK, want to keep that there fine, just tell me where the exit is" Will turned back to the hole where he had fallen through, "wait" Will turned around, "I remembered something ! a lab, made of cardboard, me putting on this thing, some kids going and fighting me..." Will turned around "so, do you want the help, or not ?" "no, I don't deserve the help, I have done some... bad stuff, the reason I have this thing on my head was to make myself better" the Kid tugged at the cardboard "but it only made it worse, look the exit is that way, inside the pillar of cardboard, those are stairs, just leave me alone." the kid said sadly "do you at least remember your name ?" asked Will "yeah, it's Carter" Will grabbed the box on top of Carter's head "wait-wait hold on what are you doing ?!" asked Carter alarmingly "freeing you from this prison, it's about time you see the sun again" Will went towards a stalactite wich was dripping water "stay still, let the water soften the cardboard" said Will reassuringly, Carter obliged but was puzzled at the giant's behaviour  "Why are you helping me ?"  "because, I once had a friend in a similar situation, trapped under heavy machinery... I wasn't there to help, and, well" Will's voice broke a little "I never saw her again, I just hope she Is resting somewhere peaceful now..." Carter couldn't see it as Will was facing the opposite way, but there were tears forming in his eyes "but I have to move on, the best thing I can do is help you out of this cave" Will's voice returned to normal "and you can't do that with that box on your head" "but it's superglued on ! you can't just tear it off !" "I can see it's superglued, so i'm just going to wet it, so it's easier to tear off" as more drops fell on the cardboard box it started softening, Carter started scratching it off, eventually, he was freed from the box, and he dropped the amnesia act, Will saw that Carter was free and made his way to one of the cardboard pillars, he opened the door that was on one, but Carter spoke "I should be going soon, it's almost dinner" "Dinner ? why do you guys always leave at dinner? " "most kids curfews are at 6:00, so it's just universal" but Carter got interrupted by  dinner horn sounding, echoing across the cave, Carter hurried through the cave to a different pillar, and opened the lid of one of the boxes there, those were indeed stairs, "thank you- uhm" "Will, my name's Will" Carter nodded, and went up the stairs