The shrewd front of wind bites the skin, feeling this sense of bruising as if it were being slapped on like a sticker. Daniel, lying in the fetal position, began awakening from this unusual slumber. He inhaled deeply and began coughing like a hag. His head was pulsing in pain and he wanted to continue sleeping, but now wasn’t the time; he was in the middle of nowhere. Raindrops fell from the sky, the thunder roared throughout the land, it was mother nature casting her dominion upon all. He rose from this sludge of mud where he slept and observed the vastness of the landscape.
“Where the hell am I?” he asked himself.
Daniel was more perplexed than frightened, it was a matter of figuring out where to go. Behind him, there existed much more terrain below; he was on a hilltop. His hair swerved like leaves in the wind, he stood tall, and he began walking down from this hill of rocks and mud. Getting down this slope of mud and rock was not easy. He monitored the ground with all his might, ensuring that he did not make a misstep that could lead to death or serious injury. Suddenly, his heart stopped as if it had given up from exhaustion. His head begins pointing towards the direction of the sky and he falls. His body rolled down the hill of rocks and he was injured; he slipped on mud. He clenched onto his knee in immense pain; however he knew that if he didn’t move, he would die out here. He began to crawl on his knees and in the corner of his eye, he caught something. It was a shoe, a familiar shoe.
“A shoe?” Daniel whispered to himself, breathing heavily to ease the pain in his body. The shoe was familiar, yet Daniel could not think of whose it could have been.
“Why am I out here?” Daniel yelled to himself in a whisper, “Why can’t I remember anything?”
Daniel began searching through his pocket to see if there was anything to refresh his memory, yet all he could find was a pocket knife, a flashlight, and a match.
“How did I get a pocket knife? Mom would kill me if she caught me with one of those…,” Daniel said.
Daniel proceeded to lift his lethargic body and continue walking towards the direction he chose. He was an optimist, he believed that if he kept following that one direction, that he would eventually encounter some sort of civilization. Once again, his body froze, yet it wasn’t a response to physical pain, nor was it to signify danger, it was because he saw it... It was a tunnel, a sewer entrance. The horrors that he has witnessed in that tunnel haunt him, he could not bear the fact that he was near his greatest fear. Everything began to make more sense.
“That was no ordinary shoe,” Daniel said in a worrisome manner, “that was…”
He looked back from where he landed after his fall from the hill of stones and rocks and noticed that behind the cluster of trees and bushes, there was a pit of mud and moss. In the pit was a lifeless body. Disbelief began to strike Daniel.
“This is all a dream,” Daniel thought, “a really terrible dream.”
It was the body of one of his friends in his group. Daniel began to sob, the sadness could not be controlled any longer. The loss of life, it was a sight he always prayed to never see. His pale skin, the loss of color in the eyes; just an empty shell of what once was. He checked his pockets and found a letter, it wrote,
“I never thought today would be the last day of my life… I can feel myself bleeding out slowly… By the time someone finds me, I will already be dead… I don’t know how to feel about this. I’m only 16 years old, I shouldn’t be lying in the dirt waiting for the darkness to come. Whoever reads this, please tell my mother that I’m going to miss her very much and that I love her… I’ll be waiting for her with my father,” a bit of the letter was covered in blood, “ I just pray that no one returns to that tunnel… That’s how I ended up like this. I was always a coward and backed out of most things, yet I wanted to prove my bravery by exploring the tunnel with my friends… Then we found this evil chamber… We tried to make a run for it but it was too late, someone just started attacking us. I couldn’t find Daniel… I hope he didn’t end up the same way I did. Thank you, God, for the life you gave me, it was a fun ride… Time to see you again, Father.
Allen Marseille”
Daniel’s tears flooded the page. He called out Allen’s name in a great cry. Silence filled the hilltops. He stood near Allen,
“Rest easy, friend,” he said to Allen’s body, “with all the shit we both have witnessed, you were brave through it all.”
Daniel took off his cross-necklace and put it within the hands of Allen. He didn’t have a shovel to bury Allen, so he grabbed the nearest stone and with his knife engraved, “R.I.P Allen Marseille.”
He climbed himself out of the ravine and began walking towards the tunnel, he knew what he needed to do. He knew where he was at, he was in the hills that covered his small town, La Lune.
“I shall honor your wishes, that no one enters this tunnel ever again,” Daniel thought as he approached the tunnel entrance, “No human should suffer from the evils that lurk within”
He stared into the hollow darkness of the tunnel… that horrific night relived in his memory...
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