Afraid of the dark

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AngelFish

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They promised that they wouldn't turn the lights out if you came in the caves with them. They promised that the wouldn't let the darkness surround them.

They lied.

What's wrong, you scared?

You're heart is pounding.

Don't be a baby, only little kids are scared of the dark.

The suffocating darkness is pressing in on you.

Afraid the Creature is going to come get you?

Your eyes play tricks, twisting the shadows into monsters as you struggle to regain the precious sense of sight.

Need a diaper, baby?

Every sound is something coming; every movement is Evil coming closer.

Hey, let go of me, weirdo!

As you cower in the corner, struggling to understand what's going on around you, you hear the screams of your friends as they're dragged away into the darkness.

Help me, please!

Don't let it take me away!

You tried to warn them. Darkness isn't just an irrational fear. Especially not here. Here, in this hell hole they call a hangout, darkness means death. And death is only the beginning.

~*~*~*~*~

You and your friends have taken a trip into the caves near your home. You were one of the very reluctant; and therefore you are one of the survivors. You understood the old myths around these caves were more than myth. You knew that it rang with truth, what the old ones said. But now you're trapped here. Stuck in the dark with monsters all around and no idea where the way out was.

The Myth

The Creature was never given a name, though it's said it had one long ago. A dark thing that no one had seen in the light; it was just whispered fear. something so misshapen that it only vaguely looked human at all.

They say it was a man once; a man who was hated through out the town as a thief and trouble maker. Eventually, after he'd raped the daughter of a wealthy merchant, he was dragged here, to the caves. No one will say what was done to him here, though they do say that it's a fate they wouldn't wish on anyone. If you ask one of the old ones they'll just avert their eyes and frown a little, as if troubled by the idea.

"It's not something a young'n should hear about." they'd say. "It's not something even someone so awful as him deserved." The elder folk fear this place, and warn everyone they see never to go there.

"He's waiting!" they'd say. "He's waiting for someone foolish enough to stray inside, so he can treat them as he was treated!"

No one believed them of course. It was just a spook story; something told to children to get them to bed at night.

"Go to sleep or the Creature will come for you!"

Sightings of the Creature are passed around after weekends of drinking and fun.

"I saw it! It stood six feet tall! Or would, if it hadn't been so twisted up."

"It was twisted in on itself, almost as if it's back was broken. It was bent sideways, quite unnatural."

"It was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen!"

Of course, these sightings were waved away as drunken visions.

It was just a myth after all.

Wasn't it?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Carolyn was curled in a ball, shaking like a leaf as the wails and screams of her friends slowly trailed off until they were heard no longer. The darkness was immobilizing, it was like it was pressing against her and holding her down. She wanted to call out and see if anyone was left there with her or if she was alone. But she was afraid. What if she called out and it came back?

After what felt like an eternity she slowly stood, bracing herself against the wall. She took one shaking step forward, keeping close to the wall. Maybe she could do this.

A scream tore through the caves, full of pain and torture. "Just kill me!"

She dropped again, covering her ears as the tears started once more. Maybe she couldn't do this.
 
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Why, why, why? It was the constant mantra that filled his ears, each repetition of the word thought in tune with his rapid heartbeat. Chet swallowed the lump in his throat as one scream sounded after the other in the distance, cracking through any resolve he may have had like a dagger stabbed into his core. Damn them for suggesting they come there, even more so for turning off the lights - but Chet had been no less of an idiot for agreeing to go along with everything, regardless of his reluctance. He should have known better than to be so suicidal. He hadn't been prepared for... For whatever happened to the others.

There was no sense of direction - no way to properly guide the brunet back to where he'd come from. Nothing but the cold and the dark, an unrelentless combination that had shudders lacing down his spine. Just keep moving. Don't think on it. Go, go, go... You aren't dead yet. 'Yet' was a term that seemed to echo back at him within the confines of his own skull, and he inhaled sharply as he dared to press himself forward.

With slow steps and arms outstretched, Chet's only hope was that his other senses could take him away from that place; away from the dark, away from the missing, the dead. Green eyes blinked in the blanket of black, hoping despite the impossible that he could somehow see again, or even that someone, anyone, had been left as untouched as he.

It wasn't until another scream - a plea, more like, for some semblence of mercy through whatever pains the voice had endured - that his shuffles quickened into a blind sprint. It was a stupid action, one he'd have pointed out to anyone else had he not been so overcome with panic at the sound. But his own footsteps had become heavy; thundering through his ears like the hammer that was his pumping heart, yet even still it wasn't until his collision with a wall that he was forced to slow.

Under normal circumstances, Chet would have toppled over on the spot had his arms not taken most of the impact that deterred him from pushing further. He heaved out a breath, his now aching palms balled themselves into fists against the surface as he tried with all his might to regain some sort of control over himself; but fear was a powerful thing, and for the people who had even the most basic knowledge of the supposed myth those caves were so well known for - which was clearly proven to be anything but an actual myth - it would take more than will alone to quench that fear.

Chet almost missed the quiet shuffle, the soft sobs from nearby. Though his mind screamed for him not to take the chance, his lips parted with a whispered, "Who is that?" His breathing hitched. Tell me I'm not hearing things.

He pushed off the wall to reach out a hand, and it touched fabric. A back? A shoulder? What mattered was that he wasn't alone, and if the roots of fear hadn't continued to dig themselves in deeper the longer they stayed, he'd have never felt so relieved in his life.
 
Carolyn curled herself into a tighter ball as she heard the sounds of something moving quickly through the darkness, followed by the wump of it hitting something. She couldn't help the quiet sob that left her throat as she envisioned the tortures in store for her. She could practically feel the monster's drawing closer, their evil breath on her back. Any moment now they'd drag her away and-

Something touched her shoulder, and Carolyn came unglued. She screamed and lurched away from the gentle touch, cracking her head against the far wall in an attempt to get away. "S-Stay away from me!" She screamed. In the back of her mind, what was left of her reason told it that it was far too gentle of a touch to be a monster, but at this point she wasn't listening to reason. She was trying to survive. Surviving meant running. But running meant knowing where her feet were.

Her in scramble to get up and flee her feet tangled underneath her and she toppled over again. She curled her arms around her head and tried to make herself as small as possible. If it couldn't find her, it would go away.

That thought just kept chanting through her head. If it can't find her, it'll go away. Her heart was hammering so loud she was sure they'd hear it, but she held her breath.

For some reason, a psalms was running through her mind. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...For some reason, she found herself thinking how absurd that verse was when applied to this situation. They weren't in a valley...
 
Jack was sprawled across the floor, his head pounded, something had slammed into his back, sounded like he was lucky, a few feet away he'd heard some sick crunching and chomping, but the sound drew distant
There was a shrill scream from a few feet to his left, and he covered his ears, heading toward the noise, it must have been another person
As he crawled his way to the sound he bumped into something, or rather it fell onto him, it was soft...
Had it come back for him...was he going to die?
He closed his eyes and prepared for the end
 
Carolyn, after a long moment of stillness, realized that she wasn't laying on the hard ground and scrambled away. "Whose there?!" She demanded shrilly as she brought her hands up to protect her face. "Stay away from me!" She knew, in the back of her mind, that it couldn't have been the Creature. It had remained still for too long, allowing her to lay there. If it was the Creature, she wouldn't still be alive. Another choking sob forced it's way out of her throat. She wanted to go home. She wanted her warm bed, her mother, and her dog. It was such a good dog...
 
"Shhh, if it hears you, it'll come back" Jack whispers, reaching up to turn on his headlamp, he'd fallen on it and broken the bulb...great "Hey...anyone bring a flashlight?" he says, his voice barely audible
This place was getting to him...he could hear slithering on the walls, every breath brought with it a fresh torrent of fear, his breath shaky and uneven, his whole body raw from the impact
 
Chet was taken aback by the words, by the sudden retraction. By what he thought was potentially the only other person left unharmed, until there was more movement; more voices filtering through his eardrums. He inhaled sharply, his nerves still too shaken and on edge to reach any form of calm, yet there were still others that were alive, as in plural, as in maybe they had a chance. A slim, hopeful thought, but one they would all have to cling to if they sought to survive.

Yet the possibility of home seemed almost out of reach, especially with the odd tingling in his ears, the too real brush of something along his skin that at times felt like more than air. Focus on the now... On the now... He found his voice a few moments after realizing a question had arisen. "Had one," Chet called through the dark, fumbling forward towards the sounds from the others. "Lost it in the panic, though." Fear was undeniable and he wanted out.

"We need to-" Get out? Stay calm? Stick together? All of those options were simple enough to say, but doing them was another matter. The darkness shielded the exit, prevented them from reaching it. Fear was not so easily brushed aside. Staying together would be difficult, considering all that happened to the others. So, Chet swallowed and didn't finish, instead chiming in with a different question. "It's just us, isn't it?" A stupid thing to ask, perhaps it was more to himself than the others, a realization that hadn't fully sunken in yet.
 
Carolyn slowly sat up as the words of the other two sank in. The Creature was gone. For now. It was just them. She felt her way back to the wall, and then felt someone next to her. A hand, maybe. It was a huge relief, to know that someone was there. She kept scrambling her hands across the floor of the cave, looking for a dropped light. Her heart skipped when she hit something metal with her hands. "I-I found one!" She cried happily, scrambling it in her hands as she tried to find the on switch. For one moment the bulb flickered weakly, revealing her pale face and wide blue eyes, then with a loud popping sound the bulb burst and they were in darkness once more.

The flashlight slipped from her hands and clattered to the ground beside her. "We're going to die here...aren't we?" The damned tears were starting again, she couldn't seem to stop them. It looked hopeless to her. There was no way out. There was no one who knew they were here, and coming to save them. There was only waiting there for the Creature to come for them.

She shook her head, flicking the tears away. "What was it that Grams used to tell me?" She was talking aloud, but she didn't care. It calmed her nerves. "If you're ever lost in a maze, keep your hand on the...was it the right wall or left wall?" She reached up to touch the wall as she thought. "I think it was the left wall. If you keep your hand on the left wall and keep moving, it will lead you to the exit."
 
"I think so" Jack whispers "I think it killed everyone else"
Jack was assaulted on all sides by a feel of immense fear, it was still here...and it hadn't made a noise in a long time...
He hadn't noticed...but it'd been silent for about 30 seconds or so
"I think it's done eating..."
 
Chet nodded, eyes shifting between where he assumed the other two were based on their voices, but the black had not eased its hold on his vision outside of the brief, flickered light in the moments prior. "Okay," He said aloud to no one and nothing in particular, searching for a strength in his own voice that had yet to return.

"We should move," Chet lifted his chin, still unsuccessful at slowing the rapid pace of his heart roaring in his ears. He raised his palm back to the surface of rock, nodding between the two as though it were possible to see. "The wall- The wall is a good place to start. Anything to get more space between us and it." It was easy enough to agree to - especially when, quite frankly, he didn't have any better options in mind at the moment, given the circumstances. He had yet to move, being careful as he was so they didn't all go tumbling over one another considering how close the others sounded.

Chet had a passing thought that seemed worthwhile enough to bring up, "Should we do something to keep track of each other? In the case that one of us gets grabbed and can't scream?" It seemed unlikely, given the horrific sounds from the previous victims, but... He wouldn't completely wave off the chance of anything by that point. The wall would keep them on the same path as one another, but should the case arise that one of them was pulled away...

His free hand went toward his buckle to tug his belt from its loops, "Here, we can use this. Ah, if you guys can follow my voice, try and grab a hold of the belt I'm holding. We should keep one hand on the wall, one on the leather to play it as safely as we can in this place." He paused for a moment, before adding, "In the case we have to abandon the wall, we'll still have a way of sticking together." As long as they could all hold on. The thought of being separated and left alone was not a pleasant one.
 
Carolyn nodded and reached for Chet's voice. She brushed his arm first, then slowly moved her hands down until she felt the leather of the belt on her fingers. She held it in one hand as she slowly stood. A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled to the surface. "I don't even know your names." She said. "I'm Carolyn." If she was going to die here, she wanted someone to know who she was. She wouldn't die a nameless scream in the dark.

Her other hand sought out the wall, and she was reassured by the rough feeling of it against her hand. Maybe they had a chance after all. "We should keep heading along the wall." She told them, remember what her grandmother had told her about this kind of situation. "If it curves so do we. eventually it'll lead us to some kind of exit."

Personally, she'd rather link arms or hold hands; something that let her know there was another person still there with her; warm and alive. But that would hinder walking, so she didn't voice that opinion. She was shivering a bit, deprived her her strongest sense, but she was slowly becoming used to it. "And pay attention to what touches your feet." She added. "We may find a working light."
 
Normally, being touched where one did not expect in a sheet of darkness could be frightening in itself, but given the suggestion Chet had made, it was less surprising when he felt the brush of fingers against his arm - they were certainly more welcoming than the chill in the air whenever it danced over his flesh. Under the circumstances, it never occurred to him that none of them had even exchanged names until Carolyn brought it up. The corner of his mouth twitched a little at that, despite his ongoing fears, because really it was rather ridiculous to be trapped facing hell together and not know the names of your companions.

Chet found himself nodding again when her words had turned more serious, "Hug the wall and watch our feet. Good idea, we don't know what the others might have been carrying," Still, until they reached the exit, they were far from any sense of freedom. As good as the plan seemed, danger would be constantly in their trail, and the thought made his fingers tighten around his part of the belt. We just need to start moving again and we'll have a chance, even if it's small. But as something cold and undesirable washed over him, tickling at his insides, he could almost swear he'd heard a faint whisper somewhere in the dark. Fear was capable of strange things, and he hoped that's all it was.

"Chet," He announced to will away the unwelcome feeling, in a delayed reply to Carolyn's initial introduction. "I'm Chet." It was difficult, given that in any other situation it was likely they would all be facing each other with short nods and bored smiles, having random and dull conversations about their day or the weather - not standing in the dark, introducing each other to faceless voices while on the run from a monster.

Chet cleared his throat, "I'd offer to shake, but uh," He allowed his actions to speak for him as the hand that held onto the belt moved slightly, offering the tiniest tug that would not threaten her own hold on the leather, but indicated it was likely not a good idea to release it at the moment. "Rain check on that?"
 
She couldn't help the slightly hysterical laugh that escaped again. The chance of surviving this to be able to shake his hand was a slim one. "Yeah, rain check. Hell, if we get out of here I'll buy you breakfast." She made sure that Jack was with them and started to slowly walk forwards, sliding her hand across the rough wall as she went and nudging small rocks aside so they wouldn't trip.

It was tortuously slow going, and after awhile Carolyn noticed a slight curve in the tunnel. "We're turning." She warned them as she started to follow the wall, only to smack her head into a low hanging ridge. The resounding crack was very loud, and she almost fell backwards. "Hey...be careful, the roof drops there." She crouched a bit, feeling down a couple of inches.

"It keeps going, but we'd have to crouch." She didn't want to move into a smaller area, but but she didn't want to leave the wall either. "What do you think guys, try to find the other wall, or follow this?"
 
"Well...it's better than being eaten for sure" Jack whispers "Can't afford to waste too much time on this..."
Hie heart raced when he felt a slight breeze on his back, the sudden chill sending waves of fear through his body...was it a breeze...or the creatures icy breath?
The thought flew through his head, sending his body into panic mode, his muscles tensed up and he dropped to the floor, curling into a ball and waiting for the claws to come down on him
 
Breakfast sounded like a great idea, right then - much more preferable to stumbling in the dark blindly with hardly a clue which way was up. It was made even more so by the fact that if the opportunity for it did come to pass, it would have meant they made it through the night alive and, hopefully, all in a solid piece. Chet doubted any of them could think poorly on that concept.

At the sound of a crack, his lips parted open, prepared to fumble for words of concern until he heard both voices in the moments later and any worries faded into another passing thought. That was to say, before there was an odd tugging on the belt behind him, followed by a shuffle of clothes and a body hitting the floor. Chet's heart skipped at that, his senses overloading with a renewed and quaking fear at what he thought might've happened. His knees bent, body dropping into the crouch that Carolyn had deemed a necessity to progress further.

Chet could only assume what might have transpired, but he heard no further sounds after catching the thud to the floor. "Keep moving forward! I think it might be behind us!" With a hand still gripped around the belt, he dared to release the other away from the wall so he could reach behind him in search of Jack. His fingers found fabric and curled, tugging roughly against it in hopes that if the other male was still in any condition to move, he would catch on and follow behind them.

Their numbers were already far too few.
 
Jack remained curled up, hearing a few shuffling sounds in front of him, the worry of being left behind was somewhat more prominent, standing up shakily he reached out for the belt...he couldn't find it...they'd already gotten out of his reach, he dared not to speak, for fear that the beast was indeed breathing on his back, he takes a few shaky steps, keeping his hand on the left wall, they'd be ahead...they weren't letting go of the left wall, so he'd bump into them again...
He didn't want to die yet, he still had so much to do in life
He had to ask out that special someone, as soon as he got free, he'd do it, he promised himself
He'd study harder in school, and get better grades
He'd get a job, and save up to buy a house later in life
He'd quit smoking, he pulled out his lighter and went to throw it away, remembering where he was, a small glimmer of hope built in his chest, he tapped the lighter the wall, hearing a little "Slosh" that told him there was still some fuel in it, he smiled
He flicked the flint wheel, sparks lighting up a small area around him, before the soft flame produced a dull light
"H-Hey...guys?" He whispered, not seeing them up ahead "If you can see the flame, or hear me...come back..."
 
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