In Much Too Deep

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Two kids discover that they have special abilities which is cool at first. They have fun exploring these abilities to their limits until someone starts coming after them. Then they start to fight whether or not they should reveal their powers to the authorities, or even their parents. One of their stalkers appear to be a kid like them.
 
Jack Connors is a fifteen years old boy with a vanity problem. He lives in a small town where only small things happen or at least that's what he thought.
 
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african-american-girl-braids.jpg


Sarah Truman
13
A quiet girl with a short temper, easily frustrated by the immaturity of kids her age. She likes using big words to seem smarter and more mature. Sarah likes living in a small town because she feels more in control of her environment. Though she doesn't like all the funny business that's been happening lately, a small part of her is secretly glad that her life has finally started to change.
 
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Jack's home life is complicated, to say the least, so some days he likes to go off and explore the abandoned mines. Technically, they are off limits to civilians, but his dad used to work there before he ran off on his family, so it's more like an overdue bring your kid to work day. Without anyone else around or any actual work being done. That's what Jack thought. For the last three months, weird stuff has been happening down in the mine but whenever he gets close - it disappears.
 
Though she's lived a pretty normal life, Sarah can't help but feel smothered by her parents' constant attention. After her older brothers both got jobs and moved out of the house, she's become like an only child and a little bit spoiled. She keeps good grades in school, but doesn't get involved with any clubs or sports, especially since she's not the most graceful person. Recently, though, Sarah's noticed she's been breaking a lot more things than usual. Maybe she's just getting careless, but she was sure she didn't even touch her calculator before the screws all fell out the back...
 
Jack attacked his father again at dinner that night. He couldn't help it. His mom, sisters, and him were sitting at the table when Pam, his eight year old sister, started complaining about how the gears were busted on her bike. Again. His mom, absent mindedly prodding the meatloaf (pretty sure it was meatloaf) that Kathy, his eighteen year old sister, created in their kitchen/dining room, actually spoke and said, "your father will fix it once he returns home."
"No, he won't." Jack said before downing the last mouthfuls of water in his cup.
"Jack, " Pam whispered, looking back and forth at him and their mother.
"I don't like your tone young man." His mom glared at him. "George will be home soon, he promised," she muttered to herself.
"That's what you said yesterday and the day before," Jack's voice rose. "But that's a lie. He abandoned us. Why can't you accept the fact that he's a-"
"Jack!" Kathy snapped at him and moved her head towards their mom. She was hunched down in her seat - crumpling up her paper napkin and then straightening it out again and again. A tear stained it, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Mommy, it's okay. Jack was just joking." Pam now wrapped her arms around their mom's shoulders.
"Let's get the kitchen cleaned up so we can get ready for bed," Kathy announced as she stood up. Both of his sisters' attention was on his mom. Anger and guilt warred inside Jack, but he obviously couldn't do anything there. He got out of his seat and ran out the front door. Nobody stopped him. However, if he stayed a bit longer he would have heard his mom say something very important.
"He didn't want to go." But Jack would have just assumed that she was talking to herself again, just like his sisters did.
As always, he was drawn to the mines. He picked up his backpack (which was filled with his old man's old work tools but finders keepers) and took out the hard hat. Once he crawled into the human sized hold that wasn't surrounded by barbed wire, he plunked it on his head and switched on. Instantly, the pitch black darkness was disrupted as the bright beam cut through it. Jack walked forward into the man made hallway. Gradually, he was able to stand up straight and if he wanted to, reach up and graze the ceiling with his fingers.
Hmmmmzzzzz
The strange hum buzzing was happening again. Jack started off in a sprint. No way was he going to miss witnessing its cause this time.
Before he could stop himself, he turned the corner and was surrounded by a bright, blinding light. Then there was nothing...
 
"The essay question is so redundant!"
Sarah pursed her lips and twisted the end of her frayed braid, glowering at the worksheet in front of her. History had never been her strongest subject and Mr. Sithers was definitely trying his hardest to bump her down to a B this semester. He had, after all, assigned the best student in his class to work with two complete idiots for no apparent reason. Other than to make her miserable.
Sarah sighed. Neither of her group members looked up from their worksheets which, she noted with annoyance, weren't even halfway complete. She glanced at each of them in turn, checking one last time for even the slightest sign of intelligent life, before pushing herself away from the table. This is stupid. You morons can just fail this on your own.
"Sorry guys." Sarah stood up and stuffed her work into her backpack.
"I have to be home by dinner. If there's anything you don't understand, please feel free to text me." If you have the mental capacity to use your phones, that is. And with that, Sarah tucked her chair back into position, taking care to adjust both of her backpack's straps before walking out of the library. As soon as she stepped outside, Sarah ditched her bright smile for a flat glance about the library entrance. There weren't very many people out in the streets; it was already growing dark despite the cloudless sky.
She began the walk home. One foot in front of the other. Then the next, and another after that...When she reached the outskirts of town, Sarah blinked in surprise and looked owlishly about her. Despite the dimness of the streetlights a while away from where she stood, Sarah quickly deduced her location from the simple fact that there weren't many open fields immediately outside of the town. Yet another benefit of such a small town; she could locate where she was as easily as finding a paperclip in her cluttered bedroom. Very easily.
The real question Sarah was wondering was why she'd happened to wander so far past her house. Look, there were the mines. Way, way back from where she'd been was her home, and her dinner which by now was probably clammy and cold. Oh, and there, right then, was a searingly bright flash of a light from the largest mine's entrance. And as soon as it had happened, it was dark again.
Sarah scowled, turning away from the dark silhouettes of the mines. That's right, her mind said. It was but a trick of the light, nothing more.
But what if it wasn't an illusion? Sarah stopped again at the edge of the town, just where the sidewalk emerged from the flattened earth.
It's not your problem.
She turned, slowly, and watched the mines that sat like lonely giants silently watching the last of the sunset as it melted away in the horizon.
Don't forget about dinner. And you need to finish that history project.
Scrunching her face up in determination, Sarah took two steps towards the mines.
It could be...dangerous.
At that, Sarah broke into a run. Whomever, or whatever, was in the mines would be far more interesting than cold manicotti.
 
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'Ow' was all Jack could come up with. Curled up on the cave floor, Jack felt like he had every right to rest his face against the cold stone and wallow in pain. Seriously, how could a burst of light cause his body to feel like he took on the entire bowling team again? (It's a game, not a sport!). The burning in his eyes lessened, but he still couldn't tell whether or not the light went away or if he was blind. Clumsily, he fumbled with his head lamp despite the sharp pinpricks sent down his arms with every movement made.
"Aw, come on!" Jack quickly pulled his fingers away from the glass shards. There was no way around it, his light bulb was busted by a freakin UFO. "What am I going to do now?" He wondered aloud, if only to keep the descending silence away. By now, Kathy would have gotten Mom and Pam to bed and be working on her college essays by as little light possible to spare them a higher electricity bill. "It would serve them right if I was stuck here," Jack tried moving his legs but daggers of hurt tore through his muscles. " Gah!" Jack gritted this teeth. He was wrong before, this was like the time he took on the girls rugby team.
Out of nowhere, a distant bulb of light appeared. A regular, small kind that bounced up and down as if a person was carrying it. Someone must have seen the light from the outside and came to check it out.
"Hey, I'm over here, I need help!" Jack called out. The light vanished. He attempted to lift his head but its weight was too much. "Please, help me!" He tried again. The light appeared again, and closer this time. "Yeah, come on!" He cheered. Maybe the mines weren't going to be his grave after all. Relief and euphoria gave way to a list of planning.
Okay, first I'll tell whoever this is that I was sleepwalking - wait it's probably too early for that. I was chasing after what I thought to be a friend's lost cat! But what if I'm asked which friend? Whatever, I'll ditch this person before any mention of the authorities are mentioned. There's no way I'm letting them drag Mom half-asleep to the questioning room again. I can't go to the hospital either, they charge-like- five bucks for a band aid. I'll just sleep through first and second period tomorrow, they're so easy that I could get an A while absent. Wait a second.
Something important nagged Jack at the back of his mind. What was it... He fought against the pounding in his skull and remembered entering this chamber. Before he fell, Jack was facing towards the deeper workings of the mine. Next thing he knew, the light exploded in his face and he fell forward. Wouldn't the person, this new light, be coming from deeper in the mines? He craned his head upward, the light had to be about five feet away, but he still couldn't make out the owner's figure.
"Hey, you don't say anything and I won't either, deal?" Jack croaked out; trying to ignore his suddenly clammy mouth and pounding heart.
The light lowered down to his head and he saw...
 
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The entrance of the mine lay still and silent before her. Sarah could feel the faintest draft tugging at the wayward strands sticking from her braids, as if she were standing in front of a large, slumbering beast. She dropped her backpack in the soft grass by the wire fence and ducked into the mine. The scrape of shifting stones loosened by her footsteps was the only sound in the dark cavern.
Sarah stopped walking when she could no longer see from the light of the mine’s entrance and took out her phone from her jacket pocket. She shook it twice to turn on its flashlight and the walls of the passage were illuminated with a bright, bluish light. The ground and walls had become much smoother, but occasionally a small stone skipped away from her feet as she made her way deeper into the caverns. Gradually, Sarah began to doubt her impulse to come here. Perhaps, the light had really only been a trick of her eyes...
“Hey, I’m over here, I need help!”
Sarah dropped her phone.
It skittered across the uneven ground. She hastily picked it up and shut off the flashlight. Immediately, she was standing in the darkness again. But as her eyes grew accustomed to the rapid change of light, Sarah realized there was still a very faint light coming from the next cavern. It was only accessible through a single doorway, and Sarah was not about to just walk through, into the arms of a serial killer. She ran her hand along the wall, following it until she stood to the side of the doorless frame. Then Sarah very, very cautiously peered around it.
Her eyes went wide and she was suddenly very grateful that she hadn’t entered the room. She ducked back and pressed the palms of her hands against the cold, stone wall. What was that? WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!? The back of Sarah’s neck was prickling uncomfortably and there was a ringing in her ears, warning her not to go into the room, to run far, far away from the mines.
Sarah curled her clammy fingers just around the frame of the doorway and inched along the wall until she could just make out the faint glow of light coming from within the chamber. She waited, feeling a dull pressure grow in her lungs as she held her breath and listened in.
What she heard made her gasp in disbelief. The stupid kid was talking to it. And still, the glow of the light grew brighter, ever brighter. It was getting closer.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Sarah shouted as she ducked into the room.
Her foot caught on the edge of the door frame. She stumbled. Her hands scrapped on the floor as she scrambled up again, looking up in time to see the thing stooped over the boy. Its face was less than a foot above the boy’s, and its wide jaws hung loosely, revealing a pitch black gape that glistened like oil in the glow of the lamp hanging from its hand. The rest of its body was blurred by the dimness of the swaying light, but Sarah could see the outline of a lanky, humanoid form.
Humanoid, but definitely not human.
She choked back a scream and called out again, “GET UP!”
 
A shrilly, girlish voice snapped Jack out of his daze. Despite his muscles screaming at him to stay down, Jack scrambled up while falling backwards. Far far away from that Thing. It was affecting his mind, slowing down his thoughts with some creepy alien mojo, but Jack wasn't going to be its next meal. Two small hands snuck under his armpits and pulled him up with surprising strength. Jack managed to settle on his feet and turned around. From the Thing's lantern, Jack could discern a pipsqueak girl with a pair of braids.
"Who are-" he started but she cut him off.
"Talk later, let's get out of here!" The pipsqueak was giving him the same no-nonsense look that his mom used to force him to do his homework back when she actually acted like a mom. Saving his breath, Jack took her hand and they flew. In pitch blackness, Jack led them through the tunnels. At this point of his life, he knew the mines better than his own home. Their combined breathing and echoing steps made it hard to tell whether the Thing was chasing them. Jack turned corners as fast as possible without losing his balance and somehow the girl kept up. Finally, they were at one of the mine's entrances. The girl tried to pull away as they headed towards the impenetrable darkness, but he wouldn't let her go. Technically, she was his rescuer, and there's no way he'd leave anyone behind to face the Thing. He forced her to swerve and duck along with him to slide through the thin rock opening.
Glorious fresh air rejuvenated his lungs. He took a couple more steps before collapsing. On his back, he noted the moon starting to glow in the sky. How much time had passed in the mines?
 
Darkness closed in all around her. Sarah threw a hand out to keep her balance, and her fingers smacked painfully hard against the mine's stone walls. She gave an involuntary yelp and pulled her free hand close to her chest, doing her best to follow the boy's lead.
He was holding way too tightly to her hand, and if they weren't running for their lives perhaps Sarah might have protested. He was, after all, a boy. And because he was a silly, stupid boy, Sarah was tempted to pull her hand away. She could run just fine in normal circumstances. But since they were, indeed, running for their lives and these were by no means normal circumstances and something was probably chasing them and that something was probably right behind them and oh god she swore she could feel it breathing into her hair...
Sarah stumbled over the gravelly ground as they neared the entrance of the mine. She shook her head vigorously, ducked down, and dove for the narrow gap, eyes squeezed shut so she wouldn't have to see the thing's gross mouth in her last moments if she didn't make it.
As soon as she felt the night air on her face, Sarah gasped in relief and she opened her eyes to confirm that she was, indeed, still alive. The momentary joy was replaced with a sudden spike of fear as she turned around to glance nervously at the narrow opening from which she'd just escaped.
The mine was immobile and silent, and the only thing Sarah heard was her own ragged breathing and the peaceful chirping of crickets in the grasses by the wire fence. After a few moments of rest, during which she checked her hands for injury and checked her pocket for her phone, Sarah turned to the boy with the best glower she could muster.
"What was that infernal thing?" She brushed the loose hairs away from her face.
"And...just what did you think you were doing, gallivanting around in an abandoned mine?"
 
"Ah, come on," Jake groaned, "I could ask you the same thing." He squeezed his eyes tightly to avoid looking at the girl. Seriously, who was she to talk to him this way? Except on paper, he owned the mines.
 
Sarah stared at the boy incredulously. It wasn't his fault that she'd gone into the mines, but she could feel the blood pounding in her head as she marched over to where he still lay in the grass. "I was in the mines because of that curious, flashing light. And if I hadn't gone in there-" Sarah jabbed a finger at the boy. "-you'd be dead. So what's your excuse?"
 
Excuses ran in Jack's head.
School project, I have permission to search for rock samples.
Swapping the imaginary cat for a dog, I was looking for my friend's lost dog.
And his personal favorite, it's none of your business.

But because he was worn out and didn't want to exercise his stressed mind for this girl when he should be unraveling the mystery of the creepy cave inhabitant, he told the truth.
"I like it down there. "
 
He isn't serious? Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't think of anything to say. So she turned away and headed for the hole in the wire fence. After checking to see that her backpack was still there, she gestured towards the mine.
"If you like it down there, you might as well return to your skinny companion. I'm going back home, where I should be." And with that, Sarah slipped through the fence and started the long walk back to town.
 
Jack rushed to his feet, completely forgetting his pain, went through the fence, and ran after the pipsqueak.
"Wait a second, we need to get our stories straight!" He placed his hand on her shoulder to get her to stop. For such a shortie, she speed walked.
 
Sarah heard the footsteps shushing through the grass behind her. She picked up her pace, but the boy wasn't going to leave her alone.
As soon as his hand touched her shoulder, she knocked it away. "I'm not telling anyone anything, so go home." With a troubled frown, she stopped to give the boy her best disapproving look. "And really, who would I tell...that'd believe me?"
 
"Yeah, good point," Jack was taken back. Was this girl really with him in the mines? He had to give her props, he didn't know any other girls her age who could stay cool after running away from a monster. He gave her space, "so what do you think that thing was?"
 
Sarah blinked, twice; each time her expression grew steadily more blank. She knew she was staring, but honestly it was taking all her will power not to take a swing at the boy's head. "I. Don't. Know."
Then, forgetting the fact that she was the one who'd first brushed off his hand, she took a step forward and jabbed at him. "And you don't either. You made it seem like you had some sort of right or reason to be there."
Sarah narrowed her eyes. "But, what do you even know about that...thing?"
 
"Hey," Jack's temper rose, " those caves just sit empty. Tell me one reason why I shouldn't make use out of them! And yeah, this is the first time I saw that thing, It must have been hiding out in the deeper tunnels; it may even have roommates." He glared at the girl. "Instead of attacking me, how about you do something useful? That thing is basically the town's new next door neighbor that no one knows about! What do you think will happen once it starts making house calls?!"
 
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