The Echoing Darkness
The entrance loomed before them—a jagged maw in the mountainside, swallowing the light whole. A group of four friends, armed with flashlights and bravado, stepped inside, their laughter bouncing off the damp rock walls.
Legends whispered of disappearances, of voices calling from the depths. But legends were meant to be challenged.
The air grew heavier as they descended. Their beams cut through the blackness, revealing endless tunnels. Then, the first scream.
Sam was gone. One moment he was beside them, cracking jokes. The next, nothing but his flashlight rolling along the uneven floor, flickering before extinguishing.
The remaining three called his name, their voices swallowed by the cavernous void. The echoes twisted, repeating back in distorted whispers.
They pressed forward, hearts pounding. A wet sound scraped against stone—a breath too deep, too unnatural. Then, another scream—Emma.
The last two ran. The walls seemed to tighten, pulsing like a living thing. Their own reflections shimmered in puddles, shifting, grinning back.
A voice drifted through the air, familiar but wrong.
"Come deeper. We’re waiting."
The flashlight trembled in Ben’s grip. Shadows slithered. His last thought before darkness claimed him was the realization—
They had never been alone.