A Handful Of Endless Nightmares

Chapter6: The Tunnel

It's been a few hours. My eyes flicker open while my friend group is starring at me with concern. I try to get up but my body decides otherwise. My head is pounding and my leg was throbbing. I ask them with a faint voice where we are. CJ says, " my bad...I touched a brick on the wall. Everything happened so fast and...".

A loud growl is in a distance, preventing CJ from finishing. But I could see nothing. Tje dark void stretched beyond the reach of my n***d eye. Laying down made it no better. I ask for help to get up. My head throbs with every inch of movement. The moment I am on my feet, there is something with a bone like structure. That was the cracking sound I heard. It broke my fall but left scratches on my back." Can you stand on your leg", Ava asks. I try but an electric pulse shoots up my leg.

"I guess not", CJ says. "You don't say (rolls eyes)", I reply. Ryan takes out his Flashlight, leaving streaks of light. CJ and Emily take one from my backpack and go on a search for maybe a way out. An hour passes with no sign of them. We start to get worried. But here them running back. There was a flicker of hope in their eyes. "There is a tunnel!", CJ shouts. "And there is a light at the end", Emily follows.

"Wait...the floor", I say as I point at the floor slowly filling with water. We need to get out and fast. We all start moving towards the tunnel. The light at the end of the tunnel was but a glimpse of hope hanging on a thread. The more we moved in the tunnel the more we noticed any changes. It felt endless as if we going in circles despite the straight path. This all happened so fast we forgot to question anything.

It's been hours and our knees are now submerged in water. The light from our flashlights reflecting with every mini wave. The water was rising fast but unnoticeable unless you were actually paying attention. I started to smile before a desperate chuckle follows. "This feels like one of those spooky movies", I say as I limp with my arm over Ryan's shoulder.

To fill the silence we start to speak about our memories. How I once fell into a drain and Emily got me out. How CJ's dog Nova got lost and we spent hours searching. Memories like these felt so horrific in the time, but now they are laughable and sound so ridiculous. By the time we finished with a barrage of memories we were at the end of the tunnel.

I let out a sigh of relief. Wherever the water had come from, it had stopped and the water was slowly lowering. Our trousers are soaked with a little bit of residue that streaked down to our shoes. Emily's dress was above knee hight so she had the advantage despite her shoes. The end of the tunnel was something we didn't expect. There was a door radiating golden light. This felt so unreal.

Behind us is a sound, familiar to my ears but foreign to my friends. I told them to run but remember that I am severely injured so I limp my way to the door. They all go through and one of them lend me their hand and pull me in with such force that the moment I made it through my eyes closed shut and all went blank.

What did I get myself into? All I wanted was to show them this place...this nightmare. My spine shakes. Where did that water come from. Why did the door glow and where did it lead? I hope nothing worse happens. I want to go home.