My Weekend of Terror

I quickly followed the taut rope toward the light, Niki close behind. I was already going numb as I reached the light. I grabbed it and pulled it loose. I entered the small escape hole and felt Niki push through also. I started swimming in a sort of small tube or tunnel. I was beginning to run out of breath when I felt the current increase and start pulling on my body. I moved over till I felt the greatest pull. My speed increasing, I reached the tunnel exit. My lungs felt like they were bursting as I raced toward the surface. I shot out of the water gasping for air. Niki popped up right beside me dragging in air like it was the best thing since apple pie. We looked around to make sure we were alone, then swam over to the shore and climbed out. After getting our breath back we looked around at the cavern we were in. To our dismay nothing appeared familiar. We hadn't come up in the place we were expecting to. Instead of the beautiful cavern full of giant mineral forms of myriad colors that we'd hoped to come to, we had ended up in a bare cavern with a sandy ground. We quickly searched for an exit and as our luck would have it there wasn't one, except hopefully, another outlet in the lake. We didn't have much time to debate it since we had already used up a lot of time getting here. I turned to Niki. Knowing she wouldn't like what I was about to say.

" Hon I think that with my extra body mass. I can retain my heat longer, so I think the best thing to do is that you wait here and search the area for footprints or another means of escape in case we'd missed it on our first sweep. I'll go back in and search the lake useing the rope and flashlight and hopefully find another exit. If not, then we were screwed."

After a long pause, she reluctantly agreed. She gave me a worried look with tears starting to run down her cheeks. She held me tightly to her, kissed me and wispered.

"Please be very careful I don't want anything to happen to you. Besides, I really would rather not have to face this supposed monster on my own."

I smiled kissed her gently and looked very seriously into her eyes.

"Ya! We wouldn't want to take advantage of the poor guy. especially the way your.. ahh .. dressed."

She laughed, punched me in the arm and told me to just hurry up and find the exit so we could get the heck out of here. I kissed her again and, got up. Picking up the flashlight, I dove back in.

I swam down and over to the far side of the lake. I shone my light along the back and worked my way toward the other end of the pool to see if hopefully the water went straight through. I was only able to get halfway down the back side before I had to come up for air and warmth. Niki helped me out and after hearing that I had to go back in told me.

"Well, I didn't find anything useful up here and there isn't an opening anywhere on either side of the lake. I did find a few of the same type of footprints that we found in the other caverns. They didn't wander around in here though. They just came out of the water over there on the other side, walked around in a small circle like when a dog gets ready to lie down, then they led back into the water. Please hurry. I think we're in his bedroom."

I assured her that there had to be an exit to empty out the continuous flow of water coming in. I told her I'd be right back and that she should have everything ready to go, just in case. I Kissed her and dove in, determined to stay down this time until I found it.

I picked up the wall just about where I'd left off and started searching around it to the end. I felt the slight pull on my body as I moved to the end of the lake. The motion was pulling in a downward direction. I dove down, searching with my light. I found the outlet near the bottom of the lake. I headed for the surface, straight up from the hole, taking my light with me this time. I started swimming toward shore as soon as I broke the surface. Niki was helping me out when we heard the sound we'd been dreading since we became lost. The sound of something climbing out of the water on the other side. I whispered softly into Niki's ear.

"Slip quietly into the water and swim down to the bottom. Head for the center of the lake. You'll find the exit there."

She looked at me with worry in her eyes. I pressed my finger against her lips while I shook my head letting her know not to say anything.

"It's alright I'm going to try and distract him just till you get a head start. I'll shine the lantern in his eyes. The sudden change will temporarily blind him, then I'll be right behind you."

She looked horrified and clutched my arms shaking her head. I whispered to her.

"It will be alright. I promise to dive before he can get to me. You have to get far enough ahead so you can get through the hole before I get there. Once you get to the shore get out of the cavern as fast as you can. I'll be right behind you. Trust me."

She punched me on my chest. Then with a worried look in her eyes and tears running down her face, she mouthed the words.

"Please be careful I love you so much, I couldn't stand losing you now."

She then turned and quietly slipped into the water.

I waited a moment then pointed the light toward the sound on the far side of the lake and flicked it on. I got lucky and caught him on the first try. I moved it up to his eyes and held it there, and it had just the effect I wanted. The animal stopped and tried to turn his head away. I followed it, keeping the bright light in his eyes. He let out a loud horrific cry that sounded more like a person then an animal. God, I wished I had the camera in a water proof bag with me. A picture to go along with the footprints would have been perfect. I slipped slowly into the water holding the light on him as long as I could, till I ducked under the surface. The second my head was submerged I clicked off the light and swam as fast as I could for the exit hole, I hoped that it would take a few minutes for his eyes to readjust to the darkness, giving me those much needed extra seconds to escape. Once I had gotten through and made it to the surface, I headed to the shore like a shark was snapping at my butt. Niki was waitng there to help me as I climbed out. Before I could even look around to see where we were Niki jumped on me like I'd just snached her purse and she was making sure I didn't get away. Her arms went around my neck and were threatening to cut off my newly aquired air supply. I couldn't have uttered a protest even if I had enough air. Niki was planting kisses all over my face, even on my open, gasping mouth. Purely out of self preservation, I pulled her arms from around my neck and got my first look around. I let out a sound of relief as I saw that we had made it to the large cavern we had first entered. Those awsome colors were a welcome sight. I looked back at Niki smiled pulled her close, and kissed her.

"Much as I'd love to continue this in our present attire or lack of, we're going to have to hurry. We may not have a whole lot of time. I don't know if he's following me or not. We also have to try and figure out how were going to retrieve your back pack with our camera in it."

She punched me in the chest again, and told me.

" I don't care, I was so afraid you weren't going to make it. I never want to feel that way again. From now on if there's any danger, we face it together. No more of this you get safe and I'll follow.

"I held her close. Kissed her, and told her "ok I promise." Then hand in hand we headed for the cavern entrance and the great outside. When we finally reached the outside we saw that it was already dawn. We had spent at least twenty-four hours in that dark cave not knowing when or even if we'd get out. The rest of our group was just begining to stir. My friend Jay looked over as he was heading back to his tent and saw us. He gave out a loud yell and started running toward us as the rest of the club members came running out of their tents and rushed to us. Everyone started firing questions so fast we couldn't understand any of them. I held up my arms for silence. Then remembering that Niki and I were standing there in only our underwear, we borrowed a couple of jackets from two of the other members. I started telling them the whole story as I put one on Niki and the other on myself. After I had finally finished relating our adventure, despite their attempts to interrupt, the questions came in a torrent again. We tried answering them one at a time, eventually satisfying everyone. I told them what still had to be done.

" We had to leave Niki's pack in the cave we dropped into. We couldn't take it with us when we had to swim out. The camera and batteries weren't water proof and are still there at the base of the wall where we fell. We need that camera it has the pictures of everything we saw." The pros and cons erupted as everyone gave their opinions at once. After they had finally quieted down I told them.

"I'm not going to leave it there. We need that camera and I would like to know if anyone would offer to help me get it, if not I'll have do it myself. Either way I'm not leaving without it. "Eevyone was quiet for a long time. Then Jay stepped foward and said that he would help. I thanked him and told him that we should leave within the hour. The rest of the club decided to start breaking camp. That way, by the time Jay and I got back we'd be ready to go. Niki and I started back to our tent to get dressed. The whole way back and all the time we were dressing she kept saying that she should go with me. I was finally able to convince her to stay here and get our things together. I promised her that if I saw or heard anything from the creature we would head back out. This molified her somewhat, even though she still didn't like it and let me know in no uncertain terms what she would do to me if I got hurt or killed. Jay stopped by the front of the tent asking if I was ready. I told him I was. I kissed Niki and held her as she wispered in my ear to remember that we still had a date on a beach to go to. I playfully peeked down the front of her jacket smiled and winked as I asked her how I could forget. She smiled and punched me in the chest again. "Just hurry back." I promised I would, turned and headed out.

We picked up a heavy rope to lower me with, and a large light. On the way we checked in one last time with the group then headed for the cave entrance. We started down the path and took the branch that Niki and I had taken. When we reached the curve in the path we slowed down so as to not miss the turn we'd taken before by mistake. We slowly followed this path to the second curve. We found a place to tie the rope off and holding on to it, slowly headed down the sloping path. We reached the edge of the drop and stopped, listening for any sounds. After waiting a few minutes and not hearing anything, I wrapped the rope around my waist in the fashion of a climber. I stepped over the edge and started down. When I reached the ground I quickly grabbed the pack fastened it on my back, tugged the rope to signal Jay, and climbed back up. Once I got back up we pulled the rope up and untied it from my waist. We coiled it up and, gathering everything together, headed quickly back up the path, coiling the rope as we went. We reached level ground and hurried on to the main path and then following it to the outside. When we walked out into the open we saw everyone waiting for us. The campsite was cleaned up, and everyone was ready to leave. Niki ran up and threw her arms around me crying against my chest. I held her to me and told her everything was alright. Her sobs quieted down and finally stopped. We walked over to the rest of the group and I told them how much we appreciated all their help and concern. I told them that Jay and I had recovered the camera, intact, and the supplies.

"I know that we didn't get a picture of the beast, only his footprints, but we did clear up some of the rumors about the cave, so I think we had a successful exploration."

Everyone agreed that things turned out better then they had expected, and that the science class would have alot of work to do identifying all the things we were bringing back. We all climbed into our cars and headed home for, hopefully, more adventures. Who knows, we just might come back here now that we know what to expect. Next time though, if we do, we'll be better prepared for our mysterious monster.