Tunnels

By Tyler Hoopes

The day was early, and the birds sang with cheer in the crisp morning breeze. Mona awoke in the forested clearing she’d been playing in the night previous, and scrambled to gather her things and rush home. Her mother would not be happy if she found out Mona hadn’t come home last night; she had to get home quick.

The wet grass crunched under her feet as she ran, the laces of her untied shoes flapping in the wind. She rushed up to the door and went to open it, but to her surprise, the door was nothing but a sealed brick wall. Mona felt the bricks; cold, damp, and solid; they felt like they’d been here for ages. They were surely just put up, though; Mona’s house was never made of bricks, much less covering the door.

She began to walk the perimeter of the house to investigate, but where the walls usually turned a corner to the forested path leading to the side door, there was now another line of brick wall. It kept going; much further beyond Mona’s small home. Her mother had to be inside, Mona thought. She eventually happened upon an opening in the bricks that lead to a damp, sewer-like cavernous path. Mona swallowed her fear and started inside.

Trembling, Mona desperately searched for a light. She was not afraid of most things, but darkness was a special exception. On the ground, she found a single match. Squinting through the dark, she struck the match against the wall of endless bricks a few times, to no avail. Finally, she gave one last strike and the match sparked to life, giving Mona a glimpse of the cavern’s contents.

The ground was sunken in, and running in the middle was a stream of ominous translucent slime. Disgusted, Mona clutched her stomach and kept walking through the dark, guided only by her match. Eventually, she came upon a fork in the path. Mona was completely lost at this point; she had no idea how long she had been walking nor what direction she was facing.

The scene had not changed for the entire time–damp red bricks coated in slime. She sat down to regroup and make a decision, but all she could think about was her mother. Strange things had happened before, but nothing like this. She felt fear well in her chest as she became more aware of the situation, the match sputtering to stay lit. She began to breathe heavier and look around frantically as though the dark mist was encroaching on her. The match gave a final crackle before going out, leaving Mona with nothing but a burnt stick. The stick fell from her hands as she fell still.

The cavern was completely darkened now, but curiously, Mona felt as though she could see something that she couldn’t before.

“Are you alright?” A boy’s voice whispered to Mona from the darkness.

Terrified, she had no will to respond.

“That’s okay, take your time.”

Mona could see the outline of the boy sitting down against the far wall; he was short and his voice was high. Mona sat in disbelief for a few minutes, recovering from her panic attack moments before. Still shaking, she nervously asked him who he was.

“Me? Why do you ask?”

Mona responded, saying she didn’t know, and then apologized.

“No, don’t say sorry! I was just curious why you wanted to know me, that’s all. I’m not a very interesting person, I suppose.”

Mona looked at the outline of her feet in the dark. She had no idea what this person looked like, but somehow she trusted him.

“Come on, I know the way to the end. Grab my hand.”

Mona could feel the warmth of his hand as he stretched it towards her. Hesitantly, she stood up and touched his hand; she felt him grip on the second they made contact. The boy walked playfully through the left side of the hall, guiding Mona along with him. Mona worked up the courage to ask him what this place is.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he replied. “This is just where I am. And you’re here too, right?”

Mona looked confused. She said she didn’t know what that means.

“It’s not important. Come on, we’re almost to the end.”

Mona was puzzled, but ignored the strange remark and looked ahead. The walls were painted with dim light, and shadows of trees danced off the floor. Mona let out a sigh of relief.

As they approached the end of the tunnel, Mona studied the boy to see if she could make out his features in the light. Strangely, the light casted on him like a shadow and he became harder to see; no physical features emerged. She felt his grip loosen until it felt as if he wasn’t holding on at all.

Mona asked what happened; there was no response. She looked back into the dark, but instead of being dark, the hallway was lined with torches. Mona turned towards the outside and started walking towards it, but as she did she could feel her vision getting blurrier and her head becoming fuzzier, until finally she came to on the ground in the forest clearing.

She felt the breeze in her hair, and the morning sun on her skin. Mona sat up and looked towards her house; everything looked normal. Standing up, she started towards her house to go greet her mother.