The Dark Somnium - I Should Never Have Let My Team Dig Under Greyveil Park | Scary Stories from The Internet

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

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Now, I'm going to start this by saying I'm not the smartest man in the world. I never did well in school, always getting in trouble some sort of the other. I barely graduated, and that was only because there was a teacher who saw some glimmer of hope within me and pushed me harder than my own parents. Thanks, Mr. Waller. But just because I'm not the brightest bulb in the drawer doesn't mean I'm crazy as some people have decided I am. They look at me and whisper in each other's ears as I walk by.

Why, kids laugh and point as I walk past, calling me cow the crawler, or just the crawler. I don't care what they call me. I know what I saw. It will never, ever leave my memory for as long as I live. As I lay on my deathbed, which I think is closer than I'd like it to be, I will remember the scraping of the walls, the heat emanating from them and burrowing its way into my skin, and the scene before me when I reach the end of that god-forsaken chamber. That will be the last thing I see before death wraps its gnarled fingers around my neck

and chokes out my last breath. And so, let me start from the beginning and recant my tail before the cloaked bastard is at the foot of my bed. Like I said, I was never book smart, but I had a knack for things with my hands. I gravitated towards construction once I had left the hall. followed halls of Shellville Regional High. I had a bigger build. I could have played for the football team as a pretty damn good linebacker if I'd listened

to Coach Henson back then. Maybe it would have changed my trajectory in life, got me scouted by one of those college coaches with full scholarship, and got me out of this dead-end town. I can't change what I didn't do back then, but the possibilities still haunt me. If I hadn't joined Grady's construction team, I wouldn't have been there when we found opening. I wouldn't have followed James inside looking for God knows what back then, but I did. I can't take that fact back now, no matter how much I want to. I applied right out of school to learn to be a carpenter, so I could get out of the house, be busy, and earn some money

to live on my own. Hell knows that my old man wanted me out of the house as soon as possible. I reminded him too much of my mother, her soft blue eyes reflected in my face, the pain unearthed every time he looked at me. That should have never been a burden I had to deal with, but life is cruel, and sometimes people are crueler. The scars on my back and years of bruises can attest to that, but it is besides the point. It was Mr. Waller who actually helped me get the job. The old man was neighbors with Grady and had a pretty good relationship with him. They played cards every Sunday after church while their wives gossiped. I think Waller buttered him up to me, telling him about how I had it rough and I was a sweet kid that needed a break.

It didn't take much for me to get hired with Grady, a preliminary interview and I was in. He practically took me under his wing, teaching me everything I needed to know himself, signing me up and footing the bill for classes while making me his apprentice. I was soaring. For the first time in my life, I felt like I finally belonged somewhere. I did really well in my carpentry classes. Something about building stuff really clicked in my brain. Soon, I was right alongside Grady out on the job. I loved it. I finally found my thing.

I wasn't the dumb-ass kid sitting in remedial algebra for the second time, and I was head of the class. It was great, and life was good for a few years. I managed to scrape up enough money to get a shitty one-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of town, but it was mine, and I felt safe away from my father. I quickly climbed the ranks with Grady, and in two years I had a whole team below me. Things were looking up. It wasn't until the park job that I realized I had had it easy before.

Things were about to get a lot worse and changed me forever. It was winter. In December, I can remember the Christmas lights decorating the main street of town while we drove through towards the new job. Grady had called me in the night before, told me that me and my team would be starting on this project as of today. He explained that we would be in charge of renovations of some of the cabins within the the Grey Vell Park.

I guess the park was trying to distance itself from some of the more unsavory things that had happened within the woods over the past thirty years, by redoing some of the cabins in preparation for spring and summer. Everyone knew that the forest had a bad reputation, ask any local. They would fill your head with tales of the serial killer who kidnapped and killed a woman in a secluded grove, or the several couples that had gone hiking and disappeared. I managed to find one of the victims in a terrible state a few years back, but the others were still gone without a trace.

Either way, a job is a job, and I was not worried about any ghosts or ghouls lurking around while we were there. It wasn't the ghosts I should have been looking for. It was the place itself that was cursed. The forest, the soil. Something had long rotted under that place and polluted everything else. We arrived early in the morning to the park, and the rangers directed us. towards the old and rotting cabins that had been waiting in disrepair for the last two decades.

It was a secluded part of the woods, off the beaten path of bed, but I guess that's why we were here. Part of the job was to make new paths from the well-marked trails to the cabins. The job should have taken a few months, weather permitting. We were in the dead of winter, and snow was a constant. An hour or so of setups from the truck, and we were ready to inspect what lay before us. When I say these cabins were in rough shape, it's not an exaggeration. Most of the foundations and wooden exterior had rotted away, leaving large holes in the roof or the walls of the structure.

We would have been better to have just started from scratch and built a whole new cabin, but the park wanted to preserve the authentic look by using whatever crap we could salvage from the old place. It was easier just to nod my head and try to do whatever the client wanted than arguing because they were always going to find something that they didn't like and make you redo it. There were five small cabins arranged in a semicircle around a large central fire pit, a good amount of work to be done before spring came, and only a few months to do it. After the first sweep through the cabins, we started doing what we could with what we had that day,

pulling down the rotten boards, salvaging the good wood, and taking note of what needed to be bought and taken to the site the next day. The work kept us going like this for a few weeks. Slowly, but surely, we had gotten all of the bad wood out of the cabins and started fixing the foundations. Then came the snow. It was the freak snowstorm that came out of nowhere and dropped about 18 inches on us within two days.

We were out of commission for a bit. The roads alone were terrible to drive on and the city wasn't prepared for anything of this scale, so it took days for the streets to be plowed and for anything to start moving again. I knew it was going to be a shit show when we got back to the site. We had been using tarps and coverings to keep the new wood out of the elements, but there was nothing that was going to save it from this. The cabins were going to be buried in layers of snow, and it would take forever before we got back

to them. Sure enough, the sheer amount of snow had done some damage, and that's what led to the eventful downfall of the team and myself. We returned a few days after Snowmageddon and assessed the situation at the site. There were pounds of snow packed into cabins through the open roofs. The tarps didn't do a thing to hold the amount of snow being pushed down on them. Of course, all the snow would need to be removed, so I started there, eyeballing each building and looking at the volume.

And that's when I spotted something weird. It was the furthest cabin over on the end of the semicircle. The inside of this cabin had the least amount in it, but it was still soaked, like something had melted the snow from the inside and let water run free. I stepped inside to get a closer look. There was still a bit left inside, but it almost looked like a bowl had been carved out of the inside of the powder down to the wooden floor. I pushed my way through and down to inspect the floor at the center of the anomaly.

A wave of heat smacked me as I closed in. It was dry heat, like what you would find in the Sahara Desert, a suffocating, sweat-inducing heat. I bent down, inspecting the ground. The floor was bone dry, like no water had ever hit the spot, and the closer I brought myself to the ground, the greater the heat became. I was covered in sweat now, removing my jacket to make it easier to maneuver. Hey, Clea! I called out. Bring me the crowbar from the truck. A minute later, Clea came tramping through the snow with the crowbar and a puzzled look on her face. Clea had always been a hard worker. She wanted my job more than anything and was jealous that someone

15 years younger had surpassed her that quickly. I couldn't blame her. She had been working for Grady for the last five years, doing what I was doing, soaking up all the knowledge and hoping to take the next step up. Not to mention, she was a single mom with three kids at home who needed to be fed. I guess her husband had died in a car accident a few years before, and she was struggling to make ends meet. I messed her plan up, and she hated me for it. What are you doing? Where's your jacket? It's like four degrees out. I beckoned to her as I bent down to press my ear to the ground. The heat was blistering now. Sweat dripped off my face and onto the wood below.

There was a sound coming from under the boards. A low hum was emanating from beneath. With a quick push downward, the board cracked. A blast of heat poured from under the board and hit my face. A dripping could be heard from down below, the sound of melted snow hitting stone. Hand me your light, I said, reaching towards Clea. She unhooked the flashlight from her side and tossed it to me. From behind her, I heard crunching.

feet as Dale and James joined the audience. Dale was someone you needed on a site like this. He was easy going, been through the works before, and this is where he landed. Someone who had a billion stories to tell about his life. Apparently, he had left home when he was young, joined the army, and did a few tours before bouncing around the world looking for the next big thing. That's when he met his wife here. They fell madly in love and he settled down, said he'd been in this town for the better part of the last 25 years and regrets nothing. James, on the other hand, was the issue, the loose cannon on sight. He always needed to be monitored because he got easily distracted. He had the kind of energy a golden retriever has when they haven't been outside in a few hours, bouncy and

prone to knocking things over. Bad enough that he loved to pull these stupid little pranks that he thought were hilarious. At the end of the day, though, he did his job, and we needed the hands We couldn't afford to let him go. It was better than nothing. What's happening, boss? He said through a half-closed mouth, a cigarette hanging out of the other side. Something wrong? I don't know.

Something's down here. Come take a look. They gathered around the hole in the floor, staring puzzled at what I had on earth. I looked up at them with the same look. I shined the beam down into the hole. It wasn't a hole in the ground. It was more like a cave. The slick stone walls looked to be covered.

coated in a layer of water, likely from the snow above. The passage was big enough for someone small to fit into, but it curved a few feet down and out of sight. I pushed myself up from kneeling, careful not to put any pressure on the broken boards. All of you stay right here, I said as I got up from the ground. I'm going to call Grady. I crunched over the fallen snow back to the truck, the bitter cold nipping at my face again. There was a clear difference between standing over the hole in the cabin and outside. It felt like a hot summer day inside, blistering heat pouring from the ground while a few feet away it was freezing again. Something wasn't right. What can even cause something like that? I've heard of underground lobby tubes on the Discovery Channel before,

but never anywhere around here. I thought that could be the only thing that could be making that much heat. I opened the truck door and rummaged around in my bag, looking for my phone. With a quick glance back, I could see James pressing his head down close to the opening, imitating sunbathing. I shook my head. James' antics were not what I needed today, especially if whatever this thing is could be dangerous. Hey, Grady, I said, putting him on speakerphone as I continued to watch James closely. We found something really odd in one of the cabins.

Damage? We knew there was going to be some damage. No, I cut him off. Well, yes, but it's something else. an opening or something under the furthest cabin, like a cave. What? There shouldn't be anything like that anywhere near there. Those cabins have been there for years with no issues.

I have no documentation of a cave or hole under any of the cabins. I know. What if it's a sinkhole? All of a sudden a scream cut through the silence of the forest. I turned around at such speed it should have sent my head spinning. I always do this. I paced when I talk on the phone, stopped watching James. Now, looking back where my crew was, I only spotted Clea and Dale staring downward into the hole.

What was that? Grady yelled into the phone. James! I gasped. He fell into the hole. Send someone out now. I'm going to try and see if I can get him out. I hung up the phone and ran over.

My feet getting stuck as I tried to trample over the mounds of snow in the way. What happened? I called out to Dale and Clea. They turned to me with frightened looks. No clue, boss. I went for another smoke and left the two of them here. Dale responded. He pointed at Clea. I went to check my phone. My kid is sick and home today, and I needed to check on her.

Shit. I looked down into the hole. Somehow it looked like it had gotten bigger, which was impossible. There was no way for it to get any bigger without blowing it up. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, or the mix of hot and cold was playing with my vision. It didn't matter. I needed to get James out of there before something worse happened. I flicked on the light Clea gave me earlier and flashed it into the kid. cave again. It definitely looked bigger. I think I could fit into it now, and I was a bigger guy than James was. We needed to get James out of there. I couldn't see him at the bottom. He must have slid past the curve. James! I yelled, my voice echoing back at me. Are you hurt? Yeah, my leg. I slipped on the broken boards and fell feet first down the hole. The water on the

sides made me slip further in, and I... I turned around and looked at Clea and Dave. I'm going to go in and get him. I said, sighing. Wait up here and pull us out when I grab him. I turned back to the cave and called down. James, I'm coming down to get you. I sat down on the wooden floor, scooting towards the edge of the hole like I was getting in a pool.

I flipped myself around and swung my feet down so they touched the slick sides of the cave wall, hanging with only my hands. I slowly lowered myself down into the opening until I couldn't go any further and and let myself drop. Luckily, the damp sides of the cave and the way it curved sucked into my fall of only a few feet and slid me down into the deeper part of the cave where James' voice was coming from. James? Where are you, buddy? The light illuminated more and more of the cavern as I continued forward. A sloping path that led deeper and deeper downwards into an unknowable place. That's when I spotted him, lying on the ground, staring up at me with a pained look.

There you are. I said with a sigh of relief. It wasn't too far down into the cave, so it shouldn't be too hard to get him out. Give me your arms. I reached down toward him. The ceiling of the cavern was tall enough where we could both stand. So if I could get James on his good foot, we could hobble out of here slowly. Thank God.

I thought it was going to be stuck down here. As much as I would have loved that, I replied, chuckling. Here, let me take a look at your leg. The cave was hot. I could feel the heat emanating from the stone around us, almost like we were in an oven. There was something else, too. The deeper I went, the more the walls around us changed in texture. It went from a sleek, damp-covered rock to almost a moss feeling underneath my feet.

The water from the snow above mixed with something on the walls, creating a kind of mucus mixture that was dripping from the ceiling and onto my back. It was sticky and didn't come off easily. Yeah, about the whole like thing. James said with a sly look on his face. I kind of faked it. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, I was on top of him, pinning him to the floor. A hot rage boiled inside my chest, ready to explode at any minute.

I grabbed James by the collar of his shirt and thrust him down hard into the stone beneath us. What the fuck? Why would you do that? James's face changed, the light from the flashlight illuminating a thin streak across it. The joy and mischievous energy that was there a moment before fled, and what returned was a look of pure terror. I wanted to see what was down here, man. You would have never let me come down here, so I had to think of something.

I knew you were a moron, but I didn't think you were this idiotic. You know what, James, you're done. When we get out of here, you're packing your shit and going home. You're fired. I really need this job, man. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, man. Fuck you.

I thought you were hurt or worse. You put yourself and me in danger, and now we have to get out of this pit. I slammed my hand into the floor. next to James' face, blood trickled from my knuckles and mixed with the mucusy mixture. James' eyes welled with tears and his face reflected pure terror. A pang went off within my heart. A memory flashed through my head. It was of my father, doing the same shit, screaming at me, throwing me to the ground, beating me for the smallest thing. James was just trying to bring some levity to the work site, although the way he did it was

moronic. My face softened. I can't be like him. him. I have to be different. Control the rage. I pulled myself off of James and pulled him up. I'm sorry. I went too far. Let's just get out of here. We'll talk about your job once we're out. James sniffled and wiped his face, trying to hide the tears in his eyes. I bent down and grabbed the flashlight from the floor. My hand throbbed from punching the stone. That was stupid. A bit of my dad passed down through me. I just couldn't contain it. I used the light to examine my hand quickly. There were a few small scrapes from where my knuckles hit the ground, the wounds leaking blood,

but they were superficial. They would heal quickly if left alone. There was a moment of silence between me and James, an unspoken tension that filled the cavern we were in. It wasn't completely silent, though. The cavern was alive with sounds from all over. Our breathing reverberated off the walls and back to our ears. The dripping of the melting snow from above gave the illusion of a metronome keeping pace with

some hidden rhythm, but there was something else. It was that low guttural hum coming from deeper in the cavern, a buzzing in my brain that made my thoughts fuzzy in a way that I'd never felt before. I almost wanted to go deeper to climb as far as I could until I could find the source of this incessant noise and put an end to it. I turned the light back down the cavern, seeing what I could make out from further in. but it continued to slope down and the ceiling obscured the descent. Let's go.

I waved to James as we began the trek back to the entrance. I could hear Dale and Clea yelling something from outside the hole, but it was muffled, like there was a dampener on their voices. We continued to trek through the muck stuck to the walls. It coated my feet, making it hard to not slip. I had to use my hands to grip the walls, digging through a layer of slime to reach the warm stone underneath to steady myself. The stone itself was warm, but there was something else to it too, a kind of beating or thrumming that seemed to coincide with the buzzing noise from before.

It came and went in intervals, almost like the cave had its own heartbeat. That idea freaked me out, so I pushed the thought out of my head and trekked on, and soon I could see light outlining the slope upwards and out into the winter air again. I could see Dale leaning down and looking for any sign of life. We're here. I called out. And we're both fine. James thought it'd be funny to pull a prank and dive into the cave.

I looked back with a stern face, and James looked away like a puppy that had gotten into the garbage. Help me up, would you? I called up to the two of them as I reached my hands up. I need to shower after all this shit. Dale reached his hand down and grabbed mine. It wasn't long before our grip began to slip, the slime making it much harder to grab onto anything. I dug my foot hard into the stone of the wall and pushed myself up, trying to get better leverage on Dale. Clea, come grab Cal's other hand.

He's covered in Cave Gunkin. It's hard to grab him. In a moment, Clea was now above us with Dale. Her outstretched hand joined Dale's, and I grabbed them both. Pulled and I started to make some progress when I heard it. A deep moan from below me. A deep and guttural painful moan that rattled my bones and sent a shiver down my spine. and Clea exchanged a look of tear and then began to pull me up faster.

Then I felt pressure around my leg. I was being pulled down. I looked down and saw James grabbing at my leg, holding on for dear life. Faster! He yelled up at me. I think there's something down here! Then the floor dropped out from beneath him. I don't know how it happened.

One moment he was standing on stone. The next it moved and straightened out. The sound of rock cracking came from below, and then there was no more floor. The slope I was leaning on vanished, and the foothold I had disappeared. I scrambled with my one free leg to gain purchase on something, but the gunk on the walls was too slick. I couldn't get a hold of anything, and now James was screaming from below me, dangling over a darkened pit.

His weight was too much. With one final glance up, I saw as Dale and Clea lost their footing and tumbled downward towards me. In an instant my stomach flipped. We were falling. I woke up in darkness. I knew my eyes were open, but there was no light. My head throbbed with pain as I rolled it back and forth, trying to make out anything in the room.

The floor beneath me was wet, and I was soaked, covered in that mucus from above. It infiltrated my clothes and stuck to my skin. I pushed my hand down on the ground, trying to push myself up, but it just sunk into the floor, retreating deeper and deeper into the muck. I moved my head again, the throbbing making me lightheaded. Soon, my eyes focused on a small pinprick of light across the room. I moved, slowly, towards a sitting position. A moan echoed through the room and back to me before I realized that it came from me.

My head was pounding and my arm was on fire, but I got there. Hey, bud. I heard from where the light was coming from. How are you doing? It took a moment for the haze to clear from my mind to realize who was talking. It was Dale. What the hell was he doing down here? Last I knew he was pulling me up and out of the hole, not down into it.

Ah, shit. Right. We fell. Something happened. The floor got slippery and there was a rock slide or something and I pulled them in. God damn it. First it was James. Now it was these two.

Dale stood in front of me, his zippo out in front of him, illuminating a small sphere around us. I shook my head, trying to clear the fog that had come. come from presumably hitting my head on the drop down. What happened? Well, there seemed to be some sort of collapse in here. We were hauling your ass out of here when the floor gave way below you and the weight pulled us in.

I looked up at him as he outstretched his hand to get me off the floor. I grabbed it and he tenderly lifted me up into my feet. My head was still swimming, but it was slowly starting to clear. I turned and looked at him with sorrow in my eyes. I'm so, so sorry. You shouldn't have been dragged into this. Nah, don't worry about it. Just glad you're okay, for the most part.

We'll find a way out. I looked around, scanning the room for the others. The chamber we were in was large. I couldn't see far into the darkness where we had fallen from, so I don't know how deep down we were. The walls were covered in that slime stuff, like a thick membrane that protected the walls. I swear if I stared at one spot for too long,

it was like the walls were breathing. moving in minuscule ways, like muscles tightening and relaxing. I chalked it up to my head injury, making my vision weird, but something was definitely off about this place. I continued to mark things as I looked around the cave. The light from Dale's zippel ladder was not much, but it was enough to make out the general shape of the room. It was circular, with a few different tunnels leading off in different directions, but what

was down them was beyond me. Then my eyes fell upon James. He was huddled against one of the walls, knees to his chest and crying. Clea was bent over next to him, holding the flashlight she had given me before, trying her best to use her motherly instincts to calm him. Dale grabbed my arm, and we walked slowly over to where they sat. The light from the Zippo flickered as we made our way to the other side of the chamber, throwing shadows around the room that danced in the light.

Clea looked up as we shambled over. Oh, thank God. She sighed, looking me over. We thought you were gone. See, James? Cal is fine. Dale looked at me and pulled me close for a moment. He told me that James wasn't doing so well.

He's been rambling. He thinks he killed all of us and that this is hell. I went to talk to him. I bent down, trying to hide the pain in my face and grabbed James by the shoulder. His face was a mess, streaked with tears and blood. It looked like he got dinged up on the way down, too. Some scratches here and there, but nothing. like me. His eyes darted back and forth, and he kept mumbling under his breath.

We're all going to die, but because of me. He whispered quickly. I shook him gently, trying to break him out of the loop he was in. He looked up at me with the scared eyes of a child. He wasn't much younger than me, maybe a few years at most. He had just gotten out of high school. This wasn't supposed to be a forever job for him, just something until he could afford college. Hey, I spoke. Enough of this. He shook his head and grabbed my arm for dear life. The pain seared through the one that got hurt in the fall, but I held firm, letting him hold on to me.

This is all my fault. I'm sorry. I'm not going to deny that, James. You messed up. And now we're in this situation. He looked up at me. I could register the hurt in his eyes. I'm not going to sugarcoat this.

We're in a bad place, and I don't know what to do, but we need to work together. I could hear Dale behind me, his breath raspy from years of smoking, trying to keep a calm and steady composure like he always did. I flicked a glance to clear, who was still next to James. She was trying to calm him, but I could see the fear in her face. It was streaked with tears, too. She was terrified just like the rest of us, probably not only for her own sake, but for her children. If she didn't come back, they were orphans.

I wouldn't let that happen. I looked back down at James. His face was twisted in a contortion of anger and confusion. Wait a minute! He yelled, getting up quickly. If it wasn't for you, none of us would be here right now. His face changed from confusion to pure anger now. He wasn't thinking clearly, and because of this, he was dangerous.

Yeah, if you hadn't pulled that damn bored up... No. No, if we hadn't been to work today, we would have all been fine. We should have been at home and bed, but you all... Always! Push too much, Cal! We had to get the snow cleared. We had to start construction again! I was shocked. I wheeled backwards as James got up in my face, spit rocketing from his mouth. I'd never seen him like this before. He was always the happy, go lucky guy, the jokester. Something had changed in him down here. I don't know if it was the fear taking over, but something had been lost in his eyes. They were dull. No joyful spark left.

James, you need to take a breath. I said, trying to keep my balance as I moved backwards. Calm down. In an instant, he was on top of me, his hand shoving me down onto the spongy floor below, pain radiating through my arm as I tried to catch myself. This is all your faults! We shouldn't have been here! You know about the woods, but we need the work, right, cow?

He hit me. In an instant, his hand became a fist, and that anger I had shown earlier was reflected in him. A quick strike to the face and my head was spinning again. Another blow to the side of the head. Hey, get off of him, kid. Let's all cool down and talk this out like adults. It's nobody's fault. Just fate.

Shut the hell up, Dale! James spat as he pushed the old man away from him. His hands slowly wrapped around my neck. I looked up at James. The same anger I had given him was there. That same anger that I saw every day in my father. I could feel the warm trickle of blood running down my head and across my face, but all I was concerned with was James.

I'm sorry, James, I said, I'm sorry. Clea made the first sound since this all began. Did you hear that? Everyone shut up and listen. James perked up and stopped for a moment. His grip loosened. That was enough for Dale to grab him and pull him off of me. He led him away to the other side of the chamber to cool off.

I lay there on the floor, trying to rationalize what had just happened. In an instant, the kid who wouldn't hurt a fly and would always try to make you laugh just tried to kill me. My train of thought was then cut off when Clea talked again. There, listen really close. We were all silent, waiting for the sound that only Clea had heard to repeat itself. The only sound that could be heard was the dripping from the ceiling and the shallow breathing of the crew. Then it happened. Mommy.

Something croaked from one of the two darkened passages. Where am I? It was the voice of a small child, but it sounded wrong, almost like it was double, the child's voice and something else underneath. Mommy, I don't feel good. I want to go home. I'm scared. Clea began to cry now. Loud sobs ripped through the silence like thunder.

She looked around the room at all of us. before calling back to it. Sophie! She responded through choke sobs. Mommy, please help me. Clia cries louder now, and in an instant she shambled her way towards the passage the voice was echoing from. Taking the flashlight, she shined it deep into the tunnel. I'm coming, Sophie.

Mommy's coming. Clea, wait! I called as she disappeared into the passage. Then everything shook. The walls and floor began to pulse with a sickening rhythm, and the mucus coating them increased. I looked back over to where Clea had just disappeared, and the passage was gone. The place now with a fleshy wall that pulsed with the rest of the room,

a deep and guttural moan squelched from somewhere beyond the flesh wall that separated us from her. Then came the cries. I will never forget those cries for as long as I live. Clea yelled, muffled from the other side of the wall. James and Dale rushed over to the wall as I sat trying to gain my baby. bearings again. They tore into the fleshy substance, ripping the meat away from the wall, trying desperately to get through. Then a loud bang emanated from the other side, and an ear-piercing shriek followed. We could hear Clea sobs through the wall, her wails, and her protests against

whatever was on the other side. She sounded so small, so afraid. Tears began to stream down my face. A moment later, there was another cry from the other side, a loud bang and a fleshy ripping sound. Then silence. Nothing. Where there once had been an orchestra of disgusting sounds that was now nothing, and that scared me more than anything. I knew in my heart Clea was gone, and it wasn't long before whatever did it found its way into here.

I stumbled onto my feet, tears pouring from my eyes, my heart pounding faster and faster in my chest. The light in the room had significantly diminished since Clea took the flashlight, leaving us with only Dale Zippo lighter. The shadows cast around from the flickering flame were ominous and terrifying, making the remaining dark hallway like an endless void. I walked over to where James was still digging at the fleshy wall, tearing chunks off before it quickly reformed and sealed the newly made hole.

Dale sat with his back against the door that sealed Clear's fate, his head and his hands, clearly shaken. I had never seen Dale like this before, broken and defeated. He was always the voice of reason, the one who kept calm. But how can you keep calm in a place like this? A place that shouldn't exist in hell, let alone on earth. He was whispering the Lord's prayer to a God who clearly didn't care that we were here. What kind of God would let something like this exist?

What kind of God would take a mother from her sick children, leaving them with nothing? I grabbed James by the arm as he continued to dig and dig, not making a dent. That's enough! I whispered through sobs. She's gone! He looked up at me. His eyes were big, wet with teeth. years, but they were the eyes of a kid again. Not whatever was there earlier.

We can't leave her. We just can't. I placed my hand on his shoulder and tried to steal myself as much as I could, stopping myself from shaking involuntarily from fear. We couldn't have helped her anyway. We would have ended up the same way. We should move before whatever that was comes in here. James nodded and stepped back from the wall. His hands were covered in the slime that coated every inch of the place. and the bloody viscera that he had torn away. He didn't even seem to realize the amount of muck that stuck to his shirt and arms.

I moved over a few feet to where Dale sat and offered him my hand. Come on, old man. I tried to joke. Anything to light in the mood and inch from what just happened. We need you. He pushed himself off the ground, grabbing my hand to steady himself. His hands looked the same as James. Flesh was buried deep underneath his fingernails.

He still held the zipper in the other hand. hand, our only source of light, our beacon in this dark hell that was sure to swallow us whole if it flickered out. Let's move. We can't stay here and mourn. There will be a time for that if we make it out of here. He moved towards the only passage that was left, the dark tunnel that led deeper into this unknown place.

It was our only option. I nodded towards James to follow. Dale and I took up the rear of the group. Tears still fell from my eyes, but I didn't even feel them anymore. I couldn't tell if it was from fear or the loss or a mix of both, but it really didn't matter anymore. Dale slowly held the lighter up to try to get a better view of the darkened tunnel. It was small, smaller than the one Clea had followed down.

There was enough room for one person to stand upright without touching the ceiling, but not much more. The walls of the tunnel were varied. They looked like the inside of a throat when you were getting an endoscopy. They dripped and pushed in towards the center of the hallway in weird fleshy mound. Downs. Dale pushed on, holding the light high, so it reflected off the roof and illuminated the two of us behind him.

Then we started our slow crawl through the dark again. We walked for what felt like ours through that hot and damp tunnel. Some parts were wider than others, allowing us to walk side by side, where others barely let us squeeze through. The path had started a steady ascent. I could feel it in my legs, like we were walking up a steep hill. I kept checking on both James and Dale as we continued on, making sure they didn't need to stop, but no one wanted to, not even me.

We were mostly silent. The only thing that could be heard was the occasional drip of something from the ceiling onto the fleshy floor below. Just when I thought we were never going to come upon a new chamber, something new happened. We had been following a particular winding part of the tunnel, twisting back and forth, creating these corners that were hard to see around. We came around one final corner before the path straightened out, and our eyes were hit with light. It wasn't a kind of artificial light from a flame or flashlight, but pure sunlight, beaming down

from a spot in the ceiling further down. James started to laugh from in front of me. I could hear the exasperation in his breath changed from defeat to joy as we saw the hole in the ceiling. He kind of bounced up and down on his feet, willing Dale to move faster, but the man was well old and slow. Then's then made a quick move. The walls around us were wide enough now, where he could squeeze by Dale, and that's exactly

what he did. In an instant, James had pushed past him and ran laughing like a maniac towards the beaming cone of heaven in front of us. Come on, guys! We've made it! Dale turned to me. Zippo still in his hand. He gave me a small smirk before turning back to James.

I could feel the heat in the tunnel getting less and less as we approached the opening in the roof, letting the cold winter air in. And if I could have made it so he was preserved in that moment forever, I would have. He basked in the light from the sky above, the cold breeze making his cheeks more red than they already were, and he was laughing, laughing and smiling again like the James that I had known. He turned back to us beaming, and that's when his face dropped from joy to terror again. What he saw when he looked at us was complete and utter disbelief and shock. He didn't realize what was directly behind him.

While James basked in the glow of the sunlight, something had appeared behind him. It was big, bigger than a normal person should ever be. It stood on two feet like a human, but this thing. The thing that I would later refer to as the emissary was as far from human as could be. It towered over James, which he may be nine or ten feet tall, having to hunch down in the cave so as to not drag its elongated, almost pill-shaped head against the ceiling. It was pale, too pale. like a cadaver that had been left in a lake for weeks on end.

There was a sickeningly gray, white color to its skin and tattered clothes hung on its thin frame. The limbs were too long for its body, its arms and legs extending far beyond what they should have, ending in huge, spindly hands and feet. The thing that was the most terrifying was the face. Upon its face were two dark, beady eyes that were too close together, piercing eyes that had a sort of gloss to them.

Then there was the mouth. The mouth was far too large for its face. It stretched over the surface, bending the shape of its head. It was filled with rows of pin-shaped teeth. In an instant, this monstrosity had pinned James to the ground. It wrapped one of its long hands around his legs and pulled. James plummeted to the ground, slamming his head against the ground below. Blood began to pour from his face as he twisted around,

trying to get on his back to face his attacker head on. Dale and I stood there motionless. The creature was covered in blood, fresh blood, still dripping from the rags at war, and it caked every part of its body, from its mouth to its hands. James screamed and tried to kick against the large frame of the emissary, as it put the other spider-like hand onto his chest and pushed down. James squirmed and pushed, trying everything with all his might to get free. That's when Dale moved towards the creature.

He leaned downward and pushed his pant legs up, revealing a pistol holstered to his ankle. James continued to scream as the creature crawled on top of him, its large mouth hovering inches away from James's face. I couldn't move. The fear was too much. It rooted me to the ground and made my blood run like ice through my veins. Dale walked slowly, aiming the pistol at the emissary's massive head. Buck your ears! He yelled over James' screams.

He pulled the trigger and the bullet flew from the pistol in an instant and embedded into the emissary's head. It shrieked in pain and stumbled backwards away from James' screams. for a second. He scrambled to get to his feet, feeling around his chest. There were a few large, dark splotches where the thing's hand had dug into his chest. James breathed the sigh of relief and began to hurry towards us. Dale volleed another shot into the head of the beast. It shrieked again, its mouth hung open. It swept his hands back and forth towards where Dale stood. James was running towards me when the pale hand wrapped around his leg again and pulled. James tumbled down in front of me, his eyes meeting mine before he was dragged backwards. The emissary's other hand shot out

and slammed Dale against the wall. James screamed again, being pulled closer and closer to the creature above him. He looked up at me one last time and uttered one word. Help. Then the emissary plunged its teeth into James's neck and tore a large chunk of flesh away. He began to sputter and bleed, and in an instant, the light in his eyes was gone. Another person gone. Another friend gone. In an instant, the large creature grabbed James's body, squeezing. The cracking of bones could be heard all around in the tunnel before disappearing backwards into darkness. The light above us began to fade. The pure sunlight that had been a false hope for James was swallowed up by a mound of flesh sealing us in darkness.

We were so close. Dale groaned on the floor next to me, in complete darkness now. The zippo had flown out of Dale's hand when he was slammed down by the thing, and now it was nowhere to be found. Dale? I cried. Where are you? A slow moan came from in front of me again. I got on my hands and knees, sweeping back and forth, hoping to find Dale or the Zippo.

My hands passed over the squishy and damp floor. Grasping for anything, the heat in the tunnel had increased since the hole above had closed. It was oppressively hot, and it made my head swim. It seemed even hotter than when we had first fallen in, which made no sense. We were close to the outside. It should be cooler. My hands finally passed over something that wasn't the wet ground. It was smooth and metallic.

The Zippo. My heart pounded in my chest. Thank God. Without this, we were screwed more than we already were. I wiped my hands off from the goo that stuck to them on my sweat-covered shirt and flicked the lighter. It blazed to life. The flickering flame illuminated the tunnel around me.

I could see Dale. He was laying on the ground a few feet from me. I crawled over to him, checking his breathing. He was still alive. Thank God, but he was hurt. His leg was bent in the wrong direction, and the bone was sticking through the skin, staining his pant leg in crimson liquid. I put my hand beneath his head and tried to prop him up against the mucusy wall of the tunnel.

He coughed and turned to look at me, his eyes barely opening. You have to go. I'm dead weight, Cal. I shook my head trying to keep his eyes trained on me. I'm not going to leave you, Dale, I said. I can't. I can't lose it. anyone else. He forced to smile. It quivered across his lips as he tried to hide the pain he was

in. He was always like this, trying to make everyone feel better, taking the hardest decisions, the hardest choices for himself to shield others. Grabbing my last cigarette from my pocket, Cal, I want one more moment of peace before I go. I didn't have the heart to disobey. I searched his pocket until I found the single cigarette at the bottom. It was crunched and bent, but I tried to straighten it out as best I could. I took the zippo and lit the end and handed it to him. He shakily put it in his mouth and inhaled. Didn't think this is where I would end up.

You go through so much, only for life to slap you down again and again. I just wish I could have seen Mary one last time. He inhaled again, then breathed out, pushing the smoke into the small hallway. Promise me one more thing, Cal. If you get out of here, you find me. Mary, tell her I'm not coming home. Tell her that I love her with all of my heart and give her this. He pressed to lock it into my hand.

It was damp and covered in his blood. It was open and the picture inside was of their wedding day. From down the hall there was a loud thudding, a thump, drag rhythm that got closer and closer. I could feel the vibrations through the walls like they were contracting each time the thing got closer. You have to go now. I'll hold it off as best I can, but you need to run. Get out of here, Cal. Prove we are better than the situations we are thrust into. He pushed me back. I heard the thumping of the emissary draw closer. In a second, I saw its gigantic figure emerge from the darkness

into the circle of light made by the flame. I was froze again until I heard Dale. Go now, Cal. I began to run, running back the way we came and from the direction behind me. I heard a gunshot, then another and another. The creature shrieked in pain as it had done before when the bullet hit it, but I didn't stop. I kept running, trying to keep the Zippo lit. The flame flickered as I ran but didn't go out. My only piece of salvation was that light. I ran through the twisting halls, smashing into corners I didn't remember, squeezing through new passages until all I could hear was the beating of my own heart. Soon I saw an opening and ran through it full force and into a new room I didn't recognize.

I stumbled into a large chamber, much bigger than the one we had found ourselves in earlier. The flame from the zippo was getting less and less with each passing second. It must be almost out of fuel. This chamber had no other exit from what I could see, but there was something that stood out. All of the flesh-covered ground converged and fell away in the middle of the room, revealing a large water-filled pool. The pool stretched backwards so far into the darkness, I couldn't tell how big it was.

I was parched, the heat sapping away any remaining water that was in my body. This room was by far the hottest yet, almost unbearable. The stench in here was of months old rotting flesh, the smell of decay and blood mixed in the hot air, creating a miasma of death. That's when I heard it again. The shriek of the emissary calling from the tunnel I'd just come out of. Dale tried his best, but whatever it was, was resilient. But he held it off long enough for me to make it here.

After a few moments, the loud thumping of the emissary's feet entered the room. I turned to face it, ready to accept my fate. There was no fighting this thing. There was no winning. There was no escape. Clea, James, and Dale taught me that. At this point, I could just let it take me, praying that it was going to be quick. I failed my team, led them into this hellscape.

I was supposed to protect them. I was supposed to get them out of here, but I couldn't even get myself out. I guess this was as fit of punishment as anything else for everything I've done. It entered the room, covered in fresh blood, still holding on to a chunk of flesh in one hand. I couldn't even look at it for long. I just wanted it to be over. It cocked its elongated head at me and then sat down. It was big enough where it took up the entire passage behind it.

Even if I was going to try to run past it, it would be no use. It began to chop down on the mound of flesh it had brought with it, not moving in. inch towards me, not paying me any attention. I should at least get a drink of water before I'm killed, I thought. I bent down and dipped the hand not holding the lighter into the water. The water was freezing cold, like a blizzard cold. It made no sense, but nothing in this cave made any sense, so I didn't question it. I cupped my hand and pulled the water up to my mouth and sipped. It was a single best drink of water I'd ever had. In an instant, I was down on all fours, sticking my whole face into the pool, trying to drink as much water as I could.

I gulped and gulped until my throat was numb from the cold, and my stomach couldn't handle anymore. I wanted so badly to slide into the pool, slide into the cold water, and let my body drift to the bottom. Something in my mind told me it was a bad idea. That's when a sudden pain pierced my head. It was like someone was shoving a scorching hot iron poker directly between my eyes and into the center of my brain. I doubled over in pain, screaming. My vision got fuzzy, and it was hard to focus. Then, it was something else.

An almost squeezing sensation around my head, and my thoughts were flooded with one sentence. I couldn't fight it for long. The pain in my head was too much before I fell to the ground. I felt the voice getting louder. No hard. I shut my eyes tight, trying with everything I could to push the voice out, but it was too loud. Getting louder and louder, the rage from everything that happened that day. The pain, the fear.

Everything flooded in. Then everything was silent. I slowly opened my eyes, but I wasn't in the chamber anymore. I was in a dark void. It was pitch black all around me, and I felt weightless, like I was in space. I wasn't alone, though. I felt something, like that feeling when you know someone is watching you. I felt a presence with me in the darkness.

It was content, happy in the dark. Then an instant there was a pinprick of light, a star. It emerged from nothing and flooded my eyes with its beautiful light. I felt a change in the presence. The peace that was there was replaced by a pure, unadulterated rage. A need for consumption and chaos. The light was surrounded on all sides by darkness. It tried to fight back with its brilliance, but it was too much,

and the light was snuffed out, never to be seen again. The presence returned to the feeling of peace, but it had changed. Something else was bubbling under the surface, like a hunger, that couldn't be satiated. It wanted more. Thousands of stars flooded my vision and the presence consumed them. It ate and ate, snuffing lights out one by one, until the light was too much and it had to flee. It found a rock to hide under, and this is where it slept for eons, waiting. The rage within it building, wanting chaos to ensue but not having the strength to do it itself. Whatever this thing was, it was old, older than the earth, older than the earth, older than the

the stars and it wanted to be free. My eyes became blurred and I was back in the chamber now. I could feel it, no longer floating in the stars, but kneeling in sinew and muscle tissue. My eyes began to clear and I was staring downward into the inky blackness of the pool. The piercing pain in the middle of my brain was subsiding, little by little. I turned my head to look behind me. The giant pale creature continued to eat its prey, paying me no attention. My eyes fell back on the pool again, and now there was something else. It wasn't just dark anymore. There was something moving under the water, something shifting.

In an instant, the rippling reflection of my face began to change. My features shifted in the water, and now I was looking at a scene from my past. I was in middle school. I had just opened the door after walking home from school, covered in sweat from the hot May Day. My father sat in the kitchen, beer bottles lay strut. He was strewn across the counter in the floor. He sat half awake, slouched on the kitchen floor, and when the door opened, he looked up at me. Then I could hear him again, clear as day in my mind, like it was happening for the first time again.

Where the hell have you been? He spat, struggling to get up, knocking bottles over that hit the floor with a deafening clink. You little cunt. Where were you? I had to walk home. I said, almost in a whisper. You forgot to pick me up again. What was that?

I did what? Speak up now. You forgot to pick me up, Dad? For everything I do for you. He yelled as he began to fumble with his belt. His gait was wobbling back and forth, and the stench of alcohol was almost too much to handle. Put food on the table, clothes on your back. And you can't even take a walk home.

Then the scene shifted, and I was on the ground moments later. My shirt was off, and the crack of the belt reverberated through. my brain. I could feel the pain again, the stinging, slashing pain of the belt cracking across my back, the blood running down. I could feel the rage within me. It bubbled and boiled. I wondered what I did to have a father like this, while others had ones that loved them. Mom left me with this monster, and no one cared, and I hated her for that. I hated him more than anything. I hated seeing him when I came home. I hated the bottles and the mess that I had to clean up. Most of all, I hated the beatings for no reason.

The scene shifted again, and now I was in high school. Some asshole had just taunted me in the hallway, said something about my mom, and I lost it. I felt the hunger, the need for pain, the need for someone else to feel the pain that I had felt, and pummeled that kid. I could feel each blow of my fists, the blood from his face coating my hands, my heart pounding in my chest, almost liking what I was doing. Then I was off of him, and Mr. Waller was pulling me away. Then the water shifted to just earlier. It was me shoving James down into the ground when he had let us down here. I felt the rush again, the rush of adrenaline when I had laid into James.

Then it was James on top of me, and I was feeling the same fear that was in me when dad was beating me back then. Finally, we shifted to something I wish I never had to see again. It was a few years back, right after high school. I told my dad I was going to be moving out. I was going to leave him. What the hell do you think you are, Cal? He yelled down from the hall. I was already packed, a bag in my hands.

I was rounding the corner towards the stairs. After everything we've been through, you're just gonna walk away? Yeah, Dad, I'm done. I yelled back, wheeling around to see him coming around the corner. He was seething. His hands were bald in fists. The veins and his bald head were bulging out. I'm done with you and all your shit!

He walked towards me and grabbed me by the collar, raising the other hand behind him. With a quick motion, his fist sailed into my face, making me see stars. I staggered backwards. I wiped the blood away from my nose and let my eyes clear for a moment. You are the most ungrateful piece of shit I ever met. I gave you everything. And this is how you repay me? You gave me nothing but constant fear. I said back. I stood up to my full height and grabbed his collar. Nothing you did made me a better man. Nothing you taught me helped me get by at all. All you did was beat me when you were drunk and blamed me for why mom left your ass.

You did all that to feel big. Well, I'll get you now, Dad. I punched him as hard as I could in the face, the first time ever in my life that I'd been able to fight back. It felt good, like being able to give him a fraction of what he had given me for years. I hit him again and again until blood ran from his nose. I pulled my fist back one more time and hit him again, releasing his collar. He stumbled, trying to balance when he fell backwards. I had knocked him out cold.

It felt great for a moment. Then I heard it. In an instant, his head hit the wall behind him, and he began to fall. Fall down the stairs that were to the side of our confrontation. In a heap of limbs and blood, he tumbled down the stairs before hitting the bottom with a loud thud. I rushed down the stairs, my heart pounding in my chest. My hand shaking from the adrenaline. He was face down.

There was a large gash in the back of his head, and blood was pooling around him. I rushed to his side, picking his head up and trying to wake him up, but nothing worked. After all these years, he was finally dead, and I was relieved. The reflection shifted one last time, and I could see down into the pool. It was filled with bodies floating up towards the top of the water. At first, they weren't anyone I recognized, countless people in different air as of clothing, all reaching up towards the top of the water with their mouths open in agony. Then I saw them.

First it was clear. She was badly beaten and covered in blood, but it was her. And then that voice returned. This is your fault. Then James rose from the depths, a large chunk of flesh missing from his neck and his chest was caved in, ribs piercing through his skin. They followed you. Dale was next.

He was missing an arm. Blood streamed from the empty hole where it was once attached. Half of his face was missing. The bottom of his jaw lay open. Muscle and skin hanging from the wound. His broken leg from before jutted to the side, the bone protruding from the skin. They trusted you. Finally, it was my dad.

A large dent caved in the side of his head. His face was still bloody from the blows I had given him, and he was covered head to toe in his own blood. The voice of the presence echoed around me. This is my. Your gift, you bring chaos and rage wherever you go. We can forge a new world together. Enter the pool and join me. We shall become one and spread our sickness.

I shook my head. I couldn't get the voice out. It got louder and louder, calling more and more. And for a moment, I wanted to accept it. I wanted to give in, wade into the pool, and let the cold water take me. Hopefully I would go quickly, and whatever this presence was, this entity wouldn't need me alive for its plan. Then I remembered what Dale had said.

Prove we are better than the situations we are thrust into. I was more than my rage, more than the trauma that was forced onto me. It didn't matter what had happened in the past, as long as I didn't repeat it. I wouldn't give into the pain and the anger. I couldn't give into the loss and grief. I wouldn't give in to this entity. I wouldn't give in to the hunger. I stood up fast.

The voices in my head were still pounding, urging me to wade into the water and join it. I pushed past it, flicking the zippo open and bringing the flame to life. I could feel the rage of the thing in my head. It hated the light more than anything else. It wanted it gone. The emissary stood as if commanded and began to lumber towards me. I had nowhere to go, no plan, no escape. At least I could go out fighting.

like Dale. I flicked my wrist and sent the lighter soaring through the air towards the creature. I watched its spin in slow motion, the flame wavering with each revolution. Then it hit the emissary square in the chest. The creature ignited immediately, the flames licking over its entire muck-covered body. It screamed and flailed its body back and forth. Its large hands scooped forward, trying to grab me in a desperate attempt. I almost felt bad for the thing. It was just doing what it was told. I couldn't dwell on that now, though. I looked around the room. The flaming body in front of me had drastically increased the light in the room.

Now the voice of the presence was just a whisper in the back of my mind. I could tune it out. With each step the emissary took, it dripped the flaming mucus onto the floor, spreading the fire more. The heat in the room was unbearable. I could feel the flames licking at my skin just inches away. Then I saw it. On the side of the pool, I saw a small passage.

It was my only chance. I booked it towards the passage, leaving the emissary to burn behind me. The last thing I felt from the entity in my mind was laughter before I broke free from the chamber. I clamored through the passage in pure darkness, scrambling upwards, clawing at flesh to propel myself forward. There was a light. I pushed harder and harder, faster and faster until I emerged from the ground like a zombie. The cold air took my breath away. I was outside, staring up at the barren trees above it.

me. I could hear voices around me. The light of the sun hurt my eyes, my eyes had adjusted to the hours of darkness below. I looked through the ruined cabin where it had all started and found Grady and several first responders standing at the edge of the hole. I raised my hand to the sky, desperate for them to pull me out of the ground. They grabbed me and pulled me out, and I collapsed onto the floor and everything faded to black. The weeks following were blur. I was in a hospital for what I remember, hooked up to IVs and machines. I could hear the cold, calculating beep of the heart monitor going off in my lucid moments. The others were spent in a suspended hell within my mind, replaying the scenes

from within the cave again and again, seeing the gore, the terror, and the loss as I lay in the hospital bed. My mind kept bringing me back to the pool, that feeling of weightlessness as I drifted through the darkened abyss, the brilliance of the stars being born and the terror of them being snuffed out just as quick. That thing, whatever it was, it was still connected to me, whispering its dark thoughts, beckoning me to it, to slip into its cool grasp, to drift among the stars and become more than what I could ever imagine. I wanted to go back too. I wanted to crawl right back into that hole and find my way back, but I couldn't. I couldn't give in to the thing that had destroyed everything around me. I woke up a few days later.

There were so many people to talk to, doctors, police officers, Grady, Mr. Waller, and the families of my friends. They all wanted to know what had happened down there. I told them the truth. I told them the exact same thing I'm saying here. No one believed me. I was sent from mental hospital to mental hospital. They would tell me variations on the same thing. Your mind fractured when your team died.

You have survivors' guilt, and your mind made up this story of monsters and moving walls to cope with their death. They died in a freak sinkhole accident while you were on the job. You lost something back in the hole. I knew I wasn't crazy. I had the scars to prove what had happened down there. I told everyone the same thing. I told everyone the truth, but eventually after years of mental facilities and therapy, even I started to doubt myself.

Was there really a living, breathing cave underneath the forest? Did I make everything up down there? What if I was the one responsible for their deaths and not that monster? But I knew in the back of my mind that it was real. I could still feel the cold grasp of that presence in my mind. It wanted me. For so long, it wanted me to come back. It needed me more than anything else in this town.

Eventually, I stopped talking about it. Everyone knew the story. They started calling me the crawler, making jokes when I walked past, but they didn't have to see the faces of those they lost when they woke up. I saw them everywhere. In the grocery store, there was James waiting to cash me out, walking past the playground. Clara was sitting on a bench, watching her kids play. Dale sat on the other side of the bar as I got drunker and drunker each night.

I never forgot their faces. It's been almost fifty years since then, and I can still see them perfectly. I can tell you I tried to live the best life I could afterwards. I never went back to work for Grady, bounced from job to job, trying to find something that would make me feel anything anymore. I stopped going to the therapy sessions. They told me the same old shit. Move past it, acknowledge it happened, and tried to live my life.

I never lived the life my mother would have wanted for me. I never settled down with a nice woman and had a family. I lived in a shitty apartment all my life, trying to keep something deep within me at bay, but I can't do it anymore. I can't keep fighting the urge. It calls me, and the calls are getting louder and loud. The want to feel like I did when I was in that pool is too much to bear. I know I'm near the end now.

I can only walk a few feet without having to stop to catch my breath and everything hurts so damn much. I can hear them as I get closer. James, Clia, Dale. They are beckoning me to join them, begging me to come back. So as I stared down beneath the pulled-up boards of the old cabin, I can only say one thing. I can't resist knowing if what I experienced was real or not. I can't resist the constant thrall in the back of my mind.

I can't resist the hunger anymore.