"Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity." – Sean O'Casey
"This place is absolutely gorgeous!" I exclaimed. I spread my arms out to bask in the rays of the sun and the breeze that rushed past me. The long tendrils of grass over the great big hill swayed in time with the wind, tickling my ankles. Gosh, Ireland was so beautiful!
"Ugh, there aren't any hotels or buildings here," complained Sophie, my traveling companion. Ironic that she was the one with full Irish blood pumping in her veins and she despised her own homeland, while I was an American mutt who was practically gulping in as much of Ireland as I could. Still, I knew in time that Sophie would warm up to this place. I only needed a little more time.
"Look, Sophie, how much grass there is here! There is absolutely no cement here whatsoever. This is nothing like America," I said as the two of us trekked up a hill.
"Yeah, I can't wait to go back to air conditioned buildings, cement roads, and music that doesn't involve people dancing without moving their arms," drawled Sophie. She complained, "Oh, this is too hard. Let's go back, Bree. My legs are tired."
"We have only been walking for thirty minutes."
"That's, like, half an hour!"
"Sophie!" I warned.
"Fine," Sophie whined. We continued our small hike up a grassy hill dotted with a few misshapen rocks. The place had a solemn air to it, so Sophie and I stayed quiet. The wind blew by mournfully, blowing down the green grass. As we reached the top, a large sign came into view.
"What does it say?" I asked Sophie. The words were in the native language. Only Sophie could translate for me, since the previous times I had tried asking the people here, they would have these incredibly thick accents that just confused me even more on where the heck I was.
"Mmm, it means, 'Warning: Do not enter any farther into this area. Danger zone. Area recently excavated. Failure to comply will lead to arrest and incarceration.' Jeez, what is up with that?" Sophie squinted her eyes and looked a little more. "Whoa."
"What?" I asked.
"The sign is from the BPRD! You know, that secret government group that keeps all these supernatural freaks?"
"Sophie, don't call them that. You don't know any of them personally, so why in the world would you come to such a conclusion?" I told her. Sophie shrugged. Ever since the discovery of this red person called Hellboy, people have been acting skittish around each other. The discovery of the BPRD led to the full coming out of all their members. Abe Sapien, Elizabeth Sherman, Johann Krauss, and Hellboy, were the most well known names.
Unfortunately, this has led to nothing but trouble. Now almost every person jumps at the sight of anyone in society who is considered "abnormal". For example, just last week, a fifteen year old boy was beaten in an alley, simply because he had piercings all over his face. Heck, I was getting the same treatment. I was forced to move out of my apartment and room with Sophie, because my once sweet grandmotherly neighbor suddenly turned on me with a knife and threatened to eradicate another "demon child".
Luckily, the news must have reached Ireland slowly. Everyone here was kind and helpful, except for a handful that were just by nature mean. I was able to relax and be myself. I didn't even have to dye my pink hair back to brown.
Still, Sophie and I were here for only a few more days. After our vacation, we would go back to America. Neither of us were looking forward to it.
"Great, just great. I guess we will have to go back to the old trail. Are you up for that?" I asked Sophie. With a great sigh, she nodded and turned around.
"Next time, Breeanna," Sophie started, "we go to-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the earth underneath Sophie's feet opened up. Sophie sank like a rock into the large hole, screaming all the way down. I launched myself at the hole, my hand stretched out for Sophie. Her screams echoed down until I heard a large splash of water.
"SOPHIE! SOPHIE!" I yelled. Not realizing the risk I was putting myself in, I placed my feet over the hole's edge, then pushed myself in. I screamed as well, feeling nothing but cold air and seeing gray rock walls. My arms and legs flailed wildly like spaghetti as I descended deeper and deeper. Finally, just as I thought I was about to pass out, my body made impact with cold water.
Bubbles flew around my face. My pink hair washed around me like a bright halo. For a second, I saw Sophie's light blond hair wrap around my fingertips before the water drove it away. The air in my lungs was forced out from my drop into the water, so with as much as strength that I could muster, I kicked my legs and swam towards the surface.
My head soon broke the surface of the freezing cold river I was in. A few feet away from me was Sophie, awake and crying for help. We swam towards each other and clasped our hands together.
"Bree! I don't know what happened! The ground was there, and then I was falling-"
"Find something to pull up on! We can't stay in this water for too long!" I yelled over the water that was clogging my hearing. Sophie and I paddled together towards a small boulder dry enough for us to climb on and reach a strip of dry land. We lay together on the dry ground, gasping and coughing out river water.
"Holy cow. We're alive," Sophie said. Her blond hair was plastered to her heart shaped face and pulled out of its two neat buns. Her clothes as well as mine were soaked thoroughly. The both of us were not feeling excited for having just narrowly escaped death.
"You're dang right we are alive. The BPRD should have given us a bigger sign that said, 'Warning: Huge holes are imminent. Thank you for understanding.' I hate Ireland," I growled.
"What happened to the beautiful grass and loving rays of the sun?" Sophie joked. I laughed along with her as we got back wobbily to our feet.
"At least in America there isn't humongous holes in the ground that drop into a freezing cold river," I remarked. "Are you okay, Sophie? Any broken bones?"
"Just a lot of cuts and bruises," Sophie answered, wincing afterwards. "What do we do? We cannot stay here."
"Um, then I guess we follow the end of this river, find a way out from there," I suggested to my friend. Sophie nodded and adjusted her backpack. She pointed the way, and together we walked beside the river, clambering over rocks, eagerly skipping over small puddles, and helping each other cross over small rocks that led us to the other side.
It went like this for an hour. Sophie and I were both scared. We never did anything like this. The closest thing we ever did that was this dangerous was watching the Grudge – we stayed up late in the same bed with all the lights on. Scaredy cats.
"Bree, look. There's something above the river," Sophie said to me all of a sudden.
"What is that? Is that a bridge?" I guessed. Sophie and I came closer, and my guess was right. It was an old wooden bridge that arched up in the middle. Hanging off on the little rails were these red tassels. On one side of the bridge was this large decorative banner. On it was this strange symbol; a tree with its branches spreading out.
"Somebody lives here!" I exclaimed. "Come on, Sophie! Let's hurry up!"
"Are you sure?" Sophie asked, looking worried. "I mean, who would live here of all places?"
"True," I agreed. "Still, it is worth a try."
We carefully placed out feet onto the bridge and stepped forward. The wood underneath creaked, but that was all. Sophie and I rushed across the bridge and reached the other side in seconds. We chuckled at each other like idiots and continued our way down the river.
The river suddenly ended. Sophie and I looked at each other, confused. The river just dropped into a golden wheel barrow and disappeared. The golden wheel barrow spinned continuously, causing other small gears of gold to turn, twirl, and circle simultaneously.
"These look like pieces of a clock," Sophie said.
"There are stairs on the side, Sophie. Should we go up there?" I suggested. Sophie bit her lower lip, thinking it over for a few moments. She responded afterwards by hopping on the first stair step and then stepping up over and over the rest of the way up. I followed after her, my banged up knees protesting earnestly.
Sophie reached the top first. She let out a loud shout, and I flew over the rest of the steps. I grabbed her arm and pulled her to my side.
"What's wrong, Sophie? Are you okay?" I said, looking her up and down. Sophie whirled me around, yelling, "Look, Bree!"
I blinked in shock at the sight before me. It seemed to be an open army room, golden gears grinding and gnashing together. To my left was this turning group of gears that were dead still. The floor was pristine and seemed to be made out of tile, except for the crushed mass sitting in the middle of the room.
"Sophie, what is that?"
"I don't know. You go check. It looks creepy," Sophie told me with a shiver. "I'll go up to the top. There seems to be something there too. Maybe I can find an exit."
"That's a good idea." Sophie left me and zipped towards the clock-like stairs. I carefully scooched myself over to the crumbles of rock at the center. Slowly, I bent my battered knees to the floor and carefully picked up a piece of rock.
At first, it looked like nothing; simply rock with unrevealing features. Then, I squinted my eyes and began to see two closed eyes. Afterwards, a long nose. Finally, a mouth, ears, and hair! I looked around to see the other pieces of rock, and could see shattered remains of arms, legs, fingers, toes, and a torso. There was a strange weapon splintered and broken in half.
"Sophie, Sophie!" I called out. "Come here! I found something! Or someone!"
"No, you come here!" Sophie yelled. "I found this rock statue of some girl!"
"What? I found a body too. Well, a body in pieces, but still."
"Who made these statues, Bree?" Sophie asked, looking down at me from above, poking at the girl statue's face. I lifted up the head of the broken body of rock before me and looked at it again. The face looked sad, sorrowful. It seemed as if the statue before me was once a real person, who could feel joy, suffering, life, and death.
What had happened here? Who in the world would create this strange room underground? Who would make these two statues? And why was one of them destroyed. I wanted to know. Sophie wanted to know.
"I wish we could know what happened here," I said.
" . . . I want to know too," Sophie said.
Our questions were soon answered.
The rocks clattered ominously then. One piece, a hand, suddenly flew across my face and connected with a split wrist, which quickly attached itself to a lower arm. With a yelp I scooted back, watching as pieces of the broken body connected and rejoined together. A foot jabbed me on the thigh and broke, but soon reconnected itself together and joined an ankle and knee.
"Sophie?" I yelled.
The repairing of the body continued, until the head that was still in my hands flew out of them and glued itself back onto the neck. Sophie screamed something along the lines of "WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME IS GOING ON? OH MY GOSH IT'S A BODY!"
"Sophie! Stop yelling!" I snapped.
"I so should have videotaped that with my cell phone," Sophie chattered on. "We could have fired it up on Youtube and gotten, like, a ton of hits!"
"Oh, gosh," I muttered, not believing what my friend was saying.
After getting over what just happened, I stood up and circled the rock statue. Sophie got up from her sitting position and stared at the newly reformed statue. I brushed my fingers over the rock shoulder. Crumbs of rock crumpled away and fell to the ground.
The statue was in a kneeling position, mid way of falling face flat. The hands were palm forward and slightly spread apart from the sides. The head was tipped up, the hair brushed back. It looked as if the statue had just faced its final moments, seemingly grasping for their last moments of life.
I looked closer and realized that the statue was actually a man. He seemed human, except that he wore clothes nowhere near of modern times, or any others. He seemed suited up for war, and I realized that the once broken weapon I remembered from before was in fact a real spear now lying at the statue's right side.
"Don't touch it!" Sophie warned when I was about to pick up the spear.
"Relax, Sophie. I am not going to run around with it and poke my eye out," I told her. I then picked up the weapon, twirling it once, before a pale hand pulled out of nowhere and grabbed my wrist. I almost screamed to death from that. Only because I saw the pale hand coming from the statue did I hold my scream long enough to see the statue of the man come to life.
The hand still held me in a tight grip. Slowly, the rock crumbled away, and an arm of flesh came to. More of the rock crumpled away, revealing a shoulder, neck, and chin. Sophie was now going bonkers; talking about statues coming to life, when the statue's other side came to life. The rest of the lower body crumbled away and brought forth legs and feet covered in rich clothing. Finally, the head shook itself vigorously, and I finally could clearly see the white face of a man.
The person inhaled, and life breathed into him. I heard a loud thud, and I looked up to see that the statue up top that Sophie discovered had fallen back on the ground hard. Sophie went towards the now living girl and tried to shake her awake. I went back to the man in front of me, and saw him open his bright gold eyes before his head slumped forward and the rest of his body fell to the floor.
"Oh, shoot," I squeaked. I picked up the poor guy and rolled him over to his back.
"Bree, this girl is breathing. She's been inured though," Sophie called out.
"All right, just use what you learned from medical school," I said. Sophie, who studying to be a doctor back home, understood and began to use her training on the young girl. I placed two of my fingers against the man's neck, immediately finding a strong pulse.
"Hey, are you awake? Hello? Are you all right?" I said loudly. The man did not respond. He breathed in and out raspily. It was a bad idea to just leave him there, so I shoved the spear between my belt and pants, then pulled the man on top of me and stood up. The best way to get us all out was by dragging them.
"Oh, crud, this guy is heavy," I groaned as I started to walk with his arms wrapped around my neck, his feet trailing behind. "Sophie, are there any exits at all here?"
"There might be one behind me," Sophie answered, "but we should try to use our phones to call for help."
"No, I tried that along the way here. Our phones are totally ruined from the river. We . . . We will just have to carry them out here by ourselves. Can you leave the girl long enough to look if that is an exit behind you?" I said, stumbling over to the clock steps. Everything in this area was still, not moving like the rest of the gears of gold.
"Her wound is healing remarkably fast. I'll be right back," Sophie replied, and she left through the door behind her to take a look. She came out seconds later, a big smile over her face.
"I smell the grass and hear sheep! Hurry, Bree. I will take the girl with me," Sophie said, and without another word, she picked up the girl by the armpits and proceeded with carrying her limp form away. The girl's long light hair covered her face as Sophie took her away. When I could not see Sophie or the girl anymore, I stared remorsefully at the steps I had to take.
The man was becoming heavier with each second, so I decided to get it over with before it became impossible. It was not easy, let me tell you. The man was not a light load to carry for starters, and I had a pointy weapon digging into my side each time I took a step up. Still, I was able to get up to the top, heaving the poor guy with what little strength I had left.
I lost grip of my hands for a second, and the man slipped off from my back. He collapsed to the floor, his forehead smashing onto the floor pretty hard. The noise sounded like, "SMACK!" Oh, shoot.
"Oh, come on!" I muttered under my breath, stomping my tired feet. As I picked the guy up from underneath his armpits I grumbled angrily to myself in a high pitched voice, "Let's go to Ireland, Breeanna. No one is going to bother us there. Ooh, we fell into a hole in the middle of nowhere. Ah, what are we going to do? I know, let's carry a bunch of statues that came to life and carry them off! Oh, and then we can go back to our phone companies and explain to them that we need new phones because they fell in the river with us!"
As I dragged the unconscious man with me to the exit, smelling grass and hearing the monotone bleating of sheep, I exclaimed, "I hate Ireland!"
While my "friend" was enjoying being carried off by me, I wondered what Sophie and I were going to do. We didn't have a lot of money on us, and we only had a few more days until we had to return to America. We couldn't afford to get the two help from a hospital, nor would we be able to take them home with us. Our chances of being Good Samaritans were running slim.
The exit was not as difficult, thank goodness. I only needed to carry the limp person with me for a few more minutes in a torch lit hallway. Sunlight hit my face, and I soon walked out of the hallway with the unconscious man in tow. Sophie was a few feet ahead, placing the still girl on a flat piece of rock that jutted out of a field of grazing ground for sheep.
I joined Sophie and threw my heavy luggage next to the girl. I then crawled up on the large rock, hoping to just curl up like an exterminated cockroach and lay there for the next year. Sophie, however, nudged my shoulder and forced me to sit up.
"This is unbelievable," Sophie exclaimed to me. "This sort of stuff is not supposed to happen, Bree. Statues coming to life, an underground room. This defies all logic."
"Life defies all logic, Sophie," I told her. "Now what are we going to do? Great, we saved a bunch of stone heads. How are we going to be able to return to our hotel? Actually, how will we get past the lobby without people noticing that we are dragging two knocked out people?"
"I don't know," Sophie confessed, "but we can't leave them out here. The girl needs medical attention. The guy you carried might need it too. . . . We're going to have to carry them all the way back, Bree."
"That's great, just great! I cannot wait to tell everyone back home what happened on my trip to Ireland. Not only did I eat fine Irish delicacies, meet and greet the people, and go walking on lovely Irish land, I also got to carry with me a guy for five miles!"
"Bree, stop it! They need our help. Besides, if we are lucky, we can hitch a ride back. Our original trail had tons of people coming and going," Sophie explained. I rolled my eyes, still not liking this.
"Fine! But next time, do not fall into a hole!" I snapped. I took the guy with me and began my long trek back home with him. Sophie hefted the girl onto her back and walked after me. The fluffy sheep scattered and bleated at us goodbye as we worked our way out of their field.
It was official.
My life totally sucked.
Sophie's too, but still.