Little League
Captain—Adventure
WC: 1,526
The worst thing about summer was undoubtedly the heat. It was hot, blisteringly hot, and Katie Bell could not stand it. She hadn't seen rain in days. Everything was just so dry.
She and Oliver, her boyfriend, had flown out to California for a few days to vacation before they both had to begin touring for their respective Quidditch teams. As the tour started with a reception in Palm Springs, they had decided to spend a week in Los Angeles to see the sights.
But now they had seen sights, and both of them were too exhausted from the heat to want to do anything.
"Kates," Oliver groaned, prodding her with his foot from his spot on the hardwood floor. He had been lying shirtless against the cool floor of their hotel room, but now he sat up, grabbing his shirt as he went.
"Kates. Katie. Katherine. Bel—"
"Merlin, Ollie, what?!" she snapped, rolling over onto her stomach. "What the bloody hell do you want?"
"Katie, I want to go on an adventure. Let's do something."
"No, I'm too tired."
Oliver sighed and reached up to grab her foot. "Come on, Kates. You know it would be fun!"
"No—ah! Oliver! Stop tickling my foot!"
"Not until you agree to adventure with me!"
"NO! AH! NO!"
"Pleeeease!"
With a yank, Katie finally pulled her foot away, sitting up angrily and huffing at her grinning boyfriend. "Fine. One adventure. But let's go somewhere cold."
Oliver nodded. "On it. We'll ask the concierge right now!"
"Hello, miss, how may I help you?"
The concierge smiled brilliantly at the freshened couple, her white teeth flashing in the light. Katie smiled half-heartedly at the over-enthusiastic teenager.
"Right, well, uh, my boyfriend and I want to go on an adventure," she said, at Oliver's nudge.
"Somewhere cold," he added, and Katie nodded.
"Yes, somewhere cold. With few crowds. Oh, and not too far!" she added.
The girl's face clouded over with concentration for a second, then brightened again. "Oh, I know just the place! Here!" She pulled out one of those small magic boxes—Katie remembered that they were Eye-Phones? She had no clue why there were called such things, as they looked nothing like eyes, but they were quite useful.
"Here it is..." the girl said, pulling up a photo. "Hitler's Tunnel. '...a mile long tunnel running under a graveyard...' that'll be nice and cool, since it's underground! And it's so much fun! Make sure you bring a flashlight, though, because it's really dark. Also, watch out for druggies."
Katie and Oliver hid their confusion behind another smile as the girl wrote down directions for them, passing across the paper and a small flashlight when she was done.
"There. You should be good to go! I wouldn't wear anything fancy, though—it is an underground tunnel! It's kinda dirty!"
Oliver took the paper, ignoring the skeptical look on Katie's face. "Thank you, uh..."
"Melody! I'm happy to help anytime!"
"Right." He grabbed Katie's hand and began to walk away. "Thanks, Melody!"
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Katie asked as they stood outside the entrance to the tunnel. Graffiti covered the walls; words and drawings were packed so tightly that one could hardly even see the original concrete. Katie noticed the word 'revenge' scrawled in black paint near the opening, and she suddenly shivered in the warm sun.
Oliver swallowed, visibly nervous, but then gripped the flashlight tighter, flicking it on as he stared into the darkness of the tunnel. "I'm sure. This'll be fun! Right? Right."
He grabbed Katie's hand, and dragged her after him into the beckoning dark.
Inside, it was cooler than they thought it would be, but it was still warm. It was almost... pleasant. Katie kept her hand locked around Oliver's as they walked into the tunnel side by side. He hunched over a bit, his 6'4" height much too tall for even this huge hole, but Katie was comfortable as they walked further in, flashlight shining. Their eyes scanned the walls, reading graffiti. "JFC + HMW," read one. "Can anyone hear you whisper?" read another. "I'm sick of drawing dicks," said a third.
Everywhere they looked there was some new image, new word, new color to discover. The graffiti was beautiful in its own ugly way. Katie took it all in with wide eyes, stumbling over the paint cans and rocks in the tunnel because she wasn't watching the ground, but she didn't even care.
"This is so cool, isn't it?" Oliver said, his hand relaxing in hers as they both calmed down. "It's amazing how the muggles can make so much from nothing without using magic." His words echoed throughout the tunnel, reverberating with a lively hum. Even the sounds in here were beautiful.
"Hey, Oliver, shine the light here on—" Katie started, staring at something written on the wall. She could make out the words "kill me yet?", but then, with a small sizzling sound, the flashlight blinked out, leaving them in inky blackness.
Oliver yelled in shock, pulling Katie closer to him and wrapping his arms around her in a protective manner. "What in Merlin's—Katie, where's the light?" She could feel him shake the flashlight in his hand, making all sorts of racket, but with a touch of her hand he had stilled.
"Shh... Ollie, I think I hear something," she whispered, and they both fell silent as they listened hard in the dark.
Thump thump.
"Is that..."
Drip. Drip. Drip.
"There's water up ahead. But..."
Phap. Phap. Phap.
"Oliver, those are footsteps. There's someone coming," Katie breathed in his ear, almost soundlessly. Slowly, Oliver pressed her against the wall behind him and drew his wand. Katie drew hers as well, both of them staring into the dark, hoping to have the element of surprise if someone was on their way to attack.
Laughter reverberated through the tunnel; the person—or people—were getting closer.
Katie's heart pounded harder as she gripped Oliver's hand, squeezing her eyes shut in fear.
I can't die I can't die I can't die I can't
"Hey! It says 'Further down the rabbit hole! That's so cool!" a girl's voice sounded through the darkness. Katie breathed a sigh of relief; it sounded like other explorers, not a murderer.
"Awesome! Lead the way to Wonderland, White Rabbit!" a boy responded, and suddenly the tunnel was growing lighter as the light of their flashlight rounded the bend.
"Hey!"
"AHHH!" the two newcomers screamed, jumping back. "Holy shit, don't scare someone like that!" the girl said crossly, staring at Katie and Oliver. "Man, we're in a tunnel named after the Führer, you think we could cut back on the gotcha's?"
Katie glanced at Oliver in confusion. These Americans spoke oddly, but they did have a flashlight and they seemed harmless. She surreptitiously snuck her wand into her back pocket, then stepped forward.
"Hey, I'm Katie, and this is Oliver. Our flashlight burned out, and we weren't sure who was coming down the tunnel, so we stayed silent. But since you've got a flashlight, mind if we travel with you for a bit?"
The girl perked up. "Oh, yea, sure! I'm Grace, this is Jack. Tag along! We'll lead the way!" she said, and they quickly pulled in front.
Breathing a sigh of relief that they weren't dead or kidnapped, Katie grabbed Oliver's hand and followed the two teenagers. They would finish this adventure.
"Here's your ice cream, miss," the waitress said as Katie and Oliver slumped in a booth in the ice cream parlor. After walking all the way to the end of the tunnel to find it flooded and barred, they had hiked all the way back with the two chattering teens. The kids had insisted on snapping pics with them for their "Instant Graham", whatever that was, and at this point, the two wizards were exhausted from their adventure.
"Oliver, please don't ever make me do something like that again," Katie moaned around a mouthful of chocolate.
Her boyfriend grinned. "Come on, it must've been a little fun. You seemed to enjoy getting to hold onto me in the tunnel," he said slyly, and she kicked him under the table, smiling despite herself.
"Maybe that was a bit enjoyable," she amended. She froze as Oliver reached over, wiping a bit of chocolate off the corner of her mouth and leaving his hand there.
"Hey, just for the record... I want every adventure to be with you," he whispered, then leaned in closer and kissed her gently.
Katie smiled at the hint of coffee ice cream on his lips.
"I want every adventure to be with you, too," she breathed against his lips, and then dove headfirst into the kiss, ready to start a new adventure.
AN: Hey everyone! So, this is based on a semi-real story. Hitler's Tunnel is, in fact, a real place. It's a mile long tunnel that runs under a cemetery, and my friends and I decided to kick off this summer with a little adventure through it. So we went hiking in it the other day, with flashlights and a first aid kit and a baseball bat, though, because we'd been told there were dead animals and druggies in there.
There weren't.
However, when I remembered that I still had to write this fic, I thought it would be cool to have Katie and Oliver go through the tunnel and get creeped out on their little adventure. So the details about the place—like the examples of graffiti—are all real. The broken flashlight and the creepy sounds are not based on my adventure. Though I did meet some random kids in there that we ended up hiking with—they were cool. So yea, fun adventure, fun story.
Also, if anyone finds themselves in california and googles this place to figure out where it is... there's a geocache inside. If you're into that, it's on the right hand side of the tunnel. If you're not... it's on the left.
Hope you all enjoy!
-Mel