Recently she had developed a mild case of claustrophobia after her brother had pushed her head first into a deep snow bank and sat on top of her back.
It wasn't too bad, she could handle the cave, unless she had to get down and crawl. The little animals that would scurry around in there made her shiver. Bats in her hair and rats under her feet.
She knew the cave was probably blocked by a door and the animals weren't likely to be in there, but what if their was some maniac living in there. A hobo! She gave a look of disgust. Not her ideal environment.
There was a tour guide in this cave. Too bad he looked as dingy as a slutty school girl, trying to pick up a guy. She didn't really want to be alone with anyone like that.
As they began to walk towards the cave, she'd noticed a man with blonde hair speed walking about the group, moving towards her side of the group. She'd hear a "Move it" or "Watch out kid." Ever-so-often. Someone took hold of her shoulder and she went cold. "RRYUUUJII!" The person behind her was the blonde haired man. She fell to the ground from shock, holding her head.
"Geez, you're a wussy." She looked up at his glowing orbs of green color out of his shadow. The fringe of his hair was clinging around his face like it normally had, since the last time they'd seen each other. Last May.
"Haven't seen ya' in a while, Justin!" She stood up, swung an arm around his neck and gave him a quick hug. She'd liked him since the 6th grade, he'd sit across from her and kick at her foot or steal her pencil, what normal pre-teens did to get attention from a girl.
She'd tried asking him out several times, he lived in another town and it was hard though. Lovilla. A small mine town that closed many years before they were born. A nothing, sleaze town that people had forgotten. He'd come to Albia since the school had closed in Lovilla in first grade; though she didn't notice him.
"Hey, get off." He playfully shoved her arm off his shoulder as he blushed. Usually she was quiet around people, but around him, she opened up and had a personality!
"You gonna go on the tour too?" She asked nudging a shoe into the bare of grass ground.
"Yeah, sounds horribly boring. We were just getting gas here, but my sister saw this place and we just had to go. Atleast, I'll be with someone I know instead of just my stupid family." He said giving a small smile.
"This will pay off for not going to the Haunted House with me, yeah."
He'd completely forgotten about that. They were gonna go on Halloween in their costumes, but he backed out. Maybe it was because he'd not liked her at the time, or maybe he just wanted to piss her off. He'd forgotten the reason really, it must not have been too important.
"Fine. Too bad we don't have our Halloween costumes though. We could scare people off their nut!" They both let out a chuckle, like they usually did at school, just talking.
"Alright, listen up everybody. We're going to enter the cave, grab your lantern and follow behind me, do not go off the trails. These caves go for miles and miles under Missouri and some are yet to be explored and may endanger you if you get off track. Please just follow the rest of the group." Shouted the tour guide, Marvin.
"Heh, we should run off just to spook 'em! Sounds fun doesn't it, Ryuji?" He asked, her not paying attention.
"Hey, Ryuji, listen to when I'm talking to you!"
Ryuji was turned around watching into the cave, she wasn't worried about cave. After all, she had Justin to be there with her. Her attention wavered hearing Justin yelling at her, probably wasn't important, so why listen. She remembered all those books where someone would disappear in the cave and be eaten by some cannibal. Psh, like that would happen.
As Marvin started walking into the cave, several of the groups followed, wobbling and trying not to fall in just the entrance.
Inside of the cave, it was cool, around 50 degrees and her teeth chattered. A hand flew forwards behind her out of the darkness, she knew it was Justin and didn't worry.
"Hey, what's wrong? You ignored me back there." He asked with concern in his voice. "Sorry, I was just daydreaming, I didn't mean to ignore you, Justin." She felt her self go cold inside as she took a breathe of the cold air, she shivered. It wasn't as she remembered the last trip. The air in here was fridge and acute, like it was attacking her lungs. She let out a cough and Justin patted her back.
"Sure you're okay?" He asked a little concerned. "Yep, just fine." She gave a little thumbs up as the tour continued.
As the tour guide rambled on about some event that happened there, she walked over to the red ropes. There was several feet of water, probably an underground stream from the Mississippi River or something, not like she really gave a damn. She read the sign, it was tethered to the red fake velvet rope. "Stream of the Damned." She snorted. "I'm loving the name." She was very sarcastic with her dry humor towards everyone, except Justin. "What' cha looking at, Ryuji?" A male asked behind her, it wasn't Justin. She swiftly came around with a kick, he blocked. "Sorry to scare you. Name's Edo." She turned to look, the rest of the group was gone, disappeared into the black abyss. 'Where'd they go?' Her heart began fiercely pounding in her chest, trying to escape into the chilled air. He walked swiftly over to the sign and held it up to his face. "Stream of the Damned? Where'd the 'River of the Damned' go?" His eyes glistened in the lantern's light, like that of a deer's before it were to cross the road at night. Was that even possible in a human?
"H-How did you know my name?" She started backing off a bit. "The boy you were with, the stupid loud blonde kept yelling your name, correct?" She gave a slight nod, he just smirked. "You were the only one who actually paid attention to this. Wanna take a tour?" He asked, soft tone in his voice. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you. Just think of me as a better guide. That air-head at the beginning couldn't get you to the best places in this cave. He held out his pale white hand. Maybe he was Albino, his hair seemed to be white, she couldn't tell what color his eyes were though. She loosely took his hand, trembling. "Okay, that's a good start." He pulled her down, down into the 40 degree water, she jumped. "Holy-" He had put a hand over her mouth. It was very clammy and she didn't like the feel. "You gotta be quiet, yeah. You'll wake up the bats and they'll get'cha." Her face's pigment dropped, or what was left of it. "I was just kidding, don't worry, I wouldn't let the bats get you." Grimly, the two walked into the water until it was up to her neck. She fiercely tried to breathe, but her neck was closing, she had to get above the water. He noticed her dilemma and plucked her body above the surface of the icy water.
Once on shore to the other side, he quickly shuffled to the right side of the cave. She walked over and saw below a river. Probably the Mississippi again, or maybe this 'River of the Damned'. "Get away from the edge, if you fell in there, you wouldn't come back.. Ever. It's very deep and flowing, not the greatest thing to fall into off a cliff"
She stiffed up, she watched her footing with the lantern's light, trying to keep as far away as humanly possible without climbing on the wall. "Hurry up, you aren't gonna fall, just rush across and you won't even be able to tell you're by a 240 foot drop." She took his advice and ran quickly across the narrow passage way.
"See, you did it and didn't even die!" He gave a small clap as she gave off a death glare. Why the hell was she following this man again anyway, what purpose did this serve, sure she's gonna get to see a part for the cave many people have and never will ever see, but this guy was kind of strange. He lacked fear, not sarcasm as she could see.
The two quickly walked into the next room, trying to see what was around them. He walked off to the left and disappeared into the dark. 'Man, why are all these people leaving me?' She asked herself, wondering where Justin had went as well. What if she never saw him again? What if this man raped her here and murdered her, no one would find her. This could be some little sick trap that I'm walking into. He walked into the room again carrying something that looked like a femur, which turned out to be a stick. Her heart still raced, paranoid at every movement he'd make, he could kill her in seconds, make her disappear forever, never being able to know if anyone would really truly love her. Never.