Italics are thoughts

"What is going on sis?"I whispered frantically. "Walls and mirrors don't just up and disappear. And the nearest cave system is several states away!"

"I have no idea, Alan," Len whispered quietly as she gently ran her hands over the stone walls. "But what ever happened happened. We will just have to deal with it."

I carefully slid down the wall until I was sitting on the stone floor. The thought that we might find out what the horrible noises that lured us into this place were no longer seemed exciting. Now I just wanted to wake up and find out that this was all a dream. I knew that wouldn't happen though so slowly, ever so slowly I opened my eyes and watched the glimmering lights that were dancing through the hallway that we were in. I had a feeling that Len was correct when she called the lights the wind. "Len, do you think that these are what the doctors call lights?"

"No, I don't think that these are lights. At least not the kind of light they were talking about. Did you notice that you can only see something when the lights run into it?" Len murmured as she knelt down to inspect something on the wall. "Alan, come here. Look at the wall it looks like it has streaks of something through it. It is….. shiny? Yes, I think shiny is the word for it."

Standing, I quickly made my way over to Len and crouched down to see. "You're probably right, Len. I wonder if whoever lives here mines this stuff. It might be something like silver or gold." Standing up, I looked around at the hallway to see if I could find something that might give us a hint as to where we are.

The wind was coming from our left so I walked to the right with the wind showing me everything in my path. Several times when I stopped listening to the wind I misjudged the distance and tripped or ran into something. After about ten minutes, the hallway opened up into a huge cave. The path stopped about five feet out and the echoes said that the drop was something we wouldn't survive. Listening carefully to the wind, I noticed that the screeching that had drawn us here was louder that before so I quickly turned around and headed back the way I came.

"Len I think we should head left. I could hear whatever was making that noise when I went down the hall to the right."I whispered. Now that we were in a strange place the feeling of safety that I had always felt when we played find the noise was gone. The cold air running through the hallway had not stopped and it definitely wasn't giving us any sense of comfort. I kept feeling the need to find a small place a hide.

"Yes, yes we should go. We do not know what is making that noise. Alan is there some way to mark this spot? If there is a way back from here then I do not want to lose it." Len said as she finally managed to look away from the walls and the "shiny" streaks in it.

"I am sorry Len, but I have nothing with me except several books and my IPod." I admitted a bit sheepishly. Looking at how unprepared we were was a bit embarrassing. Granted, we didn't expect to end up where ever we were, but still. Len was dressed in her nightgown and did not have anything to protect her feet against the cold stone floor. I was dressed in my night cloths as well—a tee-shirt and sweat pants with my book bag slung over my shoulder. Idly I wondered which books I had with me. Though I highly doubted that any of them would help us, they might help pass the time.

"Alan! Pay attention. You almost walked into a wall." Len hissed quietly before continuing down the hallway. I quickly jogged to catch up, wincing at how loud the sound of my footsteps was in the dark. Hopefully none of those things would hear me and come investigating. I really didn't want to run for my life in a creepy underground mine. I hoped that we would find an exit soon, this place was creeping me out.

Unfortunately, it seems like we landed on the path that never ends. Hell I was tempted to start singing the song that never ends because it seemed like the only one long enough. Thankfully for our sanity, we ended up in a crossing. The hallways on either side of us were full of rooms rather like the hotels our parents talked about.

Curious as to what they would be like, we quickly crept inside one and looked around, listening carefully to make sure we didn't miss anything. It was a very plain room with a bed against the far wall, a table with a lamp and some papers on it, a dresser at the foot of the bed, and a rack with several axes and picks on the wall. Eager to sit down on something soft for a change, we hurried over to the bed a plopped down.

"Len, don't you find it strange that there are axes on the rack? Don't they only use picks in mines?" I asked as I watched the lights drifting down the hall.

Quickly sitting up, Len studied the room and finally said, "Yes, it is a bit strange. There usually aren't rooms like these in mines either. And the room itself is …off somehow. Can you tell what it is?"

Quickly joining Len in the realm of the upright, I looked around and began noticing details that I had passed over during my initial inspection of the room. "You're right." I murmured quietly. "It looks like whoever was in here was in a hurry to get out. The covers on the bed look like they were thrown on the floor. The drawers on the dresser are open and there are cloths hanging out of a few of them. The rack is a little crooked and there are some empty spots on it, and the door was wide open. Everything else is perfectly neat and straight." Slipping off the bed I wondered into the next room to see if it was the same. "Len," I called softly. "This one is the same. The bed, the drawers, and the rack are messy and everything else is neat and clean." Walking to the next one I peeked in and felt my eyes narrow at what I saw. "Len, this one is the same except the table next to the bed is knocked over and the lamp is scattered all over the floor. Don't come in I'm going to clean it up, O.K?" I waited until I heard Len's soft voice drift over to me with an affirmative. Gingerly tiptoeing between the shards of clay, I set the table to right and began carefully gathering the shards and setting them on the table. As soon as I was finished, I hurried back to Len cradling a single shard in my hands.

"Len, feel this." I said as I gently set it in her hands. Carefully she turned it around until she felt what had caught my attention. "Blood?" Len asked confused.

"That's not what worries me. Rub it." I said.

"It's still a little wet." Len murmured with dawning horror.