"Like a waterfall, my tears dropped to the floor, the floor"
Lena
Lena woke to the sounds of a woman screaming bloody murder. She quickly got up completely startled. Then she realizes it was June that was screaming.
"June!" Lena calls, trying to shake the woman awake.
June's began to open, groaning slightly. Lena thinks that she doesn't realize that she was sleep talking.
"June?"
"Hm?"
"Dr. Moone. Dr. Moone," Came Manuel's urgent voice. "Are you alright? You were shouting. You sounded in terrible pain."
"I was?" June asks, groggily, still trying to wake her brain up.
Lena nods. "Yeah. Scared me shitless."
"Did you see the mountain Gods?" Luis asks. "Were they trying to warn you to stay away? We did try to tell you. These mountains are for believers only."
Lena looks back to Luis, seeing the intensity in his eyes. "Luis, I'm sure it was just a nightmare. Not a sigh from the Gods." She looks back at June, who was getting out of her sleeping bag.
"It was a dream." June admits. "Same one as always-and no, Luis, I didn't see any gods or demons. Just that strange woman."
A dream? Same one? Lena thought. June never told me about her dreams.
They drove through as much of the jungle as they could, then walked the rest of the way, reaching the mountain within seven hours.
The cave entrance was an hour away. It was plainly visible, almost glowing under the intense sun. There was no way they could have missed it. June pulls the Rover to a stop and checks her watch.
"Six hours to spare. This might be a good day after all."
"This better be worth it." Lena says, wiping a sheet of sweat from her forehead. She notices that the blazing sun was making her light brown skin darker.
"Don't worry Lena. It will be fine." June assures her. She looks back to Manuel and Luis who lead them to the mouth of the cave. "Please. Come with us."
"We will walk with you two through the outer tunnel, but when we reach the cave of the teeth we must leave you to your own fortunes." Luis explains. "But we do so praying for your safe return."
Lena bites on her lower lip. "That's sort of comforting."
"We assure you that we will be waiting for you and Dr. Moone's return." Manuel says. "We been with Dr. Moone for years and never let her down."
Expect for this. Lena thought.
"I know better than to argue with you Luis." June told him. "and we thank you for all your help."
"That's easy for us to do, Dr. Moone. You showed great courage coming here to comfort your nightmares. Few would, or could have."
"Considering my dreams, I don't think there was anything else I could do." June admits.
"We want to remind you, Doctor," Manuel began. "the teeth of the cave look fierce, but they are not. They exist to lead man to truths we cannot see on our own. But on your journey, should you continue past them, you will be beyond their power to protect."
"Like I said, I don't have much of a choice."
The outer limestone tunnel was a natural jewel box, a brightly glowing rainbow of colors caught in the moving beams of their helmet lights.
They crouched to crawl under a curtain of low-hanging limestone soda straws, then wiggled through an obstacle course of stalagmite and stalactite columns that had slowly grown, then finally merged over the past million years or more.
The tunnel opened to a small cavern, tall enough, nevertheless, to let them stand. They stretched, ignored the loud sound of cracking bones, and shone their lights on the far wall.
As one, they let out a gasp.
The cave of teeth, staggering in their immensity, filled the cavern, as if waiting for the four of them to step between the yard-long fangs so the jaws could snap shut and grind their bones to dust.
Lena feels as if her insides were twisting into painful knots. Maybe Luis and Manuel was right. Maybe the Gods were trying to warn them. "Jesus…"
"Jesus has nothing to do with this place…" Luis mutters.
"We must leave you two now," Manuel said, his voice barely a whisper but still echoes through the tunnels. "Or better, come back with us." He suggested.
June gave him a warm hug. "We can't. I can't. I can't live with those dreams, and sure as hell don't want to die because of them."
"But they are just dreams. I have not known you to fear phantoms."
"Yet they feel like so much more, and I have to find out why." June explains. "I know it's irrational, but I feel a compulsion that's both unavoidable and inescapable."
"Then be careful, Dr. Moone."
"Hey, like you said-just a dream. All goes well, we'll see you in a few hours."
Luis nodded and returned her smile. "We will be waiting. And we will pray for you, June Moone. Lena Roth."
"So when were you planning on tell me about the real reason you dragged me here?" Lena questions, as she and June were forced to crawl a few hundred feet into a new, larger chamber.
"I was going to." June said defensively. "I just didn't know how to explain it. Especially to you."
"June. We have been friends for years." Lena tells her. "You could've told me. I would have listen. When did these dreams start happening."
June sighs. "I don't know…around the time Floyd-" She stops.
Lena grimaces. "Oh..."
"I were so worried and stressed out and I didn't want to burden you with more problems." June admits.
"You told them that it was the same dream…about a woman…" Lena thinks a bit to remember her own dream from last night.
"I'm at this temple. It's huge and beautiful." June explains. "There are servants surrounding me and chanting in another language."
Lena got this uneasy feeling. Their dreams were dangerously similar.
"Latin or Aztec." Lena questions.
"I think so why…"
"And the woman? Was her reflection yours? Long black hair braided? Dark eyes?" Lena was urgent now.
June looks at her friend with a shock expression. "You dreamt about her too?"
"Last night?" Lena shook her head. "No this is ridiculous. That dream was just a coincidence…you don't believe in those types of things…hell I don't."
"Maybe it is a strange coincidence..."
"Maybe."