Somehow I wasn't able to submit any docs yesterday so that's why I didn't post anything, not that I do that on certain days but whatever :p. That's why there's not 1 but 2 chapters today. Enjoy
34. So many questions
Valley of the unknown is what they call it, it's a mystery. Nobody can explain what happened or how it happened. How is it possible that there's a whole city worth of people made of stone, standing in lines next to each other. Who made these statues, who put them there and who are these people. Every statue has its own characteristics, there are thousands of them. it's difficult to say, they all stand in long caves underground, so there's no way of really knowing where the end is. Some archaeologists spend their lives researching this, one of them is Chloe Beale. Fresh out of college she needed to find a job and teams for big never ending projects like this one always need new people to carry on the research, so that's how she got a job here. Everything was great, she travelled to south America, where the valley is. Chloe's job was to simply count the statues and make some sort of map of the intricate cave system, which sounds much easier than it is. Often she would find herself alone in a new cave, alone with almost 5000 stone statues, that can be creepy. After a while Chloe started to notice a pattern in the shape and size of the rooms, they got smaller and smaller, with less statues in them. In the first cave there were people dressed as bakers, farmers and simple people but as the rooms continued the people looked dressed for higher, more well payed or more respected jobs. Chloe spend years down in those caves, exploring every single room that was discovered and discovering more, until she found the last room. It's really dark, after lighting some torches in the room Chloe looks around for a bit. There's only one statue here, it looks really out of place. It's a woman, she's small, her jeans are ripped, her flannel is wrinkled. The room looks like a teenagers room, there's a bed, a desk, some books. And a piano. The same questions as Chloe askes herself a thousand times already shoot through her mind. Who made this? Who are these people? Has she gotten closer to the answers in the years she spend working here? No, but she did enjoy herself? Yes, and that's what matters. Maybe when she finishes the last part of the map she's making, she'll be allowed to really start studying the actual statues. It's only a hope, their leader's a dick. Chloe sits down next to a torch and start drawing the rooms she found that day in her notebook, it can't have been longer than 15 minutes when she hears a voice
"what are you drawing?" it asks, Chloe jumps up and looks around for the source of the voice, no one's there except for the statue. That's what her gaze lands on, "hi" it sounds again. Then it must be the woman but how is that even possible, no this is not happening, Chloe decides.
"fine, ignore me" the thing huffs, Chloe's head shoots up again and she stares at the statue. In shock, twice she heard it speak. Fresh air, that's what she needs. Chloe gets up and heads out, finding her way to the closest exit and letting the fresh air hit her face. She plans to never go to that exact room again but she wants to find out more, she wants to know whether she's truly going crazy or the statue was actually talking. If it's the second, is it also capable of moving, of telling Chloe what the hell is going on here. Great, now there are even more questions.
So Chloe goes back, she holds conversations with the statue and some stuff, like her name. The woman is named Beca, at one point Chloe convinces her to move. It sounds like the stone is breaking, every single piece of it falling onto the ground and it scares Chloe to no end but when all the stone is gone there's a woman standing in the statue's place. Beca shakes her hair and Chloe is mesmerised, Beca's skin still looks perfect, she looks better than perfection. Chloe manages to snap herself out of it before being caught, and she walks over to Beca. Who looks scared, not of Chloe but something around her.
"listen Chloe we don't have long, I turn back to stone after exactly 10 minutes and then I need to be in the exact same spot as I just was. It takes a lot of energy to fight this curse, most of us out there have given up, I did too, before you decided I was worth your time."
"so it's a curse" Chloe is making mental notes of everything the short brunette says
"yeah, we all got cursed. No idea how or why but we did and we can only stay alive when we get at least a 100 miles away from this cave, if we stone before that we stay stone forever" Beca gets back in her spot, smiles at Chloe one last time "it was nice to meet you Chloe, until next time" and she puts her neutral face on and freezes. Beca is stone again.
Chloe spends weeks thinking about ways to get Beca out of there. The old questions are long forgotten and the only thing that matters now is Beca, seeing her once only made Chloe hungry for more. She wants to touch the other woman, talk endlessly to her, show her where she grew up make her meet the family. In other words, she's falling hard for this woman but there's that one problem, the curse. How can she get Beca out without turning her to stone forever? Who is Beca and where did she come from? How did she get there? Why is she alone in that room, in what way is she special?
For Chloe this place is no longer the Valley of the Unknown, now it's the place Beca is stuck and Chloe will do whatever's in her power to set her free. Beca won't talk to her anymore but Chloe figures that she needs to build up on energy, which is fine but Chloe thinks she might've found a solution and she needs to hear Beca's opinion on it. Months, Chloe waits for months, doing her job in the valley, going back to Beca at least once a week, but nothing. Chloe knows she might be very wrong but she wants to get Beca away from that place, so she goes there one night and wraps the statue up in blankets and towels. When all is wrapped and hidden she slowly but surely drags the statue outside and to one of the jeeps, she loads it and damn that's heavy. How she did it is a mystery but she did it so let's not bitch about it. Chloe takes off with Beca and keeps driving until she reaches the big city, there she goes to a motel and brings the statue inside. They're now about 300 miles from the valley so they should be good. After unwrapping Beca and putting her standing next to the door, she lays down on the bed and falls asleep, today has been a long day.
When she wakes up the next day she feels a body pressed against her back, she finds a sleeping Beca behind her. The first question is answered, but that doesn't really matter right now. Beca opens her eyes and smiles when she sees Chloe looking at her
"hi" she yawns "thank you"
Chloe smiles her brightest smile back, she's happy "hi yourself, I'm glad you're back" it's silent for a while, then Beca clears her throat
"I don't know what year, month or day it is but I want to take you out on a date if that's still something that you do when you like someone" she chuckles at her own ridiculousness "if you'll let me"
Chloe smiles a warm and gentle smile "I'd love to" but "I do have some question though, is it okay if I ask them?"
"yeah of course"
"alright, I'm gonna just drop them all and you answer how you want. How did you get cursed? Who are you and why were you the only one who was in a room alone?"
Beca chuckles again "well, Hi, I'm Beca Mai Mitchell. I'm 24 years old, last that I checked. I was born and raised in Maine and went to college in Atlanta, I majored in Music theory and business. After I graduated I decided to go on a vacation and I came here, all was great for weeks and I got talking to some guy in some bar, he kept buying me drinks and the next thing I know is waking up in that cave. What I remember from our conversations is that he was saving the world by making sure the human race survived, by locking us up in that cave. That man must've died but we were still there and since I was not only alone in my room but also at the very end of the cave means that he had me as the leader. The people outside my room were guards and military people and down the next door were scientists and doctors. It was all in ranks but I don't know why he chose me as their leader, maybe he saw something in me that nobody has ever seen. That's all I know"
Chloe slowly nods, taking in all the information that she just got, the smile comes back "well Becs, I see something special in you too, otherwise I wouldn't have dragged you all the way over here. So how about that date?"