Chapter 9: Vibrations

Trip had no idea what he had just experienced. He was trying to calm himself down with breathing techniques, but he couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of that feeling. It was terrifying. It felt like a sharp talon scratching his spine. Trip calmed his mind and tried to think about it logically, he assumed that the vibration and the terrifying feeling had something in common.

‘Could there be a terrifying monster living down there?’ Trip thought. That seemed to make the most sense. Trip was confused, ‘Why would the monster not attack us then?’ he thought. He knew that it would do him no good to investigate, so he went on with the day as he would have normally.

Throughout the day and the day after Trip had an itch. A dangerous itch. An itch that was telling him to go investigate the feeling. He didn’t know why, but he felt strangely drawn to the lake again. He certainly didn’t want to feel so vulnerable and afraid again, but he wanted to know, nay he HAD to know what that feeling was. It was almost an obsession, Trip thought of it constantly. He knew how dangerous it would be, but he had to know what was down there in that lake.

Alex had noticed Trip’s actions. While at the moment everyone might see Alex as a blubbering idiot normally he was very intelligent and calculating. The only reason he started acting that way was because he believed he was to compete with Trip over a girl. However Alex noticed that not only was Trip not even slightly interested in Eleonore he seemed to be troubled over something. Alex loved Trip like a brother and he was incredibly troubled seeing Trip acting like this.

The night of the third day in the camp Trip decided to take action. After everyone was asleep he snuck off. He had to be incredibly careful, because the teachers were constantly on the lookout for students trying to sneak off during the night. Trip was in great physical condition and he had payed attention to the basic patterns for where the teachers would walk and at what time.

Unknown to Trip was that he was being followed. The follower was naturally Alex. He was incredibly worried about Trip and even more unsettled seeing Trip in this state. Trip was breathing heavily and his eyes looked terrifying as he snuck through the camp. Eventually Trip arrived at the lake. Alex looked at Trip as he started to create a bubble in the water; Trip then went inside the bubble. This was so he could breathe underwater.

Just as Trip was about to submerge in the water Alex whispered “Trip.”

Trip turned around and looked at Alex and then said “Alex what are you doing here? Go back to your tent.”

This made Alex angry. He always followed Trip and there was never any problem with it, but now there suddenly is. Alex angrily grabbed Trip’s arm and said “Wherever you go I go!”

Trip calmly explained what happened to him and how dangerous it would be to go down there, hoping that he would scare Alex off.

Alex certainly got scared, but then he manned up and said “Trip! What did I just say? Just because it is terrifying isn’t going to scare me. We go together, ok?”

Trip was touched by Alex’s words and then smiled and said “Ok!”

The pair went into the bubble, and started to slowly descend to the bottom of the lake. They both couldn’t see anything, but Trip guided the bubble by following where the vibrations were coming from. Eventually they reached the place in front of the tunnel. Even Alex could feel the vibrations here. Trip was clearly terrified as the pair made their way into the tunnel. Trip was surprised that he had not felt the terrifying feeling yet, so he just kept moving forward.

The tunnel had a terrifyingly steep downwards angle. The pair just kept going deeper and deeper. Trip’s eyes had a strong determination in them; he was going to find the answers to all the questions he had. For several long minutes they continued to descend until they reached what appeared to be the bottom. Surprisingly the water stopped here, it was quite strange, and it was as if the water was being held back by some sort of magic.

The moment Trip and Alex stepped onto the rock they felt a strange pulse. It was like a heartbeat, but much slower. They moved forward for what seemed for hours. It seemed never ending, but the jagged edges of the walls were actually getting closer together, causing the pair to have to squeeze forward through slight discomfort. Eventually they had reached a point where they could no longer move forward.

Trip was very annoyed and screamed “WHY DOES IT END HERE!” There was something special here, he knew it, but why was it that he found nothing but a dead end.

Seemingly responding to Trip’s loud shout a rumbling was heard far ahead, Trip was shocked by how far away the rumbling was. This meant that the cave would keep going on for very long. Trip was suddenly revived as he shot a water vortex against the rocks in front of him, but it didn’t do much. He punched the wall, but he only hurt his hand.

Angrily he screamed again “WHY IS IT THAT YOU LET ME COME SO FAR, ONLY TO BE STOPPED BY A THIN WALL OF ROCK!”

Alex suddenly had a bad feeling, he wanted to tell Trip to stop screaming, but he was afraid that Trip would attack him if he said anything.

The rumbling started again, louder than ever, you could hear rocks crashing against each other. The tunnel around Trip and Alex started to break apart as well. The wall cracked and Trip managed to break through. The two ran forward in hope of finding a safe place so they could avoid the heavy downfall of rocks. They kept running, unaware of where they were going, until suddenly the tunnel opened up into a large room, unfortunately the rooms floor was at a lower elevation than the ground of the tunnel, causing the boys to fall heavily on the ground.

A while later Trip opened his eyes and saw Alex still unconscious. He looked around and was surprised that he could see, before when Trip and Alex where in the tunnel the area was completely dark, but now a massive room was illuminated by strange glowing blue flowers. Trip checked to see if Alex was ok and then he started to investigate the room.

Trip’s head hurt a lot, but he didn’t mind he was just ecstatic that there was something here. There were a couple of oddities in the room. The pulse was completely gone, and the air in the room felt incredibly heavy. Trip went and touched one of the blue flowers and felt a slight shock when he touched it. It didn’t hurt, but it felt really weird. Trip felt his subconscious telling him not to touch it again, but he merely saw this as a challenge. He grabbed the flower and pulled it out of the ground.

The shock Trip experienced was a lot stronger than the last time, but it actually cured his headache and he felt some of his bruises and wounds slowly closing. He was shocked and immediately put some in Alex’s hands in an attempt to wake him up quicker.

It ended up working as Alex slowly woke back up and saw Trip. After chatting and admiring the scenery a bit they started to realise the situation they were in. The tunnel they used to enter was now completely shut off, and it did not seem there were any more exits in the room, other than a massive opening which had a slightly sinister feeling to it.

Realising they had no other choice, the pair went through the massive opening and were amazed at what they found. They saw light, which looked exactly like sunlight. There was a massive garden which was incredibly beautiful. It looked perfectly tended to and there were many trees and shrubbery which were stunning. Just behind the garden was a massive castle-like-manor. It was made from stone bricks and was just generally massive.

In the middle of the garden sat a man, if you could describe it as a man. He looked like one, but he had such a strange feeling around him, he seemed more like a beast than a man.

Trip looked at the man and saw his face clearly. The man seemed to be around middle aged with brown hair and a long beard. He had a big build, but at the same time he seemed rather scholarly. The man didn’t move an inch the entire time Trip inspected him. Alex was just standing there staring at the man, too afraid to come close. Trip felt fear as well, but they had made it so far that they might as well investigate everything to the fullest.

Trip walked slightly closer to the man until he was only 5 metres away facing the man directly. A chilling feeling suddenly took over Trip’s body and a terrifying fear filled him. This was much worse than before and Trip was physically unable to move as he stood petrified. The man still had his eyes closed as he stood up. He walked directly over to Trip and then the man’s eyes opened, not like a man’s, but like a lizard.

His pupils looked directly into Trip’s as he licked his lips and said in an icy voice “Hello little man, welcome to my home.”