Is Story-Tober a thing? Like InkTober? Because I saw a post with the prompts and immediately sat down and wrote a short story based off of it. So maybe I’ll keep going and do one a day?
“It’s so quiet in here, I wasn’t expecting that.”
My voice echoed in the cavern, bouncing around the large space. It was eerie.
“How do you not expect it to be quiet in an underground cave, Maribella?” my cousin Franco asked, not trying to hide his sarcasm.
I shrugged, knowing he couldn’t see me.
“Guess I thought the stories would be true,” I answered casually, letting him wonder what I meant.
We continued into the cave, carefully picking our way across the loose rocks and shallow pools of what I hoped was water. He stayed silent just long enough for me to think he wouldn’t rise to my bait.
But then, from behind me, “What stories?”
He tried to sound skeptical but I could hear the curiosity lurking not far below the surface.
“You haven’t heard the stories about this place? I thought everyone knew about them.”
He sighed and I knew I had him.
“Years ago, before you were born, there was an accident here,” I began.
My eyes had adjusted a bit so I could start to make out the shape of the cave. It was truly huge. The sides were wet and mossy. I wondered how far it went into the mountain, knowing we wouldn’t be going that far. This was just a scouting adventure, getting the lay of the land.
Franco had grown quiet next to me. He was interested but, as only a teenager could, he was acting indifferent.
I waited just long enough for him to finally ask, “What kind of accident?”
“A bad one,” I answered. “There was a girl, not much younger than you. She was known in the area for being an adventurous sort, always going off to look for new experiences. No one knew where she came from or why she came here, just that she liked to explore.”
“What was she looking for here?” Franco asked, completely giving up the pretense of not caring.
“No one knows,” I said, pointing my light at a deeper puddle. “Watch out there.”
Franco and I stepped around the puddle.
“So, what was the accident?” Franco asked. “Did she die in here?”
I shook my head, “No, but it was still bad.”
I turned toward him slowly. “She disappeared in here for three days. After it was discovered she hadn’t come out, a whole bunch of people came in, to find her. But there was no sign of her. Not even footprints.”
Franco was less confident when he next spoke. “Just how big is this cave? How could she be lost for that long?”
“That’s the weird part,” I said. “The people searched everywhere and never found anything. Then, on the third day, as they were just about to give up, they heard a noise.”
“What noise?” Franco asked, letting the first glimmer of fear into his voice.
“It was just a faint humming at first, but it grew as they walked further into the cave. And then there was the light.”
I lifted my light, illuminating the walls around us. They were closer now, indicating we were nearing the rear of the cave, which surprised me. How long had we been in here?
”What light, Maribella?” Franco asked again. I’d gotten distracted and he wasn’t happy about it.
“There was a glow that accompanied the humming, like pulsing to the same rhythm. It was like ‘mmhmm, mmhmm.’ The people followed both deeper and deeper until finally, they saw the girl.”
Franco exhaled loudly. “So she was okay?” he asked.
“I mean, she was almost starving and pretty dehydrated, but she was alive,” I answered.
The pools of water had dried up back here, I noticed. And there wasn’t any moss on the walls anymore. In fact, the walls looked so dry they had cracks in them.
“When they approached the girl, the humming grew louder and the people were concerned. Was it her humming? They didn't think so, she looked unconscious.”
“What was humming?” Franco was now holding onto my arm, walking close by. It now seemed more like we were walking through a tunnel than a cave.
“They didn’t know until they got right up next to her. She was laying on the floor, using something as sort of a pillow. When one of the men bent to pick her up, the humming stopped. They lifted her and then things got really weird.”
Franco surprised me then.
“Can you just tell me what happened?” he barked, showing his frustration but also more fear than he probably intended.
I thought I’d been stringing him along perfectly, but evidently he was tired of it.
“Okay, fine,” I said. By then we were walking single file and I could feel both sides of the tunnel at my shoulders. We’d come further than I’d intended.
“She remained unconscious but a voice was suddenly heard loud and clear throughout the cave. The people were so startled they started running out of the cave, carrying the girl.”
Franco sighed. “And now you want me to ask what the voice said.”
“What did the voice say, Maribella?”
“What?” Franco’s voice went back to skeptical quickly.
“That’s what the people heard, ‘backpack, backpack, ' repeated over and over. They didn’t understand it, but it frightened them enough to keep running until they got back to the entrance of the cave. They got the girl medical help and she recovered, but she never spoke again.”
We’d reached the back of the cave, suddenly. The walls were cracked everywhere and the ceiling was inches from my head. Franco was hunched over behind me, his extra inches causing him problems.
I turned around, “Time to go back,” I told him. “Your turn to lead.”
He turned but didn’t move.
“Franco?” I asked. “You going to go?”
His eyes were large as he turned back to me. “Do you hear that?”
I couldn’t hear anything. “Not funny,” I said, poking his side. “Let’s go, there’s nothing else to see here.”
He looked serious and asked, “You really can’t hear that? He sounds like…humming.”
I leaned as far to the side as I could, struggling to hear what he heard.
Nothing, and then, faintly, I heard it.
“Umm, can we just go now?” I tried to get my fear under control so as not to frighten him, but a cold shudder ran through me.
He nodded and finally started walking. The humming got louder.
“It’s just the wind,” I answered. There hadn’t been wind before but I was trying to convince myself differently.
“Can you see the light?” he asked, switching off his own light. Mine was still on, but I could still see a faint glow from in front of us.
“What do we do, Maribella?” Franco and I had grown up together but I suddenly felt all of my two extra years. I was the grown up here.
“Let me pass you,” I told him, scooting up against the wall. “I’ll go first.”
He didn’t put up a fight.
“It’s louder,” he whispered.
“I know,” I said. “Just keep going straight ahead quickly. It should open up here soon.”
Just when I said it, I could feel the walls separating around us, and I breathed a little easier.
“See, we’re basically to the main part of the cave now.” I glanced over my shoulder, expecting Franco to be right behind me. But he wasn’t.
“I’m here,” he said. I raised my light and saw him kneeling a little ways behind me. He was staring intently at a crack in the wall, low to the ground.
“The humming is coming from here,” he said. “It’s weak but I can feel it.”
I bent down next to him, and he indicated I should turn my light off.
The glow emanating from the crack was bright enough to illuminate both of our faces. And it was clearly pulsing to the same rhythm as the humming.
And then, faintly, ‘Backpack, backpack.’
Franco pulled a small pocket knife out of his pocket and began using it to dig into the crack, clearing out the loose pebbles and dirt.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Is that a good idea?”
Franco didn’t answer, he kept digging until the crack was wide enough for him to reach in.
“Maybe,” I hesitated. “Maybe we shouldn’t see what’s in there?”
“We have to, Maribella, I think it needs our help.”
Franco had been a very sensitive kid when he was younger, I suddenly recalled. He’s always wanted to help injured animals.
He shifted over, giving me space to peer into the crack.
“I can’t see anything, just the light. But there’s something in there for sure.”
My fingers suddenly made contact with something and I recoiled.
“What?” Fracnco asked, concerned. “Did it bite you?”
I inspected my fingers, seeing no sign of a bite or scratch. I shook my head. “No, just scared me.”
I reached back in, prepared this time. When I felt the rough texture, I didn’t recoil. I pinched my fingers together, hoping to snag whatever it was. “Got it.”
It was bigger than I expected. The crack wasn’t wide enough to pull it out, I realized.
“Can you make this wider?” I asked.
Franco nodded and began scraping the sides.
The wall fell away quickly since it was so dry. In no time, I was able to pull my hand out, and was shocked by what I was holding onto.
Franco and I made eye contact as we tried to understand what we had found.
The backpack meanwhile, pulled itself out of my hands, stretched somehow, and sighed.
“Backpack, backpack,” it said, quite clearly. “I'm the backpack loaded up with things and knickknacks too. Anything that you might need, I’ve got inside for you.”
We took it with us, obviously, but it never spoke again.
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