The Cave

One Entrance

One Exit

Four People

And IT

“I didn’t mean to kill her!” I shout.

“The blood on your hands say otherwise," it says.

“Please help me, I don’t want anything bad to happen to the others," I cry.

“Are you sure, didn’t you enjoy it?” it asks curiously.

“No, who would enjoy killing someone that they love!” I yell.

I wait for it to say something but surprisingly it doesn’t say anything; It just stares at me.

A few minutes pass, and it’s starting to freak me out.

“What is it? Why are you so quiet?”

It ignores my questions and stands up; It starts walking towards me, smirking.

“S-stay back or else.”

“Or else what, you kill your little girlfriend and regret it even though you knew what you were doing. You ignored her pleas and cries for help and mercilessly killed her. You then ask for my help and now you threaten me. You humans truly are despicable," It says.

It's right in front of me now, holding my cheeks and forcing me to gaze into its soulless eyes.

"Your wish has now been heard; there will be no going back," It says.

"What are you talking about; I didn't make a wish."

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“Why are shouting Alexander?”

I looked to my side; I couldn’t believe my eyes. Kiyoe was right in front of me, alive!

I hugged her and began to cry.

“What in the world is wrong? First, you start shouting, and now you are crying. What am I going to do with you?”

I ignore her comment and take in her scent and warmth.

“Anyway, the weather has gotten a lot worse, and right now it doesn’t seem like we are going to be going home anytime soon.”

“Hey lovebirds, the explorers are back!”

Slowly I lift my gaze back up to see Camilla and London coming back with big grins on their faces. That’s weird, London doesn’t smile often; they must have found something good.

“It turns out that I was right, it was way warmer at the back of the cave,” Camilla proudly says.

I smile, but it soon fades.

“Come on, let’s go there before we freeze to death,” Kiyoe says giggling.

‘I would prefer it if you froze to death rather than me killing you,’ I thought, but I just kept quiet whilst tightening my grip on her waist.

“Alexander let’s go, I’m starting to freeze,” Camilla moans.

“Alex, get yourself together, we either leave you here and go by ourselves or you can come with us,” London spits.

“Don’t be so mean London, he’s probably scared or cold. Leave him alone!” Kiyoe shouts.

London glares at me. She has always been like that ever since I ‘stole’ her sister from her. Now she hates me and is always talking about how one day I will stab her in the back.

If only she knew that she was telling the truth.

“It’s ok Kiyoe, she’s right. Let’s go but promise that you will walk behind me, all of you,” I shakily say.

“What do you think we are, babies? Camilla and I already checked the area and it’s safe! Just because we are women doesn’t mean that we can’t defend ourselves, you prick!” London spits.

“London, that’s enough! What if there is something that you missed or don’t know about? Sure, we can defend ourselves, but Alex knows way more about all these things than we do!” Kiyoe shouts.

“You guys, stop arguing and let’s just go. It’s getting really cold now,” Camilla states and for once I am grateful for her speaking.

We go on our way to the back of the cave with Camilla guiding me and so far, so good.

“Hey Alex, can we rest for a bit? My legs are killing me,” Camilla whined.

“Mine too, let’s sit down; this looks like a good place to rest and it’s warm here. Let’s stay here till the weather calms down,” Kiyoe says calmly.

Sighing, I sit down knowing that I can’t argue with her.

A lot of time has passed, and I am staying on guard just in case someone comes whilst the others are sleeping. “Maybe we might all be able to get out of this cave alive,” I whispered, but I spoke too soon.

Something awakened inside me. I am not sure what, but it was hurting me. A wave of headaches attacked me forcing me to grip my head. I scream out in pain and felt like hurting something, someone.

I soon began to recognize this feeling, but before I could stop myself, I was already in front of her. I climbed onto her stomach and shakily wrapped my hands around her neck.

“Alexander, what are you doing?” she says half-asleep.

I don’t answer her, and I tighten my grip on her neck.

She chokes, “Alexander, Alexander! Let go of me!”

Tears start to stream down my face, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I can’t. I just can’t.”

Once again, I tighten my grip on her neck, digging my nails into her skin.

“Alexander, please, Let go, please Alexander. I can’t...breath...You’re hu-urting m-me.”

Ignoring her statement, I keep going until she lies still. Still keeping my grip on her, I start to cry, “Kiyoe, I’m sorry.”

I let go of her and go to London; I glare at her and start to kick her. She groans as bruises appear on her skin. She opens her eyes and faces me. She glares at me, then she looks at Kiyoe and back at me again.

Unsteadily, she stands up and is about to stay something when I hit her. She screams and curls up in a ball as I hit her over and over again; bruises that were once red now turn purple. Tears start to stream down her face.

“I knew I was...right, I k-knew this w-would happen. I tried to w-warn her, but n-now it’s too l-late,” she chokes out.

I stay silent and step on her stomach. She screams out once more, bringing music to my ears. I keep standing on it and applying more pressure until she lies still.

I turn to where Camilla was sleeping, but she isn’t there. I turn around and see her charging at me with a sharp rock. Effortlessly, I dodge it and clutch her hair. I pull her back, and then I slam her head on the ground. I yank the rock out of her hand, and just when I am about to stab her with it, she says “Have mercy, Alex. We didn’t do anything wrong; why are you doing this?”

Slowly, I put my hand down and think. 'Why am I doing this?'

Camilla takes this opportunity to kick me where the sun doesn’t shine; I groan and fall.

She begins to run, but I am not letting her get away so easily. Shakily I throw the rock, and it goes through her hand. She screams and falls to the floor, giving me some time to recover whilst she tries to soothe the pain.

I walk up to her and yank it out of her hand causing her to scream in agony. I then throw the rock to the side and seize an even bigger rock. I grab her head and push it down to the floor, and I stand up. Holding her down by standing on her back, I release the rock and listen to it fall on her head. It crushes her skull; her blood and brains were surrounding her now ruined face.

“Perfect,” I say. Now, her face matches her personality; disgusting, spoilt and ruined. I look around satisfied with my work, a smile creeps up on my face as I begin to laugh.

“Enjoying yourself?” someone says.

“Who’s there?” I yell.

“Have you forgotten me already? I’m hurt~” It says.

“Oh, it’s you.”

“What do you mean, ‘Oh, it’s you.’ Don’t you want to thank me?”

“Thank you? For what?!” I yell.

“Oh, not this again, isn’t this what you wanted? I brought you back in time so you could finish what you started, and here you are being ungrateful.”

I stay silent, and it does that same.

“Ah well, what’s done has been done, and now I will take my reward.”

I look up at it and see it smiling down at me.

It raises its hand, and I suddenly felt something being sucked out of me; I looked down and saw it.

My soul.

“Oh look, the rain stopped,” it said as it giggled.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“Have you ever heard the tale of the cave, Daishin?”

“No, can you tell me?”

“Do you see that cave on the hill?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“They say that whoever goes inside that cave in a group of two or more will end up having one of the group members brutally killing the others. When they have finished killing the others, their soul gets sucked out by the ghost of the hills.”

“Mum, Chin-Mae's trying to scare me again,” the child says whilst running inside crying.

“Chin-Mae, stop scaring your brother. You’re the eldest, and you know that your stories scare him,” His mother yelled.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Daishin, sorry Mum.”