BIGINNING OF THE END 2

11:34 pm on the clock, Denny sat straight up in bed. The whispering, he could hear it. Denny got out of bed as quietly as he could, trying not to wake his brother. The window to his room was already open to let the cool night breeze in. Denny didn’t bother putting any shoes on, he and his brother were constantly outside with no shoes on. He placed one foot on the ledge and his hands on the frame of the window, looking back at his brother who was fast asleep, before hopping down onto the grass below.

He started running, No longer hearing the whispers, they were too faint to hear while running and breathing heavily, but he knew what he needed to do to hear them again. He ran faster, jumping over roots and rocks. Up and up the hill where he and his brother were earlier in the day and there it was, the entrance. He walked down the hill, now standing at the entrance. He could hear the whispering again, louder than before. He still couldn’t make out what they were saying. Slowly, he entered the cave. Denny had no flashlight with him, but the whispers, they were guiding him. Speaking to him in the dark, navigating his way till he was in front of the ‘Stone Door.’

The moonlight shone through the hole in the top of the cave. There were no birds, just the sound of the night as the waterfall splashed into the pool of water below. He stood in front of the stones, piled on top of one another, blocking something behind it. The writing on the wall glowed from the reflection of the moonlight cast from the water. Denny reached his hand out to feel for any loose stones. He slid his hand across the wall, then something sharp broke the skin in the palm of his hand and slashed his hand, smearing blood across the stone.

Denny pulled his hand back towards him and went over to the pool of water to wash his hand. As Denny took his pyjama top off and wrapped his hand, there was a noise. A small rock falling and echoing through the cave. After another, Denny looked over to the wall to see the stones, one by one crumbling in front of him.

Stone by stone, the wall diminished, revealing a door shaped hole in the wall of the cave. Denny’s heart raced as he stared into the darkness that now sat before him. Denny felt the urge to go investigate, but something in the back of his mind was telling him otherwise. He wanted to go home to wake Claude, but as he turned around to do so, a voice stopped him.

‘Follow us, Denny!’

The whispers sounded like small children, giggling, playing in the distance. They were calling to him.

‘Come and play!’

Denny looked around the cave, the moonlight casting enough glow made the moss glow blue, casting an ocean blanket over the rocks. There was nothing stopping him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he lifted his right foot through the door way and placed his foot down. He opened his eyes waiting to see if anything would happen, but there was nothing. He moved forward slowly and carefully. His heart was racing, fearing the unknown of what lies ahead of him through the darkness. His hand glided carefully along the wall as he moved forward. He noticed that the walls were not wet like the rest of the cave. The walls were giving off heat. The further into the cave he got, the more heat the walls gave off.

As he continued further into the darkness, there was a sound that echoed ahead of him. Denny stopped in his tracks to listen, but he was breathing heavy from his heart beating so fast. Denny took a deep breath and held it, listening to the noise. Unable to hold his breath any longer he let it out, hearing nothing.

As Denny stepped forward, he heard the sound again, a clicKing sound. He crouched down to the ground, a knot forming in his throat, his stomach turning, a feeling of regret. He was low to the ground, in pitch black darkness. Denny felt the ground by his feet, searching for anything he could grab. As his hands glided against the cool ground, his fingers moved through some tiny pebbles and dirt. As he reached a little further ahead of him, he felt something on the ground. It was long, slender, sharp at one end, smooth and round at the other. Keeping himself low to the ground he tossed the object ahead of him in the distance.

He listened as the object bounced a few times on the ground, echoing through the cave. He heard the sound again, a clicking like a purring cat, a fluent click of the tongue. As Denny stood up, he took a step back. The hair on his neck stood up, something was close, and he could feel it.

Like a ringing in your ear when you know someone is behind you. Denny was frozen in place, his breathing had slowed, and he tried to make as minimal a sound as possible. There was something moving in front of him. Denny took a step back and froze. The clicking, in the darkness, close by. His heart pounding in his chest making his throat beat. His eyes began to swell with tears, terror taking over him. Without hesitation, Denny turned around and ran as fast as he could.

Tears were running off his face as he ran, his cheeks burning red as he sprinted back towards the cave. The sound of his footsteps bouncing off the walls. The clicking, it grew louder and closer. Denny pushed himself to run as fast as he possibly could, seeing the moonlit cave ahead of him. He pictured Claude as he ran, remembering the race earlier in the day. He pushed his feet from the ground as hard as he could to push himself faster towards safety. Running as fast as he possibly could, he finally leaped from the darkness into the moonlit cave.

A big sigh of relief washed over him. His hands placed firmly on his knees as he hunched over, catching his breath. His heart pounding like it was going to burst out of his chest at any moment. He started to laugh at himself for being so scared. As Denny went on, a step further away from the darkness, he heard it.

The sound… the clicking. Slowly, as he turned to look, there was a loud screeching scream, like a banshee and a pale white arm with long pointy knife - like fingers, grabbed his ankle and dragged him back, into the darkness.

Just after the sun had risen, Claude opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling above him, plastered in posters of cars and music instruments, bands. He looked over the edge of his bed and called out for Denny.

‘Get up! The Sun is awake!’

Claude hopped down out of bed, grabbed the blankets on Denny’s bed and ripped them back to find that Denny was gone. Claude, now upset, grabbed his jeans and put a T- shirt on.

Jumping up and down in his room to get his socks on while standing. After finishing up his laces to his takkies, he grabbed the flashlights and the backpack. He looked over at the window.

‘I bet that’s the way you went out, you sneaky Denny!’

He said to himself. Claude went to the door and left their room. As he entered the kitchen, he seen his mother. She was sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee, reading a book.

‘Morning Ma!’

She looked up from her book and smiled.

‘Good morning, where’s your brother?’

Claude’s face turned red, knowing if Denny were to find out he was the one to tell their mother about the cave, Denny would beat him. However, Claude didn’t like to lie to his mother.

‘He probably got a head start, we are just fooling around in the woods Ma.’

‘Well, if you aren’t going to have breakfast this morning, at least take something with.’ She nodded to the fridge.

Claude walked over and grabbed the handle to open the fridge. There were two brown bags sitting on the top shelf of the fridge, one said Claude and the other Denny. Claude quickly grabbed them and stuffed them into his backpack. He then closed the door, walked over to his mother, and hugged her. She hugged him back.

Remember, I want you boys’ home BEFORE DARK.’

Claude kissed her cheek.

‘Yes, Mama, see you later!’ He let her go, ran past the kitchen counter and out the back door. He pushed the screen door open, scaring the chickens that happened to be near the house. He sprinted down the hill, across the creek and into the woods.

As he continued through the woods, he slowed down to a walking pace. Breathing heavily, he climbed over rocks and roots, kicking stones and pushing branches out of his way. Walking up the hill, Claude had a strange feeling. Reaching the top and looking down at the entrance, the feeling in his stomach was getting stronger and sickening.

He headed down the hill, his feet pushing dirt and stones, skidding to the bottom. As he headed into the cave, shining his flashlight on the ground in front of him. Along the walls of the cave, guiding his way. The air felt different, stale. The walls of the cave were different, dry and warm. Claude walked over to the left side of the cave, pressing his hand against the cave wall. The wall was hot to the touch as Claude snatched his hand back, stinging his fingertips. He hurried further into the cave, the sickening feeling in his stomach getting more intense as he could see light coming from the cave but could no longer hear the waterfall. As the light got brighter in the cave, he knew he would soon see the pool of water and the rocks with the velvet green moss blanketing the rocks. As he reached the opening of the cave, he knew something was different, something was wrong.

The waterfall was no longer running, the blankets of green moss had browned, no longer getting splashed by water from the waterfall hitting the pool below. The pool of water had lost inches, the heat in the cave evaporating the moisture. Looking around the cave, his eye caught the new hole in the wall, where the stones used to be. He walked closer, something on the stones catching his eye. As he moved closer, he tripped over a small vine, falling onto the rubble.

‘Ahhhh, ouch!’ He pushed himself back up, looking at his knee there was a scratch that broke his skin. As he went to wipe it away, more blood was on his knee, but it wasn’t his. He looked at the palm of his left hand, covered in blood. He looked down at the stones by his feet and seen some splattered with blood. His stomach tightened as he looked around, calling for his brother.

‘Denny! Denny! Where the hell are you?’ He hollered, waiting to hear a response from his brother. There was nothing, no birds, no running water, just silence, Claude looked over the cave once more to see if there was any sign that his brother was somewhere hiding, waiting to jump out at him.

Claude looked forward into the darkness that lie before him. He knew Denny was in there. As Claude walked towards the hole in the wall of the cave, his flashlight started to flicker. Banging it against his hand a couple of times to stop the flickering. As the light finally steadied, he took his backpack off and set it along the side of the opening of the cave.