Chapter Text
“Paige! Paige—ouch, damn it—will you slow down?” Samantha reached down to soothe the burning ache that coiled through her forearm, extracting the grainy piece of mountainous debris that pierced her flesh. A shrill giggle echoed through the cave, mocking Samantha in her efforts to rally up with her zealous hiking partner.
“Maybe you just need to keep up, Sam!” Samantha grumbled noncommittally and thrust herself through the cavernous dwelling. With a few strategic turns and twists—and more than a few colorful, inventive curses—the sluggish adventurer had met up with her friend, whom was stalled some off feet away, running her fingers experimentally against the sharp, jagged edges of the cave wall.
“Jesus,” Sam wheezed, doubling over and straddling her hands atop wobbly knees. “We’ve been at this for hours and I don’t think I’ve seen you take more than a sip of water! How are you not exhausted?”
“Swimmer’s endurance,” Paige replied, amused by her flailing friend who rather exemplified a fish let out of the water, >
“Yeah—that must be it…. Whew. Damn, I’m too old for this. Next time we’re going to Paris! That way, you can’t lure me into these haphazard suicide missions—we’ll eat baguettes and sip coffee—oh God, coffee…. Where’s a steaming Pike Place when you need one?” Sam ran two pale hands through her dampened red tresses and blew out an enduring breath, her heart hammering happily in her chest once more. Her eyes seek Paige’s, sardonic as ever: “Say, think we can start a petition to place a Starbucks in to the midst of one of Germany’s mountain ranges?”
Paige laughed, the omission buttery and wholesome. A grin tugged over her full, pink lips. “Stop being such a godawful baby and get off your ass! You can grab a Starbucks when we get back to the states!”
“But that’s 3 days away…” Samantha whined, righting herself and heaving her limbs back into commission. She knew that Paige was insufferable; the only way to put an end to this madness and slip back to the hotel was to indulge in her little expedition. Paige urged Sam forth, the pair chattering contently, finally pacing with one another. Sam’s eyes suffered through the hallows of the mountain, the rays of light omitting from her flashlight skittering amongst the works of hundreds of years of mass build up. Hiking the German Mountain Range had been Paige’s idea—what wasn’t Paige’s idea?—and Sam, being the indulgent fool she was, had allowed herself to be talked into her scheme! Although, Paige had endured Sam’s notions throughout most of the trip—the laborious castle tours, the Cathedrals, the haunted hollowness that was Auschwitz—she owed her friend a turn in the festivities! All things considered, this was their last summer of freedom before they both set off to college, bound by tight leather book bindings and suffocating lecture halls; they both ought to have their share in mishaps and adventures. And with Paige… Sam scoffed silently to herself. One never knew what to expect.
Paige plucked a pamphlet from her jacket pocket, poising her lithe flashlight between her teeth and angling her head inquisitively towards the information scrawled afore her. Sam steadied a hand against her friend’s shoulder, flickering aside her bobbling blonde ponytail to peer at the pamphlet herself.
“That’s strange.” Paige muttered between clenched teeth, her eclectic cerulean eyes skimming through the daft light of the cave. “This recollects no presence of a second opening.”
Sam followed her gaze to the division of paths in front of them; two gaping holes spanning left and right, drawing upon the two to choose a destination. “Are you sure we entered the right cave?”
Paige rolled her eyes. “No, Sam—I just selected a random entrance and moseyed on in! What kind of idiot do you take me for?” Sam went to open her jaw before being met by Paige’s sardonic hiss. “Don’t answer that.”
After a moment’s more of contemplation, Sam let out a disgruntled rasp. “Well, what way do we choose? Maybe someone did a miscalculation or, the land shifted or I don’t know!”
“I’m not su—“ Whatever Paige was bound to say was put to an abrupt end. A piercing shriek bit through the chamber, drilling into Paige’s ear. “The hell!” She managed before cupping both hands over her ears, desperate to block out the putrid noise that ravaged through her mind.
“Paige!” Sam yelled worriedly, propositioning her light to focus on her friend’s distressed form. “Are you alright?”
“I can’t hear you!” Paige gasped, the cries eeking into her throat and constricting her air supply. The sound was absolutely maddening! Her eyes sought Sam’s desperately, amazed that she hadn’t fallen victim to the deplorable sound that wretched through the cave. “That sound!” She screamed, succumbing to her knees. “DO YOU HEAR IT? THAT SOUND?”
Sam’s eyes bulged in her willowy features, her pale skin pulling taunt over her protruding cheekbones and high, determined forehead. “I think you’ve got a touch of insanity from these caves, we need to get out of here!” She reached down and tugged on Paige’s defined forearm.
Paige barely registered her friend’s words, but quickly responded to her beckoning and rose to her feet, stumbling after her.
Do not leave. A smooth, silky voice sauntered through her thoughts, muting the obnoxious shrieks that threatened her moments ago. Are you not curious of what lies ahead? Paige’s heels dug into the dusty floor of the cave, ignoring the desperate pleas from an exasperated Sam. Where was that voice coming from?
Her ponytail clung to her sweat slicked neck, along with the varied dirt and grime that accompanied her trek through the Germanic cave. Paige batted at it incessantly, desperate to free herself of the unease that accompanied her sticky posterior. Her hands uncovered her ears, one shimmying down to clasp her broad chin, rubbing it contemplatively—a horrendous habit she’d procured over the years. I never thought I’d succumb to hearing voices. She thought incredulously, only half-joking. I’m going crazy!
She fumbled back a few steps, turning towards a frantic Samantha before pausing, a sudden chill stirring the burning, compacted air of the tunnel.
Foolish you are not, dear one. The voice soothed down her tense body, unfurling the doubt that coalesced her thoughts; the thoughts aimed towards reality, towards Sam. Come closer. Instinctively, Paige drew backwards, thudding into the cave wall, the jagged edges shredding through the flimsiness of her blouse. No harm shall come to you; not from my hand, little one. Come closer, indulge your curiosity. You cannot deny the compellation that sears through your lungs, your soul—come forth, child.
“I am not a child!” Paige quipped in irritation. She didn’t know who and the hell this voice was but, he was certainly slithering under her skin and setting ablaze the temper she fought so desperately to deter.
A matter of perspective, perhaps.
Paige scoffed, Sam all but forgotten in her tireless rant with whatever dweeb taunted her from the darkness. In respite, Paige forged forward, compelled towards one of the tunnels that parted in the midst of cave, her boots thudding determinedly against the rocks and dirt that encompassed the cavern floor. The further she walked, the greater the coolness became until her body was enveloped in an eerie, glistening blue glow. The glow grew more vibrant as she shuttled into the left tunnel, barreling towards the voice that ridiculed her so.
Mmmmm… Paige nearly paused the reverberation that fondled through her body, harnessing primitively in her core. You smell delectable, dear one. Ah, the divinity of your soul calls to me! Closer, closer…
Paige’s eyes flew to the gaping statue that lingered in front of her, every bit 9 feet tall, devouring the solemn space of the tunnel. The statue was golden, glossy and imminent. Paige scampered to the statue out of obligation, reaching out to skirt her fingers along the finer edges of the gold, but ceasing the notion as she took breadth of what truly loomed before her.
The statue was a man; a man of prestige and dominance, it radiated from the figure as the sun omits heat. Her heart leap against her ribcage, her history enamored spirit held captive to the significance the statue harbored. A God perhaps? Paige rifled through her pockets, seeking another pamphlet—something she’d procured several days ago in a quaint town off of Munich. The pamphlet spoke of pagan rituals; worshippers that followed Viking traditions and Gods. Could this be such a God? Paige took note of the offerings that surrounded the impending statue; of the old variety and the new.
“A God?” Paige muttered, more to herself than the voice that had swam about her head moments ago. “No God of mine.”
Humans. The silky voice scoffed indignantly, his earlier seduction lost in his new, scolding tongue. So ignorant. To believe in one God is foolish; one dimensional. There are whole worlds to implore; realms beyond the wildest hairs of your imagination. Yet, you choose not to look past the long slope of your nose. Pity.
“There is only one God.” Paige affirmed, the prominence of her childhood beliefs wallowing thickly through her blood. “I won’t be tempted by your notions of right and wrong; you’re a figment of my imagination—nothing more—and I refuse to listen to some physco ramblings. Be gone!”
The voice chuckled wholesomely, bemused to the highest order. As you command, dear one.
Paige challenged the voice twice more, finding that it indeed was a conjuring of her min, no doubt the influence of the cave. Either way…. Paige eyes the statue in front of her, curious. She whipped out her iPhone and snapped a few photos, angling herself expertly and careful not to disrupt the precious artifact of history. When she returned to the states, the phots would be stapled to her vacation memoirs and shuffled into a pile of tireless historical tirades.
Smiling triumphantly, Paige maneuvered her phone back into her pocket and leapt down from the rock she’d precariously been teetering off of, using it to capture her picture to her perfection. In satisfying her reckless self-fulfilling prophecy, Paige slipped, tumbling off the rock and barreling directly into the lap of the standing, golden statue. Upon grazing the figure, her body trembled, sieged by an abrupt rapture of agony. Her collarbone warmed with a shocking intensity and biting into her flesh, like a snake’s long, menacing fangs into its prey. Paige clutched the tender skin desperately and ran off from the statue, frightened and shaken. A dim laughter followed her evacuation, slithered through her mind. Mine…
In moment, Paige found herself gasping at the cusp of the tunnel, a worried Sam doting at her shoulder. Her sultry hazel eyes were redden with tears.
“OhmyGod! You freak, why’d you run off like that?” She shrieked, wiping wary strands of blonde back from her friend’s slickened forehead.
“I-I-I h-heard s-creaming and then I-I-I….” Paige huffed and finally managed to spew the past few moments of inquiry, detailing her on the lingering voice and the captivating statute through the tunnel. “I fell into it and some blasted mosquito must have gotten me or something, hell.”
Sam shook her head and hoisted Paige to her feet. “I’m sure I’ve got something for it in the hotel room,” Paige nodded. “I tried to come after you, you know but the tunnel it just—it capped off. It was like an invisible fortress or a wall of some sort kept me from running after you—couldn’t see a damned thing either.”
Paige warded off her friend and scratched at her collarbone uneasily, unsure of what to make of her little mishap. “You don’t think it could be some old fangled magic voodoo, do you?”
Sam grinned, the notion scrunching her eyes into barely discernible slit of brown. “I dunno, Paige but it sure sounds like it; that or God has a strange sense of humor.”
“Yeah, humor.” Paige agreed, giggling with Sam as they disembarked from the cave, both eager to escape to the beaming sun.
Just at the mouth of the cave, a tremble forged it’s way down Paige’s spine, a forgotten whisper trailing behind her as her eyes laid of the billowing wisps of grass that lolled about the German countryside.
Mine… All mine.