DELTED293y5gds

shadows.

Tim continued to stare into the hole, scratching the back of his head again, thinking of what to do. On one hand, he really wanted to crawl into the hole and find out where it goes. Or at least see how far in it goes. On the other hand, however, that exact scenario is the perfect setup for any horror movie that ever existed. This was a very strange scenario to be in, but it was also incredibly exciting for Tim.

"Okay, I dont think you understand just how much I want to crawl into that hole right now. It looks crazy cool, we could make new discoveries, it would be a great first outing in five years, yes? But...like...okay, I also don't want to die, and theres a very real possibility that we could get murdered by some sort of monster. This is a very hard decision for me. What d you think we should do?"

HE turned to sophia, arms crossed over now. "I think we should both decide."

shadows.

Tim shrugged, smiling still. He walked along the wall, rubbing it with his hand, feeling the contrast between the smoothness of the etchings and the roughness of the walls. He kept on like this for a bit, his intent to walk the circumference of the hollow. However, as he moved, he found his hand touching nothingness. But he hadn't circled around the entire area yet. He turned his light on the wall.

"Whoa... wow. Sophia." He stared at the wall intently, shaking his head. He took a step closer to it.

"What? What is it?" She asked running up to him. And soon, she found herself in the same state that tim was in.

In front of them was a perfectly rounded hole carved into the face of the center of the wall. Just like the runes, the hole was perfectly smooth to the touch. The entire passage was perfectly carved into the wall. Just as well, as Tims light shined down the tunnel--which appeared endless, by the way-- one could see tiny gems of some sort refracting the light all the way down into the hole.

Tim spoke curtly. "Holy shit."

shadows.

Tim stared hard at the symbols, scratching the back of his head as he observed them. He tried to place what they were, but he just couldnt do it. It looked like a mixture of a bunch of different things all smashed together into one. He cocked his head to the side. He couldn't make heads or tails of what he was looking at.

"This looks like...everything and nothing at the same time. Like, for a second it looks french, then Russian, then it looks like a bunch of hieroglyphics or something, and then...just stuff. Its so weird." He reached out and touched one of the engraved figures, running his fingers across them. They were smooth. "It's weird, they aren't even rough. They don't feel like the rest of the rock. Have you touched these yet?"

shadows.

Tim was a bit amazed at just how deep the cave went. He stood in the chamber, a little awestruck at just how much there was. Wanting to explore it more, he took out his phone, turning on the flashlight. It gave off a bit of light, just enough to see what was around him, which was just fine. He began moving slowly, completely overtaken by the prospect of adventure and discovery. He walked across the expanse of the hollow, away from Sophia, watching the ground until he came to the wall. He scanned it, and noticed right away that there was something not quite right in here.

After a second, he realized that there were etchings carved into the rock all across the wall. His eyes widened. They were everywhere. They covered every surface of the cave walls. He made a face, trying to read what they were. But he couldn't. IT didn't look like any language he had ever seen before.

"Sophia, there are, like, weird Mayan temple marks on these walls!" he said, calling her over to him. "Like...like um, some weird...uh... fucking Indiana Jones shit, I dunno, look at this!"

She trotted up beside him, using her light on the walls to uncover more of the strange, otherworldly markings. Tim shook his head and laughed a bit. This was the kind of thing he was into. The exploring, the mystery caves, the whole bit. He just never thought he would actually be able to do it. He had a huge, stupid, open mouthed smile on his face, but he didn't care.

"Oh, wow. Oh, this is cool! What do you think this stuff is, anyway? Was there, like, a tribe of savage feral crazy people back in, like, 18 A.D. that used this place as a sacrificial tomb of some kind? Or something? What do you think it is?"

shadows.

Tim sat for a moment longer, and then stood up, pacing the length of the walls of the cave, listening to the sound of the rain outside. He clapped his hands a few times as he did, on auto-pilot, passing the time. He turned for a moment, and looked deep into the mouth of the cave. The darkness looked like it could be cut with a knife. It was inky black and it felt alive, almost. It sort of freaked him out.

"Hello!" he called out, shouting into the void, hearing his voice echo somewhere far off in the distance. "Holy shit, this cave is deep. I wonder how far it goes, y'know?"

He stood there a while longer, just staring into the darkness before him, wondering, his arms crossed behind his back. He kicked a rock by his feet, which also disappeared into the dark shadows. He didnt necessarily want to enter the darkness, but he didnt exactly...not want to, either.

shadows.

Tim pulled off his coat, which was dripping wet by this point, and hung it from the hood on a rock that was protruding from the side of the cave. HE ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head like a dog, getting water off of his hair. He walked over, then plopped down on the blanket that Sophia had set up, sighing a little, but smiling. He shivered a bit, rubbing his arms. The air around them was still and cold, not to mention wet.

"Rain in November is fucking cold, man, jesus christ. So, um, anyway, lunch in a cave? That's pretty cool, right?"

He crossed his legs now, tapping on his knees some.

shadows.

Tim followed behind Holding his hood over his head as he ran so it wouldn't fly off of his head. Tiny drops of rain stung his face as they ran, which was really just more annoying than anything. The path continued on for quite a bit, twisting and turning down the side of the mountain. He felt...annoyed, honestly. He goes out for one day and theres a torrential downpour? Seriously? If there really was a god, then surely he was laughing at Tim's life.

"Hey, Sophia!" He shouted, trying to get her to hear him over the sound of the rain.

"What is it?"

"Its really wet out here, Sophia! I think it might be raining!" Another joke. That's three jokes in two days, a new record. "I think we should try and find some shelter or something, right?"

shadows.

Tim watched her, eyes wide. He was relieved, a little nervous, a little happy. He was a lot of things. Here was this girl, this person he barely knew, emptying herself out for him, going the extra mile to make him be a better person, and he was just barely keeping up. She was so nice to him. He had to try to be nice back. He still needed to get himself in check, so he tried to lighten the mood a little.

He was about to try something incredibly risky: he was going to make a joke, which was probably his absolute worst social skill of all time. He thought fort a moment, specifically choosing out the perfect words for this nearly unimaginable feat he was about to pull off.

"I'm glad you're not crying, because, honest to god, I probably would have ran away." He chuckled a little at his own joke, hoping she would too. He just wanted to be good at cheering her up right now.

shadows.

Tim looked down. He felt bad again. He always seemed to feel bad for himself, even when he told himself not to. He sighed, looked up, saw her face, and looked back down. He needed to say something. He absolutely needed to say something, so he sucked in a breath, and began to speak. Slowly, not wanting to mess it all up even more.

"Okay...okay, listen to me. It's not that I'm not enjoying myself or that I'm angry that I'm here or that I hate everything about this. Im sorry I made you feel bad, It wasnt my intention. This is just honestly the most contact I've had with anyone in, like, roughly five years. I've been locked away in my room, staying away, fighting off waves of depression --again--not to mention my crippling self doubt. I'm sorry that you think I'm not grateful or if you think I dont like you, because I do like you and I am absolutely grateful."

A few drops of rain were starting to fall now, but he was trying not to notice it as he spoke.

"I feel like shit, but you already know that. I always feel like shit. But I just... I want you to like me...and I want you to be my friend but I've just been making you upset, and I've been fucking up our relationship since day fucking one. I'm sorry. I really am."

He bit his lip, looking down, breathing heavily. He'd never let this much out before. He grabbed his right arm, rubbing his fingers over the center area, when the arm starts to bend. He spoke again.

"Just... I'll turn around and walk home if you want me too. I just... I dont know what to do anymore. Talking is hard, and I'm out of things to say, so... I dont know, what do you want..."

shadows.

The hugging caught Tim off guard, as he reacted with an audible 'ahhh what?' as she put her arms around him. He breathed in sharply as she did her thing, leaving his arms at his sides. He let her hug him, and he had to admit, it was pretty nice. To be touched by another actual person. But soon enough, it ended, and she was walking away again. So, naturally, he followed.

The trail they went down followed a series of twists and turns and hills and dips. A basic nature walk. Tim had never needed to walk this much before, so it was a pretty new experience for him. And he wasn't really enjoying himself that much, to be brutally honest.

"Oh my god, you do this for fun?" Tim said, trudging up the slope behind Sophia. "What's wrong with you? Youre crazy!"