The House at the Edge of the Cliff

The Hole

Smacking face-first right into a cold hard wall of dirt, I jumped and struggled back a few inches. Squirming around to lift my hands up and rub the dirt and mud out of my eyes, and mouth.

That only made the situation worse for me though since my hands were even more coated with mud than I had on my face. I growled as I craned my neck to rub my eyes on a not-so-dirty part of my shoulder.

" Y/N... what happened? Is everything ok? Mila's voice asked from behind me. I coughed for a second longer, keeping my head turned to the side in her direction, even though I could not see her.

" Yeah." I spat another glob out. " I found the end of the tunnel." I finished. Kneeling up slightly until my back bumped into the top of the tunnel. This was probably the most cramped it had been down here so far.

" Did you find the exit?" She asked in a hurried and anguished tone.

" I'm still working on that." I snapped, not trying to be mean at the moment. Nut not being able to help myself with my nerves so high, and my face and nose still hurting from my collision with the wall.

Mila went silent as I wormed around, trying to feel in front of me and beside me. Nothing but dirt, dirt, and more dirt to be found. I warned her to watch out for my feet as I started struggling to turn over so that my back was to the floor and I could feel around on the ceiling.

My hands craped through damp dirt, causing it to fall right onto my face again. I stilled, letting a low growl spill forth before continuing to feel around.

What if this was a dead-end? What if there was a branch in the tunnel further back that we missed? It was pitch black down here! How would we ever find it?!

Just as my thoughts and hopes started to go well down the drain, my hand scraped against the wood of a hatch door and I let out a relieved sigh.

" I found it, Mila," I said in excitement. Not being able to feel a handle, so I fisted my hands against the wood and squared my soldiers as I pushed up.

It gave way a little before getting stopped by something on the top. I tried again, and it lifted maybe an inch before getting caught. The metallic jangle above me suggested that it was locked and chained.

" FUCK IT!!!!" I growled out. My anger flaring up as I almost started losing my shit right then and there. I heard Mila say something behind me, but I could not make out what it was over the sound of the blood pounding in my own ears.

I dropped my hands and let them flop down onto my stomach. This was it... we needed to go back now. I was about to voice this to Mila when the hatch above me lifted up on its own until it was caught by the chain.

I jumped and froze, my eyes going wide as I expected the worst to happen to me right then and there since I was trapped and a sitting duck at this point. Instead, a familiar voice whispered through the opening.

" Jacob... Is that you buddy?" Lucas's voice rang out tired, but it sounded like a choir of angels to me. I lurched forward again, gripping as well as I could onto the wood. I could not see him though, not even his hands.

" Lucas!! It's me! It's Y/N and Mila!" I cried out in joy, and I heard him take in a sharp intake of breath. His fingers rattled around the chains for a second, but he quickly gave up on that.

" Oh my God Y/N! I am so happy that you guys are ok! Did Jacob show you the tunnel? He found it a little bit ago and found me but we could not get the door open? Did he get you guys?" He asked hopefully.

I pressed my lips in a thin line together as I forced the tears to soak back into my eyes before they could spill out. What was I going to tell him? Jacob was his best friend. Jacob and him were friends before they were friends with anyone else.