Accursed Leages

         “Accursed leagues, far below under the epidermis of the Earth. Adamant rocks, as old as time itself sit and wither away under the decay and corruption of the thriving beings above. One day, the accursed below will meet the fresh air above, and all will cease to exist for the beings above are to never know of the horrors that lie beneath them.”
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         I worked for a mexican mining company who worked in southern mexico, near the equator.  The company director would tell us that he believed the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs all knew where there was oil beneath them. Some sort of spiritual meaning was given to the oil, but no matter, he strongly believed oil was lying close by. We would work day and night, mining and drilling until the moon shone menacingly ahead, in which we would sleep in trailers that were brought along for this very reason.
         Several weeks had passed as we had been working, and we began to have some progress. We struck down on some extremely hard rock that our drill couldn’t penetrate, so we ceased drilling there permanently so our one and only drill wouldn’t break . We continued the drilling in another location, several miles south of where we had made our recent hole. At night, I would sleep in my trailer along with two other men. Out of all the trailers, mine was closest to the previous drilling site.
         One night, after successfully striking oil on our current site, everyone was becoming intoxicated with alcohol and our somewhat victory. My two roommates and I were stumbling back to sleep that night, and as we passed the gaping hole that was near our trailer, we were sure there were odd noises emanating from the hole. Of course, in our intoxicated state, we were not scared, so we neared the giant sepulcher and peered inside. We couldn’t see anything, especially with the meager light of the gibbous moon. Right when we were about to give up on our little exploration, another noise was made, a very peculiar whispering noise. It was not a voice, it was not like wind, it was indescribable.
         With our curiosity sparked up again, we investigated the ominous sepulcher again. This time, I crawled along the rim of the opening, trying to see if the moon would give light to anything. Before I could be able to find anything, I lost my footing and slipped. A yell was heard, then silence except for the noisome tumbling. I couldn’t open my eyes as I tumbled on down, cutting, scraping, bruising my body as I hit all the rocks. I fell for some time until finally I hit solid ground. I could barely move in my injured state, my arms were both heavily wounded for trying to avoid damage to my head.
         I attempted to look around but there was nothing to be seen. I might as well have been blind, for it was unfeasible for the waning source of light in the sky to illuminate anything this far below. It was very hard to just sit up, standing would have to wait ( I’d have no idea of where to go in the first place). I sat there in the darkness pondering my dilemma. I was still a bit delirious from the intoxication, but not to the extremity of being drunk, and my current situation didn’t keep my hysteria from rising.
         Then there it was, in an instant I heard those peculiar noises that I had heard recently when I was atop the sepulcher I was now in. I looked nervously around but to no avail since I was lying to myself that I would be able to see what was causing this. Then it came again, that frightful whispering of a thousand lips was nearing me and with that thought registered in my mind, I stood up as quickly as I can and ran. I was wondering if that sound was something so trouble-free as the wind that had somehow got caught down here, but it couldn’t have been since it was actually moving closer. Since it was not a inert substance making this sound, it had to be some organic creature, and if it was, it was able to venture around had it not? There must be some tunnel or cavern from where it was able to roam to and fro. I tried finding the opening of either of these as I ran post-haste.
         That ghastly whispering from a thousand lips was gaining on me as I fled. I searched for an opening, and exit, a continuation of expanse, but there was none. I felt several adamant rocks and tripped over them as I was running. The soil that I stood upon breathlessly was quite soft and I found this quite odd. The drill was not able to proceed because there was some sort of unbreakable rock down here, and the only rocks I could feel were scattered and broken. I was hypothesizing as I heard the damnable whispering circle me. I wondered, had that rock kept this organic being captive for centuries, and our drill, had disturbed it and caused it to break free from its obdurate prison? Is this the reason the Mayans, the Aztecs, the Incas all worshiped odd creatures? I heard the whispering cease and I was in absolute silence save for my breathing.
         Each breath was like ticking in a clock. Sequential  and rhythmic, it was as if my body was counting the seconds passing. I stood for several minutes trying not to make another sound, perhaps this creature would ease its pursue, perhaps it would fall asleep, and perhaps it would buy me some more time for means of escape. I sat down quietly and waited for what seemed forever. Hopefully the sun would shed some light on my situation to those above. They’ll send a search party for me. They must. I sat and an idea came to me. I had a match! Yes, I could use them to illuminate my surroundings and look for crevices in the walls so I could take hold and climb out.
         I ever so slowly got the match from my pocket, but not because I wanted to be stealthy, but because moving my arms pained me extremely. I held the little cartridge of matches up and felt for how many sticks I had. All I know was that I had more than 5 and I ripped one out without a second to spare. I tried lighting it with my trembling hands and at last, light was finally present in my dark despair. I now wish I hadn’t illuminated my surroundings, because when I did, it was the end of me. Once I had given luminosity to my position, I saw the horrible and grotesque creature that had in fact followed me around its lair. When I saw it, it was not sleeping, or laying, but standing several inches in front of me. It was staring me down this entire time and once I had lighted that match, it burned the creature, and with an awful yelp, it attacked.
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          One of the workers was missing and the recently drunk party from the night before remembered what had become of him. The mining director sent a small search party down the hole, equipped with lights and a fastened cord to their belts to prevent falling. After some time, they came back up with no body. There was absolutely nothing down there save for a tunnel they had seen that led to unknown destinations. The mining director thought it was best to close that hole entirely. “Fill it all the way up” he said. Maybe he knew and was afraid of the underworld that was uncovered. Maybe he knew exactly what had happened to his worker who had stumbled down there. No matter, the hole was filled that day, and no one was ordered to mine in a several miles radius of that site ever again.