Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The cave was situated in a way that no outsider would be able to see it. The only way to discover the cave is to get over the large flat rock and come to the midst of the rocky shore area right beneath the cliff. The cave opening was about 4 meters tall, about 1 meter wide, drilled into the cliff, the edges perfectly smooth. Inside the cave was too dark to figure anything out, but a small stream of water flowed out of the cave mouth, and I could hear the sound of water dripping from the cave ceiling going drip, drip, drip.

Stepping over the rocks, I edged towards the cave mouth. I knew Terry and Blake should be inside. Is this what Terry came here to see? If it is, why was Blake so scared? I walked as quietly as I could, trying not to bring my foot down fast because even the softest footsteps made a splash upon the water. At the cave mouth, I pulled out my phone, ready to shine its light over the cave to see if Terry and/or Blake, but paused. At the right corner, there was a faint blue light. I moved towards the light, squinting at the direction to make out what it was but at that moment my left foot connected with a slippery rock. I almost fell over, my arms swinging around every direction, trying to find a steady handhold. Then I felt a tug from the back of my shirt, making my balance firm.

"What are you doing?" It was Terry's voice, coming as a rough whisper.

"I'm just following you! What're you doing?" I hissed back.

"Nobody asked you to follow us." Blake's voice.

"The look in your face said another thing, Blake," I whispered to him. "What are we doing here anyway?"

"I came here to sightsee," Blake replied sarcastically. "It's been such a long time since I saw a pith dark cave, Timmons."

"I wouldn't be surprised, it suits your-"

"Guys, you wanna see this."

I saw Terry's silhouette against the blue light as I skirted to the direction the light shone from. It came from within another cave mouth, this one smaller. Only a small gap allowed the light out, and when I looked through it, I saw the back of an imposing figure, most probably a man. The source of the blue light was beyond the man, where none of us can see. The room (yes it was a small room built inside a cave) was bare, made more to withhold the pressure being casted upon it by the cave rather that its splendor. The white walls had dark stains, caused by constant humidity.

The man, whoever he was, had not moved in the few seconds I had stared at him. He was so still, I found it disturbing.

"Can you hear that?" Terry asked me, her eyes fixed on the back of the man, her voice barely audible.

"What is it?" I heard Blake's voice.

"What is what? I can't he-" But I did hear it. It was a buzz, very low, come from the outside of the cave, most probably, but it was there, nonetheless. It was getting louder and louder, giving me the feeling that something was coming our way.

"Let's just get out, okay?" I said, trying (and failing) to keep the nervousness out of my voice.

"Terry, c'mon." Is this weirding out Blake? It certainly sounded so.

"What the hell is that guy doing?"

I was too busy trying to figure out what could make such a noise to be noticing the guy.

The buzzing got noisier.

"It don't give a damn what some weird dude was doing inside a sea cave, Terry," I told her firmly, a hard deed considering that we were conduction the whole warped conversation on whispering. "Let's go."

The humming noise was so loud now that I expected a horde of bees or butterflies to fly through the cave mouth any second.

"Whoa, this is getting freakier. He has something in his hands."

"That's it! I'm giving you three seconds, Terry, and if you don't want to come, I'm gonna drag you out of here. Blake, are you with me or not?"

"I guess."

"You can't drag me out. I have the perfect liberty to do whatever I want."

"One," I started counting, and the buzz started sounding like it was right on out cave-door step.

"Terry!"

"Jeez, he's moving."

The source of the sound was definitely inside now. My eyes scanned the pitch dark uselessly. "Two."

"All right, I'm coming. Wait - that guy just - Jesus!" I heard Terry gasp.

"Terry, can you feel that?" I heard Blake's voice. It was filled more with awe that fright.

"Three."

The moment the word was out of my mouth, several things happened at once.

The first thing I felt was the wind. A strong breeze gusted from the beach towards us. I had not felt the wind from the moment I stepped into the cave, and this struck as odd to me, but odder things kept happening. The second I felt the salty breeze on my skin, I knew something was wrong. Instead of passing around my body, the breeze, the wind, seemed to move through me. I felt my insides turn cold when it passed.

The second thing was my sight. Just as my insides felt like they had been packed in a refrigerator for a week, my sight, which is to say, the complete blackness I saw, turned lighter, as if somebody suddenly threw on a switch. It did not hurt my eyes, but I saw everything around me. The whole cave ceiling, which was wet and kept dripping water through stalactites, was a dark grey. A small stream arose from the water sliding down one cave wall. I saw Terry, facing away from the room. She had something different about her. Her hair was caught in the wind, glistening with the water drops on it. I wondered if it was a glow around her, or if my imagination was already going too far. I also saw Blake, his head turned away from me. His eyes, I noticed earlier, was green, a shade similar to Terry's, but not as pretty. Now, it was black, blacker than this cave was a few seconds ago.

The third thing was my other senses. I heard all mine, Terry's and Blake's heartbeats. I had never heard such realistic heartbeats (maybe because this time, they are real), all beating fast in unison. A part of my brain noted that I heard nothing from the room within. No sound of the buzzing reached my ultra-sensitive ears, but I heard plenty of water dripping sounds and even the bass of the music at the party, which, until now, had been muffled by the thick walls of the cave.

The smell of the cave, musty and salty, cut through the strong smell of all our perfumes combined. The waft of fear was in the air, as was the taste of tension.

Then, it was gone. The senses, the buzz, the odd feelings, they were all gone, just like that, leaving me feeling a little exhausted, but my heart beat fast.

"What the-" I gasped. "What the hell was that? Did either of you-" I broke off and pulled out my phone. From the faint light, I saw Blake leaning against the cave wall, his eyes closed. Terry was breathing fast. "God," she gasped, running her hands through her hair. "God, I've never ever felt something like that in my entire life."

"Am I the first to say 'weird'?" I started heading for the cave mouth. "Hell, I'm getting out of here."

I heard the footsteps of them both following me. Outside, I was relieved when the seaside wind hit me. I was also relieved that it did not pass through me.

We climbed over the rocks and started to walk towards Jacie's house.

Blake was the first to open his mouth after the small pause. "It felt...good."

"No, it didn't," I told him without turning back.

"No, I meant, before I began to hurt."

Hurt?

I rounded up on him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Didn't it hurt?"

Both Terry and I replied at the same time. "No."

Blake raised his eyebrows. "You're saying it didn't hurt you when it passed through you?"

"I'm not trying to figure out what "it" is, but no. It didn't. I-I had this night-vision sort of thingy, and... I heard stuff."

A silence followed.

"Um, I felt like I could do anything," Terry spoke. "It was really creepy, guys. Can we please get going? I think I need to sleep this off."

I wasn't about to let it pass that easily.

"So we felt three different things?"

Another silence followed while we trudged towards the tables. It seemed like there was nothing to fill the empty spaces of the conversation, but to replay what happened a minute previously over and over to discern a possible reasoning.

"Those drinks we had earlier, couldn't they be drugged?" asked Blake.

"Not that I've done drugs before," said Terry, "but I don't feel high."

"The seals weren't broken," I said.

"The music had stopped," observed Terry.

I paused for a moment. Yes, it had stopped. Hence, the creepy silence.

"Do you think the cops are here?" I asked.

"If they are," said Blake, "it's about time. But some people are still outside."

"Screw Alex, I'm going home. And," I looked at Blake, "your nose is bleeding."

It was, although he wasn't aware of it. "What? Oh crap. " He immediately headed to a table to pick up some tissues, and Terry followed, looking concerned.

More than a little annoyed, I went straight for the spiral staircase. The pool area was silent, people are talking in hushed tones, but no panic was there. It seemed more like Jacie got the party under control rather than the cops' arrival, but I took my chances and went around the house, instead of going inside, to the parking lot.

A couple of people were milling around when I got there, smoking or drinking or both. Mark, drunken, was slumped across the hood of his car, and Brian, standing by, looked like he was soon going to follow.

I found my Buick Regal, and quickly got into it, without either of them noticing me, and pulled out to the road. Only then did I release the breath I had been holding. The time on the center console showed to be 22:52 and not a soul was in the streets. I passed the house right next to Jacie's, the one on top of the cliff. All the lights were turned out.

I drove slowly, my mind buzzing from the events of the past few minutes. Sheer impossibility of it was hard to grasp. After driving aimlessly for a while, I pulled near my grandparents' house. I turned off the headlights and leaned back on the seat. I was confused, but there was also anger, disbelief and nervousness. Nothing in the world gave reasons for what happened. The sight was the strangest of the whole damned experience, but it wasn't bad. And I wasn't going to agree in front of Blake but it certainly felt pretty good. But this brought me back to more questions. Why would it hurt for Blake while I felt like all my senses boosted a few notches up and Terry felt like...she could do anything? What was the source of that buzzing noise? How did it pass through us? Why did Terry went up to the cave in the first place? What was the reason for the look of fear upon Blake's face when he realized Terry was by the cave? Who was that man inside the cave?

How the hell did I saw and heard all those stuff in that pitch dark?

I banged my head against the steering wheel. The best (and only) option was, as Terry said, to sleep on it.

I was about to turn the key when two cars, police patrol cars, by the looks of it, headed to the way I came from. Towards the party. These guys tend to get something right. I pulled out the phone and dialed Alex. He picked up after the fourth ring. The music, turned on again, blasted through the phone.

"Hey, are you at home? I saw you chasing Spencer down the beach like a maniac, trying get to Terry, so I had my doubts."

Spencer, is he, now?

"Dude, cops are coming your way, do something."

"Are you sure?" Alex asked, his voice hushed.

"Positive. I saw two cars heading-"

BANG!

The whole car shook as something considerably heavy fell upon the car top. I looked up. The roof of my beloved Buick was slightly dented.

"I gotta go; something just fell on my car. And get the hell out of there." I hanged up on him and clutched the door handle to get out. The sound of movement up on the roof stopped me.

Whatever that fell on the car, it was moving.

I heard small click, click noises and well as the sound of rumbling, like somebody was breathing badly because of a glob of phlegm stuck in their throats. Frozen and unable to move, I heard the sound of whatever was upon my car coming closer and closer to the windshield. I held my breath, one hand on the door handle, while the rumbling noise ceased for a few seconds. Just as I was about to let that breathe out, it pounced to the hood of the car.