The Tunnel

Flash Fiction

The Tunnel

“Come on! Come on!” Ted yelled back at Alex and Randy.

“That looks creepy…” Alex said, looking at the huge, hollow cement thing. It looked like a giant straw. What is it?”

Dad says it’s what they use when it gets too much water down here. It gets the water out. So, it must have another end! They’ll never find us in here!”

‘It looks like it’s all filled up with weeds…”

“Well, we haven’t had a flood in years, it probably just grows stuff that blows in.”

Suddenly they heard the other kids coming. “They’re coming! Get in!” and they all crawled into the cement tube.

At first it was light and dry, but as they crawled further it became dark, and wet! And they couldn’t see the end.

“I’m going back! This is awful!” yelled Randy.

“OK, scaredy cat!” yelled Ted. “We’re going to the end!”

“You are!” said Alex, “I’m going back too!!” they both turned around and started back.

“Fine!” said Ted, “I will too, but when we get back let’s go see where we would have come out…”

Getting back, soaking wet, they immediately got “found” by the girls who laughed, and ran home saying they were going to tell.

The boys started following the concrete pipe. It was very straight, but seemed to be aiming down. And they started seeing that it went further than they wanted to go. “Maybe another day?” Ted said, “Let’s go eat, I’m hungry!

Though they all told great stories of what was inside the huge tube (all the way from snakes to grizzly bears) they never did go back. It was wet and smelly, and they were just at the age where girls had started to be interesting…

Which was very fortunate for them, and for the rats.