Searching for Sunshine[solo]
08-14-2024, 10:53 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-16-2024, 12:26 AM by Valkeyrie. Edited 4 times in total.)
 She stood at the mouth of the mine. Staring into a dark abyss, the rusted tracks that seemed to create a pathway beckoned her forwards and her ears twitched in interest. A rare smile graced her maw. Something that would have never made an appearance had there been others around. She was curious to see what was in the darkness, curious to explore it's depths. She started walking forward slowly. Studying the marks on the stone walls of the cavern that had seemingly been made by large claws? She wasn't quite sure. Zig-zag scratches that hinted at how the cavern had been carved out. She continued to wander forward, studying the seemingly insignificant marks in the walls. Her slow movement meant that she did not notice how dark the cavern was getting until it was a bit too late. Realising that she couldn't see took her longer than she cared to admit. She hadn't paid attention to the direction she was headed and now she stood in utter darkness. She was frozen with anxiety. Her first thought was to head in the direction she had come from but she was not quite sure which direction that had been exactly. She did a 180 turn on the spot, now hopefully facing directly behind her and she began to walk forward. Instead of the slow and calm walk she had earlier her pace had a purpose to it. what if I can't find my way out? She dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come. She knew where that thought pattern led and she did not want to wander down it. She knew at the end of it lay panic and fear. That was for later. Right now she had to focus on finding her way out. The next bit consisted of her walking in a calm but purposful pace at first. After some time it began to escalate, her speed began to quicken and fear began to claw at the edge of her mind. She wasn't giving in yet but she had been here for quite a while and she was pretty sure she was either going in circles or getting more and more lost. Her chest was beginning to feel tight as her heart pounded, her body felt both electric and numb at the same time. She felt like she was floating at times. The fear that she was so carefully ignoring was slowly evolving into a panic attack. No matter how much she tried to control these feelings they did not seem to want to bend to her will. Tears began to stream from her eyes. Silently creating wet lines down tonher jaw. She did not sob, she just allowed the tears to flow as she moved blindly through the caverns. Perhaps it was luck, perhaps fate and perhaps it was mere coincidence but she stood on something and with a clickety click she could see. The light was faint, like a moonless night where the world was only lit with stars, but at least it was light. She looked down at her feet to see the thing that was emitting the faint light. It seemed to be a red rusted tube with a flared end. She had never been so grateful to see an object before in her life. The rising panic she had been feeling slowly started to subside. It would not leave until she was out of these tunnels but at least it was now manageable. She glanced around the cave, trying to decide what to do. She could see now but she was still lost and quite frankly she didn't know where to begin in escaping from this maze. She clenched her jaw in an effort to control the panic and it calmed her somewhat. Just then she glanced at the wall of the cave. The strange markings were in a similar direction. Each scratch in the wall seemed to go from light to deep and that made her think. She scary he'd her paw along the ground and studied the marking. Further away from her the mark was deep and closer to her the mark was light. Her heart leapt in excitement. All she needed to do was head in the direction of the lighter side of the markings. With that in mind she bent down, icked up her light source and began to make her way through the mines. She was so happy with her discovery that her tail even wagged a bit. Her happiness was not long lived though, while she felt she was making good pace and she was sure that the air smelt fresher her light source began to flicker. It was so unexpected that she dropped the light source and with a clatter the device fell apart and suddenly she was again plunged into darkness. Again she felt panic overcome her and she sat down sobbing. This time her cries were loud and mournful. She was going to die her. This was it. There was nothing more that could be done. She sobbed for a good while, releasing all her pent up emotions. It was a good cry. A relieving cry. A cry that was not just about being lost in a mine but also about the severe lack of joy her life had had. How miniscule and meaningless she had been. There wasn't even anyone to miss her. The release was good and after her cry she felt better. Better enough that as she sniffed she realised the air did have a fresh smell to it. That made her pause and then she followed it. The smell became stronger and stronger as she moved towards it. She couldn't see anything and she stumbled and fell into what seemed like a wall at first. When she regained her footing she realised it was just a steep slope. An area where the mine had caved in. She started crawling up the slope until she reached an opening. It was the source of the fresh air and she was sure once she squeezed through it she would be free! As she belly crawled the tunnel got smaller and smaller until she felt like she could barely move. Despite it being so dark that she couldn't see her eyes were still open and soon enough there was dirt in her eyes. Nonetheless she kept crawling onwards towards the smell. Finally the tunnel started widening up and she scraped herself free of the claustrophobic tunnel. The scent of fresh air was strong here. Her eyes were still closed because of the dirt and so once she had rubbed them clean and opened them she expected to be able to see. A despondent groan escaped her when she opened her eyes and still saw blackness. All of that work for nothing! And the noise a blue tinged light flashed and the. Disappeared. She cocked her head to the side, confused. "Hello?" she asked and as she spoke the blue light flashed again. A surge of excitement sped through her. The light seemed to respond to noise. She wasn't sure what it was or where it came from just yet but it's existence excited her. Her first thought was to sing, a nursery rhyme from when she was a child. A song that brought both joy and pain when she sang it. You are my sunshine, My only sunshine. You make me happy, When skies are grey. And you'll never know dear, How much I fear dear, That you'll take my sunshine away. The other night, dear As I lay sleeping I dreamed I held you In my arms When I awoke, dear I was mistaken So I hung my head and cried She sang the song over and over as she moved towards the blue light. At first her voice was shaky yet as she sang she grew more confident. It was strange because it seemed like the light was moving. The way it flickered on the walls and shone and dimmed she wondered if it was not maybe a new type of fire? Yet as she moved closer she saw no flames. Instead she saw a small thing wriggling against the wall. She moved closer and realised it was a worm! It glistened as it was covered in what looked like a very sticky clear slime. She was hesitant to touch it, not wanting to get covered in the sticky slime. Suddenly she realised it was not the only worm, there were a multitude of others. All glowing the same blue. She lowered herself to the ground. Her nose almost touching the worms as she stared at them. They were ethereal and magical. For a moment she forgot herself. She forgot she was lost in a cave and was most likely going to die. Instead she just watched the worms wriggle around while she sang to them. At first they seemed to be wriggling aimlessly. Just moving around on the dirt floor but after watching for a while she noticed they seemed to be hunting. Her head cocked to the side in curiosity as she watched a worm chase down a small black beetle and then trap it in the clear slime that covered it before it slithered over the beetle and the beetle was gone. It was fascinating. A breeze blew through the cave, bring a strong scent of the outside and she momentarily stopped her song. When she was plunged into darkness she started up again. She stood and walked towards the scent, singing as she went. The whole tunnel seemed to be filled with the worms and as she moved they lit the path for her. Eventually she reached the end of the tunnel and she squeezed through a small opening to freedom. It was just before dawn and so the outside was dark. She sat on the side of a mountain feeling relief that she had escaped. The worms had saved her and she was pretty sure that she would never forget them. For now though she didn't think she would be aimlessly wondering into dark tunnels though! |
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| 1. | Searching for Sunshine[solo] | Northern Mines | 10:53 AM, 08-14-2024 | 04:49 AM, 11-19-2024 |
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