First Soul by Keeley Smith
An intense rush of cold air penetrated deep into his body. It crawled its way into his bones making him feel like he would never be warm again. Yet, amazingly, this deep, bone numbing cold didn’t hold back the agonising pain he felt in his back and legs.
His body was resting against something hard. It couldn’t be his bed; he couldn’t remember getting into bed at any rate. Had he received one blow too many from the large fists of his father? He could taste dirt in his mouth; this was a good sign as a fist would result in the sweet copper taste taking up residence in his mouth.
Coughing and spitting out the dirt, he finally came to his senses. Sitting up too quickly, his world dipped and rolled and then a crushing pain forced a groan out of his mouth. It felt like his head was trapped in a vice and now he remembered hitting it. The two metal plates of the vice were pushing harder and harder against his skull. The intense throb made him squint as he looked around the place where they’d fallen. It was dark so that didn’t reveal much, the only light source came from the glow in the corner; he recognised the glow coming from Lester.
The wolves.
The ghost.
This was real. Everything had happened.
Deyna and Phillip were stirring next to him, reality was going to hit them too. He saw the jerk of Deyna’s body when she realised where she was. She opened her mouth and let out a piercing scream as she scrambled back on her hands.
“Shush, Deyna. You don’t know what could be down here,” Phillip warned.
For once Phillip’s nerves were spot on. They didn’t know what lurked down here, it made him overly anxious because he wasn’t sure where down here was. They’d fallen through a hole in the ground, that much he knew, but why had there been a hole to begin with? It was extremely dangerous, any dog walker, he wasn’t sure people actually walked their dogs in that part of woods, but still, if they did they would have fallen down here. He lifted his hands from the floor worried they would touch some old bones.
He tried to look around gauging how far they’d fallen but the darkness seemed to creep closer around them. The light from the ghost wasn’t enough.
“We...we need to get home,” Deyna stuttered.
“And how do you suggest we do that, fly up the hole we just fell through? I don’t know about you, but I don’t have wings to allow me to do that. Plus, I really don’t want to meet those wolves again,” Stephen snapped at her.
He regretted talking to her like this but his head hurt and the ringing in his ears from her girlish screams hadn’t helped.
Yet, Deyna had simply voiced what he was thinking. They did need to go home but how they were going to do this was a question he couldn’t answer.
“Sorry, Deyna,” he sighed when he saw the silent tears already trickling over her cheeks.
As they wrapped their arms around each other, she pushed her head against his shoulder and sobbed. They sat like this for however long she needed, he wouldn’t rush her as he felt the guilt wash over him, he never wanted to be responsible for the tears.
Wiping her nose on her sleeve, she pulled away and nodded letting him know she was okay. Her face was splotchy and the red of her eyes made her look tired, yet the grim determination in them made him feel better. She’d pulled herself together. Thank goodness.
Okay, now for his next dilemma, finding a way out of this place.
“We could try using your mobile, Ste,” Phillip suggested.
Stephen smiled, he could have kissed Phillip for his smart thinking as he eagerly pulled his phone out of his pocket, his heart was racing with a new kind of adrenaline.
He looked at his mobile pressing the buttons waiting for the welcoming lights. Nothing was happening. His heart stopped, the breath caught in his lungs. This wasn’t happening. Phillip looked at him and the phone, the realisation hitting both of them at the same time. His mobile was dead. He angrily smacked his phone. It was, or had been, fully charged before leaving his house. The only explanation was the fall, it must have damaged it?
“You won’t be able to use that device.”
Stephen looked over at Lester who’d finally spoken. The ghost was floating off to the side with his head bowed as if he was looking at the floor. He looked like a boy stood outside the head teacher’s office.
“Your new technologies won’t work down here.”
“And where exactly are we?” Phillip asked.
“Lehstreous, as I said before when you’d destroyed my headstone...we have already begun...”
“Where exactly is this Lehst... place anyway?” Phillip demanded rather tersely.
“Lehstreous is here, lad. You didn’t believe me before but perhaps you will believe me now.”
Stephen stood up and opened the map. Now that he looked away from the lines and the cliff peaks he saw the writing, the name,
Lehstreous