By William Shi
He couldn’t see. At least not anymore.
He remembered seeing the chilly wind blowing past his face, and the soft scent of daisies that had brought him here, and the beautiful sun waving him off as he went down.
And he remembered her. He clenched his fists. She, with her golden hair and her charming smile. She had trapped him with no way to get back up.
The caves were an endless series of tunnels. Dim. No landmarks whatsoever. Billions of people wandered through the infinite purgatory, and he was now one of them. There was nothing except the cold scraping of rock against skin, and even that sensation he was numb to. He had nothing to anticipate but thieves stealing what little he had left. But the worst part was the darkness.
Dust clung to his body as his vision yearned for light, but nothing came to mind. He had been here for so long he could barely remember what it looked like.
He clung to the thin image of the surface: the tall buildings that reached for the sky, the sun. For whatever reason, his mind kept looping back to the more negative parts of the surface, or were they just facts of the surface? He shook his head; he couldn’t let those thoughts pull him down. But as time went on, even the most vivid of memories were blurring in his mind, fading into a dark and dusty mist that seemingly grew around him, like the endless caverns he was trapped in.
He had tried to help her, the person who guided her down. Through every mean comment, every hurtful action, every time she gave him the cold shoulder, he was there to comfort her, to help her become better. To raise the heart of gold that he knew she had.
He had trusted her, the golden-haired girl that had led him here, a name that was on the tip of his long, numb tongue. “Why don’t you just trust me?” She would say as she dragged him down the cave, a place he had been to before. She had led him down here.
She didn’t appreciate what he did. The heart of gold that he saw in her had been sold to the highest bidder.
Too stuck in his thoughts, he didn’t notice someone else bumping into him. He croaked out something that might’ve been words. A cheer responded. “I didn’t think I would meet anyone else here,” she said, with a voice drier than his water canteen. Metal clicked against itself. “You look dirty.”
“How do you know?” He groaned. He could barely believe he had just spoken.
“Uh, I’m shining a lantern at your face,” She said. A dim light pierced through the dark clouds. He remembered he had a lantern once; he was thinking of stealing hers when she interrupted, “Man, I can’t believe it isn’t just me down here.” She laughed. “Name’s Glory, what’s yours?”
He coughed. He couldn’t remember his own name, “Uh, doesn’t matter.” His chest pained with each word.
Glory put the lantern out of his face, “Really? Okay, be mysterious like that,” Metal clinked with leather. “So, do you know where an exit would be?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t be here,” He groaned.
“You make a fair point!” She walked forward, “Aren’t you coming? I can guide you.”
He snickered, “Fun.” He couldn’t believe someone would say that down here. He walked towards her voice, groping the wall to move forward. Might as well humor this kid, although it felt like she wasn’t much younger, only newer to the caverns.
Glory’s shoes slammed into the ground like bullets, each step shaking his eardrums. After just a few seconds, he missed the silence he used to despise. He covered his ears, but even through his hands he could hear the soft flickering of his lantern, flames he couldn’t see…
The golden-haired girl was leading him down the caves. He had tried to fix her, to help her become better; he thought that deep within her soul, she could be just as good as what she could be. They had both come down with a lantern.
She had been angry for quite a long time, and he didn’t know why. It was only when they went so deep down in the cave that he finally knew she was mad at him. His lantern shattered, he tripped and fell deep into the caverns. The last thing he saw was the glare of the golden-haired girl under the light of the lantern.
His hands itched; he needed to close that damned lantern beside him. He reached out for it, surprised to see that his eyes could barely see the outline of it. Glory jumped and snatched the lantern out of his grasp, “What are you doing!” She said, “We both need this!”
“Well, I don’t, and it’s annoying!” He growled.
Through the darkness, he could barely make out Glory shaking her head, “I still want to be able to see, so we can both get out of this alive.” He stepped back like a wounded animal.
Glory asked, “Isn’t it better like this?”
“You’d attract thieves,” He said. Scavengers scattered the ground, hurting anyone with a lantern; it was how he had lost his. There were worse, though, fake lantern holders that guided people away from the exit. But he didn’t think Glory was one of them; it just felt wrong.
Glory turned back, and through the ash, he could see her roll her eyes, “I’d say seeing is better. Wouldn’t you?” He couldn’t remember the last time someone cared about his opinion.
They kept walking, and as they did, His eyesight returned to him; he could see the thin outlines of his fingers, the cold stone walls he walked endlessly in. But now, he could also see into his past, and the details of the surface filled his cold heart with ice.
Glory gasped, “No way,” She coughed, choking with joy, “We’re here.” He didn’t trust her; the only light he could see was still coming from her lantern.
He sniffed the air and smelt a thin breeze of roses venture into the caverns. The exit could be right in front of them. He sprinted forward.
The back of his clothing pulled him back, “No, there’s a gorge,” She groaned, pulling him back, “You’ll have to jump. Let me go first so you can see the other side.” She clicked her lantern back onto her belt and leaped. He could see her silhouette on the other side, holding up her accursed lantern near her golden hair. He bent his knees, preparing to jump, “Wait, you’re her, aren’t you!” He looked down at where the ‘gorge’ was. He could see her entire body on the other side, covered in dust and grime.
“Took you long enough, Marcus” Glory sighed, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
He took a step back, “No, no, you wouldn’t help me, you,” He pointed a shaky finger at her, “You monster.” The ‘gorge’ was as black as the floor around him; there was no such drop, his eyes wouldn’t lie to him.
“I made a mistake that day,” Glory begged, “I’m sorry.”
“That doesn’t make what you did right.”
“That’s why I came back, you rescued me before, and I need to pay you back,” Glory said.
“You would never pay anyone back.”
“It’s literally my job now! I’m a licensed therapist, all because you inspired me!” Glory said, “Why don’t you just trust me?”
“Because it's safer here, where nobody will lie, and nobody can hurt you!” He said.
Glory asked. She opened her arms. The lantern wasn’t real; instead, that light he was following was from the left side of her chest. “You made me feel safe, and I need you.”
“Now you need me, after you cheated on me? After all I did for you?” He shouted. His voice echoed across the gorge. He stepped closer, his feet feeling the reliable rock under him.
Glory cried, “Stop! Please, I can’t change what I did before, but I can change what I do now!”
“I was too young, I understood nothing, now I know the surface is harsh, it sucks, and it's safer down here!” He spat, “I’m not trusting your lies anymore.” He took a step toward the ‘gorge’, “I bet this is the exit, isn’t it, right under my feet, and you’re just guiding me down further, you fake lantern holder!”
“What?” Glory asked, “What even is that?” Feigned ignorance, lies, acting, all of these were better than the truth in front of him, that he had fallen for nothing.
“No!” Glory shouted. Her lantern dimmed. A grin grew around Marcus’ face, paining his long unused muscles. He could see the hope flickering in her eyes and her damned lantern flickering with it. His cold heart flickered on.
Marcus said, “I never should’ve trusted you.” Right before he fell, he saw the flowers that marked the exit of the cave. He saw Glory’s face in full detail and the tears marking it. In his one second of immense hatred, he had the most hope he felt in years.
And then he fell.
Glory’s lantern went out.
She jumped down to follow him; she had already spent too much time trying to save him, only for him to give up. Maybe he and her past self had the right idea.
She had fallen back into the tunnels like the billions of other humans stuck wandering the world. Hiding in tunnels instead of finding the exit, fearing the sun just as much as they feared the darkness.
Evermore.