[IC] shadows.

[Rystelle]

From his tone of voice Sophia could tell that Tim wasn't enjoying himself. If she was honest with herself, she had kind of expected a reaction like this. Still, she was not ready to give up just yet. Looking over her shoulder Sophia kept her voice even as she remarked, "Yeah, I do this at least once a week. If I'm crazy, so what? It's good exercise, the scenery is pretty, and it helps me clear my head and calm me down if I'm ever stressed out or upset or just not feeling well." Sophia kind of wanted to add that it was better than locking yourself away all the time like she was pretty sure Tim did, but she kept silent. A remark like that was just a bit too rude, and he was at least... kind of trying.

Unable to help herself any longer Sophia let out a sigh and came to a stop. She turned to Tim, her expression a mixture of sympathy and dejection. "Look," she said, her voice a little flat now. "I appreciate that you agreed to come, even though I'm sure you'd rather be somewhere else right now. All I ask is that you finish this mile with me. If you don't want to keep going after that then I'll take you back to town and I'll never bother you again, except when it's to refill your drink. Even now if you want to leave I'll take you back and never bother you again. Deal?" She stood waiting for his answer with her hands in her pockets, her face as sullen as the storm clouds in the distance. Sophia still held out hope that Tim would at least agree to finish a mile on the trail, but if he didn't she wouldn't be surprised. She was beginning to think that maybe by trying to befriend Tim she had only caused him trouble. The thought made her even more depressed as she hated the thought of causing trouble for others when she only wanted to be friendly.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim looked down. He felt bad again. He always seemed to feel bad for himself, even when he told himself not to. He sighed, looked up, saw her face, and looked back down. He needed to say something. He absolutely needed to say something, so he sucked in a breath, and began to speak. Slowly, not wanting to mess it all up even more.

"Okay...okay, listen to me. It's not that I'm not enjoying myself or that I'm angry that I'm here or that I hate everything about this. Im sorry I made you feel bad, It wasnt my intention. This is just honestly the most contact I've had with anyone in, like, roughly five years. I've been locked away in my room, staying away, fighting off waves of depression --again--not to mention my crippling self doubt. I'm sorry that you think I'm not grateful or if you think I dont like you, because I do like you and I am absolutely grateful."

A few drops of rain were starting to fall now, but he was trying not to notice it as he spoke.

"I feel like shit, but you already know that. I always feel like shit. But I just... I want you to like me...and I want you to be my friend but I've just been making you upset, and I've been fucking up our relationship since day fucking one. I'm sorry. I really am."

He bit his lip, looking down, breathing heavily. He'd never let this much out before. He grabbed his right arm, rubbing his fingers over the center area, when the arm starts to bend. He spoke again.

"Just... I'll turn around and walk home if you want me too. I just... I dont know what to do anymore. Talking is hard, and I'm out of things to say, so... I dont know, what do you want..."

[Rystelle]

Sophia felt terrible for making Tim feel so bad. In a way she really had been a bother to him, making him interact with her and talk to her. She realized the she had probably pushed him to his limit already, having inadvertently forced him to say what he was thinking of when most of it revealed his self-doubt and his short comings. But at the same time she couldn't help but be a little happy that he did want to be her friend and that he liked her and he was trying hard. Really, really hard. Now she knew more about him and knew that she just needed to be more patient with him and not just assume her existence and actions bothered him like she had worried they had.

"Hold on a minute," Sophia said, turning her back to him. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply as she tried to sort through her emotions and gather her words. Eventually Sophia let out a heavy sigh. Finally she turned to face Tim again, her words, at least, in order now.

"I'm sorry, Tim," she apologized sincerely. "I didn't mean to push you so much. I was actually really, really worried that I was just being a bother to you. But I'm glad that you do like me and that you want to be my friend, because I like you as well and also wanted to be your friend." Her words were coming out a little rushed now and it was easy to see that she was trying to keep her emotions in check and not cry. Sometimes Sophia was easily overtaken by her emotions and she hated that. Blinking away her un-shed tears Sophia managed to continue more calmly, "I'm really glad you came with me. I want to keep going. And I want to learn more about you, but just go at your own pace. If you ever feel like I'm pushing you too much just let me know and I'll try to give you your space." She finally finished and stood there with her cheeks colored pink, looking down at her feet in embarrassment with her hands still tucked in her pockets. She had yet to notice the noise created by gentle raindrops hitting the dead leaves underfoot.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim watched her, eyes wide. He was relieved, a little nervous, a little happy. He was a lot of things. Here was this girl, this person he barely knew, emptying herself out for him, going the extra mile to make him be a better person, and he was just barely keeping up. She was so nice to him. He had to try to be nice back. He still needed to get himself in check, so he tried to lighten the mood a little.

He was about to try something incredibly risky: he was going to make a joke, which was probably his absolute worst social skill of all time. He thought fort a moment, specifically choosing out the perfect words for this nearly unimaginable feat he was about to pull off.

"I'm glad you're not crying, because, honest to god, I probably would have ran away." He chuckled a little at his own joke, hoping she would too. He just wanted to be good at cheering her up right now.

[Rystelle]

The thought of Tim running away due to her crying, and then her chasing after him just to see him run caused Sophia to laugh. "That would have sucked for you," she said while giggling. "Especially since I would have chased after you just to see you run." Sophia managed to elicit a smile from Tim, making her happy. "Come on," she waved to him with a smile. "Let's keep going." They started walking the trail again in a companionable silence. Eventually Sophia felt some water drop onto her face. She looked up, worrying that the storm had somehow already crept up on them. There was no need to worry, however, as all she could see in their part of the sky was a single soft, white cloud drifting over them. A gentle rain began to pour.

"It's a sun shower," Sophia informed Tim. Pulling up the hood of her jacket she added, "Just pull your hood up for now. It'll pass quickly." Tim did as instructed and they continued on unbidden. As Sophia had predicted just a few short minutes later the rain stopped as the cloud passed over them and continued on its way, allowing them to pull their hoods back and expose their faces to the sun once more. While they walked Sophia pointed out various things that she found beautiful: the shining fish swimming in the brook; the sound the brook made as it flowed over a small dip, creating a miniature waterfall; the flowers still in bloom; an ancient oak that looked like something straight out of a fantasy story due to the fact that it looked like it had a face and the entire thing was covered in moss. Eventually they reached the mile marker and Sophia turned to ask Tim if he wanted to continue or go back.

"We can go on," he agreed, a little less reluctantly than before she thought.

So they continued on and walked for another two miles. It was a relatively easy trail with a fairly level that wandered along on top of a cliff, so it wasn't hard to traverse. After checking her watch Sophia confirmed that it was coming up on 12 o'clock, a good time to stop for lunch. Before she could say anything to Tim the storm that had been miles off was suddenly upon them. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed, giving them only a split second's warning before the heavens released a torrential downpour.

"Dammit!" Sophia declared as she quickly pulled up the hood of her jacket. "We're too far from the entrance to go back now. We have to find cover." She looked around for something that would give them some shelter, but the trees in this area were small and could provide no safety. Suddenly Sophia noticed a small service road splitting off from the main trail and noted that it appeared to wind down to the face of the cliff they now stood upon. "This way!" She cried, pointing out the service road to Tim before she started traversing it herself. Being out in the open in a thunderstorm was making her nervous. "This trail should wind down to the base of the cliff," she informed him as they made their way down the service road. "There might be a building down there used by the park rangers. If not the cliff might offer some shelter."

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim followed behind Holding his hood over his head as he ran so it wouldn't fly off of his head. Tiny drops of rain stung his face as they ran, which was really just more annoying than anything. The path continued on for quite a bit, twisting and turning down the side of the mountain. He felt...annoyed, honestly. He goes out for one day and theres a torrential downpour? Seriously? If there really was a god, then surely he was laughing at Tim's life.

"Hey, Sophia!" He shouted, trying to get her to hear him over the sound of the rain.

"What is it?"

"Its really wet out here, Sophia! I think it might be raining!" Another joke. That's three jokes in two days, a new record. "I think we should try and find some shelter or something, right?"

[Rystelle]

Sophia tossed her head back and laughed. "That's what I said!" She exclaimed with a grin. Using one hand to keep her hood from falling off her head, she shoved the other in her pocket to keep it warm. Finally they reached the bottom and Sophia darted beneath the cliff and stopped to look around to see if there were any buildings used by the park rangers. There were none to be found. She continued along the face of the cliff.

Occasionally Sophia would look up to judge the overhanging land above them to see if it would provide them with enough cover. She had been running her hand along the cliff wall and had just turned a corner when she suddenly felt nothing beneath her fingertips. It distracted her and she turned to look. Before her was a rather wide-gap in the face of the cliff. It was dark enough that she knew it wasn't just a simple recess; it had to be a cave. Quickly she pulled off her backpack and rummaged around in it until she had found her flashlight. Turning it on she played its beam into the darkness. Sure enough it was a cave. There was no signs of animal tracks leading into the cave, and the storm was bad enough that Sophia was willing to risk waiting there for the storm to pass.

"In here," she frantically waved to Tim. They made their way into the cave and let out sighs of relief at being safe from the rain. Setting her backpack down Sophia pulled off her jacket and set it to the side. It had gotten extremely wet but her shirt was still dry. "Let's wait out the storm here," she suggested, pulling out her pony tail and letting her hair fall about her shoulders so it could dry more easily. "If the storm doesn't stop in an hour I can try to call the park rangers and they can come pick us up. For now I have a blanket we can spread on the cave floor so we can get comfortable and have lunch."

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim pulled off his coat, which was dripping wet by this point, and hung it from the hood on a rock that was protruding from the side of the cave. HE ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head like a dog, getting water off of his hair. He walked over, then plopped down on the blanket that Sophia had set up, sighing a little, but smiling. He shivered a bit, rubbing his arms. The air around them was still and cold, not to mention wet.

"Rain in November is fucking cold, man, jesus christ. So, um, anyway, lunch in a cave? That's pretty cool, right?"

He crossed his legs now, tapping on his knees some.

[Rystelle]

"It's a first for me," Sophia replied as she sat cross-legged across from Tim. She set the flashlight in between them, standing it up so that it gave them light to eat by. She dug into her backpack and brought out two sandwiches, two small tubs of fruit salad, two forks for the salad, and two bottles of water. "Here you go," she said as she offered Tim his lunch. "I hope chicken is ok. I have extra sandwiches and other things too if you'd like." Biting into her sandwich Sophia was quiet for a time and simply stared out the mouth of the cave at the storm outside. For a while Sophia appeared to be in a trance-like state as she just watched the storm. Finally she appeared to break out of it as she opened her water bottle, took a swig, and remarked, "I didn't think that storm would hit us. It was way off in the West when I first saw it. We were just fortunate we were able to find this cave. Sorry our first outing had to wind up like this though." Regardless, up to this point Sophia had enjoyed herself--after she and Tim had gotten over their initial rocky start--and she hoped he had as well.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim sat for a moment longer, and then stood up, pacing the length of the walls of the cave, listening to the sound of the rain outside. He clapped his hands a few times as he did, on auto-pilot, passing the time. He turned for a moment, and looked deep into the mouth of the cave. The darkness looked like it could be cut with a knife. It was inky black and it felt alive, almost. It sort of freaked him out.

"Hello!" he called out, shouting into the void, hearing his voice echo somewhere far off in the distance. "Holy shit, this cave is deep. I wonder how far it goes, y'know?"

He stood there a while longer, just staring into the darkness before him, wondering, his arms crossed behind his back. He kicked a rock by his feet, which also disappeared into the dark shadows. He didnt necessarily want to enter the darkness, but he didnt exactly...not want to, either.

[Rystelle]

Their lunch finished, Sophia packed up the remains, folded the blanket, and put it in her backpack. Picking up her flashlight she stood and went over to where Tim was, her backpack over her shoulders once more. She played the beam around the darkness and saw that the cave did indeed go deeper. "Let's check it out," she suggested."Kill some time. Just be sure to watch your step." Without hesitating Sophia took a step toward the darkness. Her light brightened the gloom but did not make it fully recede. She kept going, stopping to look over her shoulder to ensure that Tim was still with her.

They walked for a good fifteen minutes without finding anything of particular interest. The path was rather even, if not somewhat narrow, but always seemed to be sloping gently downwards. The air was getting colder, though it was at least dry here. Still, the two already damp from the storm felt a chill setting into them. Sophia pulled out the blanket she had packed and handed it to Tim, not really worrying about herself since she had long sleeves on.

Finally the cave appeared to end in a small rounded chamber. "It appears uninhabited," Sophia remarked as she scanned the area."Lucky for us."

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim was a bit amazed at just how deep the cave went. He stood in the chamber, a little awestruck at just how much there was. Wanting to explore it more, he took out his phone, turning on the flashlight. It gave off a bit of light, just enough to see what was around him, which was just fine. He began moving slowly, completely overtaken by the prospect of adventure and discovery. He walked across the expanse of the hollow, away from Sophia, watching the ground until he came to the wall. He scanned it, and noticed right away that there was something not quite right in here.

After a second, he realized that there were etchings carved into the rock all across the wall. His eyes widened. They were everywhere. They covered every surface of the cave walls. He made a face, trying to read what they were. But he couldn't. IT didn't look like any language he had ever seen before.

"Sophia, there are, like, weird Mayan temple marks on these walls!" he said, calling her over to him. "Like...like um, some weird...uh... fucking Indiana Jones shit, I dunno, look at this!"

She trotted up beside him, using her light on the walls to uncover more of the strange, otherworldly markings. Tim shook his head and laughed a bit. This was the kind of thing he was into. The exploring, the mystery caves, the whole bit. He just never thought he would actually be able to do it. He had a huge, stupid, open mouthed smile on his face, but he didn't care.

"Oh, wow. Oh, this is cool! What do you think this stuff is, anyway? Was there, like, a tribe of savage feral crazy people back in, like, 18 A.D. that used this place as a sacrificial tomb of some kind? Or something? What do you think it is?"

[Rystelle]

As Sophia studied the strange markings she felt an abounding excitement settling over her and her face split into a wide grin. "Amazing!" She exclaimed. A few things Sophia loved was adventure, mystery, and history. And here they were all bundled up in one! Having immersed herself for years in video games and books, Sophia had explored hundreds of places, discovered ancient civilizations, fought armies, and brought kingdoms to their knees. But none of that could compare to finding something in real life.

"I feel like Lara Croft!" Sophia declared excitedly. "Way to go, Tim!" She studied the runes for a while, looked carefully at the room. But nothing there revealed what the room might have been used for. Anything that had once been there was since long gone. "I'm not sure what was here," she said, "but I doubt anyone knows it's here. If they did the park rangers would have roped it off or opened it as an attraction. I'm glad no one else knows." Taking her phone out of her pocket, Sophia slowly spun around the room and took pictures of all the runes. "It's like an adventure! Maybe we can find out later what these runes mean."

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim stared hard at the symbols, scratching the back of his head as he observed them. He tried to place what they were, but he just couldnt do it. It looked like a mixture of a bunch of different things all smashed together into one. He cocked his head to the side. He couldn't make heads or tails of what he was looking at.

"This looks like...everything and nothing at the same time. Like, for a second it looks french, then Russian, then it looks like a bunch of hieroglyphics or something, and then...just stuff. Its so weird." He reached out and touched one of the engraved figures, running his fingers across them. They were smooth. "It's weird, they aren't even rough. They don't feel like the rest of the rock. Have you touched these yet?"

[Rystelle]

"Not yet," Sophia said and shook her head. Now, however, she was intrigued. Stepping close to the wall Sophia put her hand out and ran her fingertips along the runes. They were smooth, but if you moved your hand off of them and onto the rest of the wall the surface was rough. She looked closely at the symbols, examining them. As Tim said the runes looked to be a mixture of hieroglyphic pictures and various kinds of alphabets. But maybe it was a language all its own.

"Amazing," she sighed. Then she turned to Tim and grinned. "This was an amazing discovery, Tim!" She exclaimed happily. "I'm glad you noticed these runes. Perhaps that storm hitting wasn't so bad after all." Sophia was simply overwhelmed. Never before had she thought she would actually stumble upon something like this: something ancient and mysterious and magical. "It's like something out of a book or a video game."

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim shrugged, smiling still. He walked along the wall, rubbing it with his hand, feeling the contrast between the smoothness of the etchings and the roughness of the walls. He kept on like this for a bit, his intent to walk the circumference of the hollow. However, as he moved, he found his hand touching nothingness. But he hadn't circled around the entire area yet. He turned his light on the wall.

"Whoa... wow. Sophia." He stared at the wall intently, shaking his head. He took a step closer to it.

"What? What is it?" She asked running up to him. And soon, she found herself in the same state that tim was in.

In front of them was a perfectly rounded hole carved into the face of the center of the wall. Just like the runes, the hole was perfectly smooth to the touch. The entire passage was perfectly carved into the wall. Just as well, as Tims light shined down the tunnel--which appeared endless, by the way-- one could see tiny gems of some sort refracting the light all the way down into the hole.

Tim spoke curtly. "Holy shit."

[Rystelle]

"That--," Sophia paused, astounded. "I don't think that was there before, Tim." She had encircled the whole cave just moments before to take pictures of everything. She had not noticed it. But perhaps she had over looked it? It was a large cavern, and it was pretty dark where their light had not shined. "Maybe I missed it," she mumbled more to herself than Tim. She stepped a little closer to the mouth of this smooth, shining hallway, but did not go in. Sophia felt a little unsure about it.

Moving back to stand beside Tim once more she turned to look at him and asked, "What should we do? Should we go take a look or head back?" She was a little worried that if they went too far and the hall split off into branches they may get lost. That and the fact that they had already come so far that if something were to happen no one may find them until it was too late. She watched Tim, wondering what he might say.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim continued to stare into the hole, scratching the back of his head again, thinking of what to do. On one hand, he really wanted to crawl into the hole and find out where it goes. Or at least see how far in it goes. On the other hand, however, that exact scenario is the perfect setup for any horror movie that ever existed. This was a very strange scenario to be in, but it was also incredibly exciting for Tim.

"Okay, I dont think you understand just how much I want to crawl into that hole right now. It looks crazy cool, we could make new discoveries, it would be a great first outing in five years, yes? But...like...okay, I also don't want to die, and theres a very real possibility that we could get murdered by some sort of monster. This is a very hard decision for me. What d you think we should do?"

HE turned to sophia, arms crossed over now. "I think we should both decide."

[Rystelle]

Sophia thought for a while, her mouth turned down in a grimace. Part of her wanted to go explore the hole, but the other part of her warned her not to. Years of playing video games and reading books said that either something good, something bad, or nothing at all awaited them on the end of this. This was real life and not a game or a book so the only monsters they might run into would have to either be an animal or a human. Being that the cave entrance had looked uninhabited Sophia doubted either of those were possible (unless it bats lived there). They were more likely to fall down a hole or something. But what if there was something of significance down there? Like a way to decode the runes? A hint as to what this cave was? Or a treasure? A treasure would be on the better end of the spectrum, but just the thought of being like a real adventurer was starting to warm Sophia up to the idea of exploring the little crawl space.

"Let's check it out," she finally decided. "But to be safe I have some rope we can tie around our waists in case one of us should fall. I also have a pocket knife. It's not much, but it's something. And my flashlight has a wrist strap to make it easier to hold onto to light our way."

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim wrapped some of the rope around his waist, though he wasn't exactly sure how the rope would help him. But, he didn't say that. After they were both ready, Tim walked up to the hole and climbed up into it, getting on his hands and knees. He stared into the darkness, trying to see deeper into the cavern ahead of him, but no matter how hard he looked, he just couldn't see. It looked like it went on forever. And yet it was contained in such a small hole. Claustrophobia set in instantly, making him a little uneasy. He breathed out uneasily, biting his lip. He turned his head around, looking back at Sophia.

"Alright, lets um...yeah, lets crawl now."

He started moving forwards, and after a moment, Sophia crawled in behind him, following close behind.