In the Rocks

In the Rocks

It was a cold day in late November, the clouds were dark and dreary and the sun was blotted out to a dull glowing orb on the horizon as it set. Night was falling soon and as I stood with my friend Anna on the beach we began to shiver more and more. It was getting much colder very fast and so we agreed to head back to the parking lot and to our car. As we turned to leave I paused, something catching my eye off to my left. What I thought had been a flicker of light drew my attention to the mass of rocks that piled along the shore line and jutted out a little ways into the ocean. Anna paused also, seeing me stop, and followed my gaze to the rocks.

“What’s up?” She asked.

“I thought I saw something over there. A light or something.”

“Oh, well it’s probably just some kids or something.”

I nodded and was about to turn to keep walking when I saw it again. This time a definite flicker of light within the rocks. This time it lingered longer before going out. I turned to Anna, but she had seen it too.  For some reason we both felt a strange chill, but from within rather than from the cold wind around us. Something seemed very odd about that light flicking in the rocks. There were no caves over there that we knew of. We frequented this beach quite often all throughout the year and had never known there to be any caves, or even any hollows large enough for a person or larger animal. 

“Come lets go back, it’s just some kids,” Anna said again. “Cece, come on please.”

But I was transfixed. I can’t explain why but I was staring at the spot where the light had been when suddenly it came back, only this time staying lit up, and shimmering as if coming from a fire source. I still felt the chill. And I felt drawn. I wanted the fire to warm me. I was so cold. I needed to get to the fire. I began moving toward the light when Anna grabbed my hand and yanked me back. I turned to stare at her as I jerked my hand away. She was saying something but I couldn’t understand her. Her voice was muffled, as if she was talking through thick glass. I called to her but she did not seem to really hear me either. I continued walking on towards the light in the rocks, and I noticed Anna followed along.

As we got to the rocks we found a fairly large opening to a cave. The cave itself was pretty large, tall enough for us to easily stand, and spacious enough for a handful of people to sit around in. But there was no one. Only a small crackling fire in the center of the cave. A pack sat near the fire, as well as an unrolled sleeping bag and a book of matches next to it. Anna and I looked at each other. We climbed inside. Once in the cave all sounds of beach; the waves, the wind, the seagulls, had all ceased. We could see the scenery through the mouth of the cave, but could hear nothing of it at all. Now only the crackling of the little fire. We noticed too the wonderful warmth sweeping through our freezing bodies. We sat down near the fire, warming our hands and feet and staring into the flames. I wanted to speak to her. I wanted to tell her I was sorry.

“For what?” Anna asked.

“What?” I said snapping out of my daze.

“You were saying you were so sorry, over and over. For like the past five minutes...”

“Oh...I, I don’t know. I think I’m warm enough let’s go back, this is weird.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Anna sighed as she got to her feet only to stop suddenly and gasp.

“Cece, the cave. The entrance is gone!” I looked all around. There was no hole. No ocean, no beach, only solid smooth rock. This didn’t even look like the beach rock that we had entered through. 

“Ok, let’s not panic,” I said trying to stay calm. 

“Why did you insist on coming in here?” Anna yelled, clearly panicking.

“It was so cold out there, I wanted to warm up by the fire.”

“But we had no idea who’s fire it was, and it wasn’t even that cold!”

“I...I don’t know. Let’s just figure out how to get ok?”

Anna glared at me for a moment before turning her attention to the rock, feeling around for a crevice or something. I began doing the same before noticing a tangle of brush and bushes at the far side of the cave that I had not noticed before. Or maybe had not been there before? I showed Anna and we approached them.

Cold air. We both felt it as we got nearer and then we definitely felt and heard a stiff wind blowing through the bushes. I began pushing aside the branches to reveal a small opening large enough for us to fit through. But what was on the other side did not make me want to go out there.

A vast and dark snowy landscape met my eyes. Rolling hills covered in towering pines stretched as far as I could see. Anna looked through as well and gasped. We exchanged looks, glanced back at the crackling fire, and then back out to the snow. The sky was still gloomy with dark and foreboding clouds, and the wind was harsher and sharper than ever. Anna and I nodded at each other, silently agreeing to go out and figure out where we were and what was going on.  Had we been drugged? Had we been abducted? 

Once we stepped outside we knew our shorts and t-shirts from our beach attire were quite ill-suited for this weather. To make matters worse, it began snowing. We were now standing in the middle of an increasingly violent blizzard. We looked all about us, and turning round we found the cave entrance we had just exited from was now gone. This almost did not surprise me at this point, though Anna seemed to be having a brand new wave of anxiety washing over her. As we looked about for any sense of direction, we were seemingly shown the way by a far off light atop one of the distant tree covered hills. This was not a fire light though it seemed, as it was quite bright and yellow and round and was not flickering. I motioned to Anna and we began making our way as quickly as we could. The direction was against the wind, so in addition to the freezing snow we were pushing against heavy, piercing winds. Our skin was already quite frozen and I could no longer feel my feet or hands, not to mention my poor face. The far away light now appeared to be much closer. What had seemed to be possibly close to a mile off was now only just up a steeply sloping hill that we had just reached the bottom of. I began climbing haphazardly up the side, slipping and sliding with every grasp in the snow. Anna followed close behind.

After what felt like an eternity flailing through the snow we reached the top of the hill where the wind and snow had stopped almost completely. A slight breeze blew, and a single snow flake drifted serenely down here and there. And in the center of the hilltop was a small hut with only a door and a single window, from which the bright yellow light was glowing. We wasted no time getting to the door, hoping that it was at least much warmer inside than out here.

I knocked hard on the door several times. We waited, shivering nearly frozen to death but there was no answer. Anna barged through the door, “Forget it I’m going in.” I followed after her. She screamed. She was gone.

I caught myself just in time, maintaining my balance at the very edge of a cliff. I looked behind me. No door. Nothing but a vast expanse of rock. I looked back down over the edge. Anna lay at the bottom, a disturbingly far fall, laying flat against the rock floor below. Blood was pooling around her head.

“Anna!” I screamed as tears began to flood my eyes. “Anna say something! Please!”

Then I noticed a rope tied securely around a large boulder to my right. I didn’t care if it was a trap, I had to try it. I grabbed hold of the rope and slowly climbed down to where Anna lay. I ran to her and picked her up in my arms, covering myself in blood. Her head was split, her skin already graying, her heart not beating.

“Anna,” I sobbed holding her close to me, “I’m sorry...I’m so sorry, Anna...”

Tears spilled down my face for what seemed to be hours, until I heard the clatter of rocks above me. My head snapped up and I looked to see a figure standing on the cliff high above me. The cliff seemed to have become taller, and in the lighting it seemed nothing more than a black silhouette.

“Help!” I called desperately. “Help me please!” It just stood there. “Please, I need help, I don’t know what’s going on or where I am can you help me?”

It slowly raised its arm and pointed one long finger at me. I saw where the face should have been begin to shimmer and shift and suddenly the figure was right before my eyes, wearing Anna’s face, but a deeply distorted version of it. The eyes were pure black, and the mouth was grotesquely wide. The scream it emitted was ear splitting. I jumped back in shock and felt myself falling. Falling deeper, and deeper, and deeper. All was darkness around me. Thud.

I hit something soft, cool, and sandy. I heard the calls of seagulls. I heard the crashing of waves and the sound of laughter and chatter. I opened my eyes that I seemed to have shut tightly, only to be blinded by the bright sunlight. I was on the beach again. Laying on my towel in the sand. People were all around. Children running and chasing one another, while parents conversed under colorful umbrellas. The sky was clear blue, not a cloud to be seen. I had just fallen asleep. It had all be a bad dream! Anna’s towel was next to mine along with her bag and sandals.

But I could not find her. Anna was nowhere to be seen.

But what I did see was the flicker of light off to my right. In the rocks.