Window in the Earth Trilogy

by Fish, Matthew

  “Did she talk to you?”

  “She said one thing, I think…about there being magic in the world,” James quietly replied, trying to think back to the time. “Why?”

  “I think I had a visitor last night,” Bones quietly answered back. “I can’t remember it clearly, though. I was sleeping in my bed and I felt like someone was just watching me sleep.”

  “Do you think it was her?” James asked.

  “I don’t know. She did look very sad though, when she was watching me.”

  “Did she say anything?” Christopher asked. He had been listening to the entire conversation intently. Perhaps it was another part of the puzzle, if there was one to be solved, that is.

  “No,” Bones replied. “That’s why I asked. She just kind of stood over me, looking very upset. I remember because I woke up feeling really sick, and she kind of made it go away.”

  “Are you okay now?” Christopher asked, concerned.

  “Oh yeah, right as rain,” Bones said. “She took my pain away, though, that night. It should have been creepy, yet it felt so calming. Cool and calming, that’s it.”

  “I wonder if that’s Alena. I wonder if she’s why we’re able to see the window…,” James said, trying to figure things out as well.

  “If it is…,” Bones said, “…I wonder what she wants?”

  “I guess we’ll have to find out,” Christopher said, remembering the necklace. “Kylie got a necklace, and it might be from Alena. I guess we’ll know more when Kylie goes in.”

  “You’ll have to keep me up to date,” Bones said. “This is so crazy, yet I can’t help but be obsessed with wanting to know about it.”

  “We will,” Christopher said as he stared blankly out the truck window. He wondered if Alena had given Kylie her cross. Could she possibly want something in return? Was this really a safe thing to do? Christopher didn’t know whether or not he was being overly paranoid because Kylie was involved, or whether he should genuinely feel worried. He shrugged off the bad thoughts, reminding himself of all the good things that the cave and the window in the earth had done for them all.

  That night, Christopher lay alone in bed and exhausted from everything that happened from the day at the lake. He kept replaying the moment that he and Kylie kissed over and over in his mind, like a television set in his head repeating the same exact events and feelings a million times over. He could feel butterflies in his stomach just thinking about it all. As he lay there, the time seemed to fly by. He had to eventually force himself to fall asleep, just so that it would be morning and he would be able to see her again.

  Chapter 12: Kylie’s Memory

  Young eyes, shining in the darkness. The horrors are all human.

  “So…,” Christopher said, turning to Kylie as they stood at the entrance to Alena’s Cave, “…are you sure you’re ready to do this?”

  “Yeah,” Kylie calmly replied, nodding. “I’m ready.”

  It was about an hour after noon. Kylie had arrived just hours before and the three of them had already set out for the cave, eager to learn what her place was in all of the big mystery. Christopher was so happy that she was there with him and his brother, and could hardly contain himself as he spent the morning counting down the seconds until she arrived.

  They had wanted to leave earlier, but were forced to wait since the rain had been a lot heavier that morning. However lighter the precipitation was now, however, it was still raining, and the three—Christopher, James, and Kylie—were dressed accordingly; all three wore yellow rain jackets that made them group look rather comical, almost as though they were dressed and ready for Halloween as three brightly colored and tacky ghosts.

  Cautiously, they made their way into the cave entrance, where, much to their surprise, the rain had had a big effect on the entrance chamber. The central pool was already slightly overflowing the time before, now it filled the entire cave entrance.

  “Stay close to the sides,” James said as he led the way in, skirting the cave walls. The water at some points was way past their ankles.

  “You can’t even tell where the center pond is…,” Christopher said as he reached backward for Kylie’s hand.

  “Will we be able to make it all the way down?” Kylie asked, holding on to Christopher with one arm and steadying herself along the cave wall with the other.

  “Should be all right. Looks like the flooding is mostly by the entrance,” James said, shining his flashlight beam back down the area where a discernable pool used to be. “It’ll be a bit slick; we’ll just have to take it really slow.”

  “Right,” Christopher said as he gripped Kylie’s hand firmly. The thought of getting swept away and being flung over the falls and onto the floor of the cave’s largest room seemed like a rather painful journey he did not wish anyone here to make.

  The distant static-like sound of the waterfalls at the far end of the tunnel gradually increased to a roar as the three carefully treaded down the passage. The ground beneath them was slick with water that flowed strongly against the backs of their ankles. They all had to hold on to each other and the wall in order to safely get through.

  “Let’s not look down the drop-off this time,” James said as he shined the beam up ahead of them. The water was rushing a lot more violently up ahead. “Unless one of us wants to go over.”

  “Yeah, then we’ll have to come to the cave to relive memories of you,” Christopher said, chuckling.

  “Right,” James said sarcastically as he led them to the right and down into the winding passageway that curved around the waterfall chamber.

  Luckily, this area seemed as though no water had affected it yet, which was strange given that the winding passageway headed straight down. Perhaps it was a bit of the cave magic at work, or perhaps the other way was just the path of least resistance.

  The wind in the passageway felt light and cool. As they made their way down, every now and then Christopher would pause to look behind him and make sure that Kylie was still all right. He didn’t know why exactly he was being so protective of her. The more he thought of it, it was kind of obvious why, but he realized that he must look rather silly to her regardless. Instead of telling him how silly he was acting, she would just smile and nod each time he glanced back at her, letting him know that everything was fine.

  As the three entered the bottom of the waterfall chamber, James hastily extinguished the light of his lantern, revealing the window in the cave wall. Their eyes adjusted as the cave filled with the soft white glow of the magic window.

  “The water is getting closer…,” Christopher said, pointing up and away to the falls.

  “Yeah…,” James said, looking over his shoulder. “If it keeps up who knows how long it will be before the water is up to the window.”

  “I wonder what will happen then,” Kylie said. “Will water go into the window?”

  “Hard to know,” Christopher said, shaking his head as he spoke. “Hopefully the rain will stop soon.” It did worry him a bit, however, to think about what might happen to the window if the rain did not stop. Would the magic wash away from the cave? Would the room fill with water and be inaccessible?

  “Right,” Kylie said as she reached into the pocket of her rain jack jacket, pulling out the white cross with the silver chain attached to it. She slowly placed it around her neck and clasped the chain together.

  “Remember,” James said, starting his safety speech, “it’ll feel very strange in there, but don’t panic and it will go away soon enough.”

  “And it’ll be pretty hard to move around. You really have to concentrate on where you want to get to,” Christopher said.

  “I watched you two both do it,” Kylie said as she tied a knot in the rope around her waist. “So I should be all right.”

  “Just remember to pull on the rope if you want out,” Christopher said as he readied himself, rope in hand, for Kylie’s entrance into the window. “For any reason.”

  “I will,” Kylie whispered. “I
can do this.”

  Kylie gave Christopher a quick embrace, kissing him on his cheek. Then she inched her way to the open window, her fists tightly clenched at her sides. Tentatively, she let her foot slide into the opening as she winced from the pain of the coldness.

  “It will pass,” James said. “Just don’t think about it.”

  Kylie allowed herself to pass further and further into the opening, and soon all that was on this side of reality were her hands and face.

  Christopher watched her face slip through the threshold, rippling as though passing through water. As she disappeared into the window’s portal a familiar tearing sound was heard as the window gave one final shudder. “She’s in,” Christopher whispered, seeing the back of Kylie’s head slowly fill up the view of the window.

  Christopher and James watched as Kylie flickered in and out of their sight, appearing to struggle a bit with the strangeness of the room. She made her way back to the window for a moment and Christopher could have sworn that she was staring at him. Then, both Christopher and James caught a glimpse of her blowing a kiss to Christopher.

  “What a show off…,” James whispered, shaking his head.

  Christopher chuckled. He was glad to see that she was adjusting well and was in such high spirits in there. He remembered his time in the room: he had been way too uncomfortable to even think of something clever, so he had just given a thumbs-up as James had.

  Kylie made her way about the room, appearing here or there, shimmering and seemingly fading in and out of existence. Just as Bones had done before her, she paused at the door before continuing onward. Christopher wondered if it was locked for her as well. He was a little embarrassed to admit that he had been too afraid to try the door himself, and wondered if it was locked when he had been in there as well.

  “Looks like she’s found what she’s meant to,” James whispered, his hands instinctively tightening on the rope.

  Kylie could be seen reaching for something on the shimmering white bed; it was too small to clearly be seen from the window.

  “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to the part that happens next…,” Christopher whispered as he watched Kylie reached down to pick up the object.

  “Well, here it comes anyway,” James added.

  As Kylie’s hand clasped around the item on the bed, a familiar darkness quickly filled the room, and blackening the cave with it. Cold air rushed out and wind howled throughout the cave, a mighty boom echoing throughout the darkness. Then, just as it had happened every time before, the window slammed shut on the rope.

  His hands sweaty and anxious, Christopher gripped the rope as tightly as he could. He knew that all of this had become routine, yet he couldn’t help but worry with Kylie in there—not that he hadn’t worried about James or Bones when they had been in there, but he felt more responsible for Kylie, and if anything happened to her he would never be able to forgive himself.

  “She should be out any moment now,” James whispered to Christopher.

  Christopher counted down the seconds nervously in his head as he waited and waited. It seemed as though it was taking forever. Before he could worry much longer, the window flew back open, launching Kylie out and onto the cave floor. She lay on her back, and she was moving.

  Christopher rushed over to Kylie, quickly wrapping his arms around her. She had tears streaming down both of her eyes and looked as though she had been crying long before she had even returned to the cave. How much time had passed in there? What had happened?

  “It’ll be all right,” James said, placing a hand on Kylie’s shoulder. “Just give it a few…”

  “It’s not going to be all right!” Kylie screamed, pushing both Christopher and James away. Tears streamed from her eyes, her breathing becoming heavy and labored. She continued to vent at the two. “Damn him! Why’d it have to be about him?”

  “It will be okay…,” Christopher whispered, trying to dodge Kylie’s wild swings and calm her down. “It’s always bad right when you get out….”

  “Him? Was it your father?” James asked, confused.

  “Damn him…,” Kylie whispered angrily, her hands now covering her face in shame as she continued to cry heavily. “How could I forget about that…?”

  Christopher once again brought his arms about her, trying to comfort her in any way he possibly could. “It’s okay. Things will be okay now….”

  This time Kylie did not push Christopher away; instead she reached down and brought his arms closer around her. It didn’t seem as though she was getting any happier, though. He thought that the cave was only supposed to help you relive good memories. What had gone wrong?

  “What did you see in there?” James asked, placing a hand on her back.

  “I saw my father…,” Kylie whispered, still sounding very shaken and upset. “I saw him with my grandfather….”

  “Maybe the memory was supposed to be about your grandfather?” James offered, trying to find something uplifting to think about. It sounded as though he was just as concerned with the fact that the cave had given a bad experience.

  “My grandfather was not a good man….” Kylie sobbed, shaking her head and attempting to wipe away some of the tears from her face.

  Christopher reached down and pulled up the bottom of his shirt, using it to help Kylie clean away her tears. “I can’t believe the window would make you see your father.…”

  “There is a reason…,” Kylie whispered, her face seeming clear and her emotions gathered. She slowly sunk into a sitting position, her hands tightly gripped around Christopher’s. Resting her back against the cave, she looked around as if searching for some kind of relief that she just could not find. Another tear came streaming out of her eye.

  “What happened in there?” James asked, very much confused and concerned.

  “The memory…,” Kylie began, “…I had completely forgotten it…or I don’t know if I forced myself to forget it.”

  “Was it that bad?” Christopher asked, frustrated and angry with both the window and himself for letting her go into it.

  “It started off at home, with my father…,” Kylie said in a sad hollow voice. “God, I must have been, like, eight…. My grandfather was still alive then and he was running the bait shop, and my mother never wanted to be around him. I would always ask why, and she would always say that he was a horrible, horrible man. Can you imagine being eight years old and being afraid of your grandfather…?”

  Christopher quietly shook his head. The thought alone troubled him. He felt so bad for Kylie, imagining how it had to be to first be afraid of your grandfather and then later in life having to fear your father. Family is supposed to be there to make you feel safer, not worse.

  Kylie shook her head, wiping away another tear from her eyes. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and then continued, “My grandfather always hated my father for being with mom. He would always make comments about my mother being worthless, and that I was a worthless piece of trash.”

  “Sounds like a real ass,” James said, a big scowl on his face.

  “Yeah,” Kylie said. “Well, the memory…me and my father were sitting at home, just watching TV. I remember it was storming outside; it had been raining all day long. Then my father got a call from my grandfather, telling him he needed him to come down to the bait shop, that it was some kind of emergency.”

  Kylie took in another deep breath, trying to shake off her sadness and uncertainty, and then continues, “Mom was at work in Springfield. She worked as a nurse back then…. So me and my father drove out to the shop…. I remember that my grandfather turned to me when I stepped in and said, ‘What is that bitch doing here?’”

  “He said that to you…?” Christopher whispered, shaking his head, not believing someone could say something so hateful to someone so young.

  “Yes…,” Kylie whispered, wiping away other tears that were forming at the corners of her eyes. “My father and grandfather went down into the cellar of the store. He
said that there was some water flooding in, and that a wall was coming down in the back. I was supposed to wait upstairs, but it was storming so hard and the lightning was so loud…that I didn’t.”

  “You went down?” James asked, very concerned and scared for Kylie. “What happened?”

  “Well…,” Kylie said. “I followed them down…. I wasn’t supposed to be there…. I wasn’t supposed to see what I saw.”

  “What did you see?” Christopher asked, growing more and more concerned with each passing moment.

  Kylie quickly wiped at her eyes again and shook her head. She was finding it difficult to continue. “Water from the storm…water had come down and brought down a section of the wall in the basement. My father and grandfather were trying to pile it back up to cover something up…something….that looked like clothes and bones….”