The Secret Story of the Well

The Secret Story of the Well

Flashback

The old oak trees towered over us like giants. Their leaves glistening with the afternoon's dew. The air, bitter cold, biting at our already icy red cheeks. Dead brown leaves and twigs carpeted the moistened ground. Our every step blended the mulch with leaves. We left a trail of footprints in the damp clay. Our miniature sounds echoed forever throughout the woods, never finding its way out.

"This is a little eerie," Rachael whispered to me. Her auburn hair, curled at the ends, swaying at her waist.

"Suck it up, Rachael! We aren't even there yet." Caleb snorted hearing Rachael. She looked at me and shook her head, telling me not to worry about it.

We wandered along the thick lumber cautiously. Our senses amplified, ready to run for cover, just in case something pops out suddenly. From the looks of it, it didn't look like any animals lived here. It only supplemented our fear of these woods. Twigs snapped at our sudden weight as we explored the area.

Mia walked in Brad's arm nuzzling her head into his shoulder. Rachael roamed besides me. Caleb strut in front of us, leading the way, his ash brown hair enveloped by a black beanie.

"According to this," he raised the map in his hands over his head, "we're almost there." His voice lingered into the woods.

"Really? I don't see a clearing Cal-" Mia mocked Caleb when the trees suddenly cleared and displayed a vast piece of land.

The land stretched out in an immeasurable circle. The edges are lined with towering oak trees. In the middle was a short circular wall of smoky grey bricks.

"I told you, Mia. I have the map for a reason." Caleb marked something on the map, folded it, and shoved it into his jean pocket.

"So this is the 'well'?" Rachael drifted towards Caleb, who was already walking towards the grey stones.

Mia and Brad followed Rachael, hand in hand. I stayed where I was. Something in me didn't feel right... Mia fanned her jet black hair as she turned to face me, stopping both her and Brad. "C'mon, Skyler." Her smile had a little crook to it.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and stared at the well. Something really didn't feel right... Not only did the well give off a menacing vibe but, Mia's grin. "Skyler!"

I took a step towards her, forcing myself against my will. She smiled again and continued walking to the well with Brad. Step by step I caught up to the rest of our group.

We surrounded the circular stone wall and stared at it. Rachael and Brad studied what the well showed us.

Skyler...

I looked around trying to find who called me.Everyone was busy studying the wall.The voice didn't belong to anyone here...It sounded gentle, like it caressed my whole body into comfort.No one here has that kind of voice, but it sounded like it was right next to me.I shrugged it off. It might be my paranoia deciding to act up.

"What's the 'secret' to this retarded well, anyway?" Mia kicked the well's wall.

"Don't!" Brad jerked Mia away and she landed in his arms.

"What the heck, babe?! It's brick! It won't break." She pushed Brad away.

"It's not the brick he's worried about, idiot!" Caleb smirked. Mia pulled into Brad, offended by Caleb's words.

"The story, Mia, is a secret. No one knows for sure, but there is theories." Caleb walked to Mia. "Supposedly, this well contains creatures greater than humans, in more ways than one. I don't mean vampires, werewolves, or your twilight nonsense."

Mia pouted her cherry red lips at Caleb's comment. Rachael and I continued to listen while Brad studied the well further.

"This well 'calls' in us humans," he rolled his eyes and laughed at how into it Rachael and I are. "Anyway... There are only a very small percentage of people who actually hear the calls. Those people end up not being human at all. They are what is down that well, but were released when born. Like, to experiment and stuff. " Caleb walked right besides Mia and whispered into her ear, "Do you hear anything?"

Mia whimpered and pushed further into Brad's chest. Caleb and Brad started laughing.Mia punched Brad's chest and stomped over to Rachael who also laughed. That only made the guys laugh harder.

"They also say it could be a toxic waste site." Brad continued, laughing.

"I doubt it. I don't see any weathering that toxic waste could do." Rachael circled the well.

"Not the outside Rach! The inside." Caleb smacked the back of his sister's head.

She rolled her emerald green eyes at him as he walked up to me.

"Look inside, Sky. You're the one who's so perfect. Use that perfect eye sight of yours." Mia told me sarcastically. I shook my head, rapidly, side to side.

Come see Skyler...

The little brown hairs on my body stood up, piercing through the fabric I wore. That...could not have been a coincidence...

"You chicken?!" Brad imitated a rooster's call.

"No." I managed to whisper.

"Then look!" Caleb pushed me closer to the well. The wind began to pick up. It nipped at us, as if the wind were throwing microscopic ice crystals. They bit and scorched our exposed skin.

Balancing myself I asked Caleb, "Ummm... What do I look for?" I wrapped my coat tighter around my body trying to keep the frigid air away.

"Anything worth looking at, duh!" He pushed my small frame and my stomach impacted the well wall.

"Don't be so rough on her Cal'!" Rachael spat at Caleb.

The wind slapped my mocha brown hair in my face. I peeked over the wall into the well. Black was what I saw. Total darkness just like a black hole. I backed away suddenly chilled by the fact of its obscurity.

"Nothing." I said so simply. Caleb smashed me against the wall again.

"Look inside, Sky! Don't be stupid. Get your head in there!" Caleb said into my ear aggressively.

I nodded. "Help me up then."

He grabbed my skimpy hips and hoisted me up on the wall. He let go, stepped back, and let me do what he asked. I saw something. Little white dots flying around. They looked like stars in a pitch-black sky. I also heard something. It sounded like people trying to talk over static. The voices were very quiet though. I couldn't hear. Then the static stopped and so did the dots.

When you fall, don't scream... You'll make your fall deadly...

"What you say Caleb?" I pulled myself up, praying hard it was him that said that.

"I said bye!" He clutched the back of my thighs and tried coercing my body to fall in.

"Caleb! No! What are you doing?! Please, noooo!" I yelled in a voice that didn't even feel like it was my own. It birthed from the deepest part of my lungs. My palms held me and kept my body from tipping into the darkness.

I managed to kick my upper body out of the well for just a second and saw what was unfolding before me. Brad held Rachael. His hand clamped down onto her mouth, muffling her cries. Rachael kicked her legs vigorously. Her eyes turned into an olive green. Her auburn hair sticking to her watered cheeks. Caleb trying to push me into the malignant abyss and Mia smiling her ruby lips, wide as ever, in front of me.

"Noh! Nooooh! Mia no! Please, no. Help me!" I bawled my lungs out into the bitter air.

Don't yell, Skyler....

Mia hooked my wrists into her hands and pulled them away from the wall, smiling with the crook she used before. "You're not so perfect anymore, darling."

Did they plan this? Caleb nudged me and I silently fell into the somber chasm. They faded out of sight ever so slowly as I fell. My face had no expression whatsoever. Not sad. Not angry. Not nothing. A tear fell into my ear and I whispered, out loud, to myself, "What's happening?"

The deeper I cascaded into the never ending hole I went slower. It got a lot colder, too. I couldn't see anything. I felt like the walls were squeezing into me and as I fell, I avoided each squeeze. I couldn't breathe.

Close your eyes....

I fastened my eyelids together and my body came to a sudden stop. I lay horizontal and centered in the circular hole.

"Breathe, Skyler." The caressing voice stood right next to my ear. I took a deep breath in and my body felt like it's ripping through my skin. My skin stretched and burned in an increasing boiling temperature. My body convulsed as it stretched and changed. Everything stung as I inhaled my breath.

"Continue. It'll help, darling."

I complied. I inhaled quickly and exhaled slowly. The stinging went away as I stabilized me breathing.

I opened my eyes and looked up. There they were. Mia smiling, Caleb smirking, Brad choking on the tears he held back, and Rachael crying her eyes out.How could I see them now, but not when I was falling?

"Sky! Sky!! Skyler!!!" I heard Rachael yell into the well. Her tears falling on my arms.

I opened my mouth to yell back to her but was quickly cut off by the woman, I was hearing all along, now next to me. "Don't bother. She can't hear you..."