A Kiss From Lazarus

He fell into the caverns below. The rope had broken. He thought for sure he was dead, but fortune was with him and had not fallen far. He was not injured and felt no pain, he seemed to be alright. He was relieved as he let out a stuttered sigh. He laid there with the wind knocked out of him, which happened to be the worse thing physically, lucky. He just needed to collect his thoughts and not panic. He looked up. It was a very long way back up. He was in a large basin. Daylight shone its light down but would soon be gone. He decided to stand up and brushed himself off. He coiled rope until he reached the broken end, it was frayed. He knew it was not cut, no one else was around to do such a thing. He should not of used an older rope he knew better and the climb down he kept checking out everything around which made the rope rub a lot on the rocks. He looked at the rope again. Wait… damn… it was chewed. Great! He thought right away that some rodent did this. Well this sucked! He hated the little bastards.

Well! He would wait awhile to make his climb back up. As of this moment he was going to explore and continue his way into the caverns. He gathered up the rest of the broken rope and placed by the entrance of the cavern he was about to enter. He would leave it until he returned. He could not see into the cavern at all. He turned on his head lamp, its beam was bright and went way down the tunnel. He nodded to himself, satisfied with the light’s intensity.

He made sure he had all his gear that he could carry. Nothing seemed to be missing or lost as he made a quick check of it. Moment of truth and he stepped into the cavern tunnel. He did not plan on being to long, an hour in then back. He traveled down. He marked where the tunnels went in opposite directions in order to find his way back. At first there was a dead eerie silence, but later heard a thrumming sound. It was deep underground somewhere. He decided to follow the sound. He went down a tunnel and when he realized the sound was drifting further away, he went back tracked and took another route. This was, the sound grew louder, it was very close now. He came to a ledge that overlooked a huge crevice. There was a ledge on the other side. It may have been about twenty feet away. He was sure he could make that jump. He looked about. He needed to find a way to secure the rope first, just to be on the safe side. He found a notch on the wall and placed a spreader clamp inside, better known as a flexcam. He also had other anchor systems he used. Not to mention ropes, crampons, a harness, belay/rappel devices, and his ice axe. He had a pulley and prusick cords. As he thought about it, he grabbed one of his glow sticks. He cracked it then shook it to mix the chemicals and it glowed green. He dropped it in the crevice. It was hard to gauge in the dark, but about forty feet down it disappeared into water. He knew it! He had a feeling the thundering sound was an underground river. He threw the rope to the ledge on the other side, along with his pack and the rest of his equipment. Now he was not bogged down by weight and could make that jump, that much easier.

He backed away, took a few deep breaths and then ran for it. He leaped through the air and cleared the crevice to the other side. He landed in a forward roll and came to a stop. He found a broken shelf of rock that had come away from the wall at some point, it was heavy enough to hold his weight for sure. He wrapped the rope around and secure it tightly. There, that way he could rappel back over on his return. He cleaned up his belongs and onward.

The caverns continued to twist and turn and spider-webbed onward. Soon, he came to an enormous chamber of a cave. It was so big his head lamp could not reach the ceiling. Sacculates rose from the ground and hung from the ceiling. Some seemed to go right from floor to ceiling, if only he could see up there. This was such a marvel to behold.

He explored a little bit. Soon, he planned to return and gather a crew to come back here to study and explore this place. It was too much to give up. He then noticed a fair size hole in one of the sacculates. The beam of his light revealed only darkness within. He removed his pack and brought out a glow stick. He sent the green light in. it clattered down, like it was a tube. It disappeared around a corner he believed. Interesting!

“What the…” he blurted to himself. He grabbed another glow stick and leaned in. as he dropped it the sacculate collapsed and he tumbled inside. He slid down the shaft like it was a slide in a playground. There were a few twists and turns along the way. Seemed like a very long time past till he came to the bottom. He landed in what felt like sand. His head lamp revealed a chamber much smaller where the walls glittered in its light. Wait! There was a soft blue glow here. Some how there was light here in these caverns. Well, since he was here, he should just check it out and see what it was all about. Besides, who knew how long it would take for him to find his way back, if ever. He made his way in the direction of the light source. This was some adventure thus far. He sure did not want to die down here. Which he just may by chance.

As he came closer, he began to realize it was a pool of water or some sort of liquid anyway. It bubbled, not like it was boiling, but like carbonated soda. It smelled damp like… sea water. He touched it gingerly his fingers just skimmed the surface, it felt cool, soothing. Now, suddenly the waters began to froth and boil. He backed away quickly unsure of the danger. The sight left him in awe. A figure in the shape of a woman of liquid rose up and stood upon the surface that went still like glass, naked.

He was amazed by this. He wished he had his phone or a camera to take pictures. Her blue form hovered. She was beautiful. A rare treasure to hold. He stood before with his arm raised. He wanted to touch her to make sure she was real. She came in closer and looked at him. Her blue water filled eyes swam and moved like tiny waves. She wrapped her arms around his frame and kissed him. His lungs filled with liquid. He was wide eyed in terror. Her kiss was cool, soothing. He began to relax the panic subsided as darkness took over and delivered him into the arms of oblivion… (08/02/19)