This free choice blog response is an excerpt from a short story that I wrote called ‘Time Warp’. It follows the journey of twins, Elliot and Alexandra, as they attempt to navigate an underground system of tunnels that are holding them hostage. Pressure is added when they realize that time passes much quicker down there than it does on the surface.
tunnel image
Frantic breaths punctuate the stale air in the cavern where Elliot and Alexandra now stood. Looming ahead of them stood yet another obstacle that could be added to the series of impossible decisions they have been forced to make in the past few minutes (or hours, as it’s been made apparent that time passes on its own schedule down here). The tunnel splits off in two opposite directions, where foreboding darkness is the only indicator of what lies on each end. Glancing at each other, the twins seek reassurance on the other face but instead are met with equally distressed looks.
“Well come on Alex, what should we do?” whispered Elliot, as if afraid that speaking any louder would disturb the unknown specimens lurking around, surely waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
Alex chewed on her lip as she desperately attempted to rationalize the situation. Usually, she reveled in her position as the cleverer one out of the pair, but the mounting pressure to constantly make the right decision with both their lives at stake was slowly becoming too much for her sanity.
“I feel like Mom would want us to stick to the right, especially after we have been going left during the past few turns,” she hesitantly replied. At the mention of their level-headed mother, Elliot’s face instantly fell at the sobering reminder of what was going to be lost if they didn’t navigate out of the mess of this labyrinth in time.
Straightening their shoulders and gathering what bit of resolve they had left, the twins plunged headfirst into the dark depths of the right corridor. Their heavy footfalls reverberated through the tunnel as the imaginary ticking of the clock chased in pursuit.
Alex was lost in her thoughts while running, silently marking the more distinctive-looking crevices in case they needed to retrace their steps when a sudden yelp of surprise came from her left. Skidding to a stop, she scanned the crumpled form of her brother sprawled across the floor.
“I must have tripped on something,” he groaned, rubbing at his now bruised elbow.
Squinting her eyes behind him, Alex could barely make out the vague outline of what looked like a pile of sticks. She moved closer to better examine the obstruction when it finally registered what she was looking at. A scream tore out of her, muffled halfway as her hands flew up to cover her face. Staggering a few steps back in shock, she hit Elliot’s chest who caught her without hesitation.
“Wha- oh my god,” Elliot grimaced as he finally caught sight of what tripped him. Lying in front of them were the remnants of an unfortunate traveler who had apparently met their untimely demise. The person, surely filled with hopes and dreams of their own, was reduced to a mere pile of rotting bones. It was slumped forward, and the twins could almost feel the despair and anguish reminiscent of what the skeleton must have felt in its final moments alive. It was a clear warning of what was to become of them if they didn’t find a way out of these damned tunnels in time.
Not wanting to stare at what was clearly going to be her future, Alex turned away but not before she caught sight of a familiar glint on the skeleton’s neck. Every nerve in her body was commanding otherwise, but morbid curiosity won as she inched closer to get a closer look.
“No…it can’t be possible,” she murmured in shock.
“Alex? What are you doing?’’
“It’s grandma’s necklace.” There was absolutely no denying the fact that the necklace draped across the skeleton’s neck was identical to the one that their grandma had religiously adorned. From the intricately woven pearls to the trademark diamond in the center, it was an exact replica of the one Alex was accustomed to seeing hanging on her grandma’s neck until she had abruptly stopped her visits.
There were too many questions that couldn’t be answered, strange time anomalies that couldn’t be explained, and to top it off, a labyrinth that was apparently holding them captive. Alex could feel herself standing precariously near the edge of a cliff, unable to keep the balance for much longer.
“Whatever that’s going on, Alex, you need to figure it out soon because you’re wasting precious minutes.” Elliot tapped on his wristwatch, the only thing allowing them to keep track of the time passing on the surface.
That tipped Alex off the edge.
“That’s enough! I just can’t take it anymore! I’m trying to focus but all I can hear is this clock in my head going tick tick TICK. That stupid clock has been plaguing us ever since we got lost in these wretched tunnels. Don’t you think I know by now that every second we waste down here translates into minutes on the surface? I have regretted our decision to explore these tunnels at least 50 times by now, especially since I’m now realizing that we probably won’t make it out alive. Not to mention, I just discovered that somehow our beloved grandma didn’t go off to live a reclusive and peaceful life in Nevada, but instead rotted away in the same tunnels that we’re now coincidentally trapped in! Have you ever thought about that, Elliot? Huh? That we’re probably going to end up like her all because YOU were bored and wanted a new adventure!”
“It’s terrifying to constantly think that these decrepit walls and decaying corpses are the only company that we’ll have for the rest of our lives. I don’t know what’s suffocating me more, this moldy air or the fact that I’m the only one capable of getting us out of these tunnels before everyone we love passes away on the surface. I usually take pride in the fact that I’m always the first to answer the questions; the twin that everyone approaches first for help because they know that they can rely on me. But down here? It’s too much. I can’t handle the responsibility of taking care of both our lives. And I especially can’t handle that you keep looking at me to solve our problems. Every time something equally crazy and terrifying happens, you get the luxury of being afraid while I immediately have to find a solution, without having even a moment to process my emotions. All I just want to do right now is to see the peeling paint on our back porch and lie down on the prickly grass that we thought we hated. But most of all, I just want to get out of here!”
At that last outburst, Alex kicked the wall with all her pent-up frustration and gasped when her foot went straight through. With a heavy silence, the twins peered into the newly made hole in the wall and widened their eyes at what was laying on the other side.
everyone loses in war, that actions are cruel but you can find the loophole to justify them when looking at the motives. Contradictions are perhaps that worst affliction the human mind has been cursed with and this year has shown that there is no escaping them. There is, rather ironically, simply a yes and no to every situation that happens simultaneously. And it is these contradictions that make the blissful numbness so appealing. For is it not a constant struggle to continuously argue within one’s mind what is right and what is wrong when many situations are equal and justifiable in both? It’s painful even to face this overwhelming typhoon of endless questioning that threatens to take us over. So why not, right? Why not just become numb to it all. I guess that even the dictionaries and internet searches got it right, that numbness is losing the ability to feel although I guess here it is more voluntary than cause and effect. Or maybe it is just an aftermath of everything going on and people did not wish to lose their ability to be in touch with themselves and the world. See, even figuring out the whys and hows of numbness is full of nothing but contradictions. I wonder if I should just go numb to understanding what it means to be numb as well. Now wouldn’t that be something. 