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Chapter 4
Julianna screamed, and then so did Kyrie. They were falling. Julianna felt the wind of something whistling past her face. She grabbed for whatever it was. It turned out to be the rung of a ladder, probably steel rungs embedded in the wall. Her fall stopped abruptly, and she grabbed for Kyrie with her free hand. She caught something and held on. Kyrie hit the wall below her with a thump. Her hand and arm she was hanging onto the ladder with were screaming with pain, but she held on tight.
“Kyrie, sweetheart, there's a ladder in the wall”, Julianna said, “Grab onto it”.
Suddenly the weight was released from Julianna's hand and arm. What a tremendous relief that was!
“I – I'm on the ladder now”, Kyrie said breathlessly.
“That was too close”, Julianna said.
“Way too fucking close”, Kyrie said.
“Well, we might as well climb down the ladder and see where it get's us”, Julianna said.
“Yeah, might as well”, Kyrie said.
They started down the ladder. Kyrie went slowly and Julianna wanted to go faster. She kept catching up with Kyrie and she had to stop and wait for her to continue down.
“Does this thing have a bottom?”, Julianna asked then.
“I'm beginning to wonder”, Kyrie replied.
The shaft was jet black. They could not see their hands touched to their faces. They continued down into whatever awaited them at the bottom of the shaft. Suddenly they could hear something above them. It sounded like steel wheels on steel rails. They looked up and saw the elevator car coming down on them – fast.
“Jump!”, Julianna screamed.
“Are you crazy?!”, Kyrie yelled back.
“Yes! Just jump!”, Julianna screamed again.
Julianna let go and fell down the shaft. Kyrie had done the same thing. Less than 6 feet later, they stopped. They were at the bottom of the shaft.
“Lie down, now!”, Julianna screamed.
They both lay down flat on the floor. The elevator car stopped and opened it's doors. Julianna could see a little now that the light from the elevator was sifting through to them a little bit. The elevator was stopped about 18 inches above them. They waited not so patiently for the elevator to go back up again. It didn't. It stayed on the ground floor.
“Oh great, now it's not going back up”, Kyrie said.
“Yeah”, said Julianna, “It better go back up again soon”.
“Yeah”, Kyrie said.
They waited for the elevator to go back up. Suddenly it's doors opened and somebody stepped into the elevator. The person in the elevator was saying, “Shit, shit, shit”, over and over again. Julianna could hear whoever it was press a button. The elevator rose back up the shaft. They stood immediately. Kyrie began to feel around the walls of the shaft.
“They've discovered us missing!”, Julianna said.
“Shit, that's all we need”, Kyrie said.
Just then Julianna found what felt like a hatch in the wall. She felt around and found a handle. She pulled on the handle and there was a squeaking and creaking and suddenly the hatch was loose. She swung it open, but could see absolutely nothing in the stygian gloom. She stepped through the hatch and went down about 4 feet into water. It was above her waist. She didn't mind too much. After all, she was wet most of the time anyway. She turned and helped Kyrie down into the water.
“You didn't tell me there was water in here!”, she said.
“You didn't ask”, Julianna replied with the cliched response.
“Thanks a lot”, Kyrie said, “You coulda said something”.
“What would you have done if you had known there was water in here?”, Julianna said.
“I don't know”, Kyrie replied.
“Well you couldn't stay in the elevator shaft, could you?”, Julianna said.
“No, I guess not. I guess I would have come in here anyway”, Kyrie conceded.
“Exactly”, Julianna replied, “Besides, you'll be able to pee your pants and nobody will be able to tell”.
“Oh yeah! Cool!”, Kyrie said.
Julianna began smoothing her hands over the wall near the hatch from the elevator shaft.
“What are you doing?”, Kyrie said.
“I'm looking for, hopefully, a tool box or something like that”, Julianna replied.
“What good's a toolbox going to do us?”, Kyrie replied.
“There may be a flashlight in it”, Julianna said.
“Oh, good thinking”, Kyrie said.
Julianna found what felt like a small door in the wall. She found the handle and pulled it open. A light went on inside the enclosure, revealing it to be a catch all. Julianna saw a flashlight in the back corner. She picked it up, praying the batteries were good. She flipped the switch and nothing happened. The batteries were dead. Shit! She looked around inside the enclosure and found one C cell battery and two D cell batteries. She opened the flashlight's battery compartment and slid the batteries out. Luckily they were D cells and there were only two. The other two D cells were still in their original package, so she figured they were good. She tore open the package, grabbed the batteries and put them in the flashlight. She kept her fingers crossed and flipped the switch. The flashlight came on.
“Oh thank God!”, Kyrie said.
“You said it”, Julianna agreed.
She closed the door and took a look around at where they were. They were in what looked like a sewer. It was probably an access tunnel that had become flooded at some point. To the right the tunnel stopped and stairs made their way upward. They would go into the house, so that was a no go. She turned to the left.
“Where are you going?”, Kyrie said, “There's stairs out of here to the right”.
“They probably go back into the house”, Julianna said, “You can go that way if you want to”.
“Uh, no, I'll stay with you sweetheart”, Kyrie said.
“Okay, let's go”, Julianna immediately said.
They made their way along the tunnel, now with the flashlight showing the way. The water had started getting deeper. Soon they were up to their necks. Eventually they got to the point where the water was all the way to the ceiling of the tunnel. Julianna tried shining the flashlight into the water past the point where it reached the ceiling. It didn't illuminate much.
“I'll go underwater and see if I can find a way out of here”, Kyrie said.
“Are you sure?”, Julianna asked.
“Yep”, Kyrie replied, “I was on my high school swimming team. I'm a strong swimmer and I can hold my breath for a long time”.
“Oh, okay, sounds good”, Julianna said.
She took several deep breaths, holding it on the last one, and plunged under the water. Julianna could do nothing else but wait. She peed her pants, as usual, even though they were under water. It still managed to feel good. She looked at her watch. She figured Kyrie had gone under about a minute ago. She kept checking her watch. Almost 3 minutes. What was the longest a person could hold their breath? 4 minutes? She wasn't sure. She didn't think it was much longer than four minutes. She checked her watch again. Coming up on 4 minutes. Still no sign of Kyrie. Just then a lone bubble popped the surface of the water. She shone the light down into the water. Something was coming up through the water. Julianna backed away from whatever it was. When it broke the surface it was Kyrie.
“Sweetheart!”, Julianna shouted. She hugged Kyrie tightly.
“I was so worried about you”, she said.
“I've found a way out”, Kyrie said.
“Seriously?”, Julianna asked.
“Yep, but it's a bit tricky”, Kyrie replied.
“Okay”, Julianna said, “What's tricky about it?”.
“Well, we have to climb down a waterfall”, Kyrie said.
“A waterfall?!”, Julianna said, “We can't climb down a water fall!”.
“Yes we can, it has plenty of handholds and footholds”, Kyrie said, “Kinda like a rock climbing wall”.
“How high is this waterfall?”, Julianna asked.
“Uh, it's about 30 or 40 feet”, Kyrie replied.
“Why do we have to climb down this waterfall?”, Julianna asked.
“Because it covers the exit from the tunnel”, Kyrie replied, “We have no choice”.
“Ho boy”, Julianna said.
She walked back along the tunnel until she was chest deep in water. Kyrie did the same.
“Aaaaahhhhh”, Kyrie said.
“What was that for?”, Julianna asked.
“I just peed my pants”, Kyrie said, “And even though I'm underwater it still felt good”.
“Yeah, mine did too”, Julianna said, “I peed my pants just before you came back”.
“Cool”, Kyrie said, “I can't wait to pee dry jeans again”.
“Yeah, me to”, Julianna said.
They stood in chest high water, not caring at all that their clothes were soaking wet, and Julianna prepared herself for swimming underwater. Eventually she thought she was as ready as she would ever be. She turned to Kyrie and said, “Okay, let's do this”.
“Okay”, Kyrie said, “Follow my lead and you won't get lost”.
“Okay”, Julianna said.
She put the flashlight in her mouth, pointed forward. Luckily it was small enough to do this with it. Kyrie took three deep breaths, holding it on the last one, and went under. Julianna did the same and they were under the water and swimming. The completely submerged part of the tunnel seemed to be going on forever. Julianna's lungs were beginning to protest. She would have to take a breath soon. Just when Julianna was just about out of air, Kyrie went straight up. Julianna did the same. Seconds later they broke the surface and Julianna gulped great lungs full of air. Kyrie was hardly breathing at all.
“You really are not used to this, are you sweetie?”, she said.
“No, not at all”, Julianna replied, “Sweetheart, do we have to do that again?”.
“No, luckily we don't”, Kyrie replied.
“Oh thank God”, Julianna said.
After a while her breathing settled down and Kyrie said, “Okay sweetheart, this way”. She started to swim and Julianna followed along.
They swam for quite a while and would have been in total darkness again were it not for the flashlight. Then Julianna could see a blank wall ahead of them.
“It's a dead end!”, Julianna said.
“No it isn't”, Kyrie said, “It just looks like one. It goes around a sharp bend”.
As they got closer Julianna could see it was indeed a bend. There also appeared to be a glow of light from around the bend somewhere. Julianna frowned, but said nothing. They stroked toward the bend, the glow of light getting stronger. The bend was much further away than it looked.
“Kyrie, sweetheart”, Julianna said then, “I have to stop for a breather”.
“Okay sweetie, no problem”, Kyrie said.
They stopped and floated in the water for a while. Julianna peed again, but it wasn't that good this time. Doing it in dry jeans was way better. Oh well, they would be in dry jeans again soon. Julianna continued to breathe, harder than Kyrie. Julianna envied Kyrie a lot. She was in excellent physical condition, obviously. She could swim a mile and not be out of breath. Must be nice to be like that. Eventually her breathing settled down and was regular again.
“Okay, let's continue on”, Julianna said.
“Okay sweetie”, Kyrie said.
They swam for the better part of 20 minutes, and finally the bend was looking a little closer. Julianna thought she could hear something. She wasn't sure what it was. She would find out soon. As they drew closer to the waterfall, they could not only here the noise of the falling water, but also something else – voices. Julianna stopped swimming and just floated there for a bit. They were partway around the bend. They couldn't see past it yet, but the glow of light was a lot brighter.
“Can you hear voices?”, Julianna asked.
“Yes, I can”, Kyrie answered, “Damn, there goes our way out of here”.
“We're not done yet”, Julianna said firmly.
Just then she noticed something on the wall the other side of the tunnel from her. It was a hatch and it had a wheel attached to it. The wheel was iron or steel as it was a little rusty. Julianna fervently hoped the wheel would turn. She swam over to the hatch and grabbed the wheel.
“I didn't notice that before”, Kyrie said.
“Neither did I until I started staring at the wall”, Julianna said.
Julianna tried to turn the wheel. It wasn't easy considering she was floating in water.
“Sweetheart, help me here please”, she said then.
Kyrie swam over and grabbed the wheel and the both heaved on it. It slowly began to move, creaking and squeaking and groaning. They both suddenly stopped, Julianna catching her breath.
“I envy you Kyrie”, Julianna said, “You're not even breathing heavy”.
“Well, have sex with me all the time and you'll get into shape”, Kyrie said with a grin.
“Yeah, good idea”, Julianna said with a grin of her own. Her breathing had settled down by then so she told Kyrie and they went back to attacking the hatch again. It squeaked and creaked and moved achingly slowly. Suddenly the door gave and they both fell into the water. They surfaced laughing. Julianna then tried the wheel again and it moved freely now. She spun it around and then opened the hatch. She leaned in through the opening and shone the flashlight around. Then she retreated from the opening and looked at Kyrie and said, “Well, it's a long way down to the floor of whatever it is, but when the wall gets to the bottom it curves around and becomes the floor. There's water down there too. I can't tell how deep it is. It's in the middle, in like a giant well or something”.
“Okay”, Kyrie replied, “So what are you saying then?”.
“Oh, just that we could slide down the wall and then the curve could slow us down onto the floor”, Julianna replied.
“Are you serious?”, Kyrie said then.
“Yes, why?”, Julianna replied.
“Well we wouldn't stay against the wall you know”, Kyrie said.
“Why?”, Julianna said.
“Well think”, Kyrie said, “We'd just fall away from the wall”.
“Well yeah, you got a point there”, Julianna conceded.
“How far down is the floor?”, Kyrie said then.
“About 50 feet”, Julianna said.
“That's pretty deep”, Kyrie said.
“Yeah, it is”, Julianna said, “What've you got in mind?”.
“Uh, I'll tell you later”, Kyrie said, cryptically.
“I don't know how deep the water is”, Julianna said.
“Do we have anything we can throw into the water?”, Kyrie asked.
“Uh, no, I don't think so”, Julianna said, “Well, other than the flashlight”.
“Yeah, but it's not heavy enough”, Kyrie said.
“Damn, we don't have anything then”, Julianna said.
“Give me the flashlight a second”, Kyrie said.
After Julianna gave it to her she shone it on the hatch.
“Just as I thought”, Kyrie said, “This hatch is rusting. The hinges are about ready to give out”.
She pulled on the hatch and the top hinge gave with a crack, but the bottom hinge held fast.
“Help me”, she said to Julianna.
Julianna swam over and grabbed the hatch and pulled with all her strength. The hinge creaked and groaned, but still held fast. They stopped to catch their breath, Julianna much more so than Kyrie.
“We gotta keep at this”, Kyrie said, “We gotta get this thing to break off”.
“Okay, let's do it”, Julianna said.
They both attacked the door with every ounce of strength they could muster. Suddenly the hinge gave with a loud bang and they both fell in the water. They surfaced laughing at each other.
“Now we gotta pick the thing up off the bottom”, Julianna said.
“Yeah”, Kyrie said, “I hope it isn't heavy”.
“Well you know it will be”, Julianna said.
“Yeah, I know”, Kyrie said.
Without another word they both dived down to the bottom and retrieved the hatch, which not only turned out to be a little lighter than they expected, but was also leaning against the wall. They got it up to the opening left in the wall and rested it on the bottom of the hatchway. After they had rested a little while they both straddled the hatchway and heaved the hatch into the darkness of the new chamber. They heard it splash hugely as it hit the water, then they listened intently. They both heard a dull thump as it landed on the bottom.
“That's plenty deep enough”, Kyrie said, “About 30 feet I would say”.
“Deep enough for what?”, Julianna said.
“For us to jump into from here”, Kyrie said.
“Are you crazy?”, Julianna asked incredulously.
“You got a better idea?”, Kyrie said.
“Uh, well no, I don't”, Julianna said.
“I thought so”, Kyrie said, “I'll go first”.
“What about me?”, Julianna said.
“Just watch what I do and do the same thing”, Kyrie said.
“Uh, okay”, Julianna said, not at all convinced.
“You'll have to get out of the hatchway”, Kyrie said.
“Right”, Julianna said. She slid out of the hatchway and back down into the water.
Kyrie stood in the hatchway, feet firmly on the bottom of the hatchway and her hands gripping the sides.
“Now”, she said, “You'll have to get into the same position, and when you let go with your hands you have to thrust outward with your legs with every ounce of strength you can muster. That'll get you out and into the middle so you should land in the water”.
“And if I don't?”, Julianna said.
“You'll probably be killed”, Kyrie said.
“What?!!!”, Julianna said then.
“Sweetheart, we're talking about 50 feet here”, Kyrie said, “That's always a fatal fall”.
“Oh jesus”, Julianna said, “You mean I could die doing this?”.
“Yes, you could”, Kyrie said, “So make sure you land in the water. You hear me?”.
“Yes, I hear you”, Julianna said.
“You'd better survive”, Kyrie said, “I don't want to lose you baby”.
“I'll survive”, Julianna said, not at all sure if she would or not.
With that, Kyrie let go and thrust off into the blackness. A few seconds later there was a splash as Kyrie made it safely into the water. Then Julianna got up into position. She couldn't let go though. She stayed in position for a long while.
“Come on, jump”, Kyrie shouted up at her.
“I'm trying to”, Julianna replied, “It isn't easy you know”.
Suddenly Julianna let go and thrust outward with all her strength. She fell fast. Then something whacked concrete, then there was a splash.
End of Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 coming soon.
Julianna screamed, and then so did Kyrie. They were falling. Julianna felt the wind of something whistling past her face. She grabbed for whatever it was. It turned out to be the rung of a ladder, probably steel rungs embedded in the wall. Her fall stopped abruptly, and she grabbed for Kyrie with her free hand. She caught something and held on. Kyrie hit the wall below her with a thump. Her hand and arm she was hanging onto the ladder with were screaming with pain, but she held on tight.
“Kyrie, sweetheart, there's a ladder in the wall”, Julianna said, “Grab onto it”.
Suddenly the weight was released from Julianna's hand and arm. What a tremendous relief that was!
“I – I'm on the ladder now”, Kyrie said breathlessly.
“That was too close”, Julianna said.
“Way too fucking close”, Kyrie said.
“Well, we might as well climb down the ladder and see where it get's us”, Julianna said.
“Yeah, might as well”, Kyrie said.
They started down the ladder. Kyrie went slowly and Julianna wanted to go faster. She kept catching up with Kyrie and she had to stop and wait for her to continue down.
“Does this thing have a bottom?”, Julianna asked then.
“I'm beginning to wonder”, Kyrie replied.
The shaft was jet black. They could not see their hands touched to their faces. They continued down into whatever awaited them at the bottom of the shaft. Suddenly they could hear something above them. It sounded like steel wheels on steel rails. They looked up and saw the elevator car coming down on them – fast.
“Jump!”, Julianna screamed.
“Are you crazy?!”, Kyrie yelled back.
“Yes! Just jump!”, Julianna screamed again.
Julianna let go and fell down the shaft. Kyrie had done the same thing. Less than 6 feet later, they stopped. They were at the bottom of the shaft.
“Lie down, now!”, Julianna screamed.
They both lay down flat on the floor. The elevator car stopped and opened it's doors. Julianna could see a little now that the light from the elevator was sifting through to them a little bit. The elevator was stopped about 18 inches above them. They waited not so patiently for the elevator to go back up again. It didn't. It stayed on the ground floor.
“Oh great, now it's not going back up”, Kyrie said.
“Yeah”, said Julianna, “It better go back up again soon”.
“Yeah”, Kyrie said.
They waited for the elevator to go back up. Suddenly it's doors opened and somebody stepped into the elevator. The person in the elevator was saying, “Shit, shit, shit”, over and over again. Julianna could hear whoever it was press a button. The elevator rose back up the shaft. They stood immediately. Kyrie began to feel around the walls of the shaft.
“They've discovered us missing!”, Julianna said.
“Shit, that's all we need”, Kyrie said.
Just then Julianna found what felt like a hatch in the wall. She felt around and found a handle. She pulled on the handle and there was a squeaking and creaking and suddenly the hatch was loose. She swung it open, but could see absolutely nothing in the stygian gloom. She stepped through the hatch and went down about 4 feet into water. It was above her waist. She didn't mind too much. After all, she was wet most of the time anyway. She turned and helped Kyrie down into the water.
“You didn't tell me there was water in here!”, she said.
“You didn't ask”, Julianna replied with the cliched response.
“Thanks a lot”, Kyrie said, “You coulda said something”.
“What would you have done if you had known there was water in here?”, Julianna said.
“I don't know”, Kyrie replied.
“Well you couldn't stay in the elevator shaft, could you?”, Julianna said.
“No, I guess not. I guess I would have come in here anyway”, Kyrie conceded.
“Exactly”, Julianna replied, “Besides, you'll be able to pee your pants and nobody will be able to tell”.
“Oh yeah! Cool!”, Kyrie said.
Julianna began smoothing her hands over the wall near the hatch from the elevator shaft.
“What are you doing?”, Kyrie said.
“I'm looking for, hopefully, a tool box or something like that”, Julianna replied.
“What good's a toolbox going to do us?”, Kyrie replied.
“There may be a flashlight in it”, Julianna said.
“Oh, good thinking”, Kyrie said.
Julianna found what felt like a small door in the wall. She found the handle and pulled it open. A light went on inside the enclosure, revealing it to be a catch all. Julianna saw a flashlight in the back corner. She picked it up, praying the batteries were good. She flipped the switch and nothing happened. The batteries were dead. Shit! She looked around inside the enclosure and found one C cell battery and two D cell batteries. She opened the flashlight's battery compartment and slid the batteries out. Luckily they were D cells and there were only two. The other two D cells were still in their original package, so she figured they were good. She tore open the package, grabbed the batteries and put them in the flashlight. She kept her fingers crossed and flipped the switch. The flashlight came on.
“Oh thank God!”, Kyrie said.
“You said it”, Julianna agreed.
She closed the door and took a look around at where they were. They were in what looked like a sewer. It was probably an access tunnel that had become flooded at some point. To the right the tunnel stopped and stairs made their way upward. They would go into the house, so that was a no go. She turned to the left.
“Where are you going?”, Kyrie said, “There's stairs out of here to the right”.
“They probably go back into the house”, Julianna said, “You can go that way if you want to”.
“Uh, no, I'll stay with you sweetheart”, Kyrie said.
“Okay, let's go”, Julianna immediately said.
They made their way along the tunnel, now with the flashlight showing the way. The water had started getting deeper. Soon they were up to their necks. Eventually they got to the point where the water was all the way to the ceiling of the tunnel. Julianna tried shining the flashlight into the water past the point where it reached the ceiling. It didn't illuminate much.
“I'll go underwater and see if I can find a way out of here”, Kyrie said.
“Are you sure?”, Julianna asked.
“Yep”, Kyrie replied, “I was on my high school swimming team. I'm a strong swimmer and I can hold my breath for a long time”.
“Oh, okay, sounds good”, Julianna said.
She took several deep breaths, holding it on the last one, and plunged under the water. Julianna could do nothing else but wait. She peed her pants, as usual, even though they were under water. It still managed to feel good. She looked at her watch. She figured Kyrie had gone under about a minute ago. She kept checking her watch. Almost 3 minutes. What was the longest a person could hold their breath? 4 minutes? She wasn't sure. She didn't think it was much longer than four minutes. She checked her watch again. Coming up on 4 minutes. Still no sign of Kyrie. Just then a lone bubble popped the surface of the water. She shone the light down into the water. Something was coming up through the water. Julianna backed away from whatever it was. When it broke the surface it was Kyrie.
“Sweetheart!”, Julianna shouted. She hugged Kyrie tightly.
“I was so worried about you”, she said.
“I've found a way out”, Kyrie said.
“Seriously?”, Julianna asked.
“Yep, but it's a bit tricky”, Kyrie replied.
“Okay”, Julianna said, “What's tricky about it?”.
“Well, we have to climb down a waterfall”, Kyrie said.
“A waterfall?!”, Julianna said, “We can't climb down a water fall!”.
“Yes we can, it has plenty of handholds and footholds”, Kyrie said, “Kinda like a rock climbing wall”.
“How high is this waterfall?”, Julianna asked.
“Uh, it's about 30 or 40 feet”, Kyrie replied.
“Why do we have to climb down this waterfall?”, Julianna asked.
“Because it covers the exit from the tunnel”, Kyrie replied, “We have no choice”.
“Ho boy”, Julianna said.
She walked back along the tunnel until she was chest deep in water. Kyrie did the same.
“Aaaaahhhhh”, Kyrie said.
“What was that for?”, Julianna asked.
“I just peed my pants”, Kyrie said, “And even though I'm underwater it still felt good”.
“Yeah, mine did too”, Julianna said, “I peed my pants just before you came back”.
“Cool”, Kyrie said, “I can't wait to pee dry jeans again”.
“Yeah, me to”, Julianna said.
They stood in chest high water, not caring at all that their clothes were soaking wet, and Julianna prepared herself for swimming underwater. Eventually she thought she was as ready as she would ever be. She turned to Kyrie and said, “Okay, let's do this”.
“Okay”, Kyrie said, “Follow my lead and you won't get lost”.
“Okay”, Julianna said.
She put the flashlight in her mouth, pointed forward. Luckily it was small enough to do this with it. Kyrie took three deep breaths, holding it on the last one, and went under. Julianna did the same and they were under the water and swimming. The completely submerged part of the tunnel seemed to be going on forever. Julianna's lungs were beginning to protest. She would have to take a breath soon. Just when Julianna was just about out of air, Kyrie went straight up. Julianna did the same. Seconds later they broke the surface and Julianna gulped great lungs full of air. Kyrie was hardly breathing at all.
“You really are not used to this, are you sweetie?”, she said.
“No, not at all”, Julianna replied, “Sweetheart, do we have to do that again?”.
“No, luckily we don't”, Kyrie replied.
“Oh thank God”, Julianna said.
After a while her breathing settled down and Kyrie said, “Okay sweetheart, this way”. She started to swim and Julianna followed along.
They swam for quite a while and would have been in total darkness again were it not for the flashlight. Then Julianna could see a blank wall ahead of them.
“It's a dead end!”, Julianna said.
“No it isn't”, Kyrie said, “It just looks like one. It goes around a sharp bend”.
As they got closer Julianna could see it was indeed a bend. There also appeared to be a glow of light from around the bend somewhere. Julianna frowned, but said nothing. They stroked toward the bend, the glow of light getting stronger. The bend was much further away than it looked.
“Kyrie, sweetheart”, Julianna said then, “I have to stop for a breather”.
“Okay sweetie, no problem”, Kyrie said.
They stopped and floated in the water for a while. Julianna peed again, but it wasn't that good this time. Doing it in dry jeans was way better. Oh well, they would be in dry jeans again soon. Julianna continued to breathe, harder than Kyrie. Julianna envied Kyrie a lot. She was in excellent physical condition, obviously. She could swim a mile and not be out of breath. Must be nice to be like that. Eventually her breathing settled down and was regular again.
“Okay, let's continue on”, Julianna said.
“Okay sweetie”, Kyrie said.
They swam for the better part of 20 minutes, and finally the bend was looking a little closer. Julianna thought she could hear something. She wasn't sure what it was. She would find out soon. As they drew closer to the waterfall, they could not only here the noise of the falling water, but also something else – voices. Julianna stopped swimming and just floated there for a bit. They were partway around the bend. They couldn't see past it yet, but the glow of light was a lot brighter.
“Can you hear voices?”, Julianna asked.
“Yes, I can”, Kyrie answered, “Damn, there goes our way out of here”.
“We're not done yet”, Julianna said firmly.
Just then she noticed something on the wall the other side of the tunnel from her. It was a hatch and it had a wheel attached to it. The wheel was iron or steel as it was a little rusty. Julianna fervently hoped the wheel would turn. She swam over to the hatch and grabbed the wheel.
“I didn't notice that before”, Kyrie said.
“Neither did I until I started staring at the wall”, Julianna said.
Julianna tried to turn the wheel. It wasn't easy considering she was floating in water.
“Sweetheart, help me here please”, she said then.
Kyrie swam over and grabbed the wheel and the both heaved on it. It slowly began to move, creaking and squeaking and groaning. They both suddenly stopped, Julianna catching her breath.
“I envy you Kyrie”, Julianna said, “You're not even breathing heavy”.
“Well, have sex with me all the time and you'll get into shape”, Kyrie said with a grin.
“Yeah, good idea”, Julianna said with a grin of her own. Her breathing had settled down by then so she told Kyrie and they went back to attacking the hatch again. It squeaked and creaked and moved achingly slowly. Suddenly the door gave and they both fell into the water. They surfaced laughing. Julianna then tried the wheel again and it moved freely now. She spun it around and then opened the hatch. She leaned in through the opening and shone the flashlight around. Then she retreated from the opening and looked at Kyrie and said, “Well, it's a long way down to the floor of whatever it is, but when the wall gets to the bottom it curves around and becomes the floor. There's water down there too. I can't tell how deep it is. It's in the middle, in like a giant well or something”.
“Okay”, Kyrie replied, “So what are you saying then?”.
“Oh, just that we could slide down the wall and then the curve could slow us down onto the floor”, Julianna replied.
“Are you serious?”, Kyrie said then.
“Yes, why?”, Julianna replied.
“Well we wouldn't stay against the wall you know”, Kyrie said.
“Why?”, Julianna said.
“Well think”, Kyrie said, “We'd just fall away from the wall”.
“Well yeah, you got a point there”, Julianna conceded.
“How far down is the floor?”, Kyrie said then.
“About 50 feet”, Julianna said.
“That's pretty deep”, Kyrie said.
“Yeah, it is”, Julianna said, “What've you got in mind?”.
“Uh, I'll tell you later”, Kyrie said, cryptically.
“I don't know how deep the water is”, Julianna said.
“Do we have anything we can throw into the water?”, Kyrie asked.
“Uh, no, I don't think so”, Julianna said, “Well, other than the flashlight”.
“Yeah, but it's not heavy enough”, Kyrie said.
“Damn, we don't have anything then”, Julianna said.
“Give me the flashlight a second”, Kyrie said.
After Julianna gave it to her she shone it on the hatch.
“Just as I thought”, Kyrie said, “This hatch is rusting. The hinges are about ready to give out”.
She pulled on the hatch and the top hinge gave with a crack, but the bottom hinge held fast.
“Help me”, she said to Julianna.
Julianna swam over and grabbed the hatch and pulled with all her strength. The hinge creaked and groaned, but still held fast. They stopped to catch their breath, Julianna much more so than Kyrie.
“We gotta keep at this”, Kyrie said, “We gotta get this thing to break off”.
“Okay, let's do it”, Julianna said.
They both attacked the door with every ounce of strength they could muster. Suddenly the hinge gave with a loud bang and they both fell in the water. They surfaced laughing at each other.
“Now we gotta pick the thing up off the bottom”, Julianna said.
“Yeah”, Kyrie said, “I hope it isn't heavy”.
“Well you know it will be”, Julianna said.
“Yeah, I know”, Kyrie said.
Without another word they both dived down to the bottom and retrieved the hatch, which not only turned out to be a little lighter than they expected, but was also leaning against the wall. They got it up to the opening left in the wall and rested it on the bottom of the hatchway. After they had rested a little while they both straddled the hatchway and heaved the hatch into the darkness of the new chamber. They heard it splash hugely as it hit the water, then they listened intently. They both heard a dull thump as it landed on the bottom.
“That's plenty deep enough”, Kyrie said, “About 30 feet I would say”.
“Deep enough for what?”, Julianna said.
“For us to jump into from here”, Kyrie said.
“Are you crazy?”, Julianna asked incredulously.
“You got a better idea?”, Kyrie said.
“Uh, well no, I don't”, Julianna said.
“I thought so”, Kyrie said, “I'll go first”.
“What about me?”, Julianna said.
“Just watch what I do and do the same thing”, Kyrie said.
“Uh, okay”, Julianna said, not at all convinced.
“You'll have to get out of the hatchway”, Kyrie said.
“Right”, Julianna said. She slid out of the hatchway and back down into the water.
Kyrie stood in the hatchway, feet firmly on the bottom of the hatchway and her hands gripping the sides.
“Now”, she said, “You'll have to get into the same position, and when you let go with your hands you have to thrust outward with your legs with every ounce of strength you can muster. That'll get you out and into the middle so you should land in the water”.
“And if I don't?”, Julianna said.
“You'll probably be killed”, Kyrie said.
“What?!!!”, Julianna said then.
“Sweetheart, we're talking about 50 feet here”, Kyrie said, “That's always a fatal fall”.
“Oh jesus”, Julianna said, “You mean I could die doing this?”.
“Yes, you could”, Kyrie said, “So make sure you land in the water. You hear me?”.
“Yes, I hear you”, Julianna said.
“You'd better survive”, Kyrie said, “I don't want to lose you baby”.
“I'll survive”, Julianna said, not at all sure if she would or not.
With that, Kyrie let go and thrust off into the blackness. A few seconds later there was a splash as Kyrie made it safely into the water. Then Julianna got up into position. She couldn't let go though. She stayed in position for a long while.
“Come on, jump”, Kyrie shouted up at her.
“I'm trying to”, Julianna replied, “It isn't easy you know”.
Suddenly Julianna let go and thrust outward with all her strength. She fell fast. Then something whacked concrete, then there was a splash.
End of Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 coming soon.