Stala

Stala

one

The strong stench of large bins permeated Richard Bardanley’s nostrils, the narrow alleyway closing in, the cold temperature of the air making his hands clammy and numb. The breeze blew gently in his ear, a sheet of infinite black high above him. He was a tramp. He walked down the long alley, nearly at the end. And he knew that it slept near the recently discovered abyss of spikes and darkness.

Belinda slept peacefully, dreaming her dreams.
And then- ring ring ring - she twitched at first, still enveloped in her sweet sleep, then her eyes opened and her body jolted, shocked by the sudden ring. Beads of cool liquid swept down her naked figure underneath the sheet. She breathed in air before realising the situation.
She sat up and her hand reached for the bells. She tightened her hand into a clenched ball and brought her fist down firm on the bells of the alarm clock. She stretched her slender arms out above her and her mouth opened wide to welcome the yawn that emerged. Her breasts felt heavier than usual, probably because of the sweat that deluged her entire body. The reason the alarm had decided to wake her up with it’s noise now was because she had an important meeting to attend to.

Despite the fact she was tired, she still felt the emotion of excitement as she thought about being among the first ones to explore this newly discovered wonder as she drove. The meeting was going to take place at the trip organiser’s house.
The car rolled on.
The screen was quite dirty with bugs and their insides spattered on the screen. Belinda flicked a switch below the steering wheel. It made an unpleasant squeak as it wiped along the glass. She flicked another switch. It sprayed up in a delightful arc to aid the wipers. Belinda stared at the liquid for a moment before finally arriving at the house.
It was a block of flats that stretched nearly the entire street towards the beach which was about three streets away. She opened her door and got out. She closed the car door loudly as she strode towards the flat door. A white frame with a mottled window that you could barely make things out through. It was door 3 according to the letter which she had been sent.
She spotted a silver panel to the right of the door with about fifteen black buttons embedded. She scanned her eyes over the numbers only. Number 3. She pressed it and put her face to the speaker below. A few seconds later was a response. “who is it?” the familiar voice of john glided through. Belinda pressed the small black button below it. “It’s Belinda!” she said in excitement. John replied: “Ah, Belinda, come on in, you’re one of the first to arrive.” she pushed the white handle down and it opened with a push.
“Hey!” exclaimed a voice from behind her.
She turned immediately to face a man. She hadn’t noticed him.
“You one o’ those cavers?” he asked. She hesitated. “Ya know, spelologist things?“ She had to think about it. What would he do if she answered yes? “No.” she replied. She turned right round and closed the door. He had looked menacing and tall. And she recognised him. He was a tramp who walked around everywhere at night. At day he just stayed in the same place, a narrow alleyway, Only a few streets away from here. She carried on walking up the stairs to door 3.

Two

“Hello Belinda, we’re just waiting for the others at the moment.” John welcomed her. Joyce was sat just next to him. Belinda smiled when John greeted her. “Hey, Belinda, why don’t you come sit next to me?” he offered and put his hand over the chair next to him. She strolled over to the seat and sat down comfortably in it. A cushion had been placed over the plastic chair so as not to make the guests uncomfortable. “So, Belinda, how d’ya feel?” he asked. Belinda replied: Well, nervous of course, excited, uh, yes, I feel very excited and energetic about it.” “That’s good.” John answered.
“Outside, as I was entering, there was this man, this tramp that asked me if I were “one of those cavers”. I just said no.” she answered. He said: “Must be crazy or something.” “Same here. I didn’t want to say anything to him in case he said anything bad.” she said. A bell rung quietly. Someone was here. John got up and walked over to a silver panel next to the door of room 3 with a speaker and a black button like the one at the flat’s entrance. He pressed the button and spoke into the speaker. A second passed, a voice quietly hissing on the speaker.
“Hey David, come in. Oh, don’t answer the man. He’s mad. I’ll explain to you why right now.”
Another second passed. “Just usher him away and ignore him.”
While John explained his story to David, Belinda and Joyce chatted to each other quietly.
“Excited, Joyce?” Belinda asked.
“Yeah, guess so.” Joyce solemnly responded.
“Oh, come on, be more enthusiastic! These are newly discovered caves, not some boring hike in the desert. I understand you’re nervous, and so am I, but be excited!”
“Yes, but, I just feel particularly nervous about this exploration. It’s just something that’s been gnawing at my mind since the discovery of those caves. So it’s not that I’m not enthusiastic, but I can sense something, an omen. A bad omen.”
“Oh, don’t worry, it’s nothing to worry about. It’s not likely any injuries will caused or something bad happens in the cave.”
“It’s not that. I can feel that something has spawned, something evil. That we’ve awakened some beast just waiting to… kill.”
“There’ll definitely not be any animals down there.”
“No, not an animal, but a spirit. An evil spirit. I know you wouldn’t understand because you haven’t got ESP. Extra sensory perception.”
“You have ESP?”
“Yes. I never thought it would come in use telling anyone. Not until now.”
The door opened and a man walked in.
“Hi David!” Belinda welcomed, desperately wanting her mind to be purged of this talk of evil spirits and death.
“Hi Belinda!” David replied.
John instructed him to sit beside Joyce. Just then, a buzz sounded on the speaker. John spoke into it.
“Hello?”
A few seconds passed. “Oh, good, at least we can all be here now so I can inform you on the details of this exploration.”
David was a quiet person, so the room was tranquil while they waited for the next group member to enter.
The door opened and this time two people entered, Cliff and Maurine.
“Hello everybody!“, they greeted. They were brother and sister. They came in smiling. John instructed them to sit down next to Belinda. He sat down on the chair in the middle. He pulled out a clipboard. All attention was on him.
“We’ll need to do a register at the cave before we go in there. When it comes to your name, you say present. Let’s practise now.
"Cliff Toddler.”
“Present.”
“David Jablo.”
“Present.”
“Belinda Tinder.”
“Present.”
“Joyce Bardanley.”
“Present.”
“Maurine Toddler.”
“Present.”
“Fantastic.” John congratulated. “Now, I’ll give you the rules for the exploration. We’ll revise these when we get there. Number one: as I’m the leader of the expedition, you’ll be under my control, so follow my orders.
Number two: stay within ten meters of the beacons that will be laid down at sites, which will be bright lights laid onto the ground.
And finally, number three: don’t go near any cliff edge without my supervision and a safety rope put up.
That’s all. I’ve got all the equipment ready for when we go in there.”
John took out a handful of caving equipment from his bag.
“This is your equipment.” he explained as he lifted a helmet with an attached light in his hand. After the members of the meeting had a good look at it, the equipment was stuffed back in his bag.
"Ok, guys, see you all in a couple of days. thanks for all coming to the meeting, bye." Everyone waved bye to John before leaving.

Belinda exited the flat excitedly with the others. "you're very lucky you've got a car, Belinda! we've all got to walk!" Maurine exclaimed.