Our parents always warn us not to go to The Shadow Cave. There are stories of people disappearing, never to be seen again after going inside. Some people have disproved this myth, spending the day inside and being back home by dinner.
I've always been scared of The Shadow Cave. My friends decided we should have one last big adventure together before we go off to college. So, today, we're going to The Shadow Cave.
"Veronica, let's go!" I heard my best friend, Sydney, yell while hocking her car horn. "We still need to pick up Levi, Nick, and Harry!"
"I'm coming!" I yelled walking out of my house, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. I got into the car, Sydney started to drive before I even had a chance to put my seat belt on. "Woah, slow down, I'm not even buckled up!"
"We're late, I'm just trying to hurry." She said and I rolled my eyes. "Just because you're scared to go to the cave doesn't mean all of us are." We picked up my boyfriend Levi, and our other two friends Nick and Harry.
After a few minutes, Sydney parked on the side of the road, there was a trail about twenty feet away from the road to the right. "Let's go!" Harry cheered, getting out of the car. We all got out and headed to the dirt path.
"Don't worry Ronnie, I won't let anything happen to you." Levi said, putting his arm over my shoulders reassuringly.
We started to walk down the trail, all of us just talking and joking around until we came to a clearing in the middle of the woods. "We're hereeee." Nick said is a creepy voice like in Poltergeist. We walked a little further, all of us now quiet, to the edge of the clearing where The Shadow Cave was.
"Okay, so my older brother said that there's a small underground lake in here. He said because it had been raining when he went, they couldn't cross the water because it was too high. But we should be able too. As far as I know, no one that's come back from the cave has gone farther than the lake." Nick told us as we stood at the opening.
"Until us." Harry said and we looked at him. "What? Nothing's going to happen. It's just a cave."
"A cave with a lot of death surrounding it." I mumbled.
"You don't know that for sure. That kid a few years ago probably ran away and the rest are just old wives tales to scare people." Sydney waved me off and took a step forward. "Now let's go, I want Harry to take pictures of me for Instagram."
Harry rolled his eyes and raised his camera. "I'm getting pictures for my portfolio. Not your social media."
After that, we walked inside. As soon as we stepped out of the sun and into the darkness of the cave, the temperature dropped and a shiver ran up my spine. "Look!" Nick said and we looked up where he was shining his phone, there was a whole swarm of bats hanging upside down from the ceiling of the cave.
"Ewww!" Sydney squealed. "Okay, let's move along." We all laughed and walked further into the cave, the light from the opening getting fainter and fainter. We had to use our phones' flashlights to see as we walked further through the cave. Harry took some pictures of the cave and some of all of us as we went.
Soon, we were at the shallow lake. "Why is this place called shadow cave anyway?" Sydney asked as we took a break and sat down beside the lake to as we took a break and sat down beside the lake to eat lunch. I always come prepared and brought us all sandwiches in my backpack.
"Because a long time ago, people said that they could see shadow creatures going in and out of the cave. They say that's what happened to the people who have disappeared in the cave. They've been killed by the shadow creatures." Levi said, and I looked at everyone freaked out.
"But, it's not true, obviously." Harry laughed. "Monsters aren't real."
"I don't know..." Nick trailed off. "If the creatures are shadows, you wouldn't be able to see them in here. It's too dark, they'd just blend in. Who knows, we could be surrounded by them now."
"Uh, maybe we should just leave." I said, and they all gave me annoyed looks.
"Ronnie, it's fine. He's just joking." Levi said as he stood up. "Now, I say we see what's on the other side of the lake."
He held his hand out to me, helping me up before we walked over to the edge of the lake. "Who's going first?" Nick asked.
"Not me." We all said at the same time.
"I guess I will." He groaned and rolled up his pants legs. He took his shoes and socks off before stepping into the water, with it only going up to his calves. He walked halfway through the water, and in the deepest part, the water only went to his knees. "It's not deep at all, come on." He said and we all did the same as him, walking in the water.
After we got across the lake we put or shoes back on and looked ahead of us. It was darker than the other half of the cave. Harry decided to take more pictures of the cave and of all of us.
After he was done, we walked further into the cave. It seemed to be getting darker and darker as we walked deeper inside. We took another break after a while and were sitting around snacking on chips and drinking some water.
"Uhh, guys. I think you should see this." Harry spoke up and we gathered around him and his camera. He had a picture up and pointed to the corner.
"What is that?" Sydney exclaimed as we looked at the dark figure in the background of the photo.
"I have no idea." He said and turned to the next picture. "But it's in all of them."
"Maybe we should head back. This is actually really creepy." Levi said, and we all agreed.
We started to gather our stuff when we noticed Nick was missing. "He was here a few minutes ago. He wouldn't go off on his own."
"Nick!" We yelled walking further into the cave. "Nick! Where are you?"
As we walked further, we started to hear weird sounds. Soon, we stumbled upon Nick. Literally.
Sydney tripped over his body which was torn apart, like a pack of wild animals had attacked him. "Ahhh!" We all screamed and moved away from his body.
"Nick." Sydney cried and I hid my face in Levi's chest. "What happened to him?"
"I think it's the shadow creatures and Nick isn't the only victim." We all turned to where he was looking to see bones everywhere. Human bones.
"Oh my God." Levi said and I squeezed his hand in
fear. "We seriously need to get out of here."
"But what about Nick? We can't just leave him!" Sydney yelled.
"He's dead Sydney! If we don't get out of here, we
will be too! We have to leave!" Harry yelled.
"No! He's our friend we can't just leave him here. He needs help! We need to bring him with-" She cut herself off with a scream as she was pulled back and into the darkness.
"Sydney!" We yelled but all we heard was growling and her screaming.
"Come on, we need to get out of here." Levi said and started running pulling me with him. As we were running we heard more growls and Harry catch up to us.
"I think I made them mad, I took a picture with the flash and now, I'm pretty sure they're chasing us." He said and looked back.
"You think?" I asked as we ran.
"You can only see them on the camera with the flash on. In the picture, there are hundreds."
"We better go faster then." Levi said as we ran faster. Then, we were at the opening of two different tunnels.
"Where are we? We've only been going straight. I haven't seen any tunnels!"
"We must have gotten confused when we ran. Come on, let's go right." We started running as fast as we could but Harry tripped and we couldn't stop to help him.
"Harry!" I yelled looking back as Levi pulled me with him.
"Take my camera and keep running!" He threw the l camera and then was pulled backward and into the darkness.
I caught the camera, and we ran through the tunnel and came out at the lake. But it was higher this time. "Lee, come on." I said when he paused.
"Ronnie, I don't know how to swim." He said with wide eyes
"What?"
"I can't swim. You have to go on without me." He said and I shook my head.
"No, I'm not leaving you. Come on, I'll help you across." I said, and took a few steps into the water. "See, it's not too deep." We started walking until the water got too high. Then, I started swimming, trying to pull Levi with me.
We heard growling, but couldn't see anything because we couldn't hold our phones and use the flashlight while we were swimming. "I think they're in the water with us." Levi said, and I tried to swim faster.
Then something started pulling on Levi and he yelled in pain. "Veronica, let go, keep swimming. You can get out of here and let people know about these things."
"No, I'm bringing you with me. Don't you dare say to leave you behind." I said pulling against the creature that was pulling on Levi.
"Please. Save yourself." He said in a strained voice. "I love you Ronnie."
"I love you too Levi that's why I'm not leaving you." I said determined to keep swimming. We were almost to the other side.
That's when something bit my ankle and pulled me under. I screamed in pain as the creature dragged me out of the water and back to the darker side of the lake. Levi was there as well. We looked at each other in the darkness, screaming in pain while being ripped apart by the creatures.
Our parents always warned us not to go to The Shadow Cave. There are stories of people disappearing, never to be seen again after going inside. Some people have disproved this myth, spending the day inside and being back home by dinner.
The five of us? We were not that lucky. All we did was make this myth be all the more real. And no one will ever know what happened to us. Except you.
