The Secret of the Diamond Heart

Chapter 2: The Tunnel

Chapter 2: The Tunnel

One day, her class had an assembly item and her class had to change to their outfits. Her friends went to the girls toilets to get changed. Elise was not in their class so she waited inside the toilets for her friends to finish changing. Winnie was finish but then had a sudden urge to go to the back of the toilets. Elise and the others saw Winnie walking towards the back of the toilets. Slowly Winnie and her friends walked to the back of the toilets. People were too busy to notice what they were doing. Or were they? When they reached there, they all asked "Winnie. Hello? Earth to Winnie. What's wrong? You say you hate going here!" they said. That made Winnie break out of her trance. "Huh? Ah. Why are we here?" Winnie said in a puzzled tone.

"Well you walked here and we followed. And that's what we asked to you!" Tina said.

Winnie stilled puzzled realised something else. "Hey do you think something else is wrong. I mean it’s more, quiet."

"Well, as a matter of fact, yes there is something wrong." Nicky said. "It's really obvious. Look around, open your eyes. Check your watch or look at the time." Nicky said looking at her watch. "Look at the people here. They are frozen. The time has frozen. Or stopped. Whatever it is."

The rest of the friends did everything Nicky suggested. They were all amazed of what was around them.

"Your right! And didn't know you could actually think properly." Melody laughed loudly.

"Yeah. Very funny." Nicky replied. And then they all started laughing. They all stopped laughing when they saw a bright light.

Winnie was silent. "Yeah about that. The heart has been doing that a long time." Her friends were surprised.

"Thought you would do that."Winnie mumbled under her breath.

"Never knew hearts can do that." Nicky said.

"Guys. The heart! It's opening the walls of the toilets!" Winnie exclaimed.

The walls continued to open. Not knowing what to do they all stared and watched. "Let's go in there. No time will past. Trust me.” Nicky said.

"Ah. We might not go. We don't know what is on the other side of this tunnel." Melody said. Her voice was low and shaky.

"Stop being a wimp! Let's go in already!" Nicky said.

"No. There could be ghost, monsters or worse," Melody quivered.

"Don't be such a scaredy cat. We will be back in one piece, like nothing happened to us." Nicky replied. Without agreement she stepped in. "Come on!"

The rest of the friends followed, Melody went in last. "Ouch. Who stepped on my toe?" Tina asked. "Ah! Something touched me!" Melody screamed. Her scream echoed into the tunnel. "Sorry, my fault. Trying to find the walls to follow. Touch you instead." Elise said, still putting her hands out to find the walls. The six friends kept stumbling onto each other. "Hey. Heart thingy stop jumping around." Winnie shouted. Winnie tried to get the heart back but just missed. The heart sprang to life, flooding the tunnel with light. They all stumbled backwards, covering their eyes.

"You can open your eyes now." Nicky said, recovering first from the light.

Winnie eyes adjusted to the light and looked around. "Wow! Looks like someone just built this tunnel!"

"It's called man-made." Tina replied still adjusting to the light.

"Let's go. And see what's on the other side," Elise said. They looked at her, all puzzled. "The doors are closed." Elise added.

"Right," Soph said.

They stood there, not talking. Then Winnie looked at her friends. They understood what Winnie was going to say. So they all nodded in agreement and started walking; to find out was on the other side. The diamond heart led the way and guided them as if it had a mind of its own. Every few minutes they stopped to listen for people. As the friends continued to walk, they saw lights along the way; heart dimed as more lights appeared. Then the girls saw that the lights was growing brighter and brighter; the light came from a bright swirling portal, leading to somewhere.

"Woo hoo! Let's go inside! I want to go first. See ya on the other side!" Nicky exclaimed walking in. But then Soph pulled her arm back."Soph. Nothing is going to go wrong." Nick wailed while rubbing her arm.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. But you do know, anything could happen." Soph replied frowning at Nicky.

"Like what!" Nicky asked looking annoyed.

"Well, you could portal to an alien spaceship. Or what if we step in one by one and we ended in different places!" Soph argued angrily placing her hands on her hips.

"Sure, sure. That can happen. But I kinda knew something like this would happen. That is why I brought rope.” Nicky said smiling broadly; bringing out the rope. "Like I always do."

They started tying the rope on to each other’s waist.

"I'll go first. I'll tug the rope and you can come in! It's that easy. See you on the other side." Nicky said walking into the portal. She walked in without her friends agreeing.

The friends waited in silence, and then they heard Nicky's muffled voice and also felt the roped being tugged at the same time.

"Come on! Come quickly! Its-" Nicky shouted through the portal.

The friends looked at each other taking a deep breath and stepping in silently, saying bye to each other. They watched as they each disappeared into the portal.

Winnie was left to be the last one to go in, waiting silently. Silence was surrounding Winnie. Winnie looked back through the eerie tunnel and grabbed the heart. She stepped into the tunnel. She closed her eyes; not knowing when to open. She felt nervous and felt a drowning sensation. Air pushed into her fast as she walked in. Winnie started to feel nauseous and her stomach started gurgling. Was it just butterflies?  Winnie thought. Either way she felt sick; still walking into thin air. I’m getting sicker and a bit faint. Where will this place lead to? When will I get there?  Winnie wondered to herself. She saw light then fell into a deep darkness.