Drop [On hold]

The Last Straw

Light found her again soon enough. She was also greeted by Jacque's face. He pulled her up quickly, and started pulling her onward.

"Jacque, what was that?" she asked him, trying to pull from his uncomfortably tight grip.

"I don't know who that was," he replied. Annavi tore free from him and stepped back.

"Where did your body go?"

He went rigid. "It didn't go anywhere."

Annavi sighed. "Jacque, I don't know why you keep lying to me." Something inside of her hurt, but she decided against letting him know that. This was the last straw. Annavi pushed past him, walking towards the large tunnel at the end of the room they had entered.

Aside from the significant size difference, this wasn't much different from the last. The only thing that set it apart aside from that was the sign that hung over the larger exit. Annavi stopped infront of it and squinted at the words written on it. It was a strange combination of dots and shapes carved into the wood. Annavi identified a leaf and a bottle, similar to the ones hanging all around her. She also saw an inhuman like creature that she couldn't quite tell the actual species of. The only thing that made her sure it was a living thing at all was the ominous looking pair of slitted eyes carved in. She couldn't be sure what it meant, and found herself pondering its meaning for long minutes. Clearly there were humans down here, or some intelligible species. She sighed, and realized Jacque was trying to talk to her.

"--and I'm sorry. I just--" was all she heard before she whipped around. Jacque's mouth snapped shut, and he stepped back from her.

Annavi jabbed a finger at him and glared poisonously. "I don't want to hear your apology if it's going to be followed by some half baked excuse for why your actions were justified."

Jacque was quiet. Annavi waited.

"I'm sorry." He didn't add anything else.

Annavi sighed, and looked back at the sign hanging over the tunnel. "If we're...here, we may as well stick together. I expect explanations, though. Once we're away from that...red clothed man." She looked back at the tunnel, making sure he wasn't going to pop out of the tunnel behind them. "I don't suppose you have any idea what this sign says?"

Jacque peeked over her shoulder and shrugged. "Nothing I've ever seen."

Annavi sighed. "It's the only way to go." She stepped in and started walking. Jacque followed her, looking at the moss covered walls uneasily. Annavi continuously looked back at him, wondering what could possibly be setting him off like this. As they walked down the winding tunnel, she started looking at them more closely. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Jacque, what's wrong?"

Jacque didn't reply for the longest time, and Annavi thought he may have fallen behind. Before she was about to check up on him, he replied in a hushed tone.

"I saw a spider," he said sheepishly.

Annavi sighed. "It's probably more scared of you than you are of it."

"It was as big as my face!"

"I'm sure it was," Annavi replied. She was beginning to regret taking him with her. She knew she hadn't forgiven him. She wasn't sure she ever would. For the time being, she would just have to act as though she wasn't considering leaving him in the dark.

They turned a corner, and Annavi could see more rays of multicolored light up ahead. She began to walk faster.

"Spiders are so disgusting," he continued. He started to jog to keep up with her.

Annavi ignored that comment and stepped into the next room. It was much dimmer than the last two, but still bright enough for them to see. Vines hung loosely from the ceiling, and tangled with the lights that hung from above. The ground under them stopped a few feet ahead, leaving a cliff like drop off. Annavi got chilling memories of the Drop, and the traumatic fall. She walked over and looked down. It was a deep pit, with sludgy water at the bottom in the darkness. The other side was too far to jump to. Annavi spotted a rope bridge. There were no boards, just messily woven netted rope. Jacque was still standing in the doorway, and Annavi realized he wasn't going on with his spider rant. She frowned slightly.

"We should probably get around to crossing the bridge," she pointed out. Jacque looked over to her, then back up at the ceiling. Annavi followed his gaze.

It was no wonder she hadn't seen it before. The dark vines obscured it from view. It was still there, nonetheless. Tangled up in the vines that hung from the ceiling, illuminated in a dim purple light, was a human corpse, decayed and wide eyed.

Annavi gawked. She wondered what laid ahead. Was it any safer than the way they had came? Completely dark with their blood red pursuer? She looked back to Jacque. He had already made his way over to the bridge. He started to cross the bridge, pushing longer vines out of his way as he slowly stepped on the ropes. Annavi followed suit.

Jacque stopped less than halfway across. "I wonder what that's doing up there," he muttered. He looked back, and his eyes widened even further this time. He wasn't looking at the ceiling this time, though.

A bone chilling voice replied back.

"They look rather dead, wouldn't you say?"

Authors Note: I should really stop ending on these cliff hangers, whoops