An Unfamiliar Darkness

Water under the bridge

The first thing Kim heard was running water.

It sounded furious as it right beside her, above her, around her.

She swallowed, her ragged breaths stoping for a moment.

A stiff hard coldness pushed up against her body. Kim shyly allowed her fingers to explore and figure out what it was.

The more they searching the more she learned it was cold damp cement pushing against her.

Kim wanted to open her eyes, but it still felt difficult after a long sleep.

So she sat there, trying to remember what happened and how she ended up there.

Slowly every detail returned to her and she was left breathless and terrified.

What could have happened when I fell asleep? Why aren't I dead, an what happened to Angel?

Fearfully Kim opened her eyes, expecting the worse. The sight of a curved cement ceiling was the first thing she seen.

Breathing deeply she looked to her right. A few feet away the cement stopped, and water rushed by in man made streams.

I'm in a sewer her mind quickly decided. But why?

Just then a new sound entered the air.

It was the sound of shoes hitting wet cement in a timely fashion.

Quickly Kim closed her eyes and hoped that she still looked like she was asleep as it rapidly approached.

"My my, so my sleeping beauty finally awakens. To bad, I did not get to lay a kiss on thee, my sweet Kimberly. I guess I'm not your prince charming after all." Kim sighed, relived it was only Romulus.

He was by her side within a few moments and sliding his hand to the middle of Kim's back he helped her into a siting position.

The sewer like Kim guessed was dimly lit. Her and Romulus sat in a tunnel.

How there was any light down there was beyond Kim's knowledge.

She was weak and soar and all she wanted was some tea. Her book bag was gone and her cloths more dirty then she remembered them being.

Limply she said "what happened?"

Romulus sat beside her on the floor.
He pulled a sucker out of a plastic bag he had been carrying. With a playful smile held it out for her.

Kim could not help but smile, and pulled the sucker out of his grasp. She felt like she was a chiled who had just scraped their knee and to make her happy received a sucker.

Kim unwrapped it and stuck the sweet in her mouth.

Slowly she pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. For a few moments the only sounds heard was the water racing by.

This was the most calmest she had felt since arriving there.

The whole thing almost felt like a dream to Kim. An awful nightmare she wished to be awakened from. She stared off silently into space as seconds crawled by.

"Did you find Selena?" Kim asked in a hushed tone.

Romulus waited a second before responding.

With a easy way of speaking while using his hands he said "She has always been better at hide and seek then I. My only wish would be that she would not fool me with soft spoken words in places she is not. It just so happened that after a while of searching and resting I heard a lovely melody drift into the air. To be more precise, a scream."