Sinkholes, Caves and the Devil’s Millhopper
A trip to hell and back
The Pit
Warren pulled away from the ghastly sight, knowing now that he had made the correct decision to get away even if he was lost, and continued on leaving the ghastly sight behind into the darkness again. Warren continued though the cave which was mostly straight with only one slight detour down a short dead end when he tripped over a rock on the floor and fell forward, first to his knees then forward onto his stomach and then onto his chest with his head and arms dangling over in space in what seemed to be a pit. A very deep pit, he realized as he could hear the sounds of rocks he disturbed from his fall clattering off the walls as they fell ever deeper into the pit. He pushed away from the edge rolling over onto his back and laid there for a moment realizing how close he came to falling into the pit. If he hadn’t stumbled on that rock, well it would not have been good. Not knowing how big and wide the pit was he decided to use another one of his matches which he took out, and learning from the last time, looked away before striking it. In the flash and following light of the match he saw the pit was a good ten feet across, much too far to jump, something he didn’t want to try in the dark anyway, but there was very narrow ledge along one side, less than two feet wide, too narrow to crawl on hands and knees. He would have to stand up to traverse the ledge. He dropped the match into the pit as it was about to go out watching it fall deeper and deeper before finally going out while it was still falling.
Ok, no problem, he thought, cross an endless deep pit, on a ledge less than two feet wide, in total darkness while standing up, how hard could that be. He took a deep breath and set out, with his back to the wall he carefully moved one foot at a time in a sideways shuffle, so far so good, a quarter of the way he estimated, not being able to tell in the dark. A couple of more shuffles and he steps on a lose rock almost causing him to fall as the rock bounces down into the pit, he pauses taking another deep breath stopping his shaking before continuing. They say don’t look down when you’re in such situations but with it being total blackness it didn’t matter where he looked but he was looking down when far below he thought he saw a light, he pauses. The light grew brighter and in a moment, he sees what looks like a troll carrying a torch coming out of a side tunnel into a chamber the bottom of the pit which must have been at least a hundred feet down. The troll pauses and looks around then bends over and picks something up off the floor, the match he dropped into the pit. “Oh shit”, Warren mutters, as the troll examines the match holding it up with his fat fingers then bringing it to his nose and sniffing it. The troll drops the burnt match then holds his torch up over his head looking above him. In the light of the torch Warren could see several other openings at different levels along the side of the pit before he pulls back flattening himself back against the wall along the side of the ledge holding his breath not daring to move or make a sound. The light flickers as if the troll was waving the torch around to get a better look above him, Warren wasn’t sure for he wasn’t going to look down. Warren’s legs were starting to feel week, but he dared not move, then the light begin to fade away and he was again in total darkness standing on a ledge above a hundred foot deep pit with a troll at the bottom.
Ok he’s gone, the troll is gone, Warren thought several times before he took a deep breath, ok not too deep as he felt a little dizzy from the fresh air filling his lungs as he proceeded his shuffle along the ledge. At one point he thought he should be across, so he extended one foot out tapping carefully on the floor in front of him to see if was ground or pit. With it seemly solid ground, he slowly lowered to his hands and knees confirming he was across before he collapsed onto his back in relief.