Picture this! - Devil's caves

Hey! I've got this story which I recalled telling my friends about 3 years back, when the lights went out.. Not that it may be scary though, it may get a little exaggerated, but try it anyway.. Make sure you're all alone and the room is quiet. Also, if it makes it better, read this in dim light..... And the picture is...

You are a good adventurer (even if you aren't, just think so!). You decide to go on a camp with five of your dear friends. All of you convince your parents to let you girls on your own. One of you is afraid of heights. But since you want a minimum of five, you convince them anyway and also her parents, who are terribly worried. Everything goes well so far. Two days before, all of you discuss on what to wear and what to carry with you. Normal and usual.

But, where have you decided to go? You, being the one to propose the trip, refuses to tell the others where you are taking them, as you want to keep it secret and give them a surprise.

(Here, you have to imagine that there is a place called "Devil's caves". This place had rumors of spirits roaming around and guarding a secret treasure deep inside the cave. For centuries, nobody dared to enter those caves, as one who gets in, never gets out. And what happens to them, nobody knows..)

The day of the journey...

All of you are set. You climb into a hired vehicle and drive away. Everyone, still in excitement, sing, crack jokes and have a jolly time.

Half way through the journey, you break the secret and say: "Guys, I know what you may feel after I say this.. But.. I really wanted to know what's there.. So.. Our destination is, Devil's caves. Don't be scared.. I am just too curious about this whole mystery.." On hearing this terrifying news, everyone looks at each other with an expression that reads - "What is wrong with her? Why would she want to go there? You smile despite all this and continue anyway.

It begins to grow dark, late in the evening. Others are asleep in the vehicle, but you stay awake, reading a book. You hear a faint noise. You stop reading and look around. But everyone is still in their baby sleep. Noticing nothing around, you begin to read again. You are lost in your story and forget about the noise. 30 minutes later, you hear the noise again. Only this time, a little louder. You freeze and don't move. You only move your eyes around to see who made the noise. You still don't see anyone. You get nervous and you turn to the driver. He has nothing to do with the noise and he quietly drives. You take a deep breath and you begin to read your book again.

It becomes very dark and the entire scene is dark blue outside the vehicle, under the dim moonlight. Not another sound. The only sound you could hear now, is the sound of the vehicle on the pathway.

30 minutes later...

You feel cold. Windows are closed but you feel a mild, almost unrecognizable breeze. Goosebumps pile up on the surface of your skin. You stay still and try hard not to lose focus on your book. But you are unable to focus now, no matter how hard you try. Just when you slowly lift your head up, you realize you are now about to enter the Devil's caves area. It is deserted and dry. Only plants you notice are cacti. You now decide to take a deep breath and relax. You say to yourself, "Relax.. Nothing's gonna happen.. Chill.. You're fine, you're fine.. You'll bust them out.." You know they've seen you coming. You know they are waiting.. And yet still, you do not want to go back. Even though you're scared, you want to proceed.. Despite warnings, you knew they were giving you all the time..

10 minutes.. You close your eyes and imagine you're at home, trying to recollect the good times with family and friends. You picture your best friend looking at you and smiling, after which she proceeds to hug you. But, your scene is fading away. Even as you close your eyes, you can only see the area you are in now - Devil's area - You start feeling uncomfortable, in every position you sit or sleep, you feel stressed. Your head suddenly feels heavy. You finally decide to open your eyes. You notice small rocks in the scene. As you are riding in your vehicle, you notice that they gradually increase in size until, you suddenly come across a big rock and an old woman with long white hair and white skin, with bruised hands and a face with stitches, stares at you as she sits on the rock, wearing a white gown. Her eyes are focused on you! You tremble with fear. You are scared. Her bright white eyes begin to glow, brighter than the moonlight. You cannot take your eyes off her. Soon, you lean back and close your eyes. You open them again in a minute. This time, she is following your vehicle and she is in front of you. She says, "Turn back now.. Or you shall never return!.. NOW!! NOW!!! Before you turn into one of us.. Turn back! Do not go there! I am warning you.. If you love your life, turn back!" Her voice sounds like she's growling.. A ghostly voice and terrified look on her face. You must have guts to talk back. Her voice echoes as she fades away.

You look at the driver, confused, whether or not to tell him to turn back. You ask him, "Hey.. Did you see that?.. That lady.. Do you really think I made a good decision in coming here? Do you think I should go back? I'm scared now.. Have we crossed the point where we cannot turn back anymore?" The driver doesn't look at you. But he replies, "It's too late to turn back.. We shall go.. What lady are you talking about? I didn't see anything.. You must be dreaming little girl. Happens to many people. You're not an exception. What you hear about the caves, is only a rumour. There aren't any such things as ghosts. Don't believe anything. Enjoy your ride and don't think too much, eh?" You reply, "Yeah.. I guess so. But tell me, how many times have you come here? Often?" He says,"Not many times.. This is my first trip here.." You gaze at him and then feel strange of how sure he is that nothing's going to happen to anyone. You still feel scared. Fear is part of your blood now. Only you know what took place - the lady in the white gown trying to warn you!

The driver finds a smooth spot to camp. He shouts out to the others who are still sleeping tightly. "Yo girlies! Get up! We shall camp here tonight.. You girls can set up your tents there, while I get down and take a small walk." You want to stop him. But you think, "What if he wants to pee? We're all girls here and he's the only man!" And you giggle. All of you get out and start setting up tents. Everyone else is yawning, while you still think of the lady in white. She haunts your mind every now and then. You don't speak a word about her. All of you light candles in place of a bonfire. After half an hour, you all go back to sleep, inside the tents, forgetting about your driver and what would've happened to him.

The next morning, you wake up first and you wake the others up too. You are fresh and have forgotten about last night. You call out to your driver but there is no response.. You wonder what would've happened to him. But no one else seems to be bothered about it. You look around. The sun is shining bright above your head, but it is not hot. You are not thirsty and you like the fact. You tell the rest of the girls to follow you, entirely forgetting that the driver is still missing! You walk a few miles and there it is! The Devil's caves standing tall and crooked. As you walk in, you find water droplets falling on you. It is dark. You use your torchlight inside. And what you see inside may horrify you...

Skeletons, bodies which are still decaying, all covered with blood, skin near the lungs ripped apart, heads separated from bodies and trails of hair all over the place, heads with no eyes, or nose or mouth, some hands cut and minced into pieces and you accidentally step on some of them. You almost shriek out, but you control. You ask your friends to control as well. You reach a turn in the cave, but before you could turn, your light goes out. It becomes deadly dark. You feel something wet falling on your shoulders. All of you hold hands and freeze. You light a candle and you proceed. After a few steps, you enter a huge empty space which is now, very bright. All of you rush to the place and feel safe. But, where is the 5th person? She is not there. You have now lost a friend in the cave. Will you continue or go back? Will you go back to the dark to find her? Would you risk your life to find her, with a possibility that she may not even be there?

No, you don't. You want to continue before doomsday and discover the fruit of this journey as soon as possible. A girl cries because she lost her best friend. She pleads you. She begs you. But, you say, "We have to move on.." She curses you and walks back in. You try to stop her. But she doesn't listen. You cry out to her, "Don't go! It's dangerous! Please! Come back! Stop!!!" But she ignores you and continues to walk and.. There you go! You lost another friend. 2 down, 3 to go..

You are frustrated. You tell the remaining to stick with you no matter what happens. You don't let them go out of your sight. You go and finally find, what looks like a tiny pathway. You lead the others down the pathway. It becomes slightly dark, but you can still see without the light. So you head forward. Half way through, all of you suffocate. Poisonous gases are troubling you. If you inhale these, you are sure to die. You find 2 masks in your bag. Your safety first, and so, you cover your nose and mouth with the mask and then you drop the other mask in between your friends and say,"Whoever picks it up first, gets it.. I am sorry but I cannot spare my life." Both of them fight. One gets too suffocated and cannot hold her breath any longer. She inhales the gas during the fight and dies instantly. The other girl, luckily grabs the mask, looks at the other girl and apologizes. She quickly runs towards you, with a tear in her eye of losing the girl.

You walk further and it gets dim. You can still see. It is quiet inside, but as you walk, the cave turns blue. You feel cold. You grab your only friend's hand and pull her close to you. You again feel something wet dripping from the top, onto your shoulders. You are now annoyed, and curious to know what the wet drops are. So you decide to look up. Finally. But the scene is not so pleasant up there. The moment you lift your head up, corpses that look like zombies hang upside down with hooks pierced into their feet. you run with your friend. You finally reach a room, full of dust and spiderwebs. In the distance, you could see a spotlight on a treasure box. You run to the treasure box with your friend. It is quiet and nothing distracts you now. You have reached the place! You are happy! But what is this? No key? You think what to do next while your friend stares at the treasure and freezes. You finally look at her and ask her, "Hey, do you have any ideas?" But she doesn't respond. Without even blinking, she stares at the treasure box. She stares without moving her eyes. You forcibly hold her shoulders and turn her towards you. Her eyes are still in the same position. You notice something. Her eyes are slowly turning light blue. Scars begin to appear on her facial skin. You are nervous. She is turning into a beast, like them. You turn her around again and finally find a bite mark on her neck. One of them has attacked her. You have no choice but to kill her.

She turns back at you and now she looks horrific! She has turned white and has a craving to possess the treasure. She tries to attack you but you push her away and finally, you can't take it anymore. So, you take out a knife and stab her. As she dies, her eyes turn back normal, her face is back to the way it was before. But, she is dying. She says, "I am sorry... I am sorry I tried.. I.. Tried.. t..t.. to.." and passed away. You cover your mouth and almost cry but you lift the treasure box and run towards the grand exit. You run, extremely scared. They are following you.. Fast.. They will not leave you! You hear noises, noises of dead corpses growling and waiting to feast on you. But you run, and you run fast. Almost there. But suddenly, a corpse hangs from above in front of you. It opens its eyes and tries to catch you.. It almost touched you. It swings to catch you, but growls mournfully as you escape it's claws. You can see the light in front of you and the monsters behind you. You stop for a second, and it's your end. Faster! They are catching up! They can almost reach you! Fast! You run to the exit and finally get out. You still don't want to pause. You are tired and thirsty. But you run as fast as you can to reach your vehicle. On your way, you find another body, with one of its legs chopped and the whole body covered with blood. You think it is dead and try to escape. But, it calls out to you, "Please, help... Please.. Last night, they caught me, and did this to me, please save me... Or I'll die!" It grabs your foot and you almost trip. You scream!

To your surprise, it is your driver! Such a relief! You pick him up and drag him for miles till you spot the vehicle. You get inside the vehicle and start the car immediately and get out of the place! you are now relieved, although still scared.

On your way back, the rocks decrease in size and on the same rock as before, you see the lady in white again. Only this time, she smiles at you and nods (As if to say, "Congratulations! I am proud of you! But never return!"). You look at her for a few minutes and look away from her. She too fades away. You keep your eyes back on the road and smirk. You feel proud. You look at the driver and both of you laugh.

You never know what rumors may be true. Sometimes, it's best not to assume things and go with what is said. And as for the driver, who thought nothing would happen, lost his leg and lots of blood.


Original piece by Madhu