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“It’s fine, we’ll go back down and take the stairs up.” I hit the button to re-engage the motor and nothing happened.
Not wanting to panic Holly, I pressed the button again, and then a third time. Not even a flicker of life. “Just say it, Reid. It’s not working, is it?”
“Doesn’t appear to be operating. No big deal, I will lower us down with the pulley.” I gripped the rusted chain and began lowering us gently, not wanting to jar the old mechanisms of the shaft too much.
“Ok, we should be almost…” I lost the words as I felt the chain go slack in my hand, and the floor fell out from underneath us.
Holly’s screams rang through the elevator, and I heard her phone fall somewhere as the small, enclosed room went dark.
???
Holly
This is how I die.
I had grand dreams of passing away at the ripe old age of eighty-seven holding hands with the love of my life as we pass over into the fluffy clouds and streets paved of gold in our sleep. Together, obviously. What can I say? The Notebook set my standards exceptionally high.
Never, not one single time, did I consider I would plummet to my death in a secret elevator shaft in the middle of a haunted plantation house. Not sure why, but you know, the thought didn’t occur to me.
But here we are, and the feeling of death – the actual act of dying itself - it’s different than what I might have imagined, surreal almost. It’s like I’m having an out of body experience. I heard the chain break, and almost as if it were happening in slow motion, I felt the loss of gravity as I became weightless, freefalling through the air. I know I’m screaming, but I hear it as if it isn’t my own voice, but the voice of someone off in the distance.
And then, after what feels like an eternity and merely seconds all at once, the world stops.
Silence. Darkness.
Except, am I dead? Really?
A plume of dust infiltrates the dark space and fills my lungs causing me to cough. Dead people don’t cough. So, not dead, good.
“Holly, baby.” Reid, thank you Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I wasn’t ready to go, I haven’t had my worldly fill of this man yet…speaking of….
“Reid? Dammit, I can’t see anything.” Using my hands, I felt around on my body searching for injuries, but everything seems fine.
“Are you hurt, Holly?” Reid’s voice was stern and filled with what sounded like concern. He’s worried about me; would you look at that.
“I don’t think so, but I can’t be one hundred percent sure, it’s possible I’m in shock. Where are you?” Reid’s chuckle echoed through the confines of the elevator shaft.
“You’re on top of me.” What? I felt around in the pitch-black darkness and oh…there he is. Hey there, muscles.
“Whoops. Um, I can’t really move. Where is the door? Are you ok, Reid? I didn’t hurt you, did I?” If I landed on Reid, what did he land on?
“I’m fine, I’m pretty sure your phone is digging into my right shoulder though, hold on.” Reid groaned as he shifted us.
“Let there be light.” He spoke as he illuminated the dark elevator.
“I thought the elevator just went from the library to the bedroom. How far did we fall?” I asked as I moved my body to allow Reid access to the door that we could now see because of the light.
“Surprise. I know you did your research on this property, and while it wasn’t included on your blueprints, I’m also fairly certain you’re aware of the underground tunnel system below the property. This elevator shaft served a dual purpose. While the more commonly discussed and socially accepted rumor is that these tunnels were part of the underground railroad circuit, the truth is that Hubert Anderson had the tunnels constructed in the dead of night over a period of months as a secret passageway from his home to the train tracks that lead to the harbor. It was his way of disposing of the bodies after he was finished with them. I guess he got tired of burying them out back; who knows really.” Reid reached forward, and leveraging his weight with his shoulder, he wedged open the door far enough that we could get out.
“Wait, there are dead bodies down here? Am I about to come face to face with a skeleton, Reid? I need to be prepared for this shit; you’ve got to stop with the surprises. It was cute at first, but now I am legit freaking out.” I stalled in the entrance of the elevator, unsure as to whether or not I was prepared to step out into the underground tunnel that may or may not be full of the remains of dead women and children. Or ghosts. Or their spirits. Dear Lord.
“And yet you questioned me this morning as I was strapping up with artillery.” I couldn’t see Reid, but I could feel his smirk in the air as his hand reached back into the elevator and grabbed mine, pulling me out into the tunnel that was barely lit by the light of my phone that Reid held.
“How many times do we have to go over this? You cannot kill something that is already dead. Explosives are going to do you zero favors facing off against a centuries old pissed off spirit.” I stood in the darkness of the tunnel surrounded by dirt and clay, the floor under my feet felt as if it were lined with bricks or some sort of stone. I was joking about the whole Indiana Jones thing earlier, but now the idea doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
“And yet for some reason, the pistol strapped to my thigh gives me comfort. Follow me, my set of blueprints did, in fact, have a map of the tunnel system. If my sense of direction is right, we can head this way and there should be an escape hatch that will get us out of here without having to walk the length of the tunnel to the train track.” Reid held onto my hand as I stumbled blindly behind him.
“Is it just me, or is this place way more put together than I would have assumed it would be after having been abandoned underground for years? I was expecting cobwebs and mice, maybe some human skeletal remains, but it’s surprisingly clean, right?” I asked as I took in my surroundings from what I could see from the dim light of my cell phone that Reid held out in front of us like a lantern, lighting our path ahead.
