Valley

In the depths of the darkness, Eileen felt a certain sense of dread that was just hard to dismiss like that. It wasn't that she was afraid of the darkness---she was used to losing light in the middle of spelunking expeditions---but it was more than just the darkness. There was an unspeakable sort of terror that she could feel within her bones, the kind of feeling that one would normally determine as ``making one's skin crawl''.

It wasn't completely dark, of course. It was not a cave, but a very deep valley, where the ends of hundred-metre path opened out to the bright world outside, while the centre had the most quiet and discomforting feeling that one could get. Eileen knew the theory of the feeling of dread---it was the infra-sonic waves from the barely-there breeze wafting and oscillating through the narrow valley that was causing the discomfort. The theory was that while her ears couldn't actually hear the infra-sonic sound, her body and more specifically her bones could still register the very low frequencies that are present. But all the theories in the world cannot undo the millenia of raw instincts built from evolution, and Eileen shivered a little.

She took a few more tentative steps forward towards the light. She was roughly a third through the valley. It was just broad enough for her small frame. Mario was supposed to follow her through the valley, but after only twenty metres in, he swore that there was something `unclean' about the place and that he couldn't stand it, and wanted out. He'd rather take the long circumnavigation route than to cut through the valley. He had gone with Gonzales, the third team member whose large size already precluded him from using the short cut.

Eileen should have joined them. But the valley itself was not very well-explored, and it would be a waste to just leave it alone like that because two of her team mates were unable or unwilling to go through with it. Gonzales had expressed his disapproval of her foolhardiness, but she was his boss, and all he could do was just frown at her, passing her a high-powered portable short-wave radio and told her to keep in contact with them at all times. She shrugged and took the radio, angry that her team mates were unwilling to join her, but glad that they still cared enough for her to remind her of the safety procedures.

Eileen continued her way through the darkness, feeling about. The walls were covered by a kind of moss, soft to the touch and had a strange dewy feel about it. There was this dampness that clinged about that Eileen was starting to feel as she made her way through carefully, using her hiking pole before each step to determine if the ground in front of her was true.

The radio suddenly cackled to life.

``Eileen, Gonzales here. How are you doing?'' Eileen paused her advance and pulled radio from the casing on her belt.

``So far so good. I'm reaching the halfway mark of the valley. Are you guys over yet?''

``Ha!'' Gonzales replied, seemingly laughing. ``I wish! Mario has been such a bitch about walking along the edge of the goat paths, complaining about the sun and the wind and what-not.'' Eileen smiled as she heard the faint protestations of Mario in the background.

``It's getting damp in here though,'' Eileen replied. ``Not sure what to make of it. There's also this weird moss thing about.''

``Are you using the torch yet?'' Gonzales asked over the radio.

``No... I don't want to destroy my night vision.''

``Okay Eileen,'' Gonzales replied, caution weighing in strongly. ``Don't do anything stupid. We may not have a good way of rescuing you if you did so. And go slow. You're likely to reach the other side faster than us no matter how slow you get, so take your time and be safe.''

``Gotcha, Gonzales. Thanks!''

``Don't mention it,'' Gonzales replied. ``Though I still think you are doing a stupid thing by just going through the valley like that.''