Hope Released

The Tunnels

    I lay still in my bed, my glow returning to it's original brightness as I awoke. Maybe I dreamt about the knocking... I didn't hear anything anymore.

    I sat up, pulling the covers off and setting my feet on the cool ground. The bed next to mine was standing empty and I stood, quickly turning to see Skye pressed up against the wall that separated the staircase from the room. He was peering up the staircase at the trapdoor but turned to face me with a finger on his lips signaling me to be quiet.

    The knocking resumed and I tiptoed next to Skye who posed tense and ready for anything. A voice spoke loud and clear from above, and Skye pushed me behind him, his hand remaining on my arm.

    Skye didn't answer but his hold on me tightened.

    "You have nowhere to run! We have you cornered and this is your only chance or we WILL take her by force!" Silence... and the voice spoke up once more. " You have half a minute to make your choice!" Laughter rang out above us and Skye turned to me. 

    "Follow me!" his alarmed whisper said as we rushed into the bathroom and he shut the door behind us locking it. My glow illuminated the room brightly in an aqua-tinted light.

    "Could you do something with the water as I open the door to the tunnels?" He asked, pressing against certain tiles on the walls with his fingertips.

    "I can try-"

    "You have ten seconds!" and with that, the trap door was opened with a bang  as it hit the marble floors above us.

    The wall Skye was working on began to shift rapidly before my eyes. The tiles moving in all directions away from the center to reveal an opening. With my fingers spread, the feel of water running through pipes underneath my skin, I let energy well up inside of me and gather at my hands. With a twist of the wrists the water spewed out of the sink and bathtub taps towards me only to stop in mid-air before my face as I turned it's direction underneath a small gap in the door, out into the dome. Clenching my hands into strong fists, I set the strength of the water to a high enough level that anyone who took actions towards it and our escape route would be thrown against a wall. 

    Just as footsteps were heard on the stairs I ran though what was once the bathroom wall.

    The tunnels spread out before us, a vast escape to conquer before we would be captured. Skye was standing at the tunnel that was to my far left. I ran up to him, blue glow reflecting off of clear stones embedded in the otherwise dull, grey rock.

    "You sure this is the way?"  I asked, pondering about the locations the other five tunnels could lead us.

    "Nope, But that's what the old man said remember? "keep left"."

    "Then let's go."  I assumed he would start to lead but he gave me a puzzled look and nudged me ahead of him.

    "Your glow will be much more helpful to us right now." he responded as we began to move confidently through the passage.

    Whenever we encountered several new ways to go, we would always choose the one that was farthest to our left without hesitation. Sometimes we encountered large boulders in our way which we easily climbed over. It was surprising to see Skye scramble over the rocks just as easily as I did, which led me to think that he adventured just as often as I did. The distance out of the tunnels took some time to cover but adrenaline from our fear of being caught led us on without a stop. We stepped out of a tunnel we were forced to crawl through because of it's small height and found ourselves in a round space with a ceiling that was much higher than the tallest we had seen so far, reaching five stories above us. There were three tunnels ahead of of us. One angled downwards deeper into the ground, the second kept straight forwards, and the last shone with daylight two stories above the ground. This last one was our destination; so far, yet, so close.