Caving had always been a passion of Bobby's and he was excited to reach the small village in India where he would finally have a chance to explore the Raakshas cave. Only the best cavers came here and the cave, which meant "demon' when translated into English was one of the deepest, darkest and most complex caves in the world.
Bobby set his belongings down on the bed in his rented room. It definitely wasn't first class, but it would do. Feeling slightly hungry, he decided to venture out into the town to grab a bite to eat. He settled on a small restaurant that seemed to be popular with tourists, there were several foreigners there, mostly, based on the accents around him, from the UK. As he sat waiting for his biryani and Hayward's he couldn't help but overhear the conversation beside him, "You wouldn't believe it I tell you, there was something quite strange down there, Flora and I didn't just see it, we
felt
it."
"Well Mate, I suppose you're lucky it didn't get ya then!" the other man said, laughing loudly as if he had already had too much to drink.
"For some reason I think it was due to Flora being there, I know you think I'm mad but it seemed to go away once Flora started speaking."
Bobby wanted to lean back to hear more but noticed the waiter approaching him with his meal and quickly pulled his chair forward to accept the plate placed in front of him.
Bobby went to bed as soon as he arrived back to the hotel after dinner, anxious to get up early and start his day with the cave. The night seemed to pass quickly and Bobby woke up to the phone ringing in the room for his wake up call. As he sat up he couldn't help but notice his entire body was drenched in sweat. He vaguely remembered having nightmares throughout the night but couldn't remember the specifics of them.
With his gear on his back he headed down to the lobby area to wait for the charter bus that would take him to the entrance of Raakshas. The ride to the cave was about 40 minutes and Bobby spent most of that time reading previous notes other explorers had written about the cave and dozing off. He knew it was known to be haunted but there was very little information about
what
was haunting it.
The bus pulled in front of a long dirt trail and let him off. He could see the entrance to the cave down at the end of the trail about a quarter of a mile or so. It was so quiet he could only hear the crunch of his feet against the rocky road and his own breathing.
As he arrived to the entrance of the cave he paused, feeling suddenly nervous about what was ahead of him. He pressed forward, chastising himself for being so silly.
Down he went, into the darkness...the cave was beautiful, smooth curves ridges dotted with stalagmites, it seemed he was surrounded by tiny stars that glowed faintly in the darkness. He sat down to take a sip of water and look turn his flashlight onto a map to find out which way to turn next.
As bobby positioned himself against the wall, he heard a soft small voice that echoed gently down one of the halls of the cave. He jumped, startled by the sound...was someone else in here??
"Hello?!" he called out, his voice reflecting the panic that he felt.