xxAlicexx

*W.. what happened....* was your first thought after coming back from the darkness. The last thing you could remember was running and then falling in a deep black hole. You screamed until you had no more breath in your lungs and that awful blackness took your sight and mind. Now you could hardly feel your body, and opening your eyes... well that wasn't going to happen. It was like all the strength in you had gone and the only thing you could do was wonder what had happened and where you were at now. *Did the ground collapse... my mother warned me not to go too far into the forest...* If you could have cried you would have, but being hardly able to move you didn't imagine that you could cry. You couldn't even move your lips to say anything, see if anyone was around you, coming to save you.
More and more your feelings began to return to you and slowly you could peek open one eye. What you saw left you in utter terror. You were in total darkness, not a light to show you where you were. All you could really make out were grey rock walls surrounding you and moving your right hand beneath you, you could feel dirt and rocks poking into you. You gritted your teeth and tried to move both arms and legs now, making sure nothing was broken. Though there was a shooting pain in your left side, everything else seemed to be ok, so gathering everything in you, you rolled over, holding back a cry(after all you never knew what could be waiting in the dark,) onto your stomach and slowly pushed yourself up with your hands, clawing into the dirt to keep yourself steady until you could push yourself to sit back against the wall behind you. There you sat, taking in deep breaths, trying your hardest to calm down enough to figure out what to you. You touched your left side, a sticky wound the cause for the pain, but it wasn't bleeding out so it must be closed. It still was throbbing underneath your fingertips, and leaning your head back against the wall you went in and out of consciousness for at least half an hour, your heart drumming in your head making you wish you would pass out again and go back into the sweet, comforting arms of darkness.
In time your breathing got steadier, and you opened your eyes again, noticing that things had stopped spinning. Still you could hardly see beyond your nose, which did pose a problem with getting out of wherever it was that you were at. All you could see still were those rocky walls, and a large, gaping hole in the center that was even blacker than the blackness around you.
"Help..." you managed a whisper from your scratching dry throat. It was barely more a noise than a mouse would make and again and again you tried until finally you yelled out, "Someone help me!!!"
Your own voice echoed from wall to wall and in your ears, making you cringe as it went far off and then you were in silence again. It was driving you crazy, hearing nothing else, Not a whisper of wind, or scrapping of stone and again and again you cried out, "Help me! Somebody... can anybody hear me?!?! I need help!" You cried until your voice again went hoarse and all you could do was sit there, as tears poured down your face, causing a bitter taste in your mouth, and making your head hurt even worse than before.
*I have to do something...* you resolved looking around into the darkness again. *I can't sit here and rot away. There may be another way out of this place...* So putting your hands against the wall you levered yourself up against it until you were on your feet. Your knees threatened to give out, but you held firm against the wall and used your hands to guide you, gripping what few hand holds you could to keep from collapsing. You didn't make it far, before you fell back down to your knees, cutting them on the rocks on the ground. You couldn't cry anymore, so you sat there on your knees, letting them burrow into your skin, the pain distracting you from thinking about your current situation.
There was a light from behind you, bright and flashing, from the hole in the rocky ceiling, and you watched as a dark shape fell through it and onto the hard ground where you had been. Then everything again went black, and you could only stare in wonder at what had just happened. *Is that what happened to me...* you thought. *No wonder I feel so bad...*
"Hello...?' You heard someone cough from the center of the room.
Your heart nearly jumped at the sound of your twin brothers voice and you called out to him, "Blaine?"
There was a pause before he replied, "Alice...? Is that you?"
"Blaine!" You cried, happy just knowing he was near you. And you did know it was him, because of your freaky twin link thing. You only wished you could have went to him, but the pain in your side made it nearly impossible to move and each time you tried more blood seeped from the scabbed over part.
"Where are you? Are you hurt?" He asked, concerned as he slowly sat up. He was doing much better than you at least, or so it seemed, since he was awake and moving much faster than you had been.
"I'm ok," you called back, trying to sound ok, even though your voice was breaking. "I can't move though. My side was hurt... but it's not bad."
"Keep talking," he stood up and dusted himself off, or so you thought from what you could see of him, which was only a dark spot a few feet away from you. "I'll find yo-" He grunted as he tripped over you and onto to floor again.
"Well good finding me..." you lsaid sarcastically,but smiled as he turned around and looked at you.
"Sorry bout that..." he sighed and sat up beside you. "Let me see your side."
You had been holding your hands over it, trying to keep it from bleeding out anymore. "Now isn’t the time for that... you can't exactly see it. We need to find a way out of here."
"But where is here?" Blaine asked, trying to look around. "I can't see a thing. All I remember is turning around and you weren't there anymore. Why dud you run off?"
You bit your lip and tried to think about it, but all you could really remember was running after something then falling. "I don't remember... I was chasing something and then... I just remember waking up and not being able to move. I cried for help... did you hear me?"
Blaine shook his head, following your eyes to the hole in the middle of the ceiling. "No. I found your trail and followed it. I guess I somehow missed the gaping hole in front of me.."
"You know," you said thoughtfully. "I didn't see it either. I just fell... I thought maybe the ground gave way underneath me."
Again Blaine shook his head. "If that were true I would have noticed the hole from where you fell. Something strange is definitely going on. We need to try and find a way out of here."
You nodded and after Blaine had stood up he helped you and you leaned heavily against his shoulder from your right side.
You kept one of your hands to the walls to make sure you were following something, and as you went on you felt something soft and mossy under your fingers. If it was some kind of vegetation maybe the cave would lead you out somewhere in the open where you could find your way home. You certainly hoped so. And walking further along you noticed that the rocks started to glow with a life of their own. It made things easier at least, even if it wasn't normal and soon the two of you came upon something even stranger. A set of three doors in the middle of the wall...
"For this simple lock, you'll only need to knock. Be careful which you choose. Or in the end you'll lose... Choose number three and back to home you'll be. Number two is for the brave, but out of this dark cave. Number one’s not what it seems. It leads you to your dreams..."
You looked over to Blaine as he read the inscription which was carved into the wall and he shrugged looking over to you. "What do you suppose that means?"
"I'm not sure..." you looked at the doors carefully, running your hands over the smooth wood until you were over to the inscription where you looked it over reading it over and over in your mind.
"Having the right key is everything here. Those who do will find themselves even more lost than those without..." a dark, sarcastic voice echoed through the room and into yours and Blaine’s ears. When you looked around for who had said it you found a big grinning cat sitting in the shadows watching you with glowing eyes.
"What do you mean, cat?" you asked, before Blaine could speak.
"Using your head only gets it further to being cut off..." he said, and disappeared from sight, his laughter echoing again through the blank room.
"Alice?" Blaine waved his hand in front of your face and you blinked and looked over to him. "Who are you talking to? I don't see any. And I've never seen one that could talk..."
"But I saw..." you pointed to where the cat had been sitting but Blaine only looked at you with concern.
"Maybe we should stop for a little while. Let you rest for a bit..."
"I'm fine," you said, almost annoyed. You had seen a talking cat. But... apparently Blaine didn't. "I think to get out of here we just have to knock on one of the-"
"Doors, that’s brilliant," he said and reached out and knocked on the first one that was closest much to your dismay.
"Blaine no!" You yelled trying to stop him but it was too late. His knuckles landed hard on the flat wood surface and the door silently began to swing open opened...