Chapter 1 - Part 2

Jessie sighed.  Her eyes narrowed like little blue icicles on me.  “Fine, I’ll go fifty yards into the old tunnel but no more!  Don’t forget, you were the one who didn’t want to come last time.”

“Ah, shove it.” I tried to hide the red in my face.  “I’m ten  now, and I’m not afraid of the dark like when I was eight!” 

I glanced out into the darkness. Everything felt deathly still as we slid down the embankment scattering gravel beneath our feet.  The night seemed colder.  Even the moon had vanished behind a shroud of clouds.  It was pitch black except for the dim beam cast upon our path by my flashlight. 

“Let’s get going, Jessie.”

Slipping down the slope, I rolled into a crouch at the flat base of the ravine. The moon rose like a specter along the cold iron bars shimmering like the belly of a slain dragon.  The rails led along rough gravel choked with weeds and straight towards a gaping hole like a dark mouth in the side of the hill.  I stepped carefully over rusted rail ties balancing myself carefully on one side of the steel bars polished smooth with travel long ago.  Behind me the huge gnarled branches of the birch forest wove a dim opening where the rail vanished into the overgrowth.

I stepped over the track only to trip over a rusty cross bar.  My pants sunk into something thick.  Reaching down, I realized I’d fallen into tar.  I glared at my sister who stifled a giggle.

 “Come on, Justin.  We don’t have all night to sit around.  It’s not like you have to worry about trains since the line’s been abandoned for years now.”

The cavernous black orifice groaned with the passing wind through its empty fissures.  The night was very cold biting into my skin like tiny pins of chill.  I noticed Jessie bundle herself deeper into her parka.  A gust of wind escaped the gaping maw chilling me to the bone. 

Jessie stopped on the side of the tracks and shook her head.  “Justin, I don’t like this.  Let’s just go home.”

 I tried to hide the fear in my voice.  “Fine, just take the picture of me outside.  That will be good enough.  The guys won’t be able to top that.”

“OK, back up a little bit.”

I followed her instructions and walked back into the darkness outside the tunnel mouth a few yards from Jessie.  I felt nervous standing there as she reached into her pocket and held up the camera. 

“Back a little more … OK!  Perfect!  Now hold still.” The camera flashed.  “Great!  Let’s go!”

“Wait!”  I said.  “I need to take a look.”  I started toward her when I felt an icy chill through the flimsy canvas of my sneakers. 

 Looking down, I noticed a creeping fog floating out of the tunnel mouth, a swirling river of vapor that filled the entire gorge.  “Justin,” I heard the worry in my sister’s voice.  “Why is there fog coming out of the tunnel?”