A Tale of Two Cities

Nalla's insatiable curiosity and boundless energy lands us in hot water more times than I can count. Her most recent misadventure? She chased my neighbor's cat, Tobias, up and down the stairs, yowling like a maniac, making us the talk of our apartment complex. I assured Janis, Tobias’ owner, that I would find her cat. After finding him, there was no "Thank you." Instead, Janis scolded me with her signature Darth Vader toned voice, "Keep your unruly dog in check, Joe!" Forty years of smoking a pack a day will do that.

One of Janis' favorite morning rituals is serving Nalla and I (mostly me) daggered stares as we come down for our morning walks, sipping her morning black coffee (black like her heart, probably) and puffing her cigarettes on the apartment patio. Meanwhile, Nalla prances alongside me totally oblivious, more interested in the bustling smells the Atlanta morning offers. I always wave cordially to Janis before we head down Peachtree Boulevard, muttering under my breath, "Man, Nal', it’s always me who has to deal with your shenanigans."

I wasn't thinking logically when I got Nalla, either. Walking by Petco one summer, the Atlanta Humane Society was having a pet adoption event outside. The puppies were adorable, and I was completely smitten with a certain tiny black-and-white border collie with big brown eyes. I conveniently forgot that I lived in a one-bedroom apartment with no yard. But here we were, and I had to make the best of it.

Frequent trips to the state park 10 miles outside of Atlanta became our lifeline. Mostly, our hikes were therapeutic, but today was different. About 45 minutes into our walk, Nalla sprinted off, disappearing into the lush green trees. Which wasn't unusual, she never strays outside of earshot, but the minutes ticked by with no sign of her. I started to worry. After a few minutes, I called out, "Naaaaaaaaaaalla, where are you, girl?"

Nothing.

After searching franticly for over an hour, I ventured off the trail into the woods—I knew something was wrong. I kept trudging through the forest, shouting, “Naaaaaalla, here girl.”

Again, nothing.

The night was quickly closing in, so I began to backtrack, thinking she may have turned left or right, but the result was always the same, just the occasional chipmunk scurrying through the leaves or bird chirping.

Before circling back to the trail, my search was interrupted by a loud "SNAP," ahead of me. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard. It sounded almost electrical, like a transformer short-circuiting. In the middle of a dense woods that sound shouldn't make sense, but it was my only lead, so I pursued the noise hoping I’d find Nalla.

Pushing through the woods, I heard a low rumbling, almost like running water. I knew the park had a network of streams, but not in this area. Treading closer, the rumbling intensified and now resembled a loud electrical current. My heart racing, I moved ahead cautiously until I stumbled on a large hole in the ground, slightly bigger than a manhole. It was too big to be an animal den, and I could hear the rumbling noise coming from inside.

"This had to be where Nalla disappeared." I mumbled.

I called her name again, “Naaaaalla,” but, no reply.

I knew what I had to do. I got down on my belly and peeked inside the hole. I felt cool, damp air rising to the surface, but didn’t notice any animal movement—this had to be a cave system.

I began to crawl down slowly, headfirst. The darkness slowly swallowed me as I crawled down the opening, the rumbling grew louder. My thoughts raced as I descended, hoping I wasn't becoming the lead story in the local paper for all the wrong reasons.

Crawling further down, I began hearing rhythmic drips of water, the slow electrical rumble intensifying. Finally, I could see the cave floor. The cave's damp, earthy scent gave me a sense of doom. I muttered, “Is this what catacombs of mummified bodies smells like?”

Conveniently, the angle and diameter of the cave opening leading to the floor was about the size of McDonald's Play Place slide, just a dirty version. Finally, I reached the bottom. The cave was large enough for me to stand and walk. I took out my iPhone and turned on the light. I immediately noticed two winding passages, one to my left and one straight ahead. The glow from my iPhone revealed wet limestone walls with patches of dirt and roots snaking down from the ceiling along the cave walls.

I didn’t see any signs of human presence, seemingly untouched by civilization. I noticed paw prints in the mud leading to the passage straight ahead of me. It had to be Nalla!

Following the paw prints, a sense of helplessness gripped me as my iPhone led me deeper into the cave, the darkness consuming the light behind me. My only inkling of control I had left was my iPhone light.

“iPhone, please don’t die,” I begged.

Coming to an intersection, the path split into three directions. I knew this marked an important part of my journey. If I continued, I wouldn’t have the luxury of a single path leading my escape back to the cave opening; I would have to remember each turn—right, left, left, right, right. Every path change, I made a note in my iPhone.

I looked at my iPhone battery—72%. “Okay, we’re still good,” I whispered.

With the paw prints leading the way, I grew a sense of unease while traversing the cave's labyrinth. The electric rumbling grew louder, the temperature dropped, and the air became thicker, more tangible.

Pushing deeper into the cave's darkness, I got an overwhelming sense I was about to hit a point of inevitability. What, I didn’t know—the cave's exit, a dead end, the origin of evil, or finding Nalla. I was on the precipice of something.

Then, I saw it—the faint, eerie glow radiating from a narrow crevice in the cave wall ahead revealed a suspended orb of light. The orb was pulsating a vibration through the air, casting hues of blue and violet across the rocks. At the same time, I felt a slight tremor in the ground beneath my feet, in concert with the pulsating energy. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, sensing something otherworldly.

The tracks led straight to the crevice opening. I slowly approached to peek in to get a better look, I noticed that the opening was wide enough to squeeze through, so I knew Nalla could fit in there. Peering in I could see a small circular room about 20 feet in diameter—it felt man-made. The room was perfectly circular with two long rectangular boulders that imitated benches.

I called out, “Naaaaaaalla, are you in there, girl?” but I heard nothing—just the crackle of this mysterious orb of light.

I took a deep breath and squeezed through the crevice, my shoulder blades scraping against the rough stone—the opening was larger at my knee area.

Now inside the room, the orb's glow was so bright that I couldn’t look directly at it, but the light's reflection revealed every detail of the rock walls, ceiling, and dirt floor. The paw prints led to the orb’s center, then nothing. It was as if the animal just disappeared.

I searched the circular room for another passageway, then I felt a sudden rush of cold air, sending a shiver up my back. I quickly turned around and heard an ear-wrenching "SNAP," from the orb. It was the electrical transformer noise again, the same sound that drew me to the cave.

My ears started ringing, and I instantly became paralyzed. The walls around me seemed to shift and ripple, and the ground beneath me felt unstable. An invisible force pulled me into the orb. While getting sucked in, I felt disoriented, tumbling through a vortex of colors and sounds. It seemed like an eternity.

As quickly as it started, it stopped. Finally regaining my bearings, I found myself standing in the middle of the room, my ears still ringing, but the orb was gone. The only light left was my iPhone, laying on the ground, face down. My iPhone light was struggling to illuminate the room, so I picked it up to light my way. After quickly searching the room, I noticed nothing was different aside from the absence of the orb. I reviewed my directions on my iPhone to navigate back to the opening.

“Now, backwards, left, left, right, right, left.” I whispered, hastily traversing back to the cave's opening in the forest.

I mentally patted myself on the back, knowing annotating the cave's turns probably saved my life. I climbed out of the cave with jubilation. Back on the surface, I felt empowered. Up here, I wasn't stifled by the cave’s narrow passageways and all-consuming darkness.

While brushing off the dirt and remnants of the cave, I noticed the ground was dry and cracked, like a desert. Confused, I stood up. An overwhelming sense of despair overcame me.

This wasn’t the forest from 30 minutes ago, I was somewhere else. The view of the green dense forest had morphed into an expanse of desert and burnt-out pines, almost like the forest succumbed to fires. But I was only down there for about 30 minutes—how could that be?

The sky above wasn’t bright and blue as before. It was dark, with deep shades of indigo and purple with unfamiliar constellations twinkling in the distance. I stood there in complete shock. I had no idea where I was, but the sense of despair was quickly replaced with hope—I heard a familiar bark in the distance.

It was Nalla!

“Nalla,” I yelled. She sprinted toward me from a large burnt tree trunk. As she raced toward me, I braced to catch her. She was going to jump into my arms like she does every day I get home from work. As soon as I embraced her, the Nalla kisses commenced.

“Nally, girl, what have you got us into this time?” I laughed. Was this hell, a parallel universe, or a different point in space-time? I had my nally girl, and that’s all that really mattered to me in that moment.

After a healthy dose of Nalla kisses, I ordered, “Well, girl, let’s get the hell outta here.” We followed the trail we once knew back to the truck, stepping over large fallen trees that weren’t there before, splintered and rotting. The tall pines still towered, but their branches were twisted and charred. This had to be some kind of environmental disaster. I’d knew winds could carry fires through large swaths of forests quickly, but I didn’t see any active fires nor feel heat radiating from the trees. A forest fire couldn’t have been it.

The orb transported us to another point in time or dimension—it’s the only explanation that makes sense. The forest felt so alien to me, familiar landmarks now charred ruins. In any case, we had to get out of there.

When we reached the parking lot where I parked my truck, it looked strikingly unfamiliar, like it had been neglected for centuries —the asphalt cracked and crumbling, with burnt-out cars littering the area. My truck was gone.

What in the world was going on?

The air tinged my nostrils with aromas of chemicals, erosion, and burnt wood, scents that brought a sense of dread. Something was wrong—very wrong. We had no choice but to go back to the orb, hoping it would lead us home...our true home. Nalla stayed close, whimpering—a far cry from her usual energetic demeanor. I reached down to pet her ears, reassuring her. "It's okay, girl. We'll find a way out of here."

Before heading back, I walked to the edge of the parking lot cliff that overlooked Atlanta. This was a popular spot for visitors because the parking lot offered a beautiful view of the city. When I reached the edge, I became overwhelmed with disbelief.

The city of Atlanta was utterly decimated.

It was a like a relic of its former self. Nature encapsulated the urban terrain, vines weaving through the remains of skyscrapers and buildings, trees sprouting through cracked asphalt. It was clear that decades had passed—possibly centuries since whatever calamity struck here. Mother Nature was reclaiming what once was hers.

The apocalyptic scene was proof that we weren't home. I looked down to make sure Nally girl was at my side—I felt like we had to move quickly. The orb of light was our only chance of getting home.

We headed back, sprinting toward the cave, praying it was still there. During our trek, I sensed we weren't alone. Shadows jostled between the trees, and I heard rustling leaves in the distance. Focused on the route ahead, my only mission was to get back to the cave.

Then, I heard it—a low, deep, guttural growl froze us in our tracks. The growl grew louder, Nalla began to growl back. Some creature was masked by the darkness 50 feet ahead of us. Its growl was coupled by approaching footsteps behind us. Nalla’s growls grew into barks, she knew we were in trouble. Right when I felt like our two new friends were about to pounce, I heard that all-too-familiar electrical rumble.

It was the orb!

The electrical rumbling didn’t scare me anymore. Nope, it was a sound for sore ears! While Nalla was keeping whatever was in the darkness at bay, my eyes scanned toward the sound of the orb. There it was—a light glimmering out of the ground 30 yards to our left. "We can make it." I thought. But we had to move quick.

I looked back at Nalla, “Alright Nal, stay by me, girl, we're going to run back to the cave.” Who am I kidding? She’d probably make it to the orb before I could.

I yelled as loud as I could, “ONE, TWO, THREE, LET’S GO, NAL!”

I dashed left toward the light escaping the cave’s entrance. The glow grew brighter as I sprinted closer. With 15 yards left, I glanced to my left to make sure Nalla was with me—she was.

As soon as I saw the opening of the cave, I dove in headfirst. I nearly made it to the bottom, but the ground stopped me with three feet to go. I army-crawled as fast as I could for those last three feet. As soon as I hit the bottom, I somersaulted and turned to see if Nalla was behind me—she wasn’t. I immediately looked up toward the opening and called “Nalla, here girl, I’m down here.”

That’s when I heard a sharp bark behind me. Of course, Nalla was on my tail when I dove in. She must have jumped over me after I fell those last three feet. “THANK GOD,” I roared, as Nalla trotted over to give me some licks of reassurance. She always knows what I need.

Then, I heard vicious snarls coming from the cave’s opening. I looked up to see two large predatory figures. Luckily, they looked too big to enter the cave.

Nalla growled back with caution.

The creatures weren’t like anything I’d seen before. I could only see their heads, but they resembled something like a hybrid of a lizard and a human. They were so emaciated that they resembled skeletons. They had scaley skin and eyes that glowed green. I had no idea what I was seeing, but I wasn’t about to wait around to find out.

We raced through the cave—right, right, left, left, right. I didn’t need my iPhone this time, today's events seared those directions into my brain like a cave-GPS.

We reached the crevice where the orb’s light filled the room. Nalla raced through, and I was close behind. Once inside, I picked her up—I wasn’t losing her this time. I closed my eyes and walked toward the light—SNAP! This time I anticipated the vertigo and ringing ears, which was fine by me, as long as we got back home.

The orb was gone when I opened my eyes. I put down Nalla and we navigated back to the cave opening. Approaching the hole entrance, I could see light of the blue sky radiating down. I could hear birds chirping—we were back!

“Yes! We're back, Nally girl! Let's get out of here.” This time, Nalla went first, shooting up the McDonald's dirt slide like a bat out of hell. I didn’t blame her.

After reaching the surface, I inhaled the largest amount of air of my entire life and exhaled with a fervent “Home sweet home!”

I called to Nalla, “Let’s go home, girl!” and we started our trip back to the parking lot. Eager to get to the truck, we sped up to a jog. I whispered to Nalla under labored breaths, “We can find a different forest, next time.”

Halfway to the parking lot, I heard what sounded like an array of aircraft overhead—they were close. I stopped and looked up above the tree line. Hovering above us was what looked like a futuristic flying police car. Then, a loud megaphone screeched through the trees. The person directing the flying police car shrieked, “You are not authorized in this area. This area is restricted.”

Frozen, my heart sank, realizing we weren’t home.

This wasn’t just a tale of two cities—it was the tale of many.