Where the Path Leads..

I have to admit, the last two months have been a whirlwind so it’s not a surprise we are just learning about some of the quirks in our new home. It‘s not an excuse, but simply a fact. So it really should not have been a big surprise to us to find out this house was not as normal as we thought.

We had 30 days to leave our old place, the building had been sold after almost a year on the market. The owners wanted the land and not the building. So a mad rush for a new home was in order and when Tyler came home from work and said he had a buddy who was out of the country for a two years, said we could take his place, we said yes!

Now Tyler did say his buddy was a little different and his place had a few unique qualities. Honestly I really didn’t care if it meant we wouldn’t have to live on the street. However as we look into the dark hole in the living room wall that a book shelf had covered, I wondered what surprises our new home really held. We moved the bookshelf because I swear I could hear things coming from behind it.... footsteps, banging sounds even this strange almost music...

“Should we see where it goes...” whispers Tyler inching towards the hole then looking back at me.

The darkness did not raise my sense of adventure, in fact I was not really interested at all to see where this was leading too. Now I’m not afraid of most things, but something inside me said not to look any further.

Clearly Tyler did not have that same feeling, he looked at me with adventure leaping from his eyes. He looked at the hole and back at me, “Come on Anna, it could be fun....Reilly didn’t say there was anything dangerous on the property so why worry?” He pleaded.

He was right, I hope... And I couldn’t deny the excitement in Tyler’s eyes. I let out a long sigh and shrugged. Tyler jumped with excitement, like a child on Christmas morning. He stepped forward quickly into the holes entrance and in seconds disappeared into the darkness.

“Wait! Grab a flashlight, it’s dark and we have no idea where it goes, or what’s in there. We cant see beyond the first few steps...”

“Fine! I’ll wait here for you, but hurry I want to see where this goes...” he called from the dark, but didn’t come back out.

I grabbed the flashlight from the drawer and returned to the wall. I turned it on and it’s beam flooded the entrance. I stepped inside slowly. I couldn’t see Tyler, and I set my jaw in annoyance. He said he would wait. Now I needed to worry that he would jump out and scare me, the joker that he was.

”Tyler... do not scare me. Where are you?” I called as I made my way slowly down the path.

“Keep coming, I see your light I’m just a head of you. Be careful the path goes down sharply, its a tunnel.“

He wasn’t kidding, not far from the entrance I could feel the path slope quickly. The air was colder. We must be underground. I shone the light around me, the path was packed dirt, and the walls were still walls, but rough. It was well built, and must have taken a long time. The walls were grey as I moved along. Then I spotted a door.

“Tyler... there’s a door here...”

“We can check it out later, keep coming.” he called back, but his voice was much further away.

I shone the light a head and moved a little faster. How was he moving so quick when I had the light and he was just walking in darkness. Where does this go? Why was it even built? What is it for? I continued to follow the grey walls and came upon 2 more doors. You wouldn’t know they were doors except I could see the cut lines and just a tiny ledge or handle to pull on.

I moved forward again trying to catch up with Tyler when the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I heard a noise behind me. I froze and waited.

I slowly turned around shining my flashlight and listening. Nothing was behind me. I let out my breath slowly, it had to have been my imagination running over time. I moved on towards Tyler even faster, this was getting the better of me.

I heard the sound behind me again... no freezing this time, I ran full tilt towards Tyler.

“TYLER!!!” I screamed.

As I ran the sounds behind me got closer. The path way was climbing and yet I still couldn’t see Tyler as the light lit my way. I continued to run and scream for what seemed like miles, but only minutes, until I nearly ran him over.

Tyler grabbed me and pulled me behind him and stood to face what was chasing me, fists ready to strike.

A man appeared, immediately he stopped and raised his hands to block the flashlight from his eyes. Tyler moved forward in that second to swing.

The man ducked and stepped back, “Tyler, stop it’s me.”

Tyler stopped mid swing and looked at the man. I shone the light on him... he looked familiar, but from where....

Tyler dropped his fists and shook his head. “Buddy you nearly had the crap beat out of you. I thought you were out of the country...” Tyler stepped back towards me and put his arm around me.

“Anna this is Reilly, the guy who owns the place.”

I took a deep breath, anger filled me. “What in the world did you think you were doing scaring the crap out of me, then chasing me and and what are you even doing here???”

Reilly looked down, suddenly embarrassed. “I’m sorry Anna... I didn’t mean too. I heard you two in my tunnels. You stopped by one of my doors, I’ve been down here the whole time, I never left the country. I have several places here underground, the house is the only thing above ground until the end of this tunnel. No one but me has ever been down here. I knew sooner or later you two might find the hidden opening, and really I didn’t mean to scare you. I was actually trying to get your attention without alerting Tyler, now him I would try to scare.” He chuckled.

“You‘ve been here this whole time.... the noises we heard, they were from you?” Tyler asked as we started to move along the path again.

“What noises?”

I cut Tyler off and explained what we’ve heard in the past two months. Reilly was surprised and a little offended when I talked about the weird music sounds I explained.

“I will have you know that was me singing, perhaps it’s just not your type” he chuckled.

We all laughed as we came to what appeared to be a dead end on the path. Reilly stepped forward and pushed on the wall in front of us. It gave way to bright sunlight and chunks of dirt and grass. As we stepped out I heard running water. We came out of what appeared to be the hillside. We were far from our home, and when Reilly put the “door” back in place, it was completely untraceable.

He turned towards Tyler and I and smiled. “I have reasons for what I do, you can live in the house for as long as you like, but you must keep my secret. For my safety and now for yours.”

We both nodded and Reilly smiled. He reached into the hillside and the entrance opened again. We stepped inside, I turned on the flashlight and we started back.