It was Josh’s idea to explore the tunnels. He found the entrance one night on his walk back from the recreation center to the dorms. Emily, Greg, Aimee and I were sitting around after lunch in the Oakland Center (or the OC as we usually called it) avoiding our educational responsibilities when Josh joined us and brought it up.
“What’s up, losers?” Josh said, snagging a chair and joining our group.
Josh and I were in our second year as roommates, having hit it off since freshman move-in day. He was much more outgoing than me and I’m sure I wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun without him around. It is already a big step being away from the comfort of home for the first time and being forced to live with someone you’ve never met could make the experience even more challenging. We were lucky that we got along so well.
“We’re thinking about going to the basketball game tonight. You down?” Greg asked him.
“I’ve got a better idea,” Josh said. “Let’s meet in our room at eight tonight. Wear tennis shoes, dress warm, and bring a flashlight.”
“What are you making us do this time?” Aimee asked.
“Don’t worry about it. When have I steered you wrong?”
“Have you already forgotten the Halloween party last October?” said Greg. “We drove for like two hours to get there and there were only ten people there, including us.”
“Trust me, this is going to be amazing. See you at eight.” He said and walked away.
Emily looked at her phone, “I guess we have a few hours to kill before whatever adventure Josh has planned for us this time.”
“Most of the time he’s taken us to fun things,” I said. “The Halloween party was admittedly terrible and the camping trip sucked with all that rain, but remember how much fun we had at the carnival? Greg, you finally almost got laid that night.”
Aimee laughed, “That donkey really liked you! Didn’t it take four workers to get him off you?”
“Ha ha, very funny.” Greg said.
Greg and Emily had been dating since high school and were sure to be married once they graduated. Aimee was Emily’s best friend and l had a crush on her. I was working up the courage to ask her out, but waiting for the right time. Josh told me that there was no “right time” for anything and you just had to be brave and go for it, but that’s easier said than done.
“Emily and I will pick up snacks for later. You better get to your accounting class John, you’re already five minutes late.” Aimee said to me.
“Time value of money week,” I said. “No way I’m sitting through two more hours of the same examples over and over while the future communications majors ask a hundred questions.”
“Hey, I’m majoring in communications.” Aimee said.
“And you’re great at math, right?” I said.
“Shut up,” she said and playfully slapped my arm while walking away.
After they left, Greg asked “When are you finally going to ask her out? You know she likes you, right?”
I had thought she might like me too, but that little bit of self-doubt would grow anytime I felt like I was about to ask her on a date. We hung out a lot as a group and always had a great time together. I was worried that it would make it awkward if it didn’t work out and I’d mess up our friend group.
“What if I’m waiting for you to screw it up with Emily?” I replied.
Greg ignored my attempt at humor. “I’ve overheard her talking to Emily about you. Trust me, she likes you. Grow a pair and ask her out.”
We continued our conversation as we headed back to my room for video games and a few beers before our unknown adventure.
Josh entered our room around seven with a brown paper bag and set it on his bed. Greg and I paused our game, looking over to see what he had.
“Where are we going tonight?” I asked.
“I’ll tell you after we have our Boone’s race,” said Josh.
“What the hell is a Boone’s race?” asked Greg.
Josh pulled out three bottles of Boone’s Farm and handed one to each of us. “First one done wins. Ready, set, go!,” He yelled as he twisted off the cap and began chugging the $3 ‘wine’ bottle.
Greg and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and quickly opened our bottles and followed suit. Josh finished first, followed by me and then Greg. “That was probably a bad idea.” Greg said after an extended burp.
“You’ll be fine,” Josh said and grabbed a Blue Light for each of us from the mini fridge. While we drank our beers, he regaled us with a long, overly detailed, but entertaining story of how he found the entrance to the tunnels underneath our school. Both Greg and I thought it sounded like an interesting way to spend our Friday night.
We went back to playing video games and soon enough, the girls knocked on the door and let themselves in. Aimee came over and sat next to me noticing the three empty bottles on the table. “You couldn’t save any for us?”
Josh went back to his paper bag and pulled out an actual bottle of wine, “Don’t worry, we saved the good stuff for you.” He grabbed two red Solo cups and poured a generous amount for Aimee and Emily and then filled them in on the night’s plans.
After the bottle of wine and a few more beers were gone, Josh made sure we each had a flashlight and we put on our coats and headed outside. It was a mild night for March with the temperature in the 40s. Aimee huddled close to me as we walked through the grass toward the student center, all of us with a nice buzz anticipating the fun adventure we were about to embark on.
“The entrance is over there,” Josh said, pointing to a small section of pine trees and bushes.
The night was still and there wasn’t anyone else in the area. We looked around to be sure no one was watching and hurried behind the bushes.
There was a square metal door about the size of a manhole cover on top of a cement slab in the middle of the bushes. Josh opened it up and said, “Ladies first.”
“No way am I going first down there,” Emily said as she looked at the ladder leading down into the darkness.
“I’ll go first,” Aimee said as she grabbed my shoulder and hoisted herself onto the cement. She smiled at me and excitedly said, “This is going to be fun!” She turned on her flashlight and slowly went down the ladder.
I went down next, followed by Josh, Emily, and lastly Greg who closed the door above him before climbing the rest of the wayl down the rungs.
We got to the bottom and the rest of us turned on our flashlights and looked down the two paths we could take. “How far did you go when you found this place?” Greg asked.
“I went down this way a little,” Josh said as he pointed to the right of the ladder. “I was only down here for a few minutes and thought it would be more fun for all of us to go.”
“Admit it, you were scared of being alone in the dark, I saw that night light in your dorm room.” Aimee chuckled.
“That’s for John. He needs to be able to find his pacifier if it falls out of his mouth,” Josh joked back. Then he led us down the tunnel.
The walls were rounded and gray and there was a tiny bit of standing water in the ground.
We walked for about ten minutes before our flashlights illuminated a wall in front of us with a path leading to the left and the right.
“Which way should we go?” Emily asked.
“John, why don’t you and Aimee go to the right and we’ll take the path to the left. We can see which way looks more promising and meet back here in ten minutes.” Greg winked at me and grabbed Emily’s hand and nudged Josh.
Josh reached into his backpack, grabbed two beers and lightly tossed them to me. Then he handed Greg and Emily a beer each before opening one for himself and heading down the path to the left.
After we started walking down the other path, Aimee said, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they were trying to get us alone together.”
I opened the beers, gave her one and took a big swig from mine. “Well…there is something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
Aimee stepped closer and looked into my eyes. I hesitated for a moment and then leaned in towards her. She grabbed onto me and we kissed. Then she leaned back and smiled.
“What were you going to ask me? she said, biting her lower lip and looking in my eyes.
“I can’t remember,” I said as we set our drinks down and she pressed her body into mine. We held each other tight and continued to kiss, our tongues playfully dancing in each other’s mouths.
We were suddenly jarred out of our embrace by a loud crash. I initially thought it was Josh or Greg trying to scare us before realizing the sound came from further down the path we were supposed to explore.
“What was that?” Aimee asked as the smile faded from her face.
I aimed my flashlight down the path making shadows dance across the tunnel walls. I took a few steps forward and Aimee grabbed my hand trying to pull me back. “Let’s get the others before we see what that was.”
“I’ll just go a little further and see if I can see anything.” The high of the kiss and the buzz from the alcohol gave me extra courage as I slowly walked down the path. Another loud noise echoed through the tunnel from further ahead. I turned around to check on Aimee and jumped as her hand grabbed my arm. “I didn’t realize you were following me,” I said.
She let out a nervous laugh, “I didn’t mean to scare you…I hope we don’t get in trouble for being down here. Let’s go find the others.”
I nodded in agreement. We headed back toward where we had split from the others. After a few steps, we heard a metal door slam shut. It sounded like it came from the area where we had entered.
We stopped and she whispered, “Our phones…let’s try to reach the others.”
We both pulled out our phones. There was no signal down here and the university wifi network didn’t show up. My phone was on vibrate already and Aimee quickly silenced hers.
We listened intently in the hopes that whoever was down here with us was going the other way. Aimee grabbed my hand and we hurried further down the tunnel. I placed my hand over my flashlight to provide just enough light so we could see where we were going.
“Look there’s a door up ahead.” Aimee said.
The door was slightly ajar, but it wouldn’t budge when I pushed it. I could hear the footsteps growing louder and then it sounded like they were running.
“Something must be blocking the door,” Aimee said. We began pushing together, but couldn’t get it to go any further.
I turned around and was blinded by a bright light shining on us.
“Hey, what are you doing down here!” a deep voice yelled.
We held our hands up to shield our eyes and Aimee said, “We’re sorry, we didn’t know we weren’t supposed to be here.”
Then I heard Josh’s laughter. “I got you guys good,” he said.
“You ass,” Aimee said.
After Josh lowered the light, we could see Greg and Emily coming up behind him.
“Sorry,” Greg said. “We told him it was a stupid idea…but you know Josh.”
When Josh finally stopped laughing he said, “At least I got you two to finally kiss each other.”
“That was before you scared us,” I said. . Aimee turned back around to the door. “What do you think is back here?” she asked. “Something is blocking it.”
Greg walked over to help me and Aimee push on the door and we finally got it to open a little further.
We took turns squeezing through the opening and found ourselves in a big room. There was a desk in the corner and a couple cabinets.
“Maybe this is part of the basement of one of the buildings,” said Emily. “From the direction we went, I think we might be under O’dowd.”
“I think you’re right,” said Josh. He pointed his flashlight over by the door. “What the hell?”
We walked over to him and saw the giant mound of dirt and broken concrete that was leaning against the door. There was a hole in the wall behind the pile.
“We have to go in there!” said Josh with a big grin on his face.
The top of the hole was about chest height so we’d have to crouch to get in.
“No way,” said Greg.
Josh aimed the light in the hole. “Look, there’s plenty of room in there. Let’s see where it goes.”
I looked at Aimee. She shrugged her shoulders and said. “Why not.”
“We’ll always wonder where it goes if we don’t check it out,” said Josh.”Don’t be a giant…”
“C’mon Greg, let’s go,” said Emily, cutting Josh off. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
Greg sighed, “Fine, let’s go.”
Josh went first, Aimee and I followed behind, and Emily and Greg were at the end.
The tunnel was well lit from all of our flashlights and we only had to crouch for about ten feet before it opened up into a bigger tunnel like the ones we first went into. Although, this one looked much older and the walls had rust stains all over them.
“It stinks in here,” Aimee said.
“My bad,” said Josh. “I shouldn’t have had those bean burritos from the cafeteria earlier.”
“No, it isn’t that…well maybe it partly is, but something else smells terrible,” said Aimee.
“Yeah, I smell it too,” I said. “I think it is a dead animal.”
“Let’s keep going,” said Josh. “Maybe it will get better once we get past it.”
I covered my nose with my shirt as we continued on through the tunnel. The smell grew progressively worse and I was ready to turn around when Josh said, “I think we found the smell.”
We all aimed our flashlights where Josh was pointing and unfortunately got a good view of the large animal carcass.
“What is that?” Emily asked.
I didn’t think any of us were going to be able to answer that question as I stared at the pile of bones and decaying flesh. It looked about the size of an elk, but you’d have to go over 200 miles north to see one.
“Maybe it’s a bear,” said Greg.
“How and why would a bear be down here?” said Emily.
“It’s way too big to be any other animal that lives around here,” said Greg.
“Maybe it’s more than one animal,” said Aimee. “Aren’t those all leg bones?” she said, pointing to a few different spots in the pile.
Josh started counting. “I think I see nine legs and I can’t even tell what that is.” He pointed to a large rotting appendage.
“Let’s keep going. I can’t take this smell anymore,” said Aimee.
We walked quickly away from the pile and only slowed down once the stench had begun to fade away.
The tunnel continued for a long time and Josh handed us each another beer while we continued on our way.
“Look. There’s another hole in the wall,” said Aimee.
“Let’s check it out before we keep going.” Josh aimed his light in the holel. “It just seems to keep going,” he said.
Emily went first this time followed by Greg, Josh, Aimee, and then me.
After a long walk down the dirt covered walls, we ended up in a large open room. The ceiling was higher tothan I expected especially with how low the tunnel ceilings had been.
I stayed with Aimee while she searched around the room. The floor was dirt, but the walls looked to be solid. I aimed my light at the ceiling and thought I saw something move.
“Did you see that?” I asked.
“See what?” replied Aimee.
I moved my flashlight around the ceiling again. “There!” I said as I caught more movement.
Aimee pointed hers up there too. “What is it?” she asked.
I moved my light back and forth on the ceiling and saw that something was carved into the concrete. It appeared to shift and move when the light ran over it. “It looks like some kind of symbol,” I said. “It must be a trick of the light but it really looks like it is moving.”
“I see it now!” shouted Aimee. “That one looks like an eye.”
I saw the one she was looking at. It looked like a closed eye with long eyelashes around it. There were other carvings that looked like stars and some with shapes or figures that were hard to describe.
“I wonder what this does,” Josh said.
I heard a loud clang followed by the sound of metal grinding against metal.
The ceiling began to shift and distort as the room started to shake.
“That eye just opened,” said Aimee.
I looked up again and the eye was moving around. It even blinked a couple of times before it seemed to focus directly on Josh.
The other shapes began to glow and shift, seeming to float just below the ceiling. The stars got brighter and the ceiling got blacker so it now looked like the night sky.
“I think those are constellations,” I said. “Look! There’s Cassiopeia…and Perseus over there.”
“Nerd!” shouted Josh. “Just kidding. That’s pretty cool.”
It felt like we were standing in a giant planetarium, with the stars floating and moving just above us. If I reached above me, it looked like I could touch the stars.
We were all mesmerized by it and no one said a word. I felt like I was floating through space. The eye was looking around again and seemed to focus on each one of us for a minute before it closed again. Some of the shapes appeared to move closer and the sky-like ceiling began moving faster, unknown constellations passing over us. I began to feel dizzy and had to close my eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, I was startled to find myself in my dorm room lying on the floor next to Aimee.
As I got used to my sudden change in surroundings, I realized I was about to pee my pants. I got up and ran in the bathroom and just barely made it.
While I was still going, I heard a knock at the door. It was Aimee. “Hey, you almost done in there? I really have to pee.”
“Almost,” I said. Although, it seemed like it was never going to end.
Finally, I was finished. The door opened up while I was washing my hands and Aimee rushed in.
“Sorry…I can’t hold it anymore. Too much beer and wine last night, I guess” she said.
“It was the same for me,” I said before stepping out and giving her some privacy.
I checked my phone to see what time it was but it wouldn’t turn on. After plugging it into the charger on my desk, I looked around and noticed Josh wasn’t in the room.
Aimee stepped back into the room and asked, “What time is it?”
I looked over at my alarm clock. “It’s past two in the afternoon” I said.
“Really? I can’t believe we slept that long!”
I didn’t remember coming back here last night, however, I was afraid to tell Aimee. The Boon’s race was probably a bad idea but I didn’t feel blackout drunk.
“Hey…um, do you know how we got here last night?” Aimee asked.
I smiled. “Oh good, you don’t remember either.”
“I remember everything until we were in that room.” A smile came across Aimee’s face.
The stars and glowing images came back to me and I closed my eyes. They showed up so clearly in my mind and I started feeling dizzy.
“John!” Aimee shouted.
I jumped. “What is it?”
“I’ve been calling your name for like a minute and you wouldn’t respond,” she said.
“Sorry, I was thinking about the room.”
She looked a little concerned. “Let’s go find Greg and Emily, or Josh. Maybe they…well, maybe Greg and Emily will remember.”
“Good idea,” I said. “Let me see if anyone texted.”
I turned on my phone and waited for it to power up. When the lock screen came up, I was about to enter my PIN when I noticed the date.
“It’s Sunday,” I said.
“What’s Sunday?” she asked.
“No. I mean today is Sunday,” I said.
“Let me see.” She walked over to me. “What happened to Saturday?”
“I don’t know.” I looked at my phone. “Nothing from Josh. I’ll text him while we head over to Greg’s.”
“No wonder we had to pee so bad,” she said.
We walked over to Greg’s room on the other end of the hall. There was no answer when we knocked a few times and the door was locked.
Aimee and Emily’s room was on the floor below. We were both quiet on the walk to her room. I was sure Aimee was as confused and concerned as I was.
Aimee tried the handle. It turned and she slowly opened the door. “Emily?”
Emily and Greg were both lying on the floor asleep.
“Emily…Greg,” I called while giving Greg a shake.
He started awake. “Hey, what are you doing here?” Then he looked around. “Wait. What are we doing here?”
Before I could answer, Greg’s eyes went wide and he got up and sprinted to the bathroom.
Emily woke up slower but then quickly got up and burst through the bathroom door.
I looked over at Aimee and she and I shared a laugh.
When they both came out, Aimee said, “Hate to break it to you…but it’s Sunday.”
“No. It’s Saturday,” said Greg. “Don’t you remember. We went to the tunnels last night and saw that room and then we…” He looked confused.
“Look. It’s Sunday.” I showed him my phone. “Does anyone remember how we got to our rooms Friday night.”
Everyone shook their heads no.
“Have you talked to Josh?” asked Emily.
“Haven’t seen him,” I said. “He hasn’t responded to my text yet. I’ll give him a call.’
After opening my phone app, I noticed a bunch of missed calls from Josh. They were all from late Friday night and into early Saturday morning.
“Anyone remember what time we found that room last night…ah…I mean Friday night?” I asked.
“Maybe around eleven?” Emily guessed.
“Josh started calling around midnight that night,” I said. I tapped on my voicemail. “That’s a lot of messages”
“He left voicemails? Play them!” said Aimee.
I put my phone on speaker and played the first message. It was silent for the first minute. I was about to close it when I heard a faint sound. It was a barely audible hum. The tone of it was so low and deep that I could feel it in my head.
The sound began to vibrate stronger in my head and was becoming painful. The glare of white lights appeared in my peripheral vision and I felt weak. Voices started to speak on the message but I stopped it before I fell to the ground. It took a few moments for me to get back to normal.
“Turn it off! Turn it off!” shouted Emily. “It hurts. Why won’t you stop it?” She was holding onto the sides of her head.
Greg ran over to her. “It’s not playing anymore. What’s wrong?”
Emily had her eyes closed and was still holding her head. She dropped to her knees and leaned forward onto the floor.
Greg dropped down beside her. Then suddenly she stood back up. “That was weird, wasn’t it?” She laughed. “Let’s go find Josh.”
Emily walked to the door. I looked at Aimee and shared the confusion I saw on her face.
“Emily. Are you okay?” Aimee asked. “My head hurt too when the voicemail was playing.”
“I’m fine,” Emily said with a smile. “C’mon, let’s go.”
She walked out the door and Greg followed her. Aimee grabbed my arm.
“What the hell was that?” Aimee said “She looked like she was in so much pain…and then she was fine.”
“That was weird,” I said.
We had to move fast to keep up with Emily as we went outside and through campus towards the woods.
“Emily, do you know where Josh is?” I shouted up ahead to her.
She turned around and said, “Of course I do,” before trekking on ahead.
We didn’t say much else while we followed her. The whole walk she never hesitated in the direction she went.
“There it is!” Emily shouted before running ahead.
We all ran after her and watched as she went into a section of thick bushes. She kneeled down and frantically brushed away the dirt. A handle was now exposed.
“Help me open it,” she said
I was scared of what was happening but I really wanted to see that room again and to know if Josh was okay. I grabbed the handle with Emily and helped her pull it open.
Emily went down first and I quickly followed her. Aimee gave me a weird look as I noticed her and Greg hadn’t followed me over. I went down the ladder anyway and into the tunnel.
“Do you feel it?” Emily asked. She pressed her cheek to one of the walls and closed her eyes. “It is calling us back.”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me. “Let’s go.”
When I hesitated, she said, “Don’t you remember it? I had forgotten about it when we woke up but it all came back to me when you played the voicemail.”
I still couldn’t remember what happened but I also couldn’t stop thinking about the room.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “It will all make sense soon.” She smiled and motioned for me to follow her.
I looked back and saw Aimee and Greg coming down the ladder but I couldn’t wait for them. I had to go with Emily. We ran down the tunnel and stopped at an opening in the wall.
I heard some yelling behind me but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. The glow of the room drew me in and all other sounds went away. I closed my eyes and felt the light beaming down on me from the ceiling. My body was so light and I could swear I was floating off the ground.
I opened my eyes and looked at the stars moving around me. The low hum I had heard in the voicemail reverberated throughout the room. It sounded so beautiful. I opened my eyes and saw Emily and Josh staring up at the ceiling. There was blackness all around us. The only light was from the tiny stars above us.
It felt like I was spinning around. Then I felt something in my head. A strong pressure behind my eye. It felt like a bad migraine I had before except without the pain.
I looked over at Josh again and he seemed so far away…I could barely even see him.
“Josh!” I shouted but he went further and further away.
My eyes darted around for Emily. She wasn’t there. I couldn’t see Josh anymore either. My skin felt clammy and I kept looking around. The light faded away and I was left in complete darkness.
“Hello? Josh…Emily,” I said to no response.
It felt like something was watching me. I looked.all around in the darkness until I saw a faint light in the distance.
I don’t know how much time passed but it felt like hours. My feelings had quickly changed from awe to complete terror. Was I going to be stuck here forever?
The light I had seen grew bigger and transformed into the eye we had seen Friday night. It became difficult to breathe as it stared at me. My thoughts turned to death and destruction. I saw my friends burning alive before my eyes, screaming in pain as their skin melted off. My mouth opened to scream but I couldn’t make a sound.
Then I was suddenly soaking wet from freezing cold water. The bright lights stung my eyes and I was shivering from the cold.
“He’s awake!”
It was Aimee. She slowly came into focus and I found myself lying in a bathtub of freezing cold water.
I jumped up, nearly slipping and falling before Aimee caught my arm. Once I was steady, she wrapped me up in a couple towels.
“We didn’t think you’d ever wake up,” she said. “What do you remember?”
“The room,” I said. “I remember going back into the room. Josh and Emily were there.”
My body continued to shiver and my head was hazy. I sat down on Aimee’s bed and closed my eyes. I could suddenly feel myself back in the room. The low rumbling sound I had heard in the voicemail filled my ears. When I focused on the noise, it began to sound like words…well not quite words, but sounds.
My head started hurting and I could feel the words inside my brain. An image started appearing in my mind. It was a vast ocean with water all along the horizon. Stars shone down from the night sky. Something big was emerging from the water. The giant shape neared the surface and I felt water splash into my face.
I looked around and I was in Aimee’s room. Greg was holding an empty cup of water.
“Man, where the hell were you?” he asked. “You zoned out again and we couldn’t get your attention at all.”
That night, Greg went back to his room and Aimee and I slept in her bed. She fell asleep quickly but I couldn’t get the images of my friends burning out of my mind.