When I reached the end of the driveway I shifted the car into park, turned the key and exited the car, gravel crunched beneath my boots, and took a deep breath of pure, forest air. With each breath, I envisioned all the negative thoughts and feelings a life spent in the busy city had been causing to interrupt my daily thoughts, so when I opened my eyes a smile formed upon my lips.
I'd recently got a promotion and was having trouble acclimatizing to the new duties now expected of me, and decided to keep the time off I'd previously booked off to relax. I had been wanting to go to the country and breathe fresh air as I had done in my youth. Not to say that I'm particularly old, I'm only twenty-four years old. I work at a pub, not the most dignified of jobs but it always paid the bills. The boss skipped town and since we have a high turnover rate, I, who had been there for three years was suddenly the senior waiting/bar staff, employee hence, my sudden promotion.
After putting all of my bags into the cute little log cabin, I sparked up the old propane BBQ that sat on the small porch, accompanied by a wooden table and two chairs. As the potatoes and steak grilled to perfection I watched the trees swaying, birds playing as they twirled over and around the tree, the distant sound of the waterfalls rumbling somewhere out of sight, and the smell of nature lulling me into a cozy, relaxed state.
"This is an absolute paradise!" I squealed in delight, I couldn't wait to head to the secret hot springs that had been reported from this area lately, but only on the local online pages only, they weren't very well know yet and said to look exactly like it has for so many years, and I couldn't wait to explore the caverns. In my spare time, which was few and far between, I like to travel all over the world and explore abandoned places, take a picture or two, and write a blog about my creepy adventures. The scare turning into adrenaline that allowed me to feel a type of freedom I'd yet to experience with any other moment in my life to date. With how tight the security is on the page I found these caves on was, I knew that very few people would have access to the actual coordinates.
When the last piece of steak slid down my throat I stood and grabbed my backpack and walking stick, excited to stretch my legs after a good meal, I'd find the cave's mouth and return to the cabin for sleep before dark falls. Overflowing with energy I began the hour and a half hike to the cave Azmodian's crest, imaging the different stones and chrystals that I may discover there. And most importantly, I can't wait to see how warm the water temperature is! I've always wanted to visit a natural hot spring, I've been looking into haunted outdoor natural springs in Japan, I want to visit one that truly haunted. How amazing would it be to find actual proof of paranormal existence?
"It should be right around here," I looked on the ground, the first landmark to finding the caves a fissure in the ground, and it's supposedly visible from right here, looking up to see that the sun had begun to lower in the sky, appearing to lightly sit upon the treetops. Suddenly my eyes wave over a small crack the weaves through the trees, widening the father I follow the uneven line. Step one complete, now it should just be a ten-minute walk to the caverns.
As I walk I have to start moving farther and farther from the lip of the crevasse as it slowly opens wider and wider. Now all I should have to do is find a large, old tree that splits down the middle, suddenly the ground dips and I lose my footing, my head jerking forwards and smashing painfully into the side of a thick trees trunk, the last thing I remember was sliding down the side of trunk as my word filled with moving black fuzzy-things until all I saw was darkness.