Lost Beneath The Vines

• Isla Fraser, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2021

I awoke at the bottom of an elevator shaft, with little idea of where I was and why I was here. I thought I was alone until I noticed another figure. Her red glinting horns caught my eye. I squinted to look at the strange person. She was asleep, or maybe dead. I stood and decided to ignore her for now. I went to explore where we were. I ran my hand down the walls. The main room had hallways stretching from every corner. A chill ran down my spine, I shivered. It felt cold and deathly. I looked up, light seeped through the cracks and shone brightly through the outstretching vines that dangled from the ceiling.
I heard a noise and whipped around. The strange girl reached her arms up. “Where am I?” She yawned. She made eye contact, staring blankly at me. She finally came to her senses and scrambled over to the opposite wall. “Who are you?!” I looked at her horns and noticed they were glass. “It’s okay, I’m Kody and you are?” She looked sceptical “Sage.” Sage looked up, her glass horns glimmering in the sunlight. I noticed little shrubs inside the glass horns. When she moved from the light, they seemed red again. She noticed me staring, she cleared her throat. “Do you, know where we are?” I shook my head. “No, I have no idea.” She sighed. “Well. Guess we’re stuck.” I looked around and noticed a door. “Perhaps.” She looked at me as I walked to the door. “Hey!” I looked back at her. “Where do you think you’re going without me.” She stood up and walked over. I grinned slightly and yanked on the door; the vines twisted around the handle. She snickered and waved her finger around. I looked at her, “I don’t think waving your finger around is going to help much.” She nudged me sharply in the side. I took a deep and fast breath in and looked at the handle. I clutched my side as I watched the vines unravel. I looked at her in surprise. “WHAT!” I blurt out. She snickered and opened the door. She walked in without me. I stood there for a moment my mouth gaping open before I ran to catch up.
We roamed the halls of the elevator shaft until we saw another hatchet. This one was also covered in vines, in fact, this room appeared to have more vines than the other. We looked at the room sceptically. A loud noise came from above and I look up on instinct. The hatchet had been opened. Sage looked at me scared. I told her “It’s okay, I’m sure they won’t hurt us.” She nodded in reply. I stared at the person who had found us, a few more people gathered at the opening they all stared back. As one member descended, I knew, we were safe.