Mike’s fingers traced the tunnel walls, and he found himself immersed in its depths. Declining further into the earth with an alarming chill consuming his frame, frost building along the slippery walls. Chattering teeth and numb skin were Mike’s reward for this adventure. The anticlimactic scene stripped his mind of the excitement it had once commanded, an underbelly of impatience taking its place. The situation defied logic as the water slowly dissipated, disappearing into nothingness. A straight shot delving into the earth’s trenches in utter silence, etching itself into everything while bombarding Mike’s ears. This deafening flat line was a consistent stream into madness. Mike paddled along, too invested for anything else, while unoriginal comments fell from his mouth consistently. Mike’s loose lips found solace in this radical freedom. This occupied his time when some capricious husker decided to change course, a whim that forced his body into a gangly demonstration that knocked him off his feet. The curve downwards, Mike’s humiliation witnessed only by the stalactites frozen to the wall, judgment placed in an undeserving position. The pinwheels and crisscrossing motions were a short-lived venture; the spiraling ended with a thud. Mike’s body was a crumpled mess that momentarily paused, threatening him with permeance for a second before a slow momentum took over, a process of reconstruction unraveling Mike’s frame into the proper position with frequent winces and groans. Doubt dawned on his mind, quickly forming pools growing into uncomfortable distinctions as he looked around the pit. A chill slipped into Mike’s gut at the stark realization of where his options rested as he returned to his feet. His reluctant steps trudged forward on the set course, at a loss for anything else. The toll was the burning sensation engulfing Mike’s palm, the raw skin of his hand, and the price as the only reliable source of direction rested behind the pain. As normalcy was an illusion, a quick change was in order, and another curve in the road headed upwards. Huffing with dissatisfaction, Mike paddled along this short journey. Only disrupted as the layers of darkness were peeled away, the subtle hints of promise sparkled as his mind was sprinkled with excitement. The tunnel opened upon a cavernous hall where gardens flourished between crystals and greenery amidst the stalactites. Bright colors of budding florets in the deep camo of nature grew in this unexpected place. Impersonalism was stretched across the walls in the hopes of one day consuming the area.
Only one spot refused to accept this overgrown nemesis; a wall lacking rigidity was in the middle of this odd space. The shifting green emanating from the spot refuses to accept animality, casting a glowing net among the ferns. A jagged outline of rock housed the inconsistent rippling and shifting, the flickering motions contained behind a layer of nothing. A wonderstruck focus inched Mike closer, stumbling the few steps while his fingers reached out. His fingers lightly grazed the surface, the softest of touches yielding results. With the slightest of pressure, Mike slipped through the void without fuss. Instantly consumed by the watery world. Floating through the dense world of shadows and vines, the far-reaching foliage is ready to ensure the first victim. Wadding through the hazy conundrum of green toward the rippling surface with the necessary kicks.
Whoosh
Mike emerged from the watery depths, bobbing on the surface as his eyes settled over this new world. A grand expanse of twinkling points dotted the purple canvas in the sky as grey strips hung in the interim. Ripping the mask away, Mike greedily gulped in the fresh air, a flush of excitement added to his face. Twinkling eyes and a broad smile, mixed with a certain degree of awe, took control of his face as the first impression embedded itself in his mind. Mike’s gaze lingered across the cosmos, traipsing along the stars with fascination. Its breathtaking enormity was the perfect distraction; the serene perfection of the night’s glory laid its hooks into him. Captivation fits the mold of Mike’s mind, slipping into the perfectly curated frame for a snapshot of time. This blissful mode hardly lost any time, rushing to the pinnacle to consume every bit of the scene. That was until a mercurial wind swept through Mikes’s mind, his enthusiasm drifting away with the breeze. Withering vines curled around the fervor, choking it until rubble remained.
Mike’s attentions were snatched away, slipping into apathy the next moment as this celestial sight faded into drabness. His attention shifted to the thick wood bobbing among the waves, a chunk of pine thrown into the abyss. With a manic euphoria, Mike crashed through the waves, his white knuckles latching onto the woodwork’s fibers. With one fluid motion, Mike plucked himself from the waves and tumbled onto the surface with abandon. Sprawled across the wood, burning limbs and aching muscles were his chains. Mike’s heart was a raging extremist, threatening his ribs with each beat as the middling chorus of his life beat out of control. Slowly retreating into steady beats with the mounting moments. Giving the stars above another glance, the serene perfection of the night’s glory again. Mike’s restless eyes spied an anomaly of an orange streak shot across those stars.