James Jenkins - The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories. Volume 1

‘But otherwise, they were just like us,’ Alex said, a wild smile on his face, ‘as you will soon see.’

They went deeper. Clothes scraped against the walls more and more. Breathing got heavier every moment. The relaxation created by the beers Alex had bought them started to evaporate. Petri had never been scared of tight spaces, but now he considered turning back. It was impossible to know how deep underground they were. The cave walls were so close at all times that it was impossible to find a spot where one shoulder wasn’t touching stone. Petri realized that his breathing was shallow. Right then, he started hearing Nina’s delighted calls.

‘Come here, Petri,’ the girl shouted in Finnish. ‘You’ve got to see this!’

Petri pulled himself together and moved forward. When he reached Nina and Alex, it was a relief to see that they were in a slightly more spacious chamber. They could both stand up straight. Nina was looking at something on the wall, her hand covering her mouth. Alex was right behind the girl, so close that their shoulders were touching. Their light beams were connected, pointed at the images on the wall.

‘Amazing,’ Nina whispered.

Petri came to stand next to them. The space around them felt luxurious after the endless passageway. The light beam revealed handprints. Someone, or some people, had dipped their hands in dye and pressed their prints on the wall. The shapes looked black, but maybe the blue-­gray glow of their headlamps distorted the color.

‘Can I?’ Nina asked, hovering her palm over one of the handprints without touching the wall.

‘Of course,’ Alex said. ‘Maybe that’s the reason they’re here. Who knows?’

Nina placed her palm on one of the handprints. She did it slowly, as if the touch could have activated some ancient mechanism.

‘An amazing feeling,’ she whispered.

‘At least thirty thousand years separate you,’ Alex said. ‘You and the person who made that print.’

‘It feels like there’s nothing between us.’ Nina sounded rapturous. ‘We have a connection.’

‘Great to hear you say that,’ Alex chuckled. ‘I felt the same the first time I came here.’

He placed his hand on Nina’s shoulder. The gesture was innocent, but Petri’s eyes were nailed to it and he couldn’t see anything else. No messages on the wall from thirty thousand years away.

There were only twenty-­eight years and three months between Petri and Nina. Just a blink of an eye. But it was utter darkness, that fleeting moment.

Alex turned toward Petri.

‘Come closer,’ he said and removed his hand from Nina’s shoulder.

Petri did as he was told and came to stand in front of the wall. Nina took hold of his wrist determinedly.

‘Try for yourself.’

Petri’s hand was in a fist when Nina pressed it against the wall. When he opened his hand, his fingers were in the wrong places. His hand and the dark stain in the stone formed a strange, ten-­fingered pattern.

‘Can you feel it?’ Nina asked.

‘I can,’ Petri lied.

Just cold stone.

‘And now, ladies and gentlemen,’ Alex interrupted. ‘A moment of choice.’

Petri wiped his hands on the hem of his coat.

‘Tell us,’ Nina whispered excitedly.

‘The last cave,’ Alex said. ‘Do you want to see it?’

‘Of course we do.’

Nina’s voice was still husky with emotion.

‘Very well,’ Alex said without waiting for Petri’s answer, ‘but it’s going to take some special measures.’

‘What kind?’

Alex lifted his index finger, like a magician preparing for a trick, and took off his backpack. Then he took off his coat and shirt, yanking them over his head with one movement.

‘What are you doing?’ Petri asked when the man started to open his pants.

‘A special measure,’ Alex said and continued to undress himself. ‘Like I said, our ancestors were smaller than us. The passage ahead is pretty narrow. Clothes could get stuck.’

Suddenly Alex stood naked before them, only his headlamp remained.

‘You can leave your underwear on, but I don’t recommend it.’

Alex looked at them both in turn. He looked at Petri longer.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, spreading his arms. ‘You’re from Finland. You bathe in the sauna with the whole village, right?’

Nina laughed at that and started to take her clothes off.

‘Are you sure?’ Petri asked in Finnish.

‘We’ve come this far, so I want to see that cave,’ Nina said. ‘Don’t you?’

‘Good,’ Alex said and dug out a plastic bottle from his backpack. He twisted the cap open and poured silky liquid on his shoulders and sides. The oil dripped down his chest when he spread it over his skin in quick movements.

‘The stone is mostly smooth, so we will slip through in seconds with some oil on.’

‘Are you serious?’ Petri asked.

‘Of course. Trust me. I’ve been there twenty-­three times. No one has been left behind in the cave. I’ll take care of that.’

Petri looked around, confused. A man oiling himself and Nina, who only had her bra on and was struggling with her shirt. Petri undid his belt quickly. He wanted to be naked before Nina. It would somehow make the situation more bearable.

Alex tossed the oil bottle to Petri and stood there watching when Petri took his underwear off. Petri didn’t let that bother him. He poured some oil on his palms and started to slather it over his skin defiantly. He knew his skin was stretchy. He had gray in his pubes. Alex was probably wondering if he could get it up anymore.

Petri threw the bottle back to Alex. It slipped through the man’s fingers and fell to the ground. Alex didn’t bend down to pick it up but kicked the bottle in Nina’s direction. She picked it up and started to oil herself. Alex stared at her shamelessly. It was obvious that Nina knew it.

Soon, they stood there naked and shiny, headlamps on, like in some weird ritual.

‘Remember Mel Gibson,’ Alex said. ‘Move slowly, but determinedly.’

They nodded.

‘Your body knows what to do, so trust your body. Just slither like snakes. And if you start to feel like you’re getting stuck, just back up a few centimeters and try again, changing your position a little. Okay?’

A nod.

‘Staying calm is the key. Remember, no one has gotten stuck. Once, I took in this fat Chinese dude, who insisted on going, although I had some doubts about him. But this guy just popped out on the other side like a cork out of a champagne bottle. No problem at all.’

Nina laughed.

‘Right,’ Alex said and clapped his hands together. ‘Follow me.’

They walked behind the man through a passage that was narrower than the ones before it. Nina had cut in front of Petri. Her shiny back glistened in the lamplight. Her hair was stuck to her skin.

Soon Alex stopped.

‘Here it is. I’ll go first, then you.’

He pointed at Nina.

‘Put your arms against your sides, like this.’

Petri couldn’t see because Nina was standing in front of him, but he understood what Alex meant.

‘I know that you want to put your arms ahead, like you were about to dive, but that takes more space. Believe me. One time this Slovenian . . . Well, that went okay too, in the end. But yeah, arms to the sides and shoulders to the front, like this. Okay?’

In front of Petri, Nina nodded. Her shoulder blades bulged as she repeated the movement Alex was showing them.

‘And remember that I’ll be on the other side, waiting, and I’ll help you if necessary. I’ll pull you in by the head, like a midwife, okay?’

Petri, too, chuckled nervously at that.

‘And here we go.’

Alex disappeared somewhere. Nina apparently saw where he had gone, as she bent down and then disappeared, too. Petri saw her white legs vanishing into a hole. He stooped down to feel its edges. Nina’s legs were still visible, and then they were gone. He heard yelling and laughter at the end of the passage. Petri counted to three, put his arms against his hips and dove in.