by Deb Stratton
I have no idea why the hole is covered up, thinking maybe it was a spring trap? For bears? Visions of a bear falling on my head any moment is real, and yes, I forgot to pick up that bear spray. I should have not watched that movie. Although at this point I am thinking what will get me out of this hole and save my life is the fact that I have watched those scenarios play out.
This is my day and fearfully my new challenge. Here I am sitting in a big hole that echoes and is now covered so no one can hear me. Next correct thing to do is pray.
I should have done that first. “Please Lord, let me find a way out of this hole in the ground”, I cry again. “Please, send someone to look for me”. “Please?” I sit and wait.
Nothing. Not that I expect an immediate answer to my
plea for help. I think I have to accept the fact I may be here for at least an hour or so until someone misses me. While praying and crying, I am thinking maybe no one will miss me. I am having a conversation with myself that is not aiding me in any way.
About an hour has passed and I have discovered that this well or hole has excellent echo capabilities for singing. I never could really sing well, but enjoy singing loudly when no one is listening. I am really feeling quite paranoid at this point and even though I had never thought of myself as a claustrophobic person, I am definitely feeling the effects of being trapped and stuck in the hole. I am feeling cold and clammy even though it is a hot summer day.
I try to get a grip on anything I can to climb up, and there is just nothing useful. I hear something. I hear a voice. I am sure of it. It does not sound like it is above me though. It is sounding like it is at my level. Quiet I tell myself, like placing a glass to a wall to listen. I
was listening more. What is that? I hear someone.
Maybe I am losing my mind. I knew that would happen eventually in my life.
But today? Really? I did not want to face that this morning. I had bacon and sunshine and now this.
I continue to feel around, and I discover something unusual. The bricks or stones that were used for this hole are old and rough. They have no moss or slimy residue. So maybe this is not an old well. Maybe it is a bear trap. I hear it again. It is a man. I hear him. It
19
sounds distant but still not above me. Ear to wall, focus on the sound. What is that person saying? I cannot make it out.
I am interrupted again by the loud sounds of the wall opening. The wall next to my head opens and hands are reaching in.
Big hands. Very large animal like hands.
I am relieved to have some type of interaction with anyone, and am not thinking in my right mind. I am not leaving this hole by going up, but by going to the side.
I am crying and pulled through this opening only to discover a world no one could have ever dreamed existed.
Chapter Two
I am not sure how long I have been unconscious. I am not sure if I fainted from fear or if I hit my head. What is really happening here? It is warm, and the smell is almost farm like. I am surrounded by the same brick walls that were in that well. Not a modern day brick but a dirt packed brick wall. Glancing around I notice there appears to be others, many others, busy working. I notice tunnels and large work areas. There were some sort of small windows or holes. A small ray of sunshine was coming into my area. Gone again. The rain must be back again.
To the right I notice there seems to be other cot like beds, similar to the one I am laying on with others on them. Am I underground?
I find that the atmosphere is primitive. It is noisy, almost like being in one of the atrium buildings at our local zoo. Echo's and smells. Not really bad smells all at once but occasionally it will waft by.
There were conversations and laughing. I speak out, "hello"? A man on the cot just a few feet from me looks and is trying to give me some sort of eye contact. He does not speak back. "Hello, sir can you tell me what is happening?” I try again. "If you can hear me, please tell me something, anything? Why are we on these cots?”
Should I get up? There is nothing holding me here. I could just get up and walk away.
I am not sure where the door is but there are hallways with mulch type flooring and vines. There are
21
more holes and trickles of light coming down. I get a glimpse, of some type of movement. I want to scream and my eyes fill with tears. I really had wished I still smoked. I could really enjoy that right now.
I see a large man, which is more beastlike than anything. He was much taller than most men and very hairy. Well hairy is the simplest of words that I may use at this moment as I want to know what is going on and how to get back to where I was on my jogging path. I am fearful but not as panicked as I thought I would be. I am thinking more now of survival and how to get out.
The large manlike person is also not completely human in my eyes. He is close enough now to say something. He is holding something. I must be hallucinating because I am underground on a cot with a large hairy man standing near me with a smile. I must be crazy. I am going to talk to him. "Oh sir, may I ask you a few questions"?
The large man waves down the hall and a more feminine version approaches. His wife? Coworker? What is it? Something is deeply strange and as she comes into sight and gets closer I almost feel relieved. It was a woman. I can feel more comfortable with this situation. I am also still looking around continuously.
The others like me that are lying on their cots just stay there. They keep looking but do not speak. Why are they not speaking? They do not really look afraid or medicated. The young hairy woman approaches me. And she speaks! In a lovely voice that sounds like she
has smoked for 50 years. She announces that her name is Barka.
I do not understand this. She has a name. She is living and breathing and speaking to me. I want her to tell me that this is all a mistake and that I will be dropped off at my house shortly.
But then Barka speaks again. "We are happy to have you here. You will be assigned a number tomorrow".
I am very happy that this hairy individual knows my language. This should make it much easier to communicate my feelings because I am going to panic soon. I am filled with anxiety that is turning into an excitement for the thrilling outcome of this story that I can run home with and tell everyone. That is if I can find a way to leave.
"Barka?" I said quietly. "May I please have some answers to my questions?"
I continue to ask about the area I am in. I ask about the others on the cots, the hallways, for water. I try to get as much as I can out, so she will choose to answer at least one. She continues to look at me and starts to speak.
Her eyes are so large and just look into mine with such concern and sadness. The smell is unique, not really disgusting, but woodsy. Almost like a pine tree. The words that come out are not what I could have predicted. She is very serious to say, that I have become part of her family now. She continues to explain that I
23
will remain here and will be assigned a living space and a number. She turns again to walk away.
My mouth drops open. I have just heard with my own ears that I will stay here and will not be going home? I have a family. I have a home. A dog. I love my life. My eyes start to fill with tears again. It is coming, but I just keep looking at the others lying near me wondering what is going on. I am thankful that the female tree scented hairy being provided the information. Even though it was limited. It was really turning out to be such an emotional day.
I figured that I must try to stay calm and on the side of caution with this. This meant I must stand up with the others and follow Barka down the underground wooded path.
Walking down this hallway feels like actually being outside. And I am pretty sure we are down below the ground. There appears to be rooms etched into the hallway walls. Each with cots and wood, tree stemmed furniture. Very rustic and well designed. I feel damp. The air is chilling me. I feel sick.
I am walked to my cot and sat down by a touch to my shoulder. I loo
ked across the hall path and seen a young man in jogging clothes placed on his cot as well. While I am looking at him, he looks into my eyes and I feel like he is trying to send me a message. Not all of the ones I have seen so far are taking this new environment well.
I hear screaming and crying. I also hear begging and urgent situations requiring other woods people to run down the mulch path.
I am not sure at this point how to describe Barka and the other man like creatures that are covered in an almost fake fur like body hair. It reminds me of something I would see on a costume. There are big differences in the humans that I know and them.
Their height for one thing, is at least a foot taller than mine. It looks varied and they must be very heavy. The muscular structure is perfect and amazing. There was more running. The woods people is my term at this point to try to describe what I am seeing when I look at these men and women in control. My hand is taken and a vine like shackle is placed on my wrist. I am not in a position to leave my four foot area.
There are oil lanterns hanging on the wall and what looks like to be some type of lighting running through the paths on the walls. I am confused. My head is unable to absorb what I am taking in.
There was a man across the path from me. He is tied to his area now as well. I watch him as he looks around and I am sure at this point that he may possibly be looking for a way to leave. I wish him good luck with that under my breath.
A large hairy person comes into my area and is carrying a wood box of metal pieces. I am sure at this point I am in a position to identify the male and female woods people. It would be some time before I would
25
learn to identify them as some sort of Bigfoot or Sasquatch. I am still very much in shock at this point and I try to speak to what appears to be another female. She speaks!
She explains to me that she is here to provide me a number. She also says to me that there will be food provided soon.
I want to ask so many questions. I take a chance and ask if there is someone in charge, if there is someone I can speak to about leaving. She tells me that her name is Roota. That there will be a chance to speak with the others in a few days, and that it is best to remain silent until then. She advised me not become difficult and that we are all there for a reason. What reason?
So let me rehash this so I can try to comprehend it. I was very close to my home in a wooded area. I fell in what I know now was a trap. This was a trap that was intentionally set to collect me and bring me down to the woods people. I was sure that my running path would not lead many to where I was and that meant to me that possibly there were multiple traps in many areas.
I did not recognize the others that were on the cots earlier, and I feel that I would have if they were from my area. I am not sure that I woke up in the same area that I was near when I fell in trap. I may have been taken down other paths.
Snap. I hear her preparing my number. The metal tag shows the number 441 on it. It looks like a smaller version of the plastic tags they put on farm animals. She
carefully and gently grabs my earlobe and snaps in the side cartilage. It felt like when I was young and had gone to get my ears pierced for the first time. It stings a little and I am also really worried about germs.
It was a dumb thing to worry about at this point but I would hate to get an infection while I am rope vined to a cot in a dirt cubicle on a bark filled path underground. I may be dreaming. Maybe this is not even happening.
It is real, I am here. I am thinking that keeping my mental stability may be important and that I need to pay attention and stop looking for reasons that this could not be happening. Snap. She is preparing to place a second tag on my left ear now. She turns my head gently and takes my earlobe to place the second tag on. I thank her for her gentle touch and she looks at me for a moment.
She is now glaring into my eyes. She is rubbing my forearm with tenderness. I almost feel like she cares about me. She tells me that I am welcome here and that she wishes me a good and safe visit.
Her English is perfect! I am so bewildered by the small details of what is around me. Ape like humans that speak like they are college educated.
I would have had an easier time accepting an alien spaceship in the yard that would have taken me to another planet, than I can believe this.
27
I wait until my path neighbor gets his number and then when the coast is clear I ask his name. I tell him my name and he responds with an angry voice. His name is Collin. He goes on to tell me that he is from a town that is about 40 miles from mine. He is 23 and very athletic looking. I did not really want to create a situation that would be a reason for reprimand so I kept it simple. I told him I was hungry.
He told me that he also believed his mother Staci was here somewhere as well. That made me sad.
I am not able to locate my water bottle and was sure I had it when I was pulled from the well. It was clipped on my side. The water bottle was a gift from my daughter and it never seemed so important until right this moment.
This brought a huge flood of emotions flowing through me, realizing that I may not see my family for a few days or months.
Chapter Three
Above ground the police are at my home. While I am vine tied and sitting in a dirt room, the law enforcement officer is taking a report from Dave. He will be questioned while the police check the area and mark the trails that I traveled down. There will be many neighbors throwing accusations that he had hurt me. There are also new rumors that I was abducted by someone that was taking women statewide.
I am trapped. My disappearance had brought a large police and FBI presence to my home and neighborhood. The story will be on the news for days. The police mark the woods. Find my bracelet. Follow my trail until it goes cold. Flyers are printed and placed on poles and grocery store doors. I am missing. My family is experiencing a very new life up there and I am unable to tell them that I am alive and missing them.
I look over at my new friend across the path. We are silently waiting for food and water. There is not a lot of noise to judge the other's activity by. I am struggling with the desire to know what time it is. I am sure I have been here 2 days. Maybe 3.
I am not sure how long I was asleep or unconscious. I notice near my cot there is an unusual wood crate. I am able to get to it easily and stand up to touch it. It
29
feels so great to stand and walk around. I remove the lid and discover that it may be the modern built outhouse that I have been seeking. There is nothing like having a toilet 3 feet from where I sleep.
I am feeling more like a prisoner and still am having major confusion about where I am and what or who is keeping me here. I want to yell for Barka. She was kind. I am afraid that if I yell I would be deemed unruly and that there could be consequences. I did not want to stand out.
Just as I sit on the crate to relieve myself I hear voices. I am discovered by a new female hairy person and am given a stitched up braided sack of dried meat. I am guessing that the ones responsible for my visit here are not vegetarians. I am happy to have some protein and am also given my water bottle back with cool water in it. I also see my neighbor Collin getting a meal as well. I wait for her to get out of view before I attempt to stand up from the box I am using as a toilet.
Moving back to the cot I sit quietly and eat slowly. I have no idea again how long it had been since I had eaten and do not want to become sick. I am not a fan of jerky or dried meat so trying to stomach this was not easy for me. I decided to keep some and I rolled it up in my sleeve just in case I would need it at a later time.
Somewhere along the line I have been stripped of my shoes and socks. I gently tuck my legs together and try to pull my stretchy sweat pants over my feet to get some warmth. It is not cold, just uncomfortable for me. I am definitely one of those comfy blanket kinds of girls. I am not just one with my cot which was some sort of canvas and no other extras. NO pillow or blanket. It was just me. I feel the need to rethink what I have se
en so far. I took a good look at Barka. She was not human but very close. Her facial expressions and use of her hands were the same as mine. Her size was much more magnificent than any human I have ever seen. She seemed smaller than some of the others I had seen go by. Maybe this was a female trait.
NO clothing that I could see and there was so much body hair that I could not see any specific body parts. It appeared that she was covered in some areas with a covering that matched her hair. It was maybe out of modesty or necessity. It was easy to see why they would all be comfortable with the cool air.
