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Science Fiction and Fantasy
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| In Stone | |
| By employee2-4601 | ||||||||||
| 22 November 2006 | ||||||||||
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This is the latest version, having taken people's considerations into account. I'll also be adding to it when I'm not doing coursework or patronising my favourite pub, so all will be revealed (eventually...) The city had been deserted for millennia. Every now and then, a few foolhardy individuals went through the ruins, searching for any relic from the past. Lately I'd been going through there more often than usual. One of the buildings was deemed too unstable even for the fully licensed archaeologists to venture into; but so far no one had tried to stop me, so I was free to come and go as I pleased. One morning I'd gone in especially early. No particular reason, I'd had nothing else to do at the time. The building was a massive cross-shaped structure with a high dome, a large part of it covered in foliage run wild. Apparently, when the building was still being used, tourists used to go up into the dome. One would whisper into the wall on one side and someone on the other side would hear. The dome had fallen in on one side, daylight flooded into the echoing structure, vines hanging down almost to the floor. A few tattered clothes were all that was left of the bodies in the building. By one pile of clothes stood an antiquated computer and a sheaf of paper. In one room I found children's toys and pieces of cards with pictures of how the city used to look on them. One showed the building when it was complete. The card was torn, sadly, and only a few words were legible. I went back to the building's center below the dome and looked up at the bruised sky above. It didn't look like I'd have very long before the rains came. In the wall on one side was cut an arched doorway. The original wooden door had long rotted away leaving only the rusty metal hinges. Through the doorway were a flight of worn stone steps, leading down into the dark. I'd never been able to get further than there before I'd been forced to leave. The torchlight flickered off the walls, creating strange shadows as I picked my way carefully into the bowels of the building. Finally I reached another doorway. My torchlight suddenly seemed so insignificant as I stepped out into almost total darkness. Something scuttled away to my left and my torch flashed off a rat's bared teeth. "Piss off," I hissed, waving my torch menacingly. The rodent scurried away, leaving me to my thoughts. I swung my torch slowly round the room, trying to get my bearings. It wasn't as large as I'd first thought, I could make out the far wall quite plainly. But that wasn't what really caught my attention. Down the centre of the room stood a row of enormous stone blocks. Some marble, others I wasn't so sure of. I took off my rucksack and walked up and down, examining each one for any markings that might tell me what they were. I must have spent ages down there before I finally found what I was looking for. I'd already examined the biggest block, built out of a reddish-brown stone that was cold to the touch. Like the card I'd found upstairs, most of the writing had been worn away. I could make out a name, Arthur Welles- and a date below, 'ember 1852. 1852. How old was this place? Suddenly I heard the light patter of rain upstairs. I'd been too long and the rains had come whilst I'd been idly walking up and down amongst the tombs. I grabbed my rucksack and pelted up the stairs, not caring when I slipped and grazed an arm on the rough stones. The building was already beginning to flood, the rain pouring in through the hole in the dome. From outside I could already hear sounds of movement. A harsh rasping sound like leather over concrete. There was no time to reach the main door. Grabbing one of the vines hanging from the roof I hauled myself up as fast as I could just as a high-pitched screech pierced through the sound of the falling rain. I was at the level of the top balcony now, the gallery where tourists had once stood looking down on their friends and family. Swinging over what was left of the railing, I landed hard on my hands and knees and paused to catch my breath, hoping the shadows were dark enough up there. The sounds of movement were coming closer, something moving slowly through the water, somewhere outside the main door. Moving slowly, I peered down into the chamber below. The water-level was rising steadily, detritus floating in from various rooms and from outside. Something was blocking the light from outside the entrance, standing perfectly still as if waiting for something. A low moan reverberated around the building. I could feel the stones vibrating gently beneath my hands.
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