GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (54 page)

I
s that the end of the corridor over there
,
in the distance?
Si! Francesca began to run, so excited
that
she
slipp
ed
and slid
in her
desperat
ion
to leave.
She nearly toppled and
fell, but
somehow managed to keep her balance
.

Getting closer now
.
Francesca could see the high steep steps ahead
growing near
.
I
t must be the other end
.
Great!
Relieved
,
the girl began
to
march
more
quick
ly,
slipping more
as she
came
closer and closer to the stairs.
Unexpectedly
,
her keen eyes caught something
—
it was a mark
....
A mark on the left wall
.
A
s she walked closer
, she saw that
someone had scraped a letter familiar to the one she had made
.
It was the letter “F”
—it was
her sign!
It was on the opposite side
of the staircase, although
identical in shape and size
.
That did not make sense
—
she had scraped
hers
on the right!

Francesca’s eyes were drawn only a moment from her direction of travel and then she violently slipped on the ice!
She fell so hard that
it seemed like she was
being
pushed backwards
by a giant bully.
The girl felt herself flying bodily
through
the air!
She came down heavily a
nd
her lamp flew off her head on impact
,
sliding along the ic
y
stone ground.
Everything went black
once more.
...

**********

Frantically
,
Francesca
groped around in the darkness for her headlamp, in fear for her life. She could not believe her ill fortune.
She was l
ost,
perhaps concussive
and someone wanted to kill her!
Francesca
scrambled
on all fours, reaching out one way
and
then the next
in a
crazy circle, searching
for her light.
Frantically, she remembered the gasoline fuel lighter she had collected from Michaelangelo’s desk. She flicked the flint to fuel with a grating noise and the lighter sparked to life. Not far away in the shimmering dimness lay her torch.
Got it!

Thank God, the second bulb works!
Directing her beam to the wall
t
o confirm what she saw earlier
, Francesca’s eyes widened
.
It was true!
I
was
here earlier
—
my sign, my letter “F”!
How could
I
have ended
up
back here?
I have not turned
around
or gone around in circles and I have kept my view mainly ahead
...how can I
possibl
y have gone
the wrong way
?
Who
...
what is
that
whispering?
A
m
I
going crazy?

Still on the cold ground
,
Francesca hysterically began
to
question her own sanity.
Something gripped her inside
—
an
unexplained trepidation came upon her and
her
internal alarm bells began to ring
clamorously
!

Get up, get up
,
GET UP!
A deep fear gripped the
woman’s
mind and body.
In her shock
,
something stirred inside her
—her
w
ill
.
Francesca push
ed
herself up from the floor.
With sheer grit,
she
check
ed
her direction
and
d
u
g into her deeper self
—she
about
-
turned and headed back the way she
had come
.
FAST!

She heard an u
nexplained whispering all around her and then more clicking noises from dark places
as she walked.
A spot of flesh just
below her neck grew hot until it was burning
her
.
At first unaware of this unknown heat
,
due to her
panic, Francesca soon felt the heat of this pain but could do nothing about it. She
r
a
n and limp
ed,
frantically travers
ing
back through the long Dormitory of the Dead
.
...

**********

They were now awake and among the lying dead.
They sensed her fear
...
the girl was moving at a fast pace
.
T
hey waited, hidden for th
e
moment.
It was observation,
and
they allowed her to continue.
Something about this one
...
they
did
not want her to pass through,
but
yet
they
must allow it.
The time
i
s
not right for this one
.

‘
But t
he other
will
not pass
so easily
,’ a deep and wicked voice joined the whispered breathing of the dead.

**********

About half way along the towering loculi, without any indication
,
the dormitory
suddenly opened up to display additional and adjoining dormitories to either side.
Francesca looked around
,
using
the powerful beam
to light up
the distance
.
Presented by high vertical and horizontal stone structures, these vast corridors were higher and
deeper than the one in which she stood.
The site
was
...
breathtaking!
It was a
truly macabre spectacle to behold
.
In the surrounding darkness
,
the whispering continued
and Francesca pretended to ignore it.

The blackness seemed to get blacker
—to close in around her.
H
er view was diminishing rapidly
,
almost as if the headlamp was losing power
.
What would she do, without her light amidst all these bones?

             
‘Do not look down there
,
Francesca!
Don’t look any more!
Keep walking!
Please God help me!’ Francesca pleaded to
G
od in utter despair
,
completely terrified.
She was lost and
knew that she needed all the help she could get
.

The darkness was heavy and the corridor was long, so long.
Francesca began
to
slow down
her pace
and
eventually
gr
ou
nd to a halt.
The cold was so intense that crystals were thickening on top of her body as she moved less and less.
Far
away
,
the stairs again came into her
cold
beam of light.
It was her way out!

The frost permeated into every muscle and sinew. Fran
cesca
walk
ed
and slipp
ed
towards the end of the dormitory
,
her mind slowing in pace
along with
her limbs,
al
though she still
had enough wit
to
check for
her
markings
.
Survival was instinctive
—
another mistake would
prove
fatal
.