The Quarry

I stood on the edge of the quarry lake and stared down into the black abyss that reflected the world around me. Mountains that reached through the clouds, as if to grasp the sky. Trees huddled together, as if trying to escape the growing cold that fluttered down from the dark skies. It was beautiful, but haunting. A true winter wonderland.

I looked down to the lake before my feet, and I saw my visage, staring back at me. A perfect mirror image, the opposite response as I lifted my right hand, and my reflection raised her left.

But her face was obscured, and I couldn’t see her expression or her eyes. I began to wonder if it was really me I was looking at. That eerie smile, with the too-white teeth, was definitely not mine.

Come here, child.

I frowned at the voice that echoed around me. It didn’t sound like me, and I certainly was not a child.

I took a step back, but much like the opposite reflection’s actions, my body took a step forward. I tried to escape the freezing waters, but I only stepped in deeper.

Don’t fight it.

I stopped and turned around to the sandy shore behind me. I watched the gentle waves of the water kiss the bottom of a free-standing mirror. Through the looking-glass, I could see dozens of families sitting on the grassy hill that surrounded the quarry. Children ran freely, and the parents talked amongst themselves without a care in the world.

A sign stood between the grass and the sand, with a warning painted in red. Startled, I saw my face plastered on it. The colors had faded from the sun, but I could see a badge underneath it. No name was written upon it, as if the sun had taken that too.

It was a warning about the dangers of drowning. But, why was my face upon it?

The answer is below.

When I looked away from the nightmare in the mirror, I gasped and nearly swallowed water as I was suddenly on the edge of the pit. Below me, there was nothing but darkness beneath the surface. Rumors told of an old coal mine that caved in and filled with groundwater, thus creating the quarry that had become a popular swimming hole.

Something swam from beneath the depths, and fangs were visible in the darkness. It came closer, but I was too afraid to move. Moving away might force me off the cliff; I could swim, but could I stay above the surface?

Behind me, a hiss whispered against my ear.

Join ussssss.

I turned, and I screamed, but no sound escaped from my throat. A demonic creature, it looked like a ferret, and it glittered with blood and snow. It screeched as it continued to chew on the back of a floating body.

I backed away but instead ended up taking the last step off the underwater cliff. A bony hand wrapped around my ankle, and the weight dragged me down into the murky depths that were hidden below. Down down, deeper down.

I gasped for air, but could only watch my limited supply of oxygen leave through dozens of bubbles that floated to the surface- to safety. The further I drifted down, the colder the water became.

The reflection of the faceless woman appeared before me and still wore the eerily white-toothed smile. Her body was covered with a black substance and slowly began to erode from the water around us.

Join us.

A dozen or so other people appeared around us. Old coal miners, still covered with the coal dust that never faded from being underwater for over fifty years. I recognized the faces of a few of the others; teenagers and young adults who had drowned here during a night of drinking and partying. They all wore the same badge I saw before, sitting over their hearts. Not one had a name.

We’re just statistics.

I tried to swim back to the surface, but my arms weren’t working. My feet were planted against the walls that still held some coal residue, as if it were trying to swallow me.

Was I going to die here?

The faceless woman was an inch from me, but I still could not see her features. Her bony fingers pointed above me, and I followed her gaze. The floating body was face-down, and I could finally see the face.

It was me.

My corpse grinned from above, oblivious to the demonic ferret that continued to feed on the flesh.

Welcome to Wonderland.

As the mine continued to swallow me whole, my voice still unable to escape the thick darkness of the water, I could have sworn the corpse instead said ‘Welcome to Hell’.