The cave

Conrad looked over the edge of the hole, a flare held in his hand, ready to be lit and dropped. He had come across what he assumed to be the entrance to a cave a week ago, when his foot had slipped into the hole hidden by the brush and nearly dragged the rest of him along with it. On that day, it had scared the crap out of him, and he had had no intentions of returning, but the more he thought about the hole, the more curious he had become. He remembered hearing stories about people who had stumbled across massive cave systems and gaining fame and fortune because of it. 

He had done his research before returning. He wore a backpack with an assortment of supplies inside. A flashlight, plenty of extra batteries, rope, some food, a first aid kit. He wanted to make sure that if he got lost, he wasn't going to be royally screwed. He wanted to be remembered for his discovery. Not forgotten because of his failure. 

The flare burst to life, and Conrad let it fall into the now widened hole. He watched as the light descended, growing dimmer and dimmer, until it finally bounced to a stop far below, and rolled off to the side where he could barely see it. He was glad he hadn't fallen in before. A part of him had wanted to have had all this preparation be worthless, with only a foot or so of drop with nothing to see. At least then he would know he hadn't been in danger before. But now at least he could take an adventure that might pay off in the end. 

He tied his rope to a nearby tree and let it dangle down into the depths of the hole. With a deep breath, he began his descent. As he slowly maneuvered down the rope, trying to see anything around him in the ever increasing darkness, he realized just how tiring such a descent was. He had never been the strongest person out there, but the fear of dropping kept him firmly on the rope. The further he went, the more his arms shook, but he refused to let go, and climbing back up became less and less of an option. He hoped desperately that this would be worth it, as getting out would prive to be a challenge. 

Every few feet, Conrad would look down to check his flare. He could tell he was slowly getting closer. Eventually, though, he was terrified to notice when he looked down that the flare had run out. He had no idea how close he was. He couldn't get his flashlight out either to check, as he needed both hands on the rope. Although he could look up and see the light, he had gone deep enough that it was no longer illuminating his path. He had no choice but to continue on blindly, and pray that his rope was long enough. 

By the time he reached stone he coukd stand on, Conrad's entire body was shaking, his breath was ragged, and his eyes were closed tightly shut. The impact of stone on his feet was so shocking that he didn't know what to think at first. He stood, feet planted on the ground, his hands still clenched tightly around the rope, until finally it ocurred to him that he had made it. His fingers peeled off of the rope one by one, and he shakingly pulled off his pack and grabbed his flashlight. His hands were shaking so badly he missed the switch for the light several times before finally managing to turn it on. As he swept the light around the cave, he was amazed at what he saw. 

His flare had slowly rolled into a puddle of water, which was why it had extinguished. Long stalactites surrounded him, dripping water all around the floor. The rocks were a shiny, almost glowing white with the light on them, with smooth and almost bubbly appearances. Formations on the walls looked stunningly like jellyfish, and seemed to continue on forever deeper into the cave. In the distance, he could hear a creak flowing, which he assumed was the original source of the cave.

"Wow."