The Dark: The Beast Of Blackcrow Cavern

CHAPTER ONE : DISCOVERY

'Come on!' Daisy shouted as her headtorch began to flicker. 'Don't do this to me. Not now.'
She fiddled with the light strapped to her helmet, twisting it and bashing it against the rock ceiling just above her, but nothing worked. The light was too faulty.
She sighed, knowing this meant the expedition, the one she'd been looking forward to all week, would have to be cut short. She didn't want to go back, but with her head torch playing up, moving on was a risk she wasn't willing to take. Just the thought of being stranded deep under the ground without a light was enough to give her the shivers.
Note to self: bring a backup light.

Somewhat grumpily, Daisy slowly spun herself around to head back the way she was coming. It was a tight squeeze, being one of the lowest and thinnest caves in Blackcrow Cavern, but eventually, after some struggle, she managed to straighten herself out and begin her crawl.
The crawl, which was more of a slither if anything, was exhausting. Most of the tunnels down in Blackcrow were low, claustrophobic and certainly exhausting, but Daisy was used to it now. Such a hobby demands quite a hefty amount of upper arm strength which, after nearly ten years of caving experience now, Daisy certainly had.

After moving non-stop for what felt like forever, Daisy finally pushed her way through into a tall clearing; Simone's Chamber. Standing up, she let out a gentle groan as she stretched out her back and arms. It was so quiet this far underground that even just the sound of cracking joints sent echoes around the chamber, reverberating and disappearing into the darkness. After her stretch, she sat herself down on a flat rock for a moment, her breathing still fast from the exertion of the crawl. Her lungs were gasping for the thick air they were used to on the surface. Down here, deep into the earth's crust, the air was much thinner. Thin enough to make you pass out if you were to exhaust yourself a little too much. A break was necessary and more than deserved.

She gazed around the room, just as in awe as she was on her first trip down this way. On the walls, spiralling patterns had formed where water had trickled down from the top of the chamber for centuries. And the floor was sprawling with soft, round rocks of all colours, some as big as boulders and some barely the size of her hand. It was a beautiful little resting place and, to her, worth the crawl down from the main branch of Blackcrow Cavern's lower system.
Simone's Chamber, named after the lucky person who discovered it, was one of the least travelled cave systems in Blackcrow Cavern. Daisy's caving friends rarely made their way down through to Simone's Chamber as, beyond this small pitstop, it didn't really lead to anything particularly interesting. But to Daisy, this branch of Blackcrow was one of her favourites. Yes, the cave was boring to the taste of most cave explorers, being made up of mostly miles and miles of uninterrupted crawl spaces, but that was what Daisy loved about this route. The small gaps, sharp corners and low ceilings were a challenge, and Daisy was always up for a challenge.

After a brief break, Daisy stood up once again to finish her slow journey back to the surface. She looked around the chamber one last time, taking in the beautiful limestone walls and intricate rock formations. But just as she was dropping to her knees, ready to take on the final tight crawl, she heard a loud crack boom around the chamber behind her. She spun around quickly, darting her flashing headlight around the walls and up at the ceiling franticly.
'What the hell was that?' she said to herself nervously, her mind suddenly flooding with millions of possibilities.
Is the cave about to collapse?
Was that just a falling rock?
What if the floor falls through?
What if I'm not alone?
Her heart started racing, overwhelmed with a fear she thought she had long overcome. A wave of claustrophobia washed across her and, for the first time in years, all she wanted to do was get out and never return.
What if I'm not alone?
What if I'm NOT alone?
Then she saw it. On the far side of the chamber, not far from where she was sitting, a large crack had formed in the wall. She traced the outline of the gorge with her torch, looking for any signs of instability, but In her somewhat expert opinion, everything looked fine.

Cautiously, she slowly crept closer to the crack, her head lighting up the crack in short intervals. As she approached the gorge, she noticed something else. The light, which could be better described as a strobe now, was shining through. Daisy, simply by being in the right place at the right time, had discovered a new cave. Placing her hands on either side of the crack, Daisy carefully poked her head through into the tight gap. As she pushed herself further in, her flickering headlight flashed glimpses of a completely new cave, previously hidden away by the rocky walls of Simone's chamber. Daisy grinned, unable to contain her excitement about potentially being the first person to ever gaze upon this uncharted area. Of course, it could have been part of another cave system, one which has already been discovered, but just the possibility of it being her discovery, all her's, gave Daisy butterflies.
Daisy's Cavern, she thought to herself. That's what they'd call it, Daisy's cavern!

Suddenly, her headlight started to flicker more rapidly, just like a dying flame, before going completely dark.
She froze, trying not to panic, but just as soon as the light had died it flickered back to life.
She exhaled, breathing a sigh of relief. But relieved as she was, her brief moment of terror had left her with just one thought.
I need to leave. Now.
It was hard to resist squeezing through into the new chamber but, considering the condition of her ineffective torch, she didn't want to become trapped in the dark, especially in an area nobody even knew existed.
Somewhat reluctantly, she pulled away and walked herself back over to the crawl space which leads out from Simone's chamber. But before she squeezed herself through, she glanced back over at the new abyss which had just presented itself to her. She smiled, turning away and beginning her tiresome crawl back to the surface, her faulty headtorch leading the way.
'I'll be back,' she whispered to herself.
I'll be back.