Follow the Tunnel
With little else to do, you swim into it, following this one instead. Like the first tunnel, this one also loops around and goes up and down - it’s strange how these tunnels are perfect for your size, and yet, they make these odd angles, almost like they were made purposefully to confuse or annoy. At the very least, you are thankful it’s a straightforward tunnel, without any forks or multiple paths you could go, only straight on.
You swim on for a while, up until the point where the tunnel you’re following shoots up. There is no break, it’s just an immediate straight point upwards.
You follow it, of course, and see light at the very end of it, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel - you propel yourself up and break through the water’s surface. The first thing you do is get your breath back, letting the air flow into your lungs to ease them from holding it for so long.
Once you’ve finished, you look around.
You are, somehow, poking out from a big, flat tree stump. The water is in the center of the stump, spilling a little water out as you move around. You frown at this weirdness, but, climb out of the stump and over it. Then, you look around.
The area you are in appears to be indoors - or at the very least, inside of something, because there are walls that go up and over, as if you’re in some sort of dome-like structure. And yet, there is grass beneath your feet and moss growing from all over the walls of the dome, so you consider the possibility it’s a cave of some kind.
But then, you look forward and see a door.
The door is snugly sitting in a chunk of wall, and looks almost exactly like the strange door you walked through to end up where you did in the beginning.
You move toward it briskly, but with a sense of wariness, since you have no clue what the hell could be behind it. You stop when you reach the door and press your ear to the door and listen. Several seconds pass, and besides your own heartbeat, you don’t hear anything out of the ordinary. You note this, then touch the handle.
The handle is cool to the touch, yet it moves, and you very gradually open the door - it doesn’t creak or make much noise, fortunately, and you are able to open it fully without any issue. That’s when you see what’s on the other side.
To your utter astonishment, on the other side of the door appears to be the inside of an honest to God house of all things. It’s a massive house, and you know it’s a house because you see a table with chairs, there’s a little wooden stove on one side of the room, and there’s even a carpet that appears to be made from both fur and leaves.
You step inside and shut the door behind you - quietly - and take a moment to look around. Do you explore it? Or go back?
Written by Hollowpages on 16 May 2019
The end (for now)