The sound of a large boulder breaking apart after a great fall echoed throughout all the walls of the cavern. The intense darkness that enveloped the cramped space only served to make the sound more ominous, and of greater intensity.

Antonio only grinned. This was the exact kind of thrill he was born for. Pushing enormous rocks down into the seemingly endless depths of a forbidden cave just for the hell of it. It was what he called living.

Antonio was someone who lived for adventure, always chasing after it and never backing down. He found it incredibly annoying that people around him didn’t see him as the brave, adventurous hero he believed himself to be, but rather a foolish daredevil recklessly putting himself in danger just for the adrenaline rush. Every adult he came into contact with gave him the same lecture on why it was bad to go out alone in sketchy places looking for trouble. “Mischievous teens snooping around places they shouldn’t be”, they’d always say.

They just didn’t get it. How could someone pass up the opportunity to explore an old, abandoned cave? Had they not considered that deeming the area off limits would only encourage people to travel through it more? Antonio was embarking on the discovery of the unknown here, and no one could convince him to stop.

Besides, one thing everyone always chastised him for was going out alone. Well, this time he brought someone with him. Somehow he was able to convince his girlfriend Johanna to join him in this escapade.

When he saw her looking behind, to where they traveled from, he got the sense she regretted agreeing to this.

“Hey, don’t go bailing out on me now!” He called out to her.

“We really shouldn’t be here.” She said. “We never should’ve come. I want to leave, this place gives me the creeps.”

“Well, duh! Of course it’s creepy. Where would the fun be in exploring a place that isn’t creepy?”

“This is ‘fun’ to you?”

“Look, Johanna, if you never take risks, you’re gonna have a really boring life. You gotta get out there and punch your comfort zone in the face.”

“I just want to leave, okay? Can we please leave?”

Antonio exhaled in annoyance. “Okay, fine, but not before I explore one last area.”

Johanna groaned. “Make it quick.”

Antonio gave her a grin in an attempt to reassure her, and then, armed with only a pair of gloves, a flashlight, and a jacket, he trotted forward.

He continued following the path he was on, the walls of the cave currently only going in one direction. He decided that he’d go to wherever this path led to, then turn back and get out. It was a good thing that Johanna had tracked where they went on her phone. This cave was like a maze. They had been walking through it for nearly two hours and would be completely lost otherwise.

As he walked on, he saw the walls and floor begin to crawl with pests, mainly spiders. It was probably best that Johanna didn’t come to this part of the cave, she was a huge arachnophobe.

He didn’t mind, of course. Why even explore caves if you can’t stomach the sight of some bugs? He never liked spiders, but in his current journey, they were necessary to deal with.

The spiders grew more and more prevalent the longer he walked along the path. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was beginning to grow uneasy. His walk turned into a trudge and he began to have second thoughts. Maybe it was best that he turn around right now.

No, he couldn’t give up now. He had to reach the end. He’d never live with himself knowing a cowardly move got in the way of his adventurous nature.

In an adrenaline rush, he began running, not stopping to look behind him and trying not to think of all the spiders around.

After about ten seconds, he saw the end of the path, a rock wall. He put his hands up and slowed down, coming to touch it.

It was a dead end.

Internally, he felt stupid. He followed this path and there was nothing to be found except a bunch of spiders. What a waste of time.

He began making his way back, hoping his next adventure would be more fulfilling.

After he took a few steps, the floor around him suddenly fell apart. Specifically, the part of the floor he was on began turning down at the side, making him slide and hit the rock wall below.

He rubbed his head in confusion and curiosity. He looked around and saw darkness in front of him. Had he just found a secret room? Under the floor? How could something like this even be constructed?

Regardless, he was not one to pass up an opportunity to explore a room like this. He picked up his flashlight and walked forward.

In the distance, he thought he heard Johanna yelling and calling out to him. He grinned. When she inevitably ran to where he was, she was sure to be impressed. Even she would have to admit this hidden room was pretty cool.

Antonio walked forward, flashlight still in hand, to see what exactly was in this place. Eventually, he came to a stop when his flashlight hit a wall on the other side. Apparently this wasn’t a very big room.

As he got closer, he realized there was some kind of drawing on the wall. It looked old and worn down, but still visible. He turned his flashlight to a higher setting to get a better look and winced in disgust.

It was a drawing of a giant spider, all in grotesque detail. Even with the apparent wear, he could still see all the hairs and eyes the thing had. It was an extremely gross sight, but he had to concede it was a very well made painting for what it was. Almost to an unbelievable degree.

He looked further down and took notice of some words which appeared to be written in an ancient language no longer in use today. He couldn’t understand or read what they said, but it looked like two words spelling out a simple phrase.

He looked back up to the spider drawing and decided to start heading back. This room was pretty creepy, all things considered. He may have bitten off more than he could chew going through it.

All of a sudden, he saw a faint white light shine all throughout the room. The light was clearly not emanating from his flashlight. Curious, he turned around.

What he saw could be described as a sphere of white light appearing from the spider painting. It soon left the wall and began traveling through the air.

It was coming directly toward him.

Panicked, he turned around to run back out the room, but saw the one entrance had been blocked. He tried banging on the ceiling, but it didn’t work. He was trapped.

He could hear footsteps running toward him from above. They had to be from Johanna. He yelled for her, hoping she could hear him and would arrive in time.

He turned his head again and saw the ball of white light almost touching him, and he immediately backed away in fear. In desperation, he tried throwing a rock at the thing before him, but it passed right through, ending up hitting a large piece of rock jutting down from the ceiling above.

It hit just the right place for the ceiling to begin to crumble and fall apart.

The last thing Antonio ever saw was a wall of rock from above coming down at him fast. He didn’t have time to react before he was promptly crushed to death.