Morning all. I am oddly awake and ready to see what this last day of September holds. Later today I will be buying pumpkins so that we can start off October right, but for now, let’s see what the above sentence gets us. Timers at the ready and here we go.
I somehow suspect that our gravity challenged character is going to have accidentally survived something and will have to figure out what is going on. Not a bad start. I’ll have to think about why they were in the building in the first place, but that might be a lunch time thing.
Tuesday, September 30th: The echo made all of our ears ring.
The echo made all of our ears ring. Hands clamped over our ears, we all looked around searching for the source of the sound, desperate to stop it. The was a gong sound, repeating one after another and getting louder with each pass. I knew logically there would be a finite volume the sound could reach, but with the sound ringing off the concrete walls and other hard surfaces it was difficult to remember that. The sound seemed amplified beyond all reason.
I looked with the others for the source, a speaker a loud speaker, anything to explain it. I didn’t know what luck the others were having but I saw nothing and couldn’t take it any more. Desperate for relief I noticed I was near the back exit. Surely once out of the concrete box of a building the echoes would at least cease even if the sound didn’t stop. I slipped out through the exit.
Immediately the echoes stopped, but the sound was still loud. Too loud to think clearly. I moved further away, my attention more on the sound than anything else. As a consequence, I wasn’t looking where I was going. I tripped and staggered forward trying to keep my balance as I kept my hands over my ears. With the downward slope it was a loosing proposition. I fell forward, hands finally leaving my abused ears as my arms pinwheeled.
They didn’t help me either. I landed hard and discovered the incline increased causing me to skid down the slope at a rapid pace. I flailed about, trying to grab on to anything to stop my slide. Then it felt like the ground dropped out from under me, I was falling.
I hit the ground, rolled and kept rolling. The slope increased and I flailed about desperate to grab anything to stop my descent. My hand gripped roots and vines only to have them tear free of the earth and my weight exerted pressure. Still I grabbed for anything that would stop the fall. Finally my hand wrapped around a vine and it held. My momentum stopped with a jerk. I grabbed with both hands and scrambled with my feet trying to find purchase, afraid this vine too would give out. I found a sapling, a small whip of a thing, but it had deep roots and while it groaned when I gripped it, it held firm.
With two handholds I was able to find something more solid. I dug into the ground with my feet, easing some of the pressure on my hand holds. I looked around and saw a level spot just a few feet below me. While it was relatively flat there were rocks scattered about and I knew had I landed with force, it could have been fatal. I adjusted my body. Braced and let myself drop to the level spot.
Once thee I could only sit and breathe for a few moments. Nothing sounded louder than my heartbeat. Slowly the pounding eased and I realized I could still hear the brain rattling sound of gongs from above. It was more bearable now, at a distance, but I was certain it had gotten louder.
Ten til Midnight 