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"SSC3 - Regular Joe and the Grief-Mongers"

They’re up there right now, hoping I find something awful. They’re hoping I’ll pull out the remains of some poor dead kid, something they can grieve for, something that they can feel for. Perhaps they’re hoping that the rope will break on the way back up, and I’ll fall to my death.

“But he was so brave to go down there” they’d say, or “I wished him the best, told him to be careful.” Secretly though, they’d love it, a chance to dress in black and reminisce about past disasters. The grief-mongers, trading slices of misery and shedding crocodile tears, hoping, no, wishing, that one day something would happen in their own lives to care about.

Well today was going to be that day.

It was young Bobby that found it. He says he were walking his dog, but I’d seen his sister walking it that afternoon, and knew he was lying. No, what Bobby was doing in that field will remain a mystery , but that he’d found something, literally stumbled upon it, that were true, and that were the reason I’d ended up in this hole.

Bobby went and told his dad, who stormed straight to the town hall to see Mayor Black. He turned the air blue, accusing the town of practically murdering his son, even though Bobby was fine. Well, with the election approaching, Mayor Black had to deal with this, so that’s why he called me. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not an action hero or anything, just a regular Joe, but I’m a regular Joe that does what’s necessary, I leave the pond-life to talk about it till the cows come home.

It didn’t take long to find, despite Bobby’s memory of it being somewhat hazy. Pretty much in the centre of the field, high grass growing all around it, a circle of rotting wood. I put a little pressure on it, and felt it give a little. I stood and put my foot through it, kicking the wood away. Had Bobby been a few pounds heavier, or had he had his dog with him, chances are he would have fallen through, and we would never have seen him again.

First thing that hit me were the smell. A putrid stench that had me throwing my guts up. Despite this I stuck my head right back in there, had a good look, but it were too dark to see. The edges were clearly some kind of old brick, so I figured this was some old well. I called the Mayor, let him know what I’d found. He said he’d look into it. I told him to get someone else here right now, and mark off this area. Now this well was open, and I was the one that opened it, I didn’t want anyone to fall down. Yeah, we could all cry about it, and the town would thrive upon it, but that weren’t my thing.

It were late when he called me back, Mayor Black. He said there were something wrong with that well, that it didn’t appear on any of the old town plans as a well, but there were something else, something he didn’t want to share over the phone. Well I were there in minutes. I’m not one to hang around when there’s something to be done. The Mayor were twitchy, more so than usual. He handed me an old piece of paper, stiff with age. It warned of a terror buried deep beneath the earth, now hidden away. It warned that only the strong of mind should ever go near. It warned that the protective seal should never be broken. Well I guess I’d put my foot in it good and proper. Not that I believed any of that mumbo-jumbo, but the Mayor, he were worried about his voting public, worried that word would get out about this terror, and he’d done nothing about it. Of course, if he could be proactive about the situation, be the man that ordered this investigation, well then he’d look good, wouldn’t he?

Now I would have gone down there right then, not wasted a moment, but he said we needed a support team, that it needed to be done in daylight, make it easier, let the people come and watch, bring their kids, have a day out. I’m not one to disagree with a man in power, so home to bed I went, to wait, not knowing what was waiting for me down there.

The morning was a bright one, as bright as I’ve seen on a mid-May morn, but the air was strangely subdued, and the absence of bird-song created a sense of stillness not often felt in this town. Of course, they’d gathered early, and had already formed into their familiar groups. Upon seeing me they began to coo and point, and it wasn’t long until they began to circle around me, the well-wishers, wishing me well. I didn’t waste any words on them, and headed straight for the well, where I was stopped by old Bernie Bradshaw. He tied the rope around my middle, and gave the simple command, “three short tugs when you want lifting out.” I nodded, then told him to lower me slowly, but not too slowly, I had other things to do with my day.

So that’s when it started, this descent into I don’t know what. At first it was simple, the brick was easy to push against to make sure I went down gently, and my nose-plugs kept out most of the stench. But soon enough the brick became weak, began to crumble when I put my feet on it. Not many metres after this the brick seemed to stop all together, replaced by a thick sludge. My feet didn’t so much press against it, but sink in to it, and I’ll tell you what, it was like it could feel me, and were pushing me back out again.

Soon enough I hit the soft sludgy bottom. At first I thought that I wouldn’t stop sinking, that the bottom of this well were going to just swallow me up, but again it seemed to respond, and pushed me out again. I reached down and touched it, and a tingling flew up my spine. It were a jelly or something, only a foul-stinking jelly that just felt wrong to the touch. It took me a good minute to get moving again, but I had a job to do.

Now that my hands were no longer holding on to the rope, I pulled out my torch. I’d like to be able to tell you what colour that jelly was, but truth be told, I couldn’t. It were like no colour I’d ever seen before, and words haven’t been made to describe it. I saw a passage, and it sure were narrow, and thick with that jelly. Nevertheless, I was a man with a job to do, so I pushed on through. Only, I didn’t have to walk through this passage. As I said, it were narrow, and the jelly was touching me, both sides. Rather than having to walk through it, it seemed to pull me through, but not with any force as such.

As I was pushed through to the other side I saw it. The something awful.

Writhing about in a solid lump of that jelly, what looked like a massive maggot. My nose-plugs couldn’t keep the stench of that thing out, and it took an almighty swallow to keep hold of my breakfast.

After this I remained still, focused on the maggot. I say it were like a maggot, but that was just the body of the thing, round and fat, and like it were made up of separate segments. It’s face though, that weren’t maggoty, it were almost human. It clearly had eyes, as it were looking at me, and there seemed to be a nose smack bang in the middle of it’s face. But the mouth, that weren’t human. Long, pointed teeth hung out of it, trying to gnaw at the jelly, but not getting through.

That’s when I understood, it were the jelly holding it in. But the way in which I came to understand, it were like it transferred the thought into my head. Then all this stuff about the townsfolk, how they’re such grief-mongers, always wanting the worst to happen, that all popped into my head too. They weren’t the ones down here, they weren’t the ones considered strong of mind.

You know what, I think it’d serve them right if I let this thing out, gave them something to really get upset about…

Eloquently written little story - I enjoyed that a lot. Especially the "I put my foot in it" line.

For some reason I began reading it in the voice of Arkwright from Open All Hours.

Good story though, reminds me a little bit of a Stephen King story.

Hehe! :-D

That last line! :-)

Beautifully written as always.

Nice, very nice, reminds me of older writings on here. Enjoyed that. :)

I enjoyed that very much so - the build up to the end was perfect.
And I got the accent into my head perfectly also, so that's good.

Yeah, I liked it.

(By the way, was this bit intentional? (Most likely);
"that field... till the cows come home"
Good if it was. If it were, rather.)

They’re up there right now, hoping I find something awful. They’re hoping I’ll pull out the remains of some poor dead kid, something they can grieve for, something that they can feel for. Perhaps they’re hoping that the rope will break on the way back up, and I’ll fall to my death.

“But he was so brave to go down there” they’d say, or “I wished him the best, told him to be careful.” Secretly though, they’d love it, a chance to dress in black and reminisce about past disasters. The grief-mongers, trading slices of misery and shedding crocodile tears, hoping, no, wishing, that one day something would happen in their own lives to care about.

Well today was going to be that day.

It was young Bobby that found it. He says he were walking his dog, but I’d seen his sister walking it that afternoon, and knew he was lying. No, what Bobby was doing in that field will remain a mystery , but that he’d found something, literally stumbled upon it, that were true, and that were the reason I’d ended up in this hole.

Bobby went and told his dad, who stormed straight to the town hall to see Mayor Black. He turned the air blue, accusing the town of practically murdering his son, even though Bobby was fine. Well, with the election approaching, Mayor Black had to deal with this, so that’s why he called me. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not an action hero or anything, just a regular Joe, but I’m a regular Joe that does what’s necessary, I leave the pond-life to talk about it till the cows come home.

It didn’t take long to find, despite Bobby’s memory of it being somewhat hazy. Pretty much in the centre of the field, high grass growing all around it, a circle of rotting wood. I put a little pressure on it, and felt it give a little. I stood and put my foot through it, kicking the wood away. Had Bobby been a few pounds heavier, or had he had his dog with him, chances are he would have fallen through, and we would never have seen him again.

First thing that hit me were the smell. A putrid stench that had me throwing my guts up. Despite this I stuck my head right back in there, had a good look, but it were too dark to see. The edges were clearly some kind of old brick, so I figured this was some old well. I called the Mayor, let him know what I’d found. He said he’d look into it. I told him to get someone else here right now, and mark off this area. Now this well was open, and I was the one that opened it, I didn’t want anyone to fall down. Yeah, we could all cry about it, and the town would thrive upon it, but that weren’t my thing.

It were late when he called me back, Mayor Black. He said there were something wrong with that well, that it didn’t appear on any of the old town plans as a well, but there were something else, something he didn’t want to share over the phone. Well I were there in minutes. I’m not one to hang around when there’s something to be done. The Mayor were twitchy, more so than usual. He handed me an old piece of paper, stiff with age. It warned of a terror buried deep beneath the earth, now hidden away. It warned that only the strong of mind should ever go near. It warned that the protective seal should never be broken. Well I guess I’d put my foot in it good and proper. Not that I believed any of that mumbo-jumbo, but the Mayor, he were worried about his voting public, worried that word would get out about this terror, and he’d done nothing about it. Of course, if he could be proactive about the situation, be the man that ordered this investigation, well then he’d look good, wouldn’t he?

Now I would have gone down there right then, not wasted a moment, but he said we needed a support team, that it needed to be done in daylight, make it easier, let the people come and watch, bring their kids, have a day out. I’m not one to disagree with a man in power, so home to bed I went, to wait, not knowing what was waiting for me down there.

The morning was a bright one, as bright as I’ve seen on a mid-May morn, but the air was strangely subdued, and the absence of bird-song created a sense of stillness not often felt in this town. Of course, they’d gathered early, and had already formed into their familiar groups. Upon seeing me they began to coo and point, and it wasn’t long until they began to circle around me, the well-wishers, wishing me well. I didn’t waste any words on them, and headed straight for the well, where I was stopped by old Bernie Bradshaw. He tied the rope around my middle, and gave the simple command, “three short tugs when you want lifting out.” I nodded, then told him to lower me slowly, but not too slowly, I had other things to do with my day.

So that’s when it started, this descent into I don’t know what. At first it was simple, the brick was easy to push against to make sure I went down gently, and my nose-plugs kept out most of the stench. But soon enough the brick became weak, began to crumble when I put my feet on it. Not many metres after this the brick seemed to stop all together, replaced by a thick sludge. My feet didn’t so much press against it, but sink in to it, and I’ll tell you what, it was like it could feel me, and were pushing me back out again.

Soon enough I hit the soft sludgy bottom. At first I thought that I wouldn’t stop sinking, that the bottom of this well were going to just swallow me up, but again it seemed to respond, and pushed me out again. I reached down and touched it, and a tingling flew up my spine. It were a jelly or something, only a foul-stinking jelly that just felt wrong to the touch. It took me a good minute to get moving again, but I had a job to do.

Now that my hands were no longer holding on to the rope, I pulled out my torch. I’d like to be able to tell you what colour that jelly was, but truth be told, I couldn’t. It were like no colour I’d ever seen before, and words haven’t been made to describe it. I saw a passage, and it sure were narrow, and thick with that jelly. Nevertheless, I was a man with a job to do, so I pushed on through. Only, I didn’t have to walk through this passage. As I said, it were narrow, and the jelly was touching me, both sides. Rather than having to walk through it, it seemed to pull me through, but not with any force as such.

As I was pushed through to the other side I saw it. The something awful.

Writhing about in a solid lump of that jelly, what looked like a massive maggot. My nose-plugs couldn’t keep the stench of that thing out, and it took an almighty swallow to keep hold of my breakfast.

After this I remained still, focused on the maggot. I say it were like a maggot, but that was just the body of the thing, round and fat, and like it were made up of separate segments. It’s face though, that weren’t maggoty, it were almost human. It clearly had eyes, as it were looking at me, and there seemed to be a nose smack bang in the middle of it’s face. But the mouth, that weren’t human. Long, pointed teeth hung out of it, trying to gnaw at the jelly, but not getting through.

That’s when I understood, it were the jelly holding it in. But the way in which I came to understand, it were like it transferred the thought into my head. Then all this stuff about the townsfolk, how they’re such grief-mongers, always wanting the worst to happen, that all popped into my head too. They weren’t the ones down here, they weren’t the ones considered strong of mind.

You know what, I think it’d serve them right if I let this thing out, gave them something to really get upset about…