The Dark Spirits Beneath

as they were the only part of the creature she could seem to see. It jerked, ferociously, but refused to release its hold on the frightened girl. Layla brought the rock down again, and again. On the third time, it finally released its grasp, but while fleeing, topped a pile of rocks, which immediately pinned Lanie's gnarled leg to the floor. Layla strained to free her, pushing aside stone after stone, as her own lungs burned for oxygen. But it was no use. There were just too many of them. Layla strained to stay submerged as long as she could but ultimately could do nothing. Helplessly, she placed a comforting hand on Lanie's leg, as the poor girl finally let go of the last of her air, in large, disturbing bubbles, before convulsing wildly, and then... just floating. Lifelessly.

Layla's lungs felt as if they were on fire as well, and knowing there was nothing more she could do for her, kicked off of the uneven, rocky floor with force and began her ascent. Frantically trying to reach the surface again. Wondering it the thing with the yellow eyes was going to come back and finish the job.

After what felt like an eternity, Layla splashed through the surface of the water, gasping and coughing, and immediately panning for Becca. She found her standing on a rock at the pool's edge, straining to look down into the dark depths. She looked to Layla for some sort of absolution, but all she could do was shake her head, with fearful tears beginning to well in her eyes. "There's... there's something big down there!... it dragged Lanie down, she's... she's dead!"

"Dead? What do you mean she's dead?!"

"I tried, dammit... it just... the damn thing... whatever it is... it got her!... it wouldn't let go until... until it was already too late..."

"Too late?! Where the hell is she then?!"

"Her body... it's pinned down there... under a bunch of these goddamn rocks, and..." but as Layla held up the rock still clenched in her trembling hand, and finally looked at it more closely, she froze in terror, and finally understood why the water felt so unbearably warm to her.

"Jesus Christ, Layla! What the shit!!"

They both looked in horror, as Layla clutched a now cracked human skull. She dropped it reflexively and watched as it disappeared back into the darkness of the cenote. "I swear to God, I thought that thing was a goddamn rock!!" She shouted, as her pulse quickened, and her breathing grew more rapid. "There were hundreds of those down there!!"

"What the bloody hell! Where are we, Layla?!!"

Layla's breathing was growing more and more frantic by the second. "Look... just get me out of this goddamn water... RIGHT NOW!!"

Chapter 12

Terrors of the Night

With the help of each other, the two frightened girls hastily gathered their clothing and scrambled up the slippery rocks that lead out of the dark, damp cenote. Once on the surface, they both collapsed, still dripping, and sobbing uncontrollably over the loss of their friend, not to mention their apparent near brush with death themselves.

"What the shit, Layla?! What the shit?!!... Lanie's dead!!"

Once Layla was finally able to catch her breath as well, she shouted back, "what... what the hell was that thing?!"

"Wait, you mean you didn't even see the bloody thing?" There was still a tremble in Becca's voice as she spoke, trying at the same time to hastily pull her damp jeans back on, "I thought you said you hit it!"

"I did," Layla explained, in between still panicked breaths and attempting to get dressed, "but it was way too dark down there! All I could see were its eyes," she shuddered, "those freaky glowing yellow eyes..."

Becca ran her fingers back through her still wet hair, before taking a deep breath, and attempting to recompose herself, "okay, okay... so what do we do now?"

Layla was at an absolute loss, and couldn't even really seem to think about anything at the moment. Just poor Lanie. In the final moments before it was all over. She walked calmly over to the edge of the hole and looked down into the now placid waters. The only disturbance was the gently bobbing ripples of Lanie's glasses, as they floated on the surface. Layla wiped the trails of tears from her flushed face and took the few steps back to rejoin Becca. "I guess... I guess we go tell Ruiz. I mean, what else can we do? Maybe he can call for help on the sat phone, and they can send someone out to get her out of there."

"You mean, her body," Becca snapped, still residing right on the edge of hysteria, "Lanie's body... that's the man's goddamn daughter! I mean, what are we going to even say to him?!"

"I know... I KNOW...!!" Layla had taken to nervously pacing back and forth as well.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this... I was just having a little fun with her, and..."

Layla grabbed a teary Becca on wither side of her face and locked eyes with her, "Becca, listen to me... none of this is your fault!"

"You can't know that! It was me that egged her on, I was the one that pushed her under the water," Becca was sobbing inconsolably by this point, "you wouldn't have even been in that damn place if I hadn't fallen in like an idiot!"

"Look, Becca, it was an accident. You're lucky you aren't dead after that fall!" Layla was cradling her in her arms by this point, trying her best to console her friend, who was still trembling like a leaf, "no, what we need to do is find Ruiz, let him know what happened, and then we can go from there."

But Becca was no longer listening. And as her tears stopped, she looked around grappled by a new perplexing realization. "Where's... Where's James?"

It was the first moment Layla had had the realization as well. She scanned the area wildly, only finding enough words to stammer, "I... uh..."

Becca's