The kids, Mike, John and Gabe had heared the old stories. A young girl, maybe eleven years old, went missing in these woods over sixty years ago after she just couldn’t take the teasing and bullying anymore from her classmates for her facial disfigurement from a neighborhood dog. She, Joan, was never found, even after a team went into an old sink hole on the edge of an open field and came up short.
The boys wanted to explore the area because Joans story had become an urban legend. Years after the disappearance, after several more crews searched the sink hole the city council agreed to fill the hole. No grass has ever grown there and many animals have been found dead and brutally mutilated. The legend tells thhat Joan had fallen into that hole and lived, until she had died of thirst. The rain storms that followed may have barried her under the soil at the bottom. The city has even tried to build an aqueduct over the barren area but both pipes burst, a hole straight through the pipe over where the sink hole used to be.
As the boys approach the blasted land they take note of the old pipe system still there and the hole that goes through. They stand roughly fifteen feet from the pipe, shoulder to shoulder just gazing at it as if the pipe had spoken something of terror.
“I dare you to tough the pipe Gabe.” Mike said, not looking away.
Gabe said nothing, just stood there staring. John was the first to approach the pipe. Now only two feet from it he could barely see the hole on top. Slowly and shaky he raises his hand and gently places it on the pipe. Gabe and Mike watched in silence as John, who is always the brave one, just stood there with his hand on the pipe. After several moments had passed they too joined their friend next to the pipe.
“Think the legends are true?” Asked Gabe.
“No, its just an old wives tale they tell kids so they dont wander off into the woods.” Answered John as he started to climb up on top of the aqueduct.
Gabe and Mike followed his lead and climbed up with him. They stared at the hole in the top, not more than two feet across.
“Watch I’ll show you.” Said John as he lay across the hole on his stomach. “See nothing to worry abou..” Johns face became an expression of fear. He tried to get up but couldn’t. “Hel.. Help!” He choked out as if he had lost his voice. Before Gabe and Mike could grasp Johns hands he screams in pain.
“AAHHHHGGGGG! HEEEELP” He shouted as blood began to seep from the corners of his mouth, nose and eyes.
In a flash John was folded backwards with a loud crunch and pulled into the hole by an unseen force. Gabe and Mike jumped down screaming and running. They got help but the mystery only got stranger.
When the emergency crews arrived they instantly noticed the blood around the hole. One man shines a flashlight down the hole only to make a bizarre discovery. The sink hole seems to have opened back up but only under the pipe. The hole could not be seen on the ground ouside of the pipe where it touches the ground.
The crews decided to lower someone down to see if they could find John in the sink hole. Volunteer fire man Phillip Moris volunteered to be lowered by harness. This seemed to be the best choice because Phillip was a small man and would best fit down the narrow opening. As he was being lowered he kept in contact with the surface crew with a hand held radio.
“It opens up into a cavern down here. Can’t see the wals even with the light.” He said over the radio. As he spoke he noticed something strange. “Should i hear an echo?” He asked.
There was a moment of silence before another voice came over the radio. “Yes you should, your voice should be bouncing all over them walls.”
“There is no echo.” Phillip says as he reaches the bottom. He looks up and shines his light at the ceiling around the hole. “Must be thirty feet.” He says into his radio.
The air is thick, and hard to breath. Phillip also notices an unsettling aroma of musk, mold and a little like sulfur. He looks around the open space with his light, slowly scouring the floor and walls until he sees something. It appears to be someone sitting, back against the wall, arms around their legs and head down.
“John?” Says Phillip as he cautiously approaches the figure. “Its okay John, im here to help. My name is Phillip.”
When the figure picks his head up Phillip falls back in shock and fear. The person he is looking at is unrecognizable. The man has a deep open gash on his face, like something cut and opened his face with a sharp knife. The man dug his thumb into the wound, dragging it down and flinging dirt, mud and blood onto the cavern floor as he stood up.
“She is angry at the world and wants everyone to feel her pain!” The man shouted in garbled voice, pointing his dirt caked finger at Phillip.
Phillip screamed into his radio to pull him up. “Pull me up! Pull me up now!”
When Phillip was pulled from the dark cavern he was in fear, frantic to get away from that hole. As fast as he could he removed the harness and jumped to the ground. He landed on his hands and knees and vomited.
“There is someone down there. He is hurt.” Phillip said once he regained his composure.
The crew was able to pull the man out roughly thirty minutes after Phillip. The man was unconscious and was quickly put into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital.
The next day Phillip was sitting in a coffee shop listening to the news when it suddenly went to static. He looked at the TV just as a distorted image of a horribly deformed girl came on screen.
“Now you will all know MY pain.” She sait in sad yet hateful voice.
Everyone in the shop began to fall over. Either on the ground or on the tables they were sitting at. Phillip watched as the people outside dropped, the TV had gone back to the news and the anchors and news casters were all falling. Then Phillip, he fell as he tried to run for the front door. When he woke up he looked at his watch. Only thirty minutes had passed. He stood up and touched hes face, it felt strange. He looked around and everyone else was getting up as well, all of them looking like the man from the hole. Phillip ran to the bathroom to see his own reflection. To his fear he too resembled someone that had been mauled by a bear.
