"Krissy!" shouted the boy as he ran towards her, stopping at one of the trees near the edge. "There you are! What are you waiting for? Let's go. I want to show you something."

Krissy glanced back towards her house for just a moment before she ran into the woods. She met Eric where he leaned with his back to a tall Douglas-fir, fumbling with a fallen cone the size of his fist.

"I was worried you wouldn't come," said Eric as he stood up.

"Of course I came!"

He smiled as he took her hand, guiding her into the woods.

"It's a long walk, but you are going to love this."

"What is it?"

"A surprise! Trust me."

They chatted happily as they clambered through the woods, navigating small ravines with cool streams cutting through, leaping over fallen branches, and crawling through the animal trails that weaved through the dense underbrush.

They stopped to rest on some rocks beside a trickling brook, silence for the first time breaking their conversation. Krissy idly studied the scratches she'd collected from the sharp leaves of the holly bushes. A few rays of sun pierced the canopy, darting through to the colourful arrays of dead leaves scattered across the ground, the sharp beams of light creating patterns in the otherwise gloomy atmosphere.

"We're almost there," said Eric, breaking the silence. "We just need to follow the stream that way."

Krissy only smiled as she washed her hands and face in the cold water.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" blurted Eric.

"Okay," she answered after an appropriately long moment of consideration.

Eric stared at her with an expression hovering somewhere between shock and happiness. Krissy had been hoping he would ask her, had expected him to do it sooner.

"Okay," he said after a few moments. "Um, now what?"

"Now you take me to see the surprise you have been promising me!"

"Oh, yes," he said, uncertain.

After a slight hesitation, he took her hand again, and led her along the side of the stream. They walked in silence again, with an unexplained tension. A dark feeling.

"Where do you think they go?" asked Krissy. "During the day I mean?"

"The monsters? They hide, of course."

"They hide?"

"From us," he said. "We can see them in the light, so they need to hide during the day. They are scared of us."

"That's silly. Why would monsters be scared of us?"

"I don't know. That's what I heard. Where do you think they go?"

Krissy didn't answer. Her gaze wandered between tree trunks scattered haphazardly to either side of the stream. The thick underbrush provided plenty of cover, and wind whistled through the branches – easily loud enough to conceal the crunch of footsteps on the ground. She shuddered at what could be hidden in there, watching her. But the monsters never came out during the day.

"Here we are," said Eric.

Krissy stopped and followed the direction of his pointed finger. There was a cave entrance, the source of the stream, water trickling out onto the mossy rocks. Blossoming dogwoods surrounded the entrance, snow-white flowers catching stray beams of sunlight piercing the verdant canopy.

"You want to go in there?"

"Come on! You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"

"I'm not afraid of the dark!" she insisted.

But she was afraid of monsters, and a dark cave deep in the woods seemed a perfectly reasonable place for the monsters to hide during the day.

Eric beckoned, and reluctantly Krissy followed. They climbed up the lip of the cave entrance, stepping through the stream and soaking their feet in the cold water. The sweet smell of the flowers was soon swallowed by the musty air of the cave. The light faded quickly, even against the flame of Eric's crude torch – a stick with a tightly-wound cloth burning dimly.

The silence crept in as they made their way deeper into the cave, the rustling of leaves in the afternoon wind fading away behind, broken by the sporadic droplets of water splashing into pools formed on the uneven surfaces scattered throughout the chamber.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" whispered Eric.

It was beautiful. Krissy's eyes had adjusted to the dim light, and she could see the intriguing shapes formed in the rocks. The four fingers jutting from the ground, sharpened claws pointing to the ceiling. The awkward faces with unusual features, watching from the walls, following as they walked, blinking with every flicker of the flame.

There was a large pool at the edge of the cavern, almost perfectly still, only the faintest ripples on the surface as the water crawled beneath on its journey out of the cave. The torchlight made a mirror of the darkness, and Krissy could vaguely see her own face, alone in the cold dark water.

She followed Eric as he pushed further into the cave, through a tight tunnel, and into another chamber as big as the previous one. The darkness was even deeper, the torch the only light remaining. Shadows long and vague stretched on all surfaces, rugged, uneven, hazardous. There was no path to follow, only rocks to climb over and hollows to navigate.

"I want to go back," she whispered, her voice echoing in the cavern, a ghostly reply bouncing off the walls.

Eric didn't answer. He crept further into the cavern, cautious, his eyes fixed on something she couldn't see.

"Eric," she whispered louder, risking the cavern's response.

Still he didn't answer. Krissy silently tried to follow, almost blind without a torch of her own. Her hands seeking grips as her feet slid cautiously, searching for safe surfaces to stand on.

"Eric!" she called, risking raising her voice a little.

"Shh," he said. "There's something..."

Krissy froze, searching the darkness for... something. Anything. Movement. The shadows from the dim light danced on the walls, the yellow flame bringing the cavern to life, every surface writhing in a haphazard ballet.

Her heart was racing, her lungs tense, struggling in the dank air. Her fingers were aching from gripping handholds. She strained her eyes and ears to find what Eric was looking for, but she could sense nothing. She tried to crawl forward, to get closer to the light before the darkness swallowed her. Every step was a labour, yet she still couldn't catch up with Eric.

"Eric," she whispered in desperation, but once again he didn't answer.

Her vision became further obscured as the tears welled in her eyes. She wiped them away as she tried to regain her calm, taking a deep breath. She stepped forward and felt her foot slip. Her hands reached out in panic, searching for something to cling onto, they flailed momentarily as her balance vanished, and she felt herself falling into nothingness.

She screamed in fear as the air rushed past her, and then slammed into a pool of freezing water. It was shallow, and she hit the rocks beneath, struggling to get her bearings and break the surface. She burst through, hands flapping in the darkness searching for anything to hold onto.

She could hear Eric calling her name from above. He sounded distant.

"I'm over here!" She shouted, no longer caring what else might hear her.

She found the edge of the pool just as a faint trickle of light filled the cavern. She crawled onto the rocks and looked up towards the torch. Eric's face peeked over the rim of the precipice high above, the light revealing a small opening above her.

"Eric!" she shouted.

"I'm here!"

The rock face fell vertically down from where he stood, a sheer drop vanishing into the pool of water. Behind her, a tunnel or cavern stretched beyond the reach of the light. She stared into the darkness, straining her eyes.

"Eric," she said with a quiver, "please, help me."

A faint odour drifted out from the dark cavern, sharp, putrid. The smell of something rotting. Or dying.

"Eric!"

Krissy could see Eric waving the torch around frantically, searching for any way in or out of the cavern. In the dim light, all she could see was a sheer rock face, probably too high to climb, too difficult.

"You have to climb," said Eric. "I can't see another way."

Shivering, she glanced behind into the blackness of the cavern. Even without light, her eyes began seeing things, moving, twisting in the shadows, her mind playing tricks on her, fear taking control of her thoughts.

She turned and waded into the pool of cold water, swam frantically, unaware of what lay beneath. She reached the rock wall and searched for a grip. With all her strength, she pulled herself up, her cold fingers struggling to cling on the sharp edges. Her feet cleared the level of the water as she slowly pulled her way up, only just able see the rock face in the light from the torch – hovering a long way above her. Her hand found a particularly sharp crack, and she wrenched it back in pain, slipping, and plunging back into the cold water.

She was crying again, she realised as she swam back to the bank and crawled out of the water. Eric was still searching for another way, the torch dimming and brightening as he moved about. Her hands were freezing, and one was sticky from a trickle of blood.

"I need to go get help," said Eric.

"No! Stay here!"

"I have to go, we need help!"

"No!" she screamed, tears welling up again. "Please don't leave me alone here!"

"Krissy, remember: you are not afraid of the dark."

She was crying, desperate, unable to contain herself.

"Please," she sobbed, but the light vanished.

"I will be back soon!"

"No," she screamed, fighting back the tears. "Eric! Eric!"

There was no answer. Absolute darkness filled the cavern. She couldn't see the pool before her, nor her fingers moving right before her eyes. She wiped the tears from her cheeks, and tried to calm herself. She closed her eyes and tried to picture the sun rising over her green gardens, pushing the darkness away. When she opened them, she was still completely blind, and she could hear nothing but the water droplets falling from the roof, and the sound of her own breathing.