The Cave

"Look, I don't think this is such a good idea." Magdalena worried.

"Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't." Trevor teased. "Let's find out together, Maggie."

The three of them walked further into the cave. Trevor walked ahead of the other two. In the middle, but sticking close to Ignacio, was Magdalena. She was hesitant to go into the cave in the first place but Ignacio reassured her that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to their party.

"If you want us to feel better about going into a mysterious cave that seemingly popped up overnight, teasing us isn't the way to do so, Trevy." Ignacio replied. "All these years we've lived near the shore and only recently this cave opened. Anybody else think this is weird?"

"I temporarily studied seismology in college. It's possible that the earthquake a few days ago opened up this cave. Possible, but not that likely. It was only a 3.8."

"Maggie, I like how you say it was ONLY a 3.8." Trevor noted. "Now if you two are done with this conversation, I would like to raise another."

"Trevor, what is it?" Magdalena said annoyed.

"There's two paths to take. They look identical to each other." Ignacio and Magdalena caught up to Trevor. "If I hadn't left my bag of bread crumbs in ny other pants. I kept telling myself I would need them today. Did I listen? No."

"Trevor! Not helping." Magdalena said.

The three of them stood there and looked down both paths. The flashlights on their phones barely provided enough light to see a few feet in front of them. The cave made a mockery of time. At least ... to them it did. For what seemed like an hour of echoing silence was only a minute.

Just then, Ignacio thought he heard something. Something that sounded like it was coming from the path on the left.

"Guys. I think I hear something from this tunnel." He said.

"Guys. I think I see a light coming from this tunnel. Also, it's not exactly a tunnel so I'm just gonna say side ... or path. Path works too." Trevor responded.

"Path works." Magdalena didn't want to feel left out.

"Is someone there?" called out someone from the left tunnel -- path.

"Hello." Trevor said. "Hello from the other side."

"Really Trevor?"

"What? If I'm gonna die tonight, I'd rather make it fun. I think you would do well to make it fun, Maggie."

"Is someone there?" again someone called out but this time it came from the right path.

"Now the voice seems to be coming from the other path." Everyone was on edge. They all took a step back. "Magdalena, Trevor, you two get ready to run. If whoever this is turns out to be bad, then I'll hold them off while you guys make it out of here." Ignacio took a fighting stance.

"Excuse me. Is someone there?" The voice echoed throughout the cave. The light got closer and closer. A figure was coming into view. They could see the silhouette of a person who was hunched over.

"Excuse us. We've just come from a party that ended a little after midnight." Ignacio started.

"Some of us enjoyed ourselves more than others." Trevor whispered to Magdalena.

"Shut. Up. Trevor." Magdalena whispered back.

"We are weary from the night." Ignacio continued.

"Then why, pray tell, did you four decide to explore a cave at night after ... partying?" The mysterious voice asked.

"Well, there's only three of us, first of all. Second, .. I couldn't really explain."

"It was my idea!" Trevor exclaimed.

"Not your best!" Magdalena joked.

"Third," Ignacio resumed, "we answered your question. How about you answer one of ours?"

"Yes. For starters; Who are you? What are you doing in this cave all by yourself?" asked Magdalena.

"I could've sworn that I ... never mind." The figure was now in view. It was an old woman. "Sometimes a cave can play tricks on one's mind. I was doing a bit of spelunking this afternoon. I guess I lost track of time. You know, spelunking takes me back to my youthful days. I used to go on all kinds of adventures with my wife."

"Intriguing." Trevor remarked. "It would have been a pleasure to meet her." Trevor said sincerely. Magdalena and Ignacio looked at each other, shocked.

"I'm sure she would have loved to meet you all. A shame she died on one of our adventures. Turns out she can't run faster than a hippo. Go figure." The woman surprised all of them. They all looked at each other, took another step back, then looked back at the old woman. "Now, what say we get down to business." The old lady propped her torch on a crevice inside the left side of the cave and sat down a rock. "Gather round. I think you'll be rather interested in what I have to say." She smiled at them.

The three carefully moved closer to her. "What do you mean by getting down to business?" asked Trevor.

"I am more than just an old lady in a cave. I am something more ... sinister or ... supernatural than that, one could say. Through those supernatural means, I know some of the worst things you have done. Things that the other two don't know about. Instead of you fretting about telling them, or not telling them, I decided to save you the trouble and tell them for you. Afterall, they affect them in some way as well." Her smile became unsettling.

"I don't like where this is heading." Ignacio said.

"Keep your cool, Iggy." Magdalena reassured him. "We'll get through this."

"When did you get so brave?" Ignacio asked. "And where can I get me some of that?"

"She's bluffing. I've dealt with charlatans like her before. Palm readers and whatnot. There's always a trick." Magdalena explained.

"The worried skeptic, Magdalena Jimenez, everyone. A round of applause." He replied. Ignacio took a deep breath and let it out. "Let's hear her out."

"Cute. You think I'm a fake. We'll see by the end of this." Her smile was now replaced by a look of pure evil. "Let's start with ... Trevor."

"Of course it'd be me." Trevor's head fell into his hands. "Proceed." He said lifting his head.

"Ignacio, do you remember the time when the three of you were spending your spring break in Calgary, Canada? For your third year in college?"

"Yes. It was my family and us. My parents rented a house from a nice family that was gone for a month. They let us use it for a while and then a couple rented it after us. It was lovely."

"Indeed it was. For you and Magdalena. However, for Trevor here, it was better. Wasn't it, Trevor?" Before Trevor could answer, "You know what? Don't answer that. I'll explain why." The old woman leaned in closer. "There was a Thursday when you weren't able to meet up with the rest of the group. Stuck in traffic, it seems. Ignacio, your little sister said that she was going into town to meet some locals and find some good fun, correct?"

"Yes." Ignacio said after a few seconds trying to recall the exact eventa of the trip and another few seconds praying that what he thinks she might say isn't what the old woman was actually going to say.

"She did meet some locals. Then she ran into Trevor. A while after they got to talking, they had fun of their own ... in more than a few positions." The old woman sneered. Ignacio and Magdalena looked at Trevor.

"Trevor ..." Ignacio started "tell me that isn't true ". Trevor looked directly at Ignacio. "Please ... tell me that isn't true, Trevor."

"It's all true."

Ignacio turned away from Trevor. He couldn't bare to look at him. "Not my little sister." He whispered.

"I'm sorry, Ignacio. We didn't mean for it to happen, but it did. She was 19. She made an adult descision. We both did. We were going to tell you ... eventually ... from a safe distance."

"Not my little sister!" Ignacio yelled. He turned and began to charge at Trevor. Trevor was expecting this and he readied himself to fight his possibly former friend. Instead, Magdalena kicked both of them in the balls.

"Technically, I'm supposed to scream something like, "Fire! Fire!" when I do that, but I didn't think it was neccessary." The two of them laid on the floor of the cave staring at each other while deeply in pain. The old lady smiled, for her master plan was starting to work.

"If it makes you feel any better," Trevor said with great difficulty, "I asked her every step of the way if she was okay with what we were doing. There were a couple of things she wasn't okay with so we didn't do them."

"Somehow, that makes me feel better." Ignacio said, also with great difficulty. "It's good to know that she has limits and she knows what they are."

"You shouldn't end a sentence that way."

"Not helpful, old woman."

"Sorry. I took you out of the moment. You're right. You're right."

"Now what? Are we supposed to turn on one another after learning this ... scandalous information?" Magdalena inquired.

"No." replied the old woman. "Maybe you will when I tell you that Trevor and your ex-boyfriend, Magpie, are the couple who rented that place after the rest of you left."

"What!?" Magdalena exclaimed.

"Maggie, I can explain. We were both drunk for the first time but we continued once we were sober and we both liked it -" Magdalena interrupted Trevor's explanation with a kick to his face.

"Holy crap balls!" Trevor said while lying face down on the ground. "I'm gonna need a minute after that one!"

"While he's recovering, I can tell you about the Bears' next kicker here. What she did isn't exactly better than Trevor ... or worse depending on how you look at it. She has been embezzling money from the company where y'all work."

"Seriously?!" Trevor yelled as his voice cracked.

"She found a loophole in the systems and exploited it rather than report it. If I'm not mistaken, everybody had to take a pay cut because of this mysterious loss of money the company was experiencing."

Trevor was now able to turn over and he looked at Magdalena. "I could have used the money. I have to pay off this one credit card so I can get approved to buy this house that is really well made and is in an up and coming neighborhood and-"

"Yeah, who couldn't use a little more money, Trevor?" Magdalena interjected.

"So you admit to it, Magdalena?" Ignacio asked.

"Magdalena sighed. "Yes. It's true." She walked to the right side of the cave and leaned back on the wall. "You guys know how much college set my family and I back. I had to find some way to pay the debt off faster."

"You know you could've done something online? Like webcams and stuff?" Trevor half joked.

"I'm too shy for that sort of stuff and I'm not good at crafts or anything like that." She replied. Trevor and Ignacio looked surprised. "I found a glitch in our systems and used it to my advantage. Sort of like that one movie."

"Office Space?" asked the old woman. All of them were, once again, surprised by her.

"Yes." Magdalena responded.

"I was going to stand up now but I think I'll wait another minute." Trevor remarked.

"I concur." Ignacio agreed.

"Ignacio." The old woman pointed a long, pruney finger at him and he inched away from her. "It's time they learned about your misbehavior."

"It seems like it's gonna come out sooner or later. Let's get on with it."

"Glad you agree, Iggy." The old woman scootched forward on her rock. "If my ... "memories" are correct, then your company came under new leadership in the past year because of the loss of money, yes?"

"That's right." Magdalena answered.

"Your new boss is Helen Chen. She's quite the looker, isn't she? In fact, when she made a pass at you, you couldn't resist. A woman in power, about the same age as you, with pretty much everything you're looking for in a partner walks into your life and basically tells you she's interested in you right off the bat? You couldn't say yes fast enough. I for one don't blame you. I'd have made the same choice. The benefits of sleeping with the boss are hard to turn down."

"You and Miss Chen!? Really!?" Magdalena couldn't believe it. "You ALWAYS tell us whenever you get with someone. I mean, I see why you wouldn't tell us, but you could've at least told me."

Trevor was now standing. "I could have kept that secret. I was keeping mine for a while." Ignacio was standing now as well. "Maybe that was a bad example."

"Yeah." Ignacio frustratedly agreed. He sighed. "What the old woman stated is accurate. Helen and I have been ... a thing for some time now. I like to think it's serious but I dare not ask her what we are exactly. Part of me doesn't want to know. " He stared off into the darkness of the cave for a minute before returning his attention to the group. "I know your information to be true, old woman, but I know not how you came upon this information."

"So we're not even gonna talk about what you and Helen did?" asked Trevor.

"I don't really have a problem with it. I don't think Ignacio had to take a pay cut, but I think if they can continue to subvert their relationship, then they'll be fine. Besides, them being together isn't hurting anyone. What about you, Trevor? You take issue with them shacking up?"

"No, I suppose not. Surprised by it, but no problem with it. You're right, Maggie, it's not hurting me. But be honest Ignacio: Did you take a pay cut?"

"Yes, I did. It was the right thing to do." They all gave a nod. "Now, back to you." They all shifted their gaze to the elderly woman. "It seems like you do have "supernatural" powers. We never told anyone these things before. It's unlikely that you have met my sister, Magdalena's ex, or Helen. Magdalena's embezzlement was something only she knew about as she didn't want anyone to know about it."

"So, what you're saying, is that this woman does have supernatural powers?"

"No, Trevor. What I'm saying is that this woman has to have some kind of technological way to spy on us. Even if she knew one of the people that could have given her the information on us, they didn't know about the others. Or the embezzlement for that matter. There's no way she has "supernatural" powers."

The old woman snapped her fingers and they all fell to their knees with their hands behind their heads.

"Okay. Maybe she does have supernatural powers."

"Yeah. You think so, Ignacio?"

"Not the time, Trevor."

The old woman stood up. "I gotta say, this was pretty fun. The people never really believe me until I make them do something with a snap of my fingers or a wave of my magic hands. Whether it's now or 1,200 years ago, they never realize until it's too late."

"Just how old are you?"

"No need to worry about that, Magpie. You won't need that information when I'm done with you."

"What do you plan-"

"I'm gonna - just - just- stop you right there, Iggy. I'm going to explain everything so we don't have to do the whole back and forth thing. Plus ... I like explaining what I do. I can't really tell anybody otherwise my whole operation would be exposed."

"I can see why ... and how." Trevor chuckled.

"Right. So, I'm old. Like, old old. Don't really remember how old, but that kinda says it all, doesn't it? I am confined to the underground because sunlight hurts me. Something about the light of something natural and way off in the distance ... makes me ... shudder." She slowly walked over to them. "I find different ways to lure people to wherever it is that I'm hiding out and get them to stick around a while. The closer I am to them and the longer I'm around them, the more I learn about them. That's how I knew all that information about you and then some. Even now I am learning more about you. Once I've had my ... fun, then I give them a choice: serve me or perish."

"I'll take option three." Trevor joked. The old woman walked behind Trevor and smacked him.

"That was option three. Idiot." She walked in front of them. "I'll continue. If you serve me, then I will inhabit your body and use some of your life ... essence while I eventually make it to my next hideout wherever it may be and then you can go and live your life. Whatever's left of it anyway. If you don't serve me, then I separate the evil from you and I let that out of the cave and back into the world while the good part of you ... I feast upon. If you are more evil than good, your ... soul (let's go with that for now) leaves the cave in tact. More evil than before but hey, maybe you like it that way. That's your bag. That's cool. However you want to play it."

"So our options are serve you or death. Is that it? Cause I want to make sure I'm understanding this right." Magdalena inquired.

"There is option three, but you can ask Trevor how that option worked out." the old woman laughed.

"It sucked." Trevor said. "If I could rub the back of my head right now, I would."

"I'll give y'all a minute to mull it over. Think it through." The old lady snapped her fingers again and the three were able to move again. They all sighed and stretched. "Don't go anywhere." She chuckled.

"Whose idea was it to explore this cave?" Trevor asked. The other two stared at him. "Right. Right. Shouldn't ask a question if I don't want to know the answer. So ... what are you guys gonna pick?"

"Easy." Ignacio started. "We don't choose at all. We simply tell her that we refuse to pick an option. Either option we choose helps her in some way. At least if we refuse, then she knows where we stand."

"Yeah, and because she knows where we stand, she can kill us at any moment. I say we live to fight another day."

"Trevor, we can't do that."

"Why not, Mags?"

"Because, not only do we lose an undisclosed amount of our life, we also allow her to continue to do this to other people and further this viscious cycle."

"But what if she separates us anyway and then we die that way?"

"At least we die refusing to play her game." Ignacio confidently stated.

"Fine, Iggy. But if I die, know that I didn't want to do so."

"Nobody wants to die at all, Trevor. But noted." remarked Magdalena. They all turned to face the old woman.

"We refuse to pick an option, old lady." Ignacio answered.

The old woman started laughing. "I knew you would do this. I was waiting for it. Every so often there's someone who thinks they can pull one over on me but they can't." She snapped her fingers and they all fell onto their hands and knees. "I'm going to separate you and feast on the good of you all."

"Whoa. Whoa. Wait a minute. Hold up." A voice interrupted. "This isn't cool. I don't like this."

"Who's speaking!? Show yourself!! Right now!!" The old woman was frightened. The three friends were more shocked than scared but at the moment it was all the same to them.

"The name's Samurai Jessie." A figure appeared out of the darkness from behind the group. "I think you should let these people go before I send you packing."

"I don't see it. I mean, you don't look like a samurai to me."

"Yeah, you're not the first person to tell me that." Jessie put both hands behind his back.

"I also don't see how you're gonna stop me. My powers are quite great." She put her hands on her hips.

"Well, I do have this here sword." Jessie pulled a sword out with one hand. "I think you'll find my powers to be on par with yours. Or maybe ..." Jessie pulled out a magical box out with his other hand. "even greater."

"If a priest, a rabbi, and a member of the occult couldn't stop me, what hope do you have?" The old woman no longer looked old per se, but not exactly young. She looked more fierce.

"I would love to know the backstory behind that but right now I gotta be a grown-up, the really serious type, and take you down." Jessie opened up the magical box and started to suck up the old woman into the box. She swirled around the cave and then poof ... she was trapped. The box closed and it emitted a huge gust of wind. "That wasn't so tough." Jessie put the sword and the magical box away. Then he turned away from the group who were now standing.

"Wait!" Magdalena shouted. Jessie turned back to face the group.

"Yes?"

"How did you know we needed help?" She asked.

"I was here all along."

"So ... you could have saved us the trouble of having our secrets revealed? At any time ... right?" Trevor asked, annoyed.

"Yes."

"Why did you not stop her before she revealed our secrets?" Ignacio asked.

"Because I needed to know exactly what she was doing. By letting her do this bad thing, I was balancing out my good and bad, my yin and yang, my karma, if you will." Jessie reached behind his back and took out three mints. "Because now three good friends are keeping one less secret from each other." He held out the three mints in his hand. "Aren't you ... three good friends?"

They each took a mint.

"Come on. I'll walk you three out." Jessie took out a flashlight and led them out of the cave. Once they were all out, the mouth of the cave closed.

"This will be one of those nights I won't be able to forget anytime soon, isn't it?" asked Trevor.

"That it is, Trevor. That it is." Magdalen answered.

"Again? With the preposition?"

"Stop it, Trevor." Magdalena chuckled.