The One You Don't See

The cabin, the candle, left with just a smear of smoke as the last piece of light fell into darkness.

The front page of the stack of paper on the desk read:

'I apologise in advance if when you have finished reading that you do not want to take yourself camping again. You see people don't usually want my story's. But some people in my world don't have a choice but to go camping, as the number of homeless continues to rise.

And usually people don't read them. They are usually to scared. To accept the reality I lay out for them. And you know it's okay if you don't read anymore of this. Because when I have a few pages written I take a short break to insure my thoughts are inline before writing so the story is done the way it should be. To go back to myself and the world I am really from. The reality that I know. The world I have lived in. And it's not always a glamorous idea.

So my writing does go un-noticed. Left alone to finish my work. And yet here you are, about to subject yourself to the next tale I'm about to write. Maybe you shouldn't read it you know. Probably better off. Now put it down and move on back out the door and to the world you know.'

The paper was about five hundred pages thick at least judging by eye and sat on the table that covered the trap door to the tunnels. An exit the 'Worthy' had forgotten about due to the sheer size of the world they had decided to cultivate inside the mountain side which eventually developed underground.

The Worthy was the name the slaves had given the upper class of society that had began to reform and shape the world of slavery. In a world where money had become something only useable through certain software applied cards and wrist band tags, those without access to the technology or the knowledge of how to operate it had become dependant of those who could. And those that could use it tired of the constant need for attachment eventually impowered a separation. And a detachment, that was covered up by the main stream media. In the form of threatening warfare, the brink of world war three, and many other headlining story's. Disappearances began in the early 2020's and by 2029 the Worthy's could have shaped an army. But they didn't, they put the people to work. In the mines.

Taking away from them some of their basic senses and not just in this location, various locations across the globe with concealed entrances. With what they had planned to be safe holds for when the world eventually accumulated no mans land. Destroyed by man himself. When twenty foot sea animals sit in fifty foot of water.

The world continues to develop and although we do try and keep up. Sometimes we miss some pieces along the way. The card system was first introduced as product to spend your bank account balance on but as time passed development tech companies began to research into the possibilities of the crypto currency taking the lead as society progresses into the future of the mainly accepted or considered preferred way of payment. But with there being way to many options to choose from and too many unreliable sources only few of the main crypto coins would survive through the years as a lot were deemed un-necessary and a waste of time gaining no significant value.

This eventually lead to the production of the value cards, replacing the note and coin. Some people just deemed the paper note method as old fashioned. Clearly distinguishable by their design and exchanged for goods. The idea was simple, and worked brilliantly. People would complete their various tasks in their working day and receive payment in a card chipped at a certain value deemed necessary payment for the labour or task completed. The cards were recognised world wide in the hope to achieve a new world and over time restore problems with third world countries with a one world currency recognized globally countries struck by poverty and poor living conditions would have been granted specific cards with a value to establish some sort of working society with proper health care and basically the necessary to insure their peoples futures.

But where it went too far was when there was cards produced by The Worthy that the public weren't told about. As time passed more cards of substantial amounts were created and with nothing arising from this, they began to continue to create without public input.

Regardless of what went on, a secret society had formed, only called the Worthy's by the slaves they had put to work as apart from them they were the only one's that knew of the existence of this order. The puppet master's that controlled the voices that were casted to the news shows and radios. The one's you didn't see that pulled he strings and used media and war to insight fear to the people and lead them to believe about a world they lived in.

The first influence the Worthy's had tried their hand with was the London Riots in 2011, unknown to the public, but at their meetings they tried their hand at seeing how much leverage they had. Newspaper headlines a day before the riot were manipulated to encourage the belief that a riot was occurring or due to take place.

Shackles clanged, the chains interlinking. "How much farther?" one man asked as the blood fell from his ankles. The steel clasp etching a laceration in his skin. It's still hard to tell how many Worthy's existed, after the discovery was made of the tunnels the FBI and military's across the world were informed. A worldwide investigation was pledged by anti-horror.. Excuse me, correction, anti-terror groups and equal right humanitarian organizations.

"Don't ask.. Don't ask.. Just keep moving.." one man said as he struggled to navigate through the dark.

"Can you see?" the woman behind him asked.

"No.." the man behind him persisted to try and peel the hardened wax from his face. A swing from a long pine engraved cane clattered down on his hand. The man let out a groan of pain. Acknowledging they were still not left unsupervised.

"Just hold on to the rope and keep moving." the person holding the cane spoke. Being used to insure they were guided to the correct location they were needed. The tunnels seemed to be never ending.

With their eyes burnt shut with the wax the knowledge of time and surrounding's had disappeared and after some amount of time a lot of them began hallucinating. Farther they would walk. Eventually having to step over a body. Farther they would walk. Eventually stepping over another.

"Close your eye's, forget."

"Close your eye's, stop."

"Close your eye's, forget"

"Close your eye's, stop."

The chants still echoed in her mind from the wax applier who had to sing to themselves to get through the task they had to perform. The power of suggestion, the man thought to himself as he leaned in to kiss the woman on the cheek before picking up the bowl of hot wax.

The candle maker didn't care. She just poured the wax in her eye's.

She screamed.

Her tears fell intertwined with the wax as it trickled down the side of her face.

The candle maker wiped the splashes off her apron. ''Do you know what the problem is these day's? Everybody wants to confine themselves to what they feel is accepted in their society. No one wants to be unique. The news papers, the television, all fall in line suitable to find the best story. The real horrific incident.. No.. No.. You don't want to hear about it.

He rolled her head to the side and began to pour the wax into her ear.

"How do you know all this is true? How do you know? Why should we believe you?"

The Candle maker have you ever heard such a mockery to save cards. That's the silliest thing they ever heard. So instead of having someone make candles for the tunnels, they had a machine fitted which they would tell the slaves was being used to check their eye sight. They would sit them down and lean their heads under the pot of molten wax. A steel collar would be placed around their necks and a mask. You can use your imagination to place the next sequence of events. Not particularly pleasant but was deemed necessary to numb the chances of escape and if their sight did regain eventually it would be way to late, miles they would have covered into the tunnel.

''Yea well then how do you explain that to that girl she just went and drowned herself in a bath of wax did she?''

''There has been no one here in years. It used to be used as a storage room for the old mill. I'm pretty sure it belonged to a writer for a while, I overheard my Dad say something along those lines.'' Peggy and Angela stood in the wooded cabins front room.

Peggy stood confused shining her torch around the room to see any signs of what could explain the lighting candle. She walked to the window where it was now extinguished and took a look from the window. Sure enough she could see the road they passed on every day when leaving their stretch of countryside home on the way to the city for school and work and city civilization. The forest stretched far and with glance down she looked at the candle. The wick burned out and a trickle of wax that had fallen off the windowsill and onto the floor that creaked as she turned back around. "It's dried up but only recently."

"Ok, so you believe me now?" Angela said

"I guess so. I had always thought the door on the front was locked too." Peggy replied. Angela had only recently gotten to know Peggy. They were studying in the same class in college.

The door stood ajar and the light from the moon just barely gave enough shine to see from one side of the room to the other.

"Why and who the candle? This place is supposed to be closed off. No one is supposed to have access to it. They think it's funny until they're involved in something they can't handle."

The Candle Maker was the name that stuck to her, and in her caved out workshop under the floor where the girls stood she felt a slight bit worried as she too was unaware how the candle had been lit. The therapy she had to go through alone to function was nothing compared to the salary she was given by the worthy and she was not alone. There were hundreds thaty performed the same job of applying the sense numbing wax. They would rotate week on week off with others.

''I don't believe in ghosts'' she said to the rat she had kept bottled up on her counter. ''But with the amount of bad that has carried on in these tunnels I wouldn't be surprised if a soul or two claimed the hallways.''

The land was derelict for quite sometime until bought by Peggy's parents. They had been away on holiday the last week though so Peggy had been having friends over. She had called up to check the cabin out with you.

It was just a cabin, like all the other ones throughout the countryside. Pretty to look at. A dream home to some if cared for.

But still, left vacant. When so many went homeless in the city. With no shelter, no clothes and ultimately the ones that would be kidnapped to work beneath. And still it stands on the hill side, still you can see the window from the country side road when you pass. And from this very moment, until forever more you hope that when you pass it the candle doesn't light.

But it was this time, and unknown to Peggy and Angela they had just walked into the path of no return. You see some people wait their whole life's for certain moments. As a child they have dreams and as they grow up they hold on to what is left of them.

They leave out signs such as 'No entry turn back now.' or 'Private property' and even 'Smile your on camera' with a picture of a small CCTV camera.

They give warning, they let know, that for your own safety there is only so much farther you can go.

Maybe bring a friend, don't walk to far alone in them places, because from the light of the candles there are silhouette's of faces.

Peggys parents arrived home from holiday two days later. They opened their front door and were greeted by their dog. Her father walked into the home, and could tell by the mess at the back door that Peggy hadn't been home to let the dog go to the toilet in a while. "Where could she be?" her father said to himself as he opened the back door of their home to let the dog out. He walked to the back garden and took his phone from his pocket. He dialled Peggy's phone which went straight to voice mail. His wife began to fall worried and on the inside so did he, but he assured he that she has probably gone to sleep in Angela's.

As his wife proceeded back out of the front of the house he walked to the house alarm under the stairs and typed in the pin code to disarm it. He looked to the CCTV monitor which had covered the only entry and exit road to their home and any of the smaller routes which lead to different parts of the woods. In particular covering the route just at the bottom of the hill in which Peggy had drove up to see who was in the abandoned cabin.

Peggy's father, Lefty began to make his way through the tapes at the house to see if he could find an explanation to where his daughter had gone. He rewound the tape to see Peggy and Angela speaking in the front yard before getting into Peggy's car and driving up the stony path that eventually lead to the hill with the cabin.

The cameras along the route only covered so much of the journey, coverage stopping before the car even reached the hill but it narrowed it down as it was one road in one road out.

He began to fast forward and as the hours passed and no car returned back. The girls had driven to the entrance of the cabin, and for sure her father was due to find that out as it was still parked in on of the wooded structure. It was blatant to see the building hadn't been used in some time. There was mentions of it being knocked down over the years but it never really bothered anyone and Lefty had thought to revamp it when he had some time. Those day's never arrived though.

Neither did Lefty and the two girls. Lefty never really spoke about what happened much between the time he passed the cameras sign and meeting the girls, the scene had explained itself to a lot of the investigators. After all some things we go through aren't meant to be paraded around especially for our own recovery from them. Peggy's mother, Mandy stood in the doorway with the dog wondering what to do. Night had fallen and the wind howled. She sat on the stoop at the edge of the porch and waited, with a blanket wrapped around her and the dog laid across her. Growing inpatient as time passed she debated with herself on if she should continue up the trail to see if there was any sign of Lefty or Peggy. The woodland was thick, not much to see from where she sat apart from the trail leading up to the house eventually turning off into the wood. She sat with her laptop deleting her e-mails that had gathered over the last few months, picking out what she decided with her current situation which were deemed as important and which weren't.

As she bit into a rice cake she looked up ahead one more time. Pausing her chew she stared down the path. The dogs ears twitched.

Angela stood walking towards the open drive. ''Mandy something terrible has happened.'' she spoke across the driveway as she closed the distance between herself and her friends mother. ''We had thought Peggy was with you?'' Mandy replied.

"She was..'' explaining the situation only to the extent of a trap door and the underground rooms she had seen. "Where is Lefty?" Mandy replied as she stood up taking the dog by the lead.

"He climbed down and saved me and he's gone farther on the find Peggy."

''What do you mean? Take me there now." Mandy insisted as the Rottweiler began to pull her in the direction of the cabin. His paws etched a mark as he walked along and gave Mandy comfort approaching the situation she was totally unaware of. "Is there anyone in this cabin in the rooms?" she asked as they walked towards the hill. She stopped half way and let go of the dogs lead. ''I don't know what to do. Angela can you go and call your mother or father please and have them on their way.''

"Do you need an ambulance are you ok? What is going on here seriously?'' Mandy was confused and scared. With no sign of Lefty or Peggy she was worried because no one had been near the building for such a long time. What she would come to learn was not even close to what she had expected so as the dog would reach the top of the hill it nosed it's way to the front door. Darkness had fallen over the land.

''Tell me what happened in there Angela?" Mandy persisted trying to get some insight into what was going on. As any mother would concerned for her family. ''There was a woman, we had seen the candle lighting..'' and she proceeded to tell her about how their curiosity lead them to discover more then what they had ever imagined. ''The place belonged to a writer Mandy, that's what Peggy said? Some time ago? Well there was a book on the table in the back room. And it was a massive stack of paper. So I picked it up and sat on the chair in the room. I sat down to have a flick through some pages. It was old, I thought it was interesting.''

''Ok Angela can you skip to it here please. Where is Lefty and Mandy?''

''I know it's unbelievable but they are under the cabin, there is some sort of tunnel to a workshop.'' The door to the tunnel was cut almost similar to a trap door only the technology wasn't the sort of press a button, more of a pull to open, and led to a mucky stone stairway. There were wooden pillars set and if you were any taller than an SUV you would have to crouch to make your way through.

''How are they stuck though?" Peggy's mother asked. "So I sat down to read the some of the pages, and Peggy found the trap door.

And with that it wasn't long before emotion and worry had driven Mandy to reach the front door of the cabin.

"See the book'' Angela said as she walked to the counter she left it down on and before she could pick it up ''not the book right now Angela please the door you were talking about. Where is my family.''

Angela stood on the opposite side of the room to where Mandy stood and held the dusty withered paper in her hand. She pointed towards the crack in the ground and watched as Mandy did the same thing Lefty and Peggy did. ''I think you should read this Mandy?" Angela said encouraging Mandy some more.

Mandy lifted the dusty door up and held it over her head. ''Let me hold that for you.'' Angela said as she took the corner and Mandy took a light on her phone to see where she was stepping. ''Angela..'' Mandy called back as she had made some five to ten steps underground. ''Angela..?' this time turning her head to see how she could not hear what she said.

And with that she watched as Angela waved gently and the door swung shut, crashing to just catch the top of Mandy's head and she fell until there were no more steps.

Angela pulled the table back over the trap door and continued to read the book. She thought how people usually depict the bad guy as being a guy. The beast in the horrors, in many situations male. And if not the female usually a spirit or ghost, maybe a witch.. and usually after they are introduced the kind that brings the chapter to an end.

Frustrated that the endings are sometimes only the new beginning but like wise, Angela continued to read. Despite the warning on the front page. Despite the Rottweiler sniffing about the room to make a conclusion to what had happened. ''Ssshhh'' she said to the dog as it began to scrape at the trap door. ''I'm reading.''