Chapter 4 - Chapter 4 - The Old Man

"Ahhh!" I fall on my back screaming, "who are you? And what do you want? I yell in the darkness", An old man then speaks in the darkness "Oh goodness me where are my manners, my name is Oldin. I've been living in this cave for 20 years and this is the first human contact I've ever been with in such a long time." the old man says as he coughs excuse me, "I've been following and listening in on your guy's conversation the entire time. So,when you both went your separate ways I decided to talk to your friend, but I kind of spooked him out and he hit his head pretty hard on a rock. Right now he's still unconscious but I've been treating him and was too scared to talk to you because I was too. I felt guilty for scaring him." "Oh, well thanks for treating my brother, I was quite worried about him because I heard him scream." "Wait so you've been living down here the entire time in the dark!" Hielgar shouts out in curiosity. "Wait Hielgar you're awake!" We thought you hit your head against a rock and fell unconscious. "Yeah, I've been faking sleeping the entire time," "BECAUSE THIS OLD MAN DECIDED TO ASK IF I NEED DIRECTIONS! AND MAKE ME BUMP MY HEAD!" Okay, let's calm down a bit. Old man, you've been living here for 20 years. Is there any light source at all? Or have you been living in total darkness? Oh well I've been blind my entire life, so darkness doesn't bother me. Oh, well are there any other exits out the cave except for the entrance? The old man looks up, grabbing his chin. "Well there is one exit located at the opposite side of the entrance, I suppose I could take you guys there." "Really?" We both exclaim, "yes just follow my lead and I can bring you out. "Thank you so much we've been stuck in here for hours" Levan says sighing "Yea we were chased by a dragon but luckily we spotted this cave and evaded it before being eaten". "A dragon you say?" Well you have to be more careful around areas like this, there are many things in this world that can kill you. Plop a water drip from the ceiling, we follow the old man towards a narrow path. The path is about the length of our shoulder, we can feel the cold sediment bruise against our shoulder. The smell of earthy and mud aroused in our nose. The old man stops for a brief second "This part is tricky, it's extremely thin and narrow. You have to turn sideways to cross, It may be hard to move past the rock wall" He reaches for something in his pocket. "This is a gel supposed to make yourself slippery so we can get pass easier, without this we can't cross." We all applied the gel to our skin, it smelled minty and burned our skin a little. "Okay I will go in first then you guys follow after me, I've been through this part hundreds of times." "Okay understood!" Hielgar says confidently, I felt reluctant during that moment. I tap Hielgar on the shoulder "Hey man are you sure we can trust this random stranger?" I ask, Hielgar then replies "Our survival chances are better here than out there so we have no choice right now just follow what he says he's the expert here and said he's been living here for 20 years." "Yeah, but we don't even know if he's telling the truth. What if he's leading us somewhere bad? Hielgar walks past me and says "If your saying this so we turn back just so you don't have to go cave diving because your scared just say so" The old man talks "Okay I made past it who wants to go next" Hielgar confidently says "I'm going next sir, since i'm not a baby" Hielgar squeezes himself through the cave spot, and starts making his way toward the other side. Now it's my turn. I turn myself toward the spot. It feels less than 2 feet wide. I hesitated but listened to my brother's words in my mind, "stop being a baby" . I convinced myself and went through the tight spot. I lean against the hard surface smudging against my face. The more progress I made the thinner it felt, finally I was able to push myself through it. "You finally made it took you long enough" Hielgar kidding, "The exit is just a straight path from here it might take a couple of hours to reach it." I say "Wow thanks old man for helping us, without you we would be trapped here" "Yea don't mention it but you gotta respect your elder boys. My full name is Oldin London, it was a pleasure to help you boys. I understand the world is a dangerous place, just be more careful from now on, okay you have your whole lives ahead of you." "Yes sir Mr Oldin sir" Hielgar says, I say "Thank you sir we appreciate your help" I can feel the old man smiling. We walk away from the old man talking to each other until his voice fades away.