Golden Waters
'Promises are meant to be broken', Ashley thought as she struggled. Her body wriggled against the narrow hole. She wanted to cry from frustration. This wretched hole was hitting her sore muscles from all angles. She even felt dirty and sticky since the wall was damp.
No one can blame her since the ringing sound was bothering her to the point where it was the only thing on her mind. So she got annoyed and decided to enter the narrow hole to stop it from driving her insane.
'I knew it! Holes couldn't be trusted.'
She continued to crawl and would stop from time to time, when she couldn't handle her painful body. She was able to see a light at the end of the narrow tunnel.
This time, however, she chose to not believe this was to her benefit. She knew all the events that happened only led her to suffer from sore muscles, broken bones and a broken face.
She continued to crawl until she reached the end of the tunnel. She let her head out and breathe out with her eyes shut. She was already expecting to see something far worse than what she'd experienced.
She wanted to challenge fate to do it all at once. But who was she kidding. Of course she didn't want that.
To be honest, she was already getting tired from all these ridiculous things that happened to her. First her accident, then her coma, and now she kept on getting tricked by holes? Her life must be one hell of a roller-coaster ride.
She slowly opened her tired eyes. Her neck was already hurting since her body was still stuck inside the narrow tunnel. Her head was hanging open on the outside with her shoulders cramped up inside the hole.
She badly wanted to get out the hole.
However she wasn't expecting to see that the other side of the hole was...
"Wow.." she said in awe. Her mouth formed an O-shape from her amazement.
The place was truly incredible. It was beautiful. Stunning. No, she didn't know what the right word she could use to describe it. The scene in front of her was unbelievable. It was like what they did in movies edited with CGI.
'What the—'
Suddenly her figure was slumped on a wooden floor. Without any warning the tunnel spit her body out and she fell on her face again. She wanted to curse the tunnel and raise her middle finger but before she could do that the hole vanished. She turned her head to observe her surroundings. She couldn't help but gasp. It was like she was in a whole new world. The place was unbelievable. It was vast like she was in the outside world. Nobody would believe her if she said that this place was located underground.
'So pretty..'
She gasped when she realized she shouldn't let her guard down.
She then fixed her gaze to where she was standing. She realized that she was actually in a thing that looked like a river dock and below it was a lake of golden waters. Golden waters... It was so magnificent that it glowed and illuminated the pitch-black sky. She raised her head to see the sky. The clouds that were up above, glowed silver and shimmered like stars. Both sceneries suited each other. She felt like she was in a fairytale.
She looked at the waters once more and saw a big structure reflected on the lake's surface. And at a distance there was a small castle. It was made of gold and ivory. Above it was a wave of colors which reminded her of the Aurora Borealis.
It was a mixture of black, red and orange. It looked like glitters that dance in the sky. The place was unbelievable. It looked like she entered a painting that was so surreal and realistic at the same time.
It seemed her struggle was rewarded after all.
She looked around and pondered how she would get to the castle since she was surrounded by a lake of golden water. However, her prayers were soon answered.
Not far away from her was a small rowboat made of expensive wood and gold. The seat was of velvet cushion. It gave an overall feeling of elegance and sophistication. It was like it was made for a King.
'Am I in heaven?' she thought. She doubted if it was alright to use it but she knew she didn't have a choice. She then proceeded to approaching the small boat. She slowly settled herself in the cushion.
"Ahhh.." she closed her eyes as she exhaled. Finally! Her sore butt has been aching for a while now. She knew she needed this.
When she was satisfied she started to paddle the boat. She looked at the water and saw her reflection.
She almost dropped the paddle as she stared at herself in horror. She almost screamed.
'What the f*ck'
What the—? Who was that? Is that her, she's seeing? She looked like she escaped a mental institution!
Her hair was a mess. It looked like a nest that had bird poop on it. Her lips were swollen and she had a big bruise on her forehead and cheek. She looked like she was abused. And her clothes.. She looked at her crumpled pajamas.
She looked like she rolled on sh*t. She lamented at the fact that she looked like a mad woman. She wanted to face-palm but she knew how much that would hurt.
It must have been from going inside that disgusting tunnel. She remembered how damp and sticky it was in there. There must've been centipede poop and something else mixed in there that made it like that.
She sighed. That wasn't important right now. She should just worry about that later. She planned to change or wash herself when she got to the small castle. Of course she would ask permission from the owner, if by chance there was one.
She didn't even know where she was. She couldn't believe that there was an underground place like this. If someone was living in that castle that'll be a good chance for her to ask about this place.
She then decided to continue rowing. But something odd happened.
'This.'
She noticed that the boat was already moving on its own. Her rowing wasn't the reason for its movement. She realized that she didn't know how to row and she was actually doing it backwards the whole time. It was the lake who guided it all along. The lake seemed alive. It brought uncertainty to her heart.
'Why is this happening?'
She felt something was wrong. She was deeply immersed in her thoughts when her boat came to a halt. She was already in front of the small castle.