Lost Art of Mystery

It was the the grande finale of their fantastic Italian honeymoon. After a two week stay in Florence, Bill and Stephanie had booked a train down south to spend the last few days exploring Rome. They had their own compartment and dozed off in the cozy cabin after a few glasses of Prosecco and an array of Italian cheeses and olives. Once in Rome, they settled into a small, yet elegant restored Pensione where they had a room with a spectacular view of the city. After getting some rest and enjoying the sumptuous bed, they headed out to see all of the typical tourist sites. At the end of each day, of course they spent hours enjoying copious amounts of red wine along with delicious meals.

For the final day of their trip, they wanted to find something very special to do. Something unique and absolutely extraordinary. One evening after dinner they had wandered into a tiny run down bar on a side street. As they entered, pushing through the heavy rubber stripping hanging in the door, they found themselves in a strange atmosphere. It was there that they met Tomaso. His beady eyes lit up when he saw them enter, and he motioned them over to join him for a drink. Immediately, he pulled out a small tattered dark red leatherbound photo album and began showing them photos of the countryside around Rome as well as an old church and village. In the photos were various young couples, not unlike them. He grinned and in broken English asked them if they were newly weds. As they nodded, he lifted his glass and yelled out a hearty, “salut!”. Showing more photos, he offered to take them to a very secret catacomb that was only known to a few of the remaining elderly locals. They couldn’t resist the idea or the price, and decided to take one last adventure before heading back to the states.

That morning, they got up early. Stephanie wanted to go get a cappuccino and pastry before the day began and Bill, although still tipsy from the night before, agreed. They walked down to the tile floored lobby of the Pensione, where there was an incoming tour group checking in, along with random tourists sitting around on their phones. They stepped outside into the cool morning air of Rome and headed next door to a small cafe, where they took cappuccinos and sat outside while enjoying people watching and the energy of the city. Stephanie reached across the table to touch Bill’s hand. He looked over at her and said, “Are you sure you’re up for today’s outing? I have the worst hangover!” She laughed and told him to man up and drink more coffee. They finished breakfast and went back to their room to get ready for the day.

Tomaso was waiting in the lobby promptly at 8 am. He stood at the front desk area, appearing quite a bit smaller and older than he had seemed the night before at the bar. Wearing a speckled wool cap, faded plaid button down shirt with tweed dress pants and brown lace up shoes, he looked like he had time traveled from another decade. He motioned for them to follow him out to the street where a small car waited. He opened the door, and the two maneuvered to fit into the back seat. The trip to get there was arduous. He drove them in the smelly dilapidated Fiat Panda along rough and pitted cobblestone roads. The interior of the car reeked of diesel fuel, cologne, body odor and cigarettes. Tomaso smoked with the windows down, and with every bump and turn they felt more and more nauseated. After an hour or so, the road eventually came to an abrupt end. He parked the car, and motioned for them to follow him. They began to walk along a rustic pathway for what felt like more than a few miles. The pathway became a narrow trail that led them through long grasses, and over large hilly fields where wildflowers blanketed large areas in color. The air was fragrant with blooms, along with the occasional stench of a rotting carcass. Passing rows of stoic cypress trees, they turned a corner. Around the bend, the remnants of a small decrepit village appeared. Fragments of a church were visible in the center of the town. There was not a soul in site other than a few stray cats sleeping in the shade. It was almost noon and and heat radiated across the landscape from the relentless summer sun. The stone foundation of the church was still visible, while the remaining crumbling walls were scattered with a few religious relics. Remnants of fake faded plastic flowers laid amongst the weeds and overgrowth that had crept up around the edges of the structure.

The guide looked at the couple and smiled. He grinned, slowly pointing a crooked finger in silence to a small opening in the ground at the far end of the structure. They looked at each other and smiled nervously. “This must be it! He wasn’t lying. Tomaso my friend, you are an honest man.” His wife wiped tiny beads of sweat from her upper lip with her sleeve and asked for some water. The day had been long and she was feeling the aftermath of the previous night’s over indulgence on red wine and pasta. Although exhausted, they had come this far for something special that they would never have found without a guide and there was no turning back now.

The man took off his small backpack and gave them each a flashlight. Next, he reached in deeply and pulled out two small greasy parchment paper packages. He unwrapped one to reveal a sandwich of hard salami and cheese on thick bread, releasing an olid stench. Quickly, he re-wrapped it and handed the dense packets to the couple. He then pointed to a large cement trough on the property where clear water was running from a metal spigot, probably for animals that grazed the land. The couple carefully put the sandwiches and flashlights into their backpacks and each of them refilled their water bottles from the local source.

The language barrier was impossible as Stephanie and Bill were from the midwest and had never learned another language other than American English. The guide used his hands more than words. He shouted at them with a hearty laugh, “Vai, vai! Io vado a casa adesso. Ritorno subito.” He made a gesture to demonstrate eating and then napping. They looked at him in confusion, but after he repeated the motions a few times, they understood he wanted to go to his house to eat and nap and that he would be back later. He walked towards the structure and motioned dramatically with outstretched arms for them to go towards the ladder next to the opening in the ground. He looked annoyed as he hollered into the air, “catacombi!, catacombi! Vai, vai!” They nodded with understanding and he swiftly turned around and yelled out “ciao ciao”, then muttered a few unintelligible words as he meandered along the pathway, using a collapsable cane to navigate the rugged trail back towards the place they had left the car.

“Well, here we are Steph….let’s do this! It’s gonna be awesome. Better than 6 Flags! Being scared is part of the fun, and the excitement!” She smiled nervously and sipped her water. “Ok, I hope you’re right babe.” He feigned confidence, “Don’t worry, I’m here, and I won’t let any of those Guido ghosts bother you! ” He laughed as he playfully pinched her butt, then grabbed her hand to lead her over the rubble towards the corner of the building. While reaching for the the rickety old wooden ladder which was stuck in some dry mud, he roughly yanked it out, knocking over a few old urns in the process. One of them crashed loudly to the ground, breaking into tiny azure blue and green fragments. “Oops. Oh well, nobody was using it anyhow.”, He laughed and kicked the shards of pottery out of the way while dragging the ladder a few steps towards the small opening where he slung it downward and told his wife to take out her flashlight. He went first, stepping gingerly down the ladder a few steps to the earth below. A rush of cool air came over him and he sighed with relief. “Oh my God, babe, it’s so fresh down here, come on, it’s only a few steps.” Slowly and cautiously, she moved her slight body down the ladder and was surprised at the cold air and the softness of the ground under her hiking boots. Her husband turned on his flashlight and what appeared to be a crawlspace was revealed. Once underground, the silence was deafening. They were now inside of a long narrow tunnel of packed sandy colored earth. He touched the walls and reached up to feel the low ceiling. “Jeez, ancient Romans must have been the original short kings! ” He laughed hunching over while they made their way through the tunnel. The flashlights illuminated a curve in the path far ahead. She felt the hair on the back of her neck raise in fear. Her husband, sensing her panic, reached back to take her hand as he led the way. “Look, holy shit! Look at that!” Pointing ahead with the flashlight, as they rounded the bend, a massive cavern was illuminated. They paused in awe as the space was lit up to reveal that it was entirely lined with human skulls and bones from floor to ceiling. The walls curved from bottom to top in a perfect arch that was constructed with what appeared to be thousands of bones. From the very top of the arch, a gold plated human skull glinted in the stream of flashlight like a beacon, its large eyes glittering with red gemstone inserts.

She let out a cry at seeing the skull encrusted arch and clung onto her husbands jacket, burying her face in his chest. “I want to get out of here! Please, let’s go. I don’t like it. Please, I can’t be here. I feel claustrophobic and it smells!” He pulled her close and tried to brush it off. “Hey, honey, don’t be scared. I’m here. It’s just a bunch of old bones. Nothing to see here!” He waved his hand in the air as if to dismiss the skeletal remains with a magic wand. He reached out to the wall and grabbed onto the thigh bone of a skeleton. The entire thing came loose in his hand. Standing there, holding a femur, he began shaking it wildly at imaginary enemies and went into a pirate inspired voice. His nervous laughter reverberated in the eery space. His wife pouted and grimaced, not finding the incident funny at all.They stood there and listened to the sound of dripping of water in the distance. Two small rodents scurried past their feet and squeaked loudly before running up the wall of bones. She let out a scream and he grabbed her around the waist. “Okay okay, babe, we can leave. I’m sure Tomaso is on his way to get us anyway, unless he got lucky or something….hey, you wanna do it down here? Seriously, that would be so hot on our honeymoon. Babe? Jeez, okay, I’m just kidding. Lighten up already!” He turned and pointed the flashlight in all directions to find the way the exit. In the darkness, the glow from the flashlight revealed an infinity of skulls and bones strategically laid out on walls to ceilings in all directions.

He pulled her hand and they moved as one searching for the exit out of the massive cavernous space. He pointed the focused beam of light to the floor and paused at a small space that appeared to be the possible point of entry. He headed towards what appeared to be an exit and then touching the wall realized it was hard and sandy, just another side of the cavern. His wife cried out in terror realizing that they were trapped. Trapped in a catacomb. The walls felt like they were closing in and she started to shake and shiver. The scent of death and rot permeated the air as the temperature dropped dramatically. She was absolutely terrified and felt defeated. Catastrophic thinking took over her mind. She wished she could morph into one of the skeletal remains surrounding the cavernous space. It felt like she would never leave and if that was the case, she wanted to vanish forever.

Her husband gave her a sip of water and told her to sit down while he searched for the exit. He tried to calm her by wrapping her in his jacket and a small blanket he had in his backpack. He took out the smelly wrapped sandwich and tossed it across the cavern like a hacky sack.

Her hands shook as she reached deep into her backpack to retrieve the Epipen she always carried. Maybe it was the dusty air or the local pollen. Whatever it was, she recognized the tingling sensations in her body as her throat tightened up quickly. Her husband stood next to her and told her to focus on deep breathing while he massaged her back. He tried to use his cell phone, but just as Tomaso had told them before the tour, the phones were useless. His wife began to wheeze and her face started to swell as red raised spots appeared on her arms. She slide down the rough wall, and he knelt beside her, jabbing her thigh through the jeans with the Epipen. She looked at him with fear in her eyes. He inhaled deeply and sighed. “It’s gonna be ok, you’re ok babe. I love you so much. Just breathe and relax. Tomaso is on his way to get us anytime now.” A rush of ice cold air grazed the back of his neck and he felt his entire body shiver with terror. He didn’t want to show his wife that he was afraid or weak at a time like this, so he just shook it off, stood up straight and turned around in a circle with the flashlight, scanning desperately for the exit from the cave. Other than his wife’s gasps for breath, the silence was unbearable. He held his own breath while he watched her slowly calm down, the red spots began fading and her breathing regulated as the epinephrine began to kick in. He massaged her shoulders gently and told her he was going to get them outside. In the quiet of the cave, he stood up and turned slowly, the light illuminating a legion of skeletons and skulls lining the walls and ceiling. He paused as a barely perceptible humming noise began in the distance, low at first then quickly getting louder. The humming moved closer and closer along with intermittent squeaks and high pitched noises. The noise became the overbearing sound of a million wings fluttering, as a swarm of bats emerged from s crawl space and filled the cavern with a black cloud. They flew up to the ceiling, burrowing into skulls and crevices and hanging there in plain sight. His wife screamed and cried. “Please please get us out of here! I can’t take it anymore.” She squeezed her eyes shut and curled into a tight ball on the floor.

His shaky flashlight scanned across the walls as he searched desperately for an exit. Suddenly, a dark portal was revealed. It was just beyond a tall skeleton which stood like a sentinel. He cried out, “I found it! Babe! Let’s get out of here. ” He gently moved his wife and helped her to get up. She was so weak, but her adrenaline had kicked in, so she was able to muster the energy. He guided her to the small dark tunnel entry and shone the light within. She used the walls to balance and guide her through the sandy narrow space. He kept his hand pressed on her lower back, and they carefully made their way through. A weak stream of light shone from up ahead in the distance and he sighed with relief as the air began to feel slightly warmer. As they slowly went up a gradual incline, there it was, the exit. The ladder was still where they had left it. Bill audibly sighed with relief.

He reached out to steady the rickety wood while his wife slowly got ready to climb up and out. He stood behind her. Suddenly, without any warning, the ladder was tugged full force out of her hands and swiftly yanked up and out of sight. Stephanie gasped in horror as the sound of elderly women laughing and cursing in Italian drifted downward. The couple both yelled and begged for help. The laughter grew louder and suddenly an ancient crone’s face came into sight. She glared down at them revealing one tooth in her distorted, sagging and weathered face. She cackled loudly as she disappeared and a board slammed over the small opening, leaving them in the dark once again.

Terrified, they scrambled for the flashlights to see if there was any other way out. He told her he thought they should go back down to the cavern and find another exit. She was too exhausted to protest and followed him as he turned and headed along the corridor back towards the huge space where the bones awaited and the bats had now gathered en masse.The skulls seem to come alive as the bats wove their small furry bodies in and out of eye sockets and gaping mouths.

In silence, the couple walked methodically around the exterior walls of the gigantic cavern, passing by multitudes of skeletons on the lower level, while a myriad of skulls stared down from above. Using the flashlights, they sought out any possible opening to an exit, but could find nothing. There was another small hallway at the far end of the space and once they reached it, a blast of foul odor rushed towards them from the ancient tunnel. The walls here were a darker color, almost a rusty red, and they appeared to be damp. He went first as she stood paralyzed, staring into the dark void. The weakening light from the small flashlight shone on what appeared to be a pair of more recent skeletons, as they still had remnants of tattered garments attached to the bones. He inhaled sharply as his light shone down on an object next to one of the skeletons. He slowly knelt down to get a closer look. Next to the hand laid a flashlight just like the ones they had been given by Tomaso! He looked more closely at the remains and noticed an intact gold band on the ring finger of each skeletal hand.

To be continued…

What do you think will happen next? Would you prefer a happy or tragic ending?