The Tunnels Below by Nadine Wild-Palmer (best short novels of all time .TXT) 📕

fingernails, which narrowed to the tips and curled over somewhat, was held out to her.

“Augustus, that’s me, and you are?”

“Excuse my manners. My name is Cecilia,” she said formally, shaking his hand and looking into his smiley eyes.

Augustus turned to Jasper. “You heading to the Concave Stadium?”

“I sure am, buddy!” he said enthusiastically.

“Nothing like the old wind of sighs to get everyone up and running, blow out the old cobwebs,” Augustus said.

“Yes, the atmosphere is unbeatable, there’s no denying that!” said Jasper. Augustus laughed and linked Jasper’s arm, walking a few paces ahead of Cecilia and Luke, dodging through the stream of dwellers travelling in all directions and catching up on old times.

“Fancy a quick snack?” asked Luke.

“I am a bit peckish,” replied Cecilia, thinking of hot dogs.

Luke pointed over to a stand that read The Onion Lair.

“Come on then, while those two are catching up!” Luke pulled at her sleeve. “Oh, look, there’s no queue, come on!” Luke said, bursting into a run. Cecilia followed. She caught up with Luke and found him deciding what flavour onion to have.

“Caramelised or pickled? I just can’t decide,” he said, holding his chin.

A pigeon-faced boy paid and walked off, nibbling at a dried onion on a stick. It looked like a lollipop. Cecilia didn’t ask any questions, just sighed, which this time emerged in deep indigo, smoky tendrils leaving her lips like the vapour you get on cold wintry days. She blew it away as she said, “I’ll have a caramelised onion, please.”

She got a button out of her pocket and said to Luke, “I’ve got this, my treat. Get one for Jasper too if you know what he likes.” The florid pig-faced man serving behind the counter exchanged the button for a brownish onion on a stick.

“Thanks, Cecilia! Good choice,” said Luke. “Two of the same again, please!”

Luke and Cecilia returned to Jasper and Augustus who had stopped outside an archway entrance to the Concave Stadium. They were feeling the piece of carpet that Augustus was holding. There was a lot of smoothing down and umming and ahhing, questions about the shape and size, colour and materials. Luke and Cecilia stood there quietly watching before Augustus said, “Right then, chaps. I must be off!” They waved him goodbye and Luke handed Jasper the caramelised onion.

“Here you go. Cecilia got it for you!”

“Oh, thank you, Cecilia. Yum, my favourite.”

Jasper told the two of them that Augustus had been sponsored by a big name this year but wasn’t allowed to give away who it was. But more importantly because of this he had some inside knowledge on who the winner might be.

The three of them were standing outside what appeared to be a big bowl, which Luke announced was the Concave Stadium. They walked through the archway entrance into a stunning deep, shiny basin covered in mirrors and gold. It was like walking into the centre of a diamond; it reflected the faces and sounds and light of all the dwellers inside it. Luke began to explain how it all worked as he led them to some unoccupied seats. As each member of the audience exhaled, they released a sigh that changed the air pressure and created a colour cloud, which under the specific conditions at the Concave Stadium also contained a feeling. These were what the sigh riders raced on and the audience let out different coloured sighs depending on how they were feeling—technically, they set the mood. A misty multicoloured cloud was growing above the audience, gathering sighs from them as they took their seats in the pit below. The colour cloud swelled as the Concave Stadium filled up in preparation for the competition to start. The air was vibrant and the atmosphere seemed to almost completely absorb Cecilia. She gazed skywards, sighs rising up around her like hot steam. She was lost in the colours and the depth of emotion they held. As the clouds passed overhead she was engulfed in feelings. But they weren’t hers: her emotions were being manipulated and she felt out of control until she sighed a waft of yellow that floated towards the colour cloud. It was a huge relief and she felt for a moment she had returned to her senses, until her feelings began to gather in her again as she stared at it.

Luke waved his fuzzy hand in front of her face.

“There will be plenty of time for that in a bit. Don’t use up all your sighs now—you’ll run out of energy and then you won’t feel anything at all when it starts!”

“Oh, right, thanks.” Cecilia felt a bit light headed.

There was a lot of huffing and puffing and groaning all around. It reminded Cecilia a little bit of an orchestra tuning up before it plays a piece of music.

Luke looked at Cecilia, his eyes reflecting a lilac tinge that was rising up around them, and he sensed her sadness. Wanting to comfort his new friend, he said, “Here, link my arm.” This brought up more feelings in Cecilia than she could have imagined. It reminded her of her dad and going to the cinema or afternoons out for daddy–daughter time. She knew her family would be worried about her and for a moment she felt guilty for getting on without them and not being able to let them know she was OK. Cecilia had lost track of time—in fact, she realised there seemed to be an absence of time altogether. Had she seen a clock or a watch since she had wound up so lost? She returned to thoughts of her family; their faces were fading and all she could build in her mind’s eye was a sense of them. She was snapped back to the moment though, when a squirrel-face scurried about in front of her looking for the best seats.

“This one. No, this one?” he muttered to himself. “No, no, this one.” He continued hopping about and disappeared only to return with a bag full of rotting horse