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

“Sit down, sit down. I’ll fix you some tea but I’m afraid I have nothing to eat here. It’s best not to keep food on the premises. It attracts rat-faces, the pesky little thieves.”

“Oh dear,” she mumbled, hoping that the rat-face people wouldn’t be as big as Kuffi—that would be terrifying. Kuffi went over to a kitchenette at the back of the room where there was a pan on a small hob over a bowl of coals. Cecilia sat down, popping a Cherry Drop in her mouth, then stuffing the packet back in her pocket. She left another one on a small hexagonal table. “I’ll leave this here for you for later if you like,” she said.

“No open flames, you will remember that rule, right?” he asked, poking at the glowing embers.

“Sure.” Cecilia shrugged.

Kuffi got a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the cupboard below a basin near the hot coals. He brought out a large green glass bottle, which he uncorked and measured out the exact amount of water he wanted into a small blue china teacup, then added two more dashes to the pan before putting the bottle away and locking the cupboard. Cecilia found the whole process very serious. Kuffi stared into the liquid as he stirred the concoction, the steam rising up to tickle his whiskers. He added what looked like some spices, and something resembling a root of ginger, but no tea bag as such.

When it was ready he brought it over to Cecilia and put it down very carefully next to the Cherry Drop on the hexagonal table between two armchairs, one of which Cecilia was sitting in.

“Thank you, Kuffi. Aren’t you going to have any?”

“Oh no, you go for it. I’ll have mine tomorrow,” he said, matter of fact.

“Tomorrow?” Cecilia thought this was a very strange response.

“Yes, tomorrow. Water is in short supply, so drink up!” he commanded.

Cecilia sipped the drink quietly; it was soothing, hot and spicy, tasting just like the smells in the warm room, it was quite rejuvenating.

* * *

The two of them sat there a while, chatting. Kuffi had a way of making her feel very much at ease. Cecilia was so desperate to escape her situation and go home, she found it hard to believe that the creature in front of her had a fox face. Between the gaps in their conversation she had a second when she feared that he might try and eat her, but nothing about him seemed to suggest that this was his intention. In fact, he seemed pleased of her company. Somehow, in the midst of what was an awful set of circumstances, she even found herself laughing at a few of his jokes. She realised that normally Kuffi would seem frightening but there was nothing normal about what was happening. So she was grateful for the distraction and, as it turned out, Kuffi was fascinating. As Cecilia blew on her tea to cool it down, he asked her a really important question that confirmed he meant her no harm.

“Cecilia. Are you OK?” He said this very gently and Cecilia winced a little bit.

“I’m OK, I think. A bit confused but it’s nice to be somewhere. It was very dark and lonely out there for a bit.”

“The Black of Beyond is no place for anyone, let alone a little thing like you.”

“The Black of Beyond?” she asked, feeling a little confused.

“The Black of Beyond is the place where you were lost. Legend has it that if you just keep walking you can end up walking from somewhere to nowhere. You’re a ‘Wanderer’—that is what we call fellows like yourself: confused inhabitants, ordinary dwellers, that have ‘wandered off’ and been lost in the Black of Beyond. When fellows like yourself turn up here, they’ve been gone so long or been so far into the Black of Beyond that they lose a sense of what’s real. It’s like their memories have been completely wiped. Most of the time they have the most magical stories to tell, though.”

“Oh, well, it felt like for ever but I am sure it can’t have been more than an hour or two,” she said confidently. “I just really want to get home.”

“And do you know where that is?” Kuffi seemed to be asking a lot of questions.

“Well, back the way I came, I guess, back to the train that brought me here, to my family and my house and my cat. They will be worried about me by now, I’m sure.”

“Cecilia, there are some souls that get lost in the dark of the tunnels and then lost in their minds; their imaginations take over. They even come to believe there is some sort of other world above us, dazzled by light and full of abundance. We all dream of a better place from time to time but these poor souls have become disillusioned by the darkness; they seem to have forgotten the dwellers and the society they belong to and they go in search of some light at the end of the tunnel. The Black of Beyond is a scary place but that’s all it is—the dark place at the end of the line. Maybe you are one of these poor fellows and you’ve forgotten your place or where you belong? Wanderers often look like you. Jasper, he’s similar, sort of bald… perhaps all your fur has fallen out and your whiskers… Where are they?” Kuffi said, inspecting her.

“What, no! I’ve never had any fur or whiskers.” She almost laughed at how ridiculous it sounded.

“Well, you still have quite a mane on top of your head,” Kuffi said, pointing at her crown of curls. “I know, why don’t we take a walk and reintroduce you to the dwellers? You can have a nap first if you like and then we will see if we can’t jog your memory a bit, remind you of the society that you belonged to before you