Sink: Old Man's Tale Read Online Free PDF Page A

best efforts he couldn’t slow himself down. Earth filled his mouth as he descended deeper and deeper into the bowels of the earth, and that’s what it smelt like – bowels, like the sewers had opened out into the narrow tunnel.
    Below him he saw a small hole that glowed orange with light. It grew larger and larger. Graham dug his heels into the tunnel to slow his descent, but the hole was still approaching. He gritted his teeth, and sensed passing through the hole was not going to be a pleasant experience.
    He grunted through his teeth and forced his feet out further. He felt himself begin to slow. He stopped, not more than a few inches from the circle. Graham panted, his body exhausted. He angled himself to look down through the hole, but his body was in the way. He could only make out small yellow-orange lights. He looked up and couldn’t make out anything more than a couple of feet away. The darkness stole his vision.
    He shook his head. What was he going to do to get out of this?
    “Stop whining,” he said to himself. “You know what you have to do.”
    He dug his hands into the dirt wall on either side and lifted one foot. He did the same on the other side and scaled a few inches. He raised his hands again, digging in his fingers and lifting each foot.
    Sweat dripped down his face. He tasted the dirt in it. But it was the only water available, so he sipped. The muscles tensed all over his body. He paused, taking a break. The fall had taken it out of him. He didn’t know how much farther he had to climb, but he swore he would make it. Every inch of the way.
    There was a deep rumbling. His feet juddered down a couple of inches, wiping away all his hard work. His legs pulled to the sides, growing wider, into the splits.
    “Please no,” he said.
    The earth gave way and he fell, through the hole, toward the opening and yellow dots below.

Chapter Eight
     
     
    He’d seen a similar sight before, when coming down to land in an airport. Of course, then he’d had the benefit of riding in an airplane. He was tumbling through the air now, out of control.
    But there might be a body of water below. If he wanted a chance of surviving the fall he would need to hit it with his feet first. He threw his arms and legs out, catching resistance. His spinning slowed and he straightened, pulling his body up with his hands by his sides and his feet pointing down.
    The moment he did, his soles struck something. It wasn’t water, but something hard. It broke under his weight. He was falling again, this time at a slower speed. He struck another surface, and another, each time slowing, but never stopping until…
    Thud.
    He stopped.
    Dust tickled his nose. His eyes were clenched tight, breath rasping through his teeth, shoulders bunched up. He daren’t move for fear he was going to start falling again. He muttered a prayer under his breath for it all to be over. And still, his eyes were clenched shut.
    Only a minute after having stopped did he begin to think he was safe. He swore at himself for jinxing himself, and clenched his eyes even tighter, as if safety depended on him not seeing where he was. Then, ever so slowly, he began to open his eyes.
    He peered around. He stretched his eyes open wide, uncertain if he had opened them or not. It was pitch dark. He concentrated on his breathing, focusing on each breath in, each breath out. He calmed down.
    Above him were two holes. They mirrored the holes in the roof above them, and those above that, and above that, echoing into eternity.
    He reached out with his hand. His fingers touched something hard. He flinched away from it. He touched it again, this time pressing his palm against it. It was metal. Then he reached back, behind himself, and felt another flat wall. He reached left, and felt the same sheet of material. I’m in a stinking box , he thought. What is this? Some sort of elaborate trap? Then he reached out with his right hand, expecting to feel another wall.
    Someone grunted,