Underworld Read Online Free PDF Page B

from anything that I did. Jeff is alive and he
smiled at me as though I had done nothing wrong.
    The voices from the other realm had tried to tell me
all along but I refused to listen. It amazes me that I
still believe my upbringing and the things that
happened to me are my fault. There are ambiguous
times, when I put myself in dangerous situations, and
make poor choices simply because of that belief. I
have been hard on myself and couldn’t allow myself a
chance at happiness or even easier life circumstances.
At this moment, I am painfully aware, that I have
lived with the conviction that I don’t deserve anything
good in life. Somehow this place has given me
closure on that chapter of my life. Jeff died in vain,
but it wasn’t my fault, and there is a purpose to my
life.
    Somehow I know that it was meant for me to come
here. I don’t know why but I have a keen sense that
the mutt has something to do in all of this. I try to
remember when I last saw him. It dawns on me that I
don’t know who or what he is. For all I know, he
could be out to kill me. But-if he wanted to do that he
had ample opportunity to do so before now. I feel
like I am at the end of a long tunnel with no way
back. There is no choice but to keep going until I’m
out the other side. I keep to the trail that Jeff was
going up and hope that I will find the dog.
    A guilty thought flashes across my mind as I recall
that I am supposed to be looking for Lisa and Davidif that’s at all possible. Before now, I wouldn’t have
given them a second thought, or cared if they lived or
died. I mean, why should I care? Conflicting
emotions arise as I think about them.
    The forest explodes with activity and my reflexes
have me on the ground in a moment. Suddenly, a
sharp sickly smell fills my nostrils. There is no
mistaking the smell of blood, and a lot of it. This
place had been said to be a place of savagery and
torture so the smell of death is not unexpected. Who
knows what strange and unknown creatures lurk here.
My heart quickenswith anticipation and I can’t help
but wonder if someone is being butchered.
    There are screams coming from the distance and it
sounds as though someone is in great pain. It’s like a
horrible nightmare I had once when I came across
someone being murdered. I stood off to the side
watching as a man was dissected alive and his
agonizing screams are burned into my mind. Bits
and pieces of the nightmare come to me, in vivid
flashes, here and there. Have you ever had the feeling
of Déjà vu? You know, the feeling that you have
been somewhere before? I have this creepy feeling
that I have been in this exact moment before. The
events of the here and now are rolling out like a
movie that has been seen before.
    I know instinctively that I must find cover quickly.
My legs somehow take action and I am running
toward the hill where Jeff disappeared. I run up to
some dense brush and there are thorny vines that I
can’t identify making a protective barrier. I know just
where there is an indentation along the hill where I
can inch my way behind the dense brush. I struggle
with the vines and push as close as I can against the
side of the hill as I inch foot by foot sideways.
Within a few moments I can feel an opening behind
me and feel my way down to find out what it is.
There is a hole just big enough for me to squeeze into
and offers visual protection from anyone in the area.
There are rotting leaves inside the shelter and I
somehow know to rub them on me and cocoon myself
into the leaves.
    The eerie shadows slowly fade away as daylight
emerges, which is a huge relief, since I assumed it
would always be midnight-black in this place. As the
sound of screaming and groaning moves closer, I start
to wish it was still dark. I am well hidden here but
would feel safer in the cover of darkness. The
piercing scream of a woman rings out.
    “Help! Help!”
The screams are coming from a short distance away.
I can hear