Drip, Drip, Drop

When a woman is abandoned and left all alone, will she survive the sudden onslaught of lonliness?

The dark, dripping cave had nearly obtained silence, a thing it hadn't had for nearly a decade. Aside from the quiet water drops that crept their way through the air, the sobbing of a woman echoed against the cave walls. In the very center of the darkness and stone, a woman sat. Her stringy, black hair wilted over her olive-colored shoulders, and her brown eyes were swollen against her pale palms. Loud, retching sobs escaped her fragile, thin diagram, and, as the cave tried and tried to gather silence, it simply could not, and soon gave up on the woman, leaving her to die in the darkness.
 

She had been crying for hours now, calming down every few minutes, simply to gather emotion once more and continue to sob. This woman, bearing a faded gray, threadbare sweater, and a brown (or was it red?), long skirt, knew what her fate held, and she knew even the once-caring cave couldn't help her. Her tribe had left her to die, and she knew she had no hope of ever surviving on her own. She knew she should simply forget about it and let herself die, but she was crying so hard, she didn't know how. 
 

After a few more minutes of crying, and a few more cycles of these thoughts going through her mind, she finally felt herself calming. She felt the need to keel over and sleep, but if she did, then nothing would happen. If anything, she would be eaten by a wild animal, which was almost what she wanted. It would bring her death. But, no, she didn't want to end it like that. She had to do it her own way, and uttering a terrible, sorrowful sigh, she stood, her head tilted downward. She turned, and began to walk deeper into the cave, which began to turn into a tunnel. Her back was arched forward, and her arms swayed in a rythmatic motion. 
 

She knew the cave was satisfied, for the only sounds that escaped her now, were quiet footsteps, and an occassional sniffle from time-to-time. The cave had asked for silence, and though this wasn't quite what it wanted, it was much closer than before. She tried to provide the cave with as much silence as possible, but she feared that if she was too quiet, the silence would engulf her, and she'd simply disappear...
 

There was a point she reached, when she tripped and began to fall. She could feel her stringy hair flickering behind her head, and her skirt billowing in the upward wind. It was then, that her sweater seemed to tear at parts, and unravel around her fragile, malnourished body. Large gashes appeared along her back, stomach, neck, and breasts. While this happened, her hair began to tear away from her head. She could feel her skirt slipping from her slender hips, and began to kick it off to get it over with. 
 

Her agonized screams were far from silent, and the cave sighed, knowing silence was impossible.

* * *
 

Many years later, a team of explorers discovered a cave they'd never seen before. As they entered, it seemed to sigh, but upon closer investigation, they discovered it to be a mere draft. Slowly, cautiously, they entered, an unearthly stench ticking their nostrils. They shined their large flashlights deeper and deeper into the cave, until they stumbled upon a small dip in the cave, with a figure mummified by, what seemed to be threads. The figure was approximately female, curled into the fetal position.
 

They unwrapped the gray, red, and brown threads, to find a shriveled body hidden inside. Her fingernails, curled and bent, were crusted with dried blood, as were the many scratched along her body and head.
 

It seemed as if she'd torn herself apart.

Reviews

[Klep]

A lot of really good imagery here. Felt like something akin to a Japanese horror film. I also really like the open ending and ambiguity, not sure if this is a damaged woman in a hallucinatory fit of lunacy, or if the cave itself is alive and housing a more sinister agenda.

[Chaos X 3]

I like this... mysterious and mind boggling...

[Nina]

This is an interesting piece! Poor cave *sigh*