The Hole

“It looks really deep.”

Billy kept his hands on the wall of the cave behind him. Jake peered over the edge of the hole.

It spread from one side of the cave to the other, its black opening like an inky lake before them.

From where Billy stood, he could not see the bottom of it. The sides of the hole disappeared into the darkness. Vines crept down the sides of the cave and into the hole, slithering over and between each other like black snakes.

“Kevin Anderson said it’s really deep,” said Billy. “He and his brother —”

“Kevin Anderson says a lot of things,” said Jake.

And that was the end of that conversation.

The two boys stared into the hole. Billy stayed in his safe vantage point, careful not to get too close.

But Jake stood right near the edge.

The vines glistened with dew and looked slippery.

One wrong step and Billy imagined Jake tumbling into the deep black abyss.

And what was at the bottom?

Not even Kevin Anderson could answer that question.

Kevin was the first to discover the big hole inside a cave beneath a high ridge in Blake’s Wood.

By lunchtime, the big black hole was the major topic of conversation in the entire school.

Jake got down on his hands and knees and peered over the edge of the hole.

“What’re you doing?” said Billy.

“Just getting a better look,” said Jake.

Billy stared back towards the entrance of the cave. In the distance, he could see a small triangle of daylight.

“Maybe we should get going —”

“I think I can see something down there,” said Jake.

Billy turned to see what his friend could see. Jake was now lying flat on the cave floor, his head hanging over the edge of the hole.

“Jake, let’s get out of here,” said Billy.

“In a bit. Look at this.”

Billy clung to the cave wall. He could feel something strange about the hole, like a magnet pulling at his body.

Jake turned his head to face Billy.

“Get down here and take a look. There’s something down there.”

Billy wanted to yell out no. He wanted to turn and walk away, to run out of the dirty old cave and into the warmth of the day, where he could hear birds chirping in the trees.

Some of the other kids were down by the river, enjoying the first days of summer in the sunshine.

Jake’s eyes stayed on Billy.

Billy knew that if he chickened out, if he said no, the word would be all over school by lunchtime on Monday. It was the universal law of the playground. And no one broke it.

He crouched down on all fours and stretched his legs out behind him, making sure not to get too close to the edge of the dark space in front of him.

“Look,” said Jake in a whisper.

Billy focused his eyes on the expanse of darkness below. He couldn’t see anything. Just a shimmering black surface in front of him.

Then something — he wasn’t sure what.

A flicker. Like a tiny fragment of light reflecting off something.

“See it?” gasped Jake. He nudged Billy with his elbow, which made Billy jump.

“No,” said Billy, lying. “I didn’t see anything.”

He glanced at Jake. There was a look of mesmerised glee in his eyes.

Billy edged slightly away from Jake.

A smell rose up from the hole. An unearthly smell. Something that seemed to come from deep underground. Something forgotten years ago. Something that had not seen the light of day for a very long time.

It wasn’t an altogether unpleasant smell, but it wasn’t something Billy wanted to breathe in for too long.

Jake stared unblinking into the dark mass below them. His lips were slightly parted, his breathing shallow.

He seemed transfixed by the hole.

This didn’t seem like just a dare to Jake anymore. It seemed like something much more.

Their initial plan had been simple…

Go down to Blake’s Wood, sneak into the cave underneath the ridge, take a look at the big hole.

But now Jake seemed to want much more than that.

“Let’s go down and have a look,” he said.

Billy heard every word. Clear as crystal. There were just the two of them there.

But he blinked and stared back at Jake as if he hadn’t understood a word.

Jake turned to face him. His eyes looked menacing now, as if something had a grip on him.

“Okay?”

Billy shook his head and swallowed. His throat was dry.

“No,” he said.

“No?”

Billy shuffled further away from Jake.

“I’m not going down there,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. And no one knows we’re here. If we get trapped down there —”

Jake curled his top lip in disgust and turned away.

“Well, I’m going down there,” he said.

He pushed himself into an upright position and swivelled his legs around. His feet hung over the dark hole.

Jake eased himself closer to the edge and leaned over. He cleared his throat and spat down into the darkness.

“It can’t be that deep,” he said. “Just a few metres.”

“Jake, let’s get out of here,” said Billy. “We can come back another time. With a rope. Or a ladder.”

Jake glanced over at Billy.

“Yeah, why not, Billy? We’ll bring your dad’s ladder. And maybe your mum can pack us some sandwiches. We can have a picnic at the bottom.”

He gave a short, mocking laugh.

Billy no longer cared about being ridiculed at school on Monday. The rules of the playground didn’t seem important anymore.

This was stupid. This was dangerous.

“Well, looks like it’s just me,” said Jake.

He pulled himself closer to the very edge of the hole.

Billy reached out a hand. “Jake, stop it. Let’s get out of here. I don’t want you to do this. Please.”

“What you want and what I want are two different things,” said Jake.

And without another sound, he pushed himself off the edge and dropped into the blackness.

Billy jerked his hand back. He watched as Jake’s body disappeared into the darkness.

He watched the top of his head, his crop of short blond hair, vanish from view as if he had ceased to exist.

“Jake,” said Billy in a loud whisper. “Jake. Are you okay?”

There was no answer.

“Jake!”

He edged forward and stared down into the hole.

Not a single sound came up from the abyss. Not one fragment of light.

It was as if Jake had never existed at all.