Lauren--Part Forty-Three

Splog # 152

Forty-Three

   Lauren was tracing the contours of the dimly lit room, her hand trailing along the rough wall, when she became aware that the section she was approaching was darker than the rest of the space around her. She hesitated somewhat and peered ahead  trying to make out exactly what she was coming upon. What she finally discovered was that she had encountered a very narrow staircase that seemed to lead straight up into the wall she'd been following. It was completely dark and Lauren began to ascend with a hint of trepidation in her heart. Now both hands were brushing the walls on either side of her and she could still feel herself turning slightly to the left as the steps followed the curve of the tower. She had a sudden memory of sitting in the chair that had brought her to the peak of the Fe-San and slowly winding up and up in a gentle spiral. Then, her imagination pictured someone standing in the outer doorway as she'd been circling the room below just now. It would probably have appeared as though she'd simply disappeared into the wall as she passed from the ground floor and began to mount the steps. She smiled at the thought and wished she could have seen what it looked like. "It must have been quite something," she said aloud in a voice slightly louder than a whisper. Her ears caught a faint echo of her words and the sound brought her reassurance. "It isn't really very scary here in the dark, is it? No, I should say it isn't. I would think I'd be more frightened than I am but I find myself feeling surprisingly confident. I wonder what Mum and Dad would say if they were here. I know they wouldn't be frightened. Mum would say, 'Father, since we can't see anything, would you happen to hear anything that we should be afraid of?' 'Why, no, I don't, my dear. What about you? You don't happen to smell anything that we should be afraid of, do you?' 'Not unless we should be afraid of your pipe. But I must inquire, do you by any chance taste anything that we should fear?' 'Well, dearest, I 'm wondering if we need fear that custard you made for dessert tonight?' 'I suppose you had best make that inquiry of Lauren.' And then they would both turn to me and in a spooky voice they'd say,'Oh, Lauren! Do you happen to feel anything that we should all be afraid of?' And then they'd be tickling me and it would be funny but I don't suppose we'd ever get to the top of these stairs. Then again, if Splog were here - I wonder if he goes up stairs as slowly as he goes down. Is that a window?" Lauren had found herself moving towards a shaft of light that seemed to be coming through a roughly circular opening only slightly larger than her head. On reaching it, she found that it was facing back in the direction from which she'd approached the tower. She could see across the black plain and she could even see part of the lower level where the sand and grass were sharply divided by the line of flowers. She even thought she could make out, in the distance, the school where she'd left Jane and Bart. She sighed as she thought of everyone she had left behind. Last night she'd wished for an adventure and someone to share it with. Oh, well. Best to keep climbing and see where this led. After she'd passed the window, she found that the darkness didn't resume as fully as before. But neither did she come to any more windows. She puzzled on this for a while until she realized that the walls were no longer black. They were a gray hue and seemed to be getting lighter in color as she rose higher. She was still climbing through what was essentially a narrow tunnel and even though the walls weren't black she thought that they should have appeared so unless there was a source of light somewhere. She began to tire and thought how pleasant a glass of that lovely water would be right now. She remembered that she'd started her exploration with a bunch of grapes in her hand. Her hands were both empty now. For quite a while, they'd been moving over the walls as she'd climbed. She must have finished the grapes and then left the stems somewhere. "How far does this go? When will we reach the top? I hope there's something up there. Once I'm there then I can stop." Lauren found herself walking between white walls and stopped to observe them for a moment. They retained the texture of tree bark but were a pure shade of white. There were no patches of darker color like on a birch tree. Just a uniform whiteness that she'd never seen on a tree before. She resumed climbing and soon reached another opening. This one faced the mountains she was heading towards and she took in the view with eager anticipation. She could see the different plateaus she'd have to traverse and she had a view of peaks soaring up behind them. And there was a glow of red, very small but clear, in the distance up there. She hadn't noticed that since she was down at the schoolhouse but there it was, almost beckoning to her. Was there a fire up there in those mountains? Or was that the inn she was supposed to go to? If so, it seemed awfully far away. And why was it glowing red? Could it be painted red? But would it shine from so far away? Too many questions. She should resume her journey soon. But how, if there were no more glowing rings by which to cross the black plain?