I began walking; down-slowly, approaching the darker-steps' in turn. The stone pushed up into my shoes' as I felt the coldness of the concrete upon my bare-feet. As I entered upon the darker side of the stairway, I heard a voice call to me, "Elena, are you going down there alone? ". To my surprise, it was Corcoran . I was unable to see his face clearly, the sun-shone directly over his head; and blinded my vision.

Before I could answer him, he seemed to swing over the edge of the stairs' and headed straight by myside. As we walked down together into the darkness, I staggered a little; falling against the hard bricked wall of the chamber.

I must have triggered a mechanical device, I looked at Corcoran the best that I could. The floor paving, with a harsh sudden reflex, folded over us, flooding us in complete darkness. We stood -still; trying to get a grip on the new situation. We had to tread carefully; downwards', as on the otherside of Corcoran, was a deep drop into the unknown. The stairwell pushed up alongside the brick walls' of the chamber that we found ourselves in. There was only one way and it was downwards' towards the unknown. As we walked together; step by step, the bellowing noises' became louder, on our approach to the first floor. Making me feel very uncomfortable, with what was at hand.

There was more light growing and we could see a clear, way ahead of us. I was scared alittle, so I held onto the shirt of Corcoran. As we came to the first landing, I stopped and looked down further into the depths' of the chamber, the drop seemed to go on forever without any kind of mercy. Many thoughts' echoed in my mind, I wasn't sure if I would ever see daylight again....

24.