I’ve been falling for hours.

At first, I bounced off the sides of the well, colliding painfully with jagged stone as I fell.

Soon, the sides disappeared. The hole widened into a void.

Infinite darkness.

Suffocating fear.

There’s something below. I can see its gaping mouth. Its blackened tongue. Its razored teeth.

It called to me.

“Come,” it whispered. “Closer.”

I should have ignored it. I should have stayed away. I should’ve heeded my mother’s warning.

“You could fall in,” she said. “Or you could be pushed.”

But she was wrong. I didn’t fall. I wasn’t pushed.

I was pulled.