The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 7's

The metal ladder trembled as Hendra went down. The ladder shrieked and whimpered under its weight, splashing bits of dust onto Magisna's body. In less than a minute, Hendra was already standing next to him in the darkness. His other friends followed Hendra down the stairs.

Magisna grabbed Hendra's hand and raised his body to his feet. Hendra's skin feels warm and dry. He staggered a little, still staggering at his uninjured foot. Hendra's arms coiled around his waist to hold his body. He noticed that his ankle was not as painful as he felt with Hendra's arm around his body.

"Where's the story you can get here?" ask Hendra.

"Cave of Jatoh," Magisna's short story.

"Jan maen-maen that's why." Hendra laughed stifledly. "Good thing your skull didn't break."

"The landing cave doesn't use a nutmeg, '" Magisna's sergeant.

Someone was down in the concrete near them.

"This ladder is rusty," Dika's voice sounded. "Gua wonder we don't have the jatoh negelinding. Don't you feel like the stairs are a little off the wall?"

"Your amulet contains rhyme" commented Hendra.

Dika snorted in disgust. "Serious cave, Tan. What the hell are we doing, down here?"

"Rescue mission" Hendra said. He held the Magisna.

"The cave can't believe the cave wants to come in here" Alexza nagged, as he descended to the hard floor. "It's damp!"

"It stinks of Dika," said Hendra.

"Can you stand up, Gis?" Hendra let go of his crib before Magisna could answer.

"Gue isn't pa-pa" Magisna replied quickly. He limped to the left and leaned against the wall to hold his body. He could not see much in the dark.

"Somebody can tell us why we're in the sewer under Van Til's house?" ask Novi harshly. He jumped to the last step of the ladder.

"It's not a sewer" Hendra said.

"Come dong," Alexza litching. "Where the hell are we?"

"We need light in situations like this" Hendra said. He flicked the lighter. The room was filled with a twinkling yellow light.

All were caught in horror.

Magisna stared at the two words etched on the wall in front of them:

LATEN FEESTEN-LET'S PARTY!

"The cave has heard the story of this place" said Mo slowly.

Magisna looked around. They stood in the corner of a spacious room with a coal wall. Bottles, cans, newspapers, and food wrappers were strewn across the floor. The walls are dirty by layers of black moss and faded graffiti.

Posts: LATEN FEESTEN, painted in blood red. The paint froze in dry droplets towards the floor.

There are several dark alleys heading in different directions.

"What the hell is this place?" ask Novi.

"Doolhof-Labirin" replied Dika calmly. His voice sounded amazed.

"Yep," Hendra agreed. Hendra and Dika looked at each other happily.

What the hell's going on? ask Magisna in heart. "Where do you know about that?" tanyakanya.

"Our acquaintance, his name is Ais. He told me a lot about this place" Hendra replied. "He also said he'd come down here, but the cave doesn't believe me."

"Ais a bo-ong guy, he bo-ong is almost in every way," Dika interrupts.

"Anyway," continued Hendra, "In the '50s they built this tunnel as a place to hoard crops. It is thought to be many kilometers long. They also built rice, chocolate and coffee grinding machines. Every harvest season, the great foremen of the Dutch used to feast on this place."

"The coolest place for the study tour" added Dika, "Unfortunately no one can come down here - except for the foremen and the big foremen. They say that big foremen and foremen must complete administrative reports overnight for every payday. They're a crazy party down here."

Magisna. How appalling. But cool. All this time he came to parties at his friends' houses while still living in the city. But partying down here must be more fun. More dangerous.

"Gua can't believe no one's here anymore" Novi commented. "Gua's also surprised you're not a subscription, Hen."

"So, now we have a discussion about this place" said Dika while smiling silly. "But we never met the entrance."

"yeah. Thanks, Gis." Hendra grinning.

"It's nice to help" Magisna replied half-cutely. He couldn't bear to not smile even though his ankle was unusually sore.

"Gua doesn't believe this Doolhof is hard to find" Novi said.

"So there really aren't any more people coming down here for hundreds of years?" ask Magisna. His view surrounded a graffiti-filled wall. He could not help his admiration. Forget the alley above. This is a place that no other friend has ever seen.

"The place was still visited in the 90s. But only once. This tunnel was immediately closed after that," explained Dika. "All roads to this place are blocked."

"Why?" ask Magisna.

"Something happened" replied Hendra. "Something bad."

Magisna. He observed their shadows hovering on the wall. It was as if the foremen feasting here were still wandering around while dancing.

"What's going on?" Magishna asked.

"The cave doesn't know for sure" said Hendra. "But they all died. Many are dead..."

"Who's dead?" magisna asked half a screech.

"The cave doesn't know!" answer Hendra quickly.

"Don't be crazy, you!" exciting Novi. "Well, are there a lot of dead people here? No way!"

"That ice said that?" ask Magisna.

Hendra nodded. "Gua knows exactly he's no longer stuck at story time. That's why the cave believes."

Magisna believed it too. At first he thought this was another Hendra trick. But Hendra looked very serious.

"Try on, we'll check this place out" Hendra suggested. "The clay-wearing cave."

"Why not?" Dika agrees. "It's better here than above. Isa will be our mergokin."

"And that means we will be punished again next Saturday" Novi murmured sourly.

"And that means we can come down here again" Hendra added.

Novi rolled his eyeballs.

"Gua wants to get out of here" Alexza complained.

"Two against two," pointed at Hendra. "Gis, you're the mediator."

"Who said this is democracy?" novi protests angry.

"Cave" replied Hendra. "And the cave says Gisna's mediator."

Everyone looked at Magisna. He stared intently into one of the dark tunnels. He wanted to know where the tunnel was headed. He wanted to explore the labyrinth beneath Van Til's house.

But the fear of falling just now did not want to get away from him. It's still shaking. His ankle hurts, but he can walk again. And he could feel blood flowing down from his injured elbow.

However, now he no longer felt uncomfortable after knowing where he was and how to get out.

"If the cave says the hell we check first," he said. "It turns out the place is disgusting, we just go back upstairs."

Novi groaning.

Hendra's face shone in a triumphant grin. Suddenly he knelt down and started digging up the trash on the floor. He stood up holding a few pieces of wood and rotten cloth.

"Ngapain the hell are you?" ask Alexza.

"Bikin torch" said Hendra. He wrapped the cloth on the end of the wood. "I want to abis."