I’ve been interested in writing fiction for some time now. Short stories, but not too short. There’s themes I want to explore, and stories I want to tell. This is one of those stories.

I once asked a Girl for inspiration, and she told me to write a story about a cave, rumored that those who enter will never want to leave.

Chapter 1: Leon

---

It had already been several months since it happened.

Leon kept replaying the events of that day over and over in his mind. It wasn’t something he wanted to do. The memories simply drifted back into his thoughts no matter how hard he tried to push them away.

He remembered fragments.

Shouting.

Red and blue lights reflected in rain puddles on the asphalt.

Sounds he might have mistaken for fireworks anywhere else.

Pained screams.

The collapsing feeling in his chest.

The shame that washed over him like tar.

And her eyes.

He found it impossible to believe that just two weeks earlier they had celebrated their anniversary—one of the happiest days of his life. When their eyes met that day, he had felt certain that nothing in the world could ever destroy what they had.

Two weeks later, those same eyes told him nothing could ever fix it.

The last thing she—

“Hey Leon!”

The sound of his name snapped him back to reality.

A massive glass of beer was slid across the wooden table toward him. Leon looked up to see Oscar’s stupid grin. His friend had just returned from the bar counter with the fourth round of drinks.

“If she’s going to be this present at our table,” Oscar said, dropping into his chair, “I reckon she should pay for the next round.”

Leon forced a small smile.

Oscar noticed the pain still lingering on his face and quickly added, “I know she meant a lot to you. It’s just that we aren’t always together like this anymore. You, me, and Sebastian. I want us to actually be here. Like we used to.”

Leon slowly turned the glass between his hands. The foam had already begun to sink.

“I know,” he said after a moment. “I really do want to be here.”

He lifted the beer slightly.

“That’s why I came all the way to this strange little town with you two, isn’t it?”

Oscar smirked.

“Exactly. Stillwater might be the most boring place in the country, but at least the beer is decent. Thinking about Sofia can wait.”

Sofia.

Names could carry so much weight.

Leon took a long drink. The soft bitterness helped anchor him to the present moment.

Across the table, the empty chair where Sebastian had been sitting was still pushed back slightly.

“Speaking of being present,” Leon said, glancing around, “where did our dear Seb disappear to?”

Oscar frowned slightly.

“He was here when I went to get the beers. Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

Leon felt a little embarrassed for not noticing.

“Well,” he said with a shrug, “you know how it is with quiet introverted types. They’re all so… sneaky.”

Oscar chuckled.

“He’s probably in the bathroom.”

Leon nodded.

---

The three of them hadn’t been together like this in years.

Life had scattered them in different directions as they reached adulthood. They had once lived on the same street and gone to the same school. Now they lived in different cities.

When Leon suggested a reunion, they were both immediately on board. Finding a location turned out to be the difficult part.

The solution had started as a joke.

Find the town closest to the midpoint between all three of their homes.

Oscar loved the idea.

Sebastian did the calculations.

He drew a triangle on a map and located the center point.

It wasn’t a town.

It was a lake.

Crystal Lake.

Next to it was a place called Stillwater—an old mining town none of them had ever heard of.

Calling it a town had felt generous once they arrived. But it had a bar, a café, and a small hotel. That was more than enough.

The entire region was surrounded by valleys, forests, and mountains. Only a single road led into Stillwater.

Oscar and Leon had arrived by bus. Sebastian had driven and picked them up at the nearest town the buses reached—River’s End.

After checking into the hotel, they went straight to the bar.

It had still been daylight when they arrived.

Now it was pitch black outside.

A cold November night.

---

The bathroom door opened.

“There he is!” Oscar said.

Sebastian returned to the table and adjusted his glasses.

“Perfect timing,” Oscar added. “I just got us another round.”

Sebastian sat down and glanced at the glasses.

“You’re aware we’re only here for two nights?” he said. “I’d prefer not to spend half of tomorrow recovering from a hangover.”

Oscar rolled his eyes.

“We’re not in our twenties anymore, I get that. But come on. We haven’t seen each other in years. That deserves a celebration.”

Sebastian gave him a quiet, unreadable look.

“And it’s not like we got the chance to get wasted last time we met,” Oscar continued. “Considering that was the funeral and all…”

Leon felt the sudden urge to tell Oscar to shut the hell up. But he held back.

Instead, he watched Sebastian.

Sebastian had always been hard to read. He wasn’t an emotionally expressive person to begin with.

But ever since the fire, it had felt impossible to understand what he was feeling.

Sometimes Leon wondered if Sebastian had died in that fire too.

“I’m terribly sorry that the death of my wife and daughter wasn’t the ideal moment for drinking,” Sebastian said calmly.

Oscar shifted in his chair.

“Alright,” he muttered. “That came out wrong.”

Silence settled over the table.

Leon felt his thoughts drifting back toward the memories he had spent the entire evening trying to escape.

---

“So…”

Oscar leaned forward.

“I heard something weird from the bartender earlier.”

Leon looked up.

“The pretty one in the red dress,” Oscar continued. “I asked if there was anything interesting to see in this dump of a town. Mostly just trying to start a conversation.”

He shrugged.

“I mean, she’s gorgeous. Worth a shot.”

Leon smirked faintly.

“So what did she say?”

Oscar lowered his voice slightly.

“There’s a cave around here.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

“It’s an old mining town,” Oscar said. “So there are plenty of caves. But one of them isn’t like the others. Apparently it existed long before the town.”

“Natural caves are rare in this region,” Sebastian said. “The mines were carved by people.”

“Exactly,” Oscar replied. “This isn’t a mine. And according to her, nothing about it feels natural.”

Leon leaned forward slightly.

“So what’s special about it?”

Oscar smiled.

“It’s called the Cavern of Lost Threads.”

The name hung in the air.

“The townsfolk avoid it like the plague,” Oscar continued. “They say the cave calls out to people who are… lost. People carrying regrets. People who can’t let go of something.”

Sebastian scoffed.

“And the cave just fixes their problems?”

Oscar shrugged.

“Something like that. She said the cave gives people whatever their heart desires.”

Leon frowned.

“That sounds like the beginning of a bad fairy tale.”

Oscar grinned.

“Wait, it gets better.”

He leaned closer.

“They say that every year a dozen or so outsiders wander into the cave… and they never come back.”

Sebastian folded his arms.

“People disappear every year and nobody investigates?”

“The kind of people drawn to this place apparently don’t have many people looking for them,” Oscar said. “But sometimes—and she said this was rare—someone does come back.”

Leon frowned.

“And?”

Oscar hesitated slightly.

“They’re always… different.”

“Different how?” Leon asked.

“One guy came out completely silent,” Oscar said. “Barely spoke again. Killed himself a few months later.”

Sebastian’s expression hardened.

“Another one came out in a feral state,” Oscar continued. “Attacked someone in town. They had to drag him away and lock him in a psychiatric hospital.”

Leon shook his head slowly.

“And you believe this?”

Oscar opened his mouth to answer.

Another voice spoke first.

“Everyone in town does.”

The three men turned.

The barmaid stood beside their table, holding a tray of empty glasses.

Up close, the red dress looked darker in the dim light.

Oscar straightened slightly.

“Hey,” he said. “We were just talking about that cave you mentioned.”

Her smile faded slightly.

“I heard.”

She turned to Sebastian.

“It’s not really a question of belief. I still remember the deranged man we had to chase out of town a few years ago. He nearly killed my father before they locked him up.”

Sebastian shrugged politely.

“Local legends tend to exaggerate.”

“It’s quite alright, darling,” the barmaid interrupted gently. “I don’t expect outsiders to believe the stories of this town.”

She paused.

“If they truly did, they would never enter the cavern.”

Her eyes moved slowly from one man to the next.

“But curiosity tends to win. As you know, curiosity has killed many cats over the decades.”

She smiled.

There was something slightly unsettling about it.

“The few people who have returned over the years share one thing in common,” she continued.

“They regret leaving.”

Oscar frowned.

“Leaving what?”

“The life they had in there,” she said.

“They say the cave gives you the thing you want most.”

Her eyes moved between the three men.

“Whatever you lost… it can be found in the cave.”

Sebastian sighed.

“And the ones who don’t leave?”

“They just stay there forever?”

“That depends on what you mean by forever,” she replied calmly.

“The few who manage to leave usually return to Stillwater sooner or later. Weeks, months… sometimes years later.”

“Why?” Leon asked.

“They hope to find the cave again.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“But none of them ever do.”

Her smile returned.

“Isn’t that strange?”

With that, she turned and walked away.

---

For a while, none of them spoke.

The noise of the bar slowly filled the space she had left behind.

Someone laughed near the counter.

Glasses clinked.

A chair scraped against the wooden floor.

Leon stared down at his beer.

The story of the cave had settled somewhere deep in his chest, mixing uncomfortably with the thoughts he had spent the entire evening trying to keep buried.

Whatever you lost can be found in the cave.

He took another drink and wished the words hadn’t stuck with him.

Across the table, Oscar looked almost energized. His eyes had the restless spark Leon remembered from their younger years.

“Well,” Oscar finally said.

“I guess Stillwater isn’t that boring after all.”

Sebastian leaned back in his chair.

“It’s a story,” he said calmly. “Every small town has one.”

“Sure,” Oscar replied.

“But wouldn’t it be fun to see the place?”

Sebastian glanced toward the door.

“It’s almost midnight,” he said. “And I’d like to actually function tomorrow.”

Oscar groaned.

“You’re getting old.”

“You’re literally two months older than me,” Sebastian replied.

“And somehow you act two decades younger.”

He stood up and pulled on his coat.

“I’m going back to the hotel.”

Oscar looked to Leon for support.

Leon hesitated.

The air in the bar suddenly felt heavy around him.

“I think I’m done for tonight too,” he said quietly.

Oscar leaned back with exaggerated disappointment.

“You guys are unbelievable.”

Sebastian buttoned his coat.

“Try not to drink yourself to death before morning.”

Leon finished the last of his beer and stood.

Oscar waved them away.

“Yeah, yeah. Go get your beauty sleep.”

Sebastian and Leon stepped out into the cold night together.

Behind them, the bar door closed with a dull thud.

Through the window Leon could still see Oscar sitting at the table, already turning back toward the counter and raising his hand for another drink.

The barmaid in the red dress noticed him and walked over.

Leon looked away and followed Sebastian down the dark street toward the hotel.

Behind them, the lights of the bar glowed warmly in the November night.

But the words from earlier refused to leave his mind.

Whatever you lost can be found in the cave.

Leon tried to push the thought away.

But for the first time in months…

The idea of holding her again didn’t feel impossible.