He's walking on the walk-way, lantern in hand, stumbling slightly - it's not surprising, he isn’t supposed to be up yet. He was awoken moments before by a metallic clang. He's not entirely sure what could have caused it, the tunnel is sparsely populated, always has been, and trespassers don't tend to be welcome if ever they appear. No one knows about the tunnel-folk, or the tunnel, for that matter. The tunnel-folk are only little, no bigger than your thumb.

He muses to himself as he walks, the wheels in his mind turn, click, turn, click. He's not entirely sure what he's thinking; the sleep hasn't worn off yet. He could still be dreaming for all he knows, it wouldn't be a bad theory.

He looks behind; his eyes are still blurry from sleep and tiredness, but he sees nothing out of the ordinary. His musings reach a halt as he moves into a new section of the tunnel, it's not his favourite part, it gives him the creeps, especially when he's as alone as he is now, which, to all who are interested, is utterly and completely. He knows he should've taken the missus, but would she budge? No. Did she even hear anything? No.

He shakes his head, "'go back to bed, Il Ogdan, it's just your age!'"

He changes from a mimic to his own voice, "Well... Fina Ogdan, I'm going to prove you wrong. My age, indeed."

Il Ogdan stops talking to himself when he sees something glint up ahead, he's never seen anything like it and if he were to tell you the truth - which he won't - it scares him. He moves forwards, at almost the same speed as a backwards-moving snail but a little bit faster. He sucks in a breath and decides that he isn't scared and that he should just walk up to it and take a look. Of course, he's lying to himself, he is scared, he doesn't want to take a look but he's stubborn so he will. If only to prove the missus wrong.

He takes a tentative step forward, and another and another. He's getting faster as his confidence grows. There's nothing there, he tells himself, nothing that can hurt me. A smile finds its way to his face.

That's when he sees it. It's metal, about the size of his leg, and goes around in a spiral. He stands there for a moment, just staring at it as if waiting for it to do something. Deciding that it won't do anything to him, he reaches out to touch it. It's cold, smooth, as metal should be. It doesn't seem heavy so he pulls it towards himself, tripping over as he does so.

It slips out of his hand. Instead of falling as he expects it to, it bounces. The clanging resonates throughout the tunnel, he's pretty sure that everyone will have heard it now. Il Ogdan chuckles to himself, "Fina'll have to believe me now!"

He sits and waits, he knows others will be here soon.

It doesn't take them long; some of them arrive before the last echo is done. They live the closest. More appear and after not too long he hears his wife yelling for him.

"Il Ogdan! What're you playing at, Il Ogdan? Do you know what time it is? Why in the world are you making such a racket? If you're just annoyed that I didn't believe your nonsense I'll have your guts for-" She sees it and stops, "Well, I'll be damned..."

"I told! Didn't I tell you? I told you!" He stops himself before he begins to rant; he knows that no one would like it, especially not Fina Ogdan.

Another of the tunnel-folk pipes up, "You know what that is, don't you? It's a spring! Don't know what they use them for though, the big folk."

"But how'd it get here?" Another asks.

Il Ogdan frowns, looks up and finds the answer. There's a hole in the top of the tunnel, just big enough for the spring.

"It fell." He states matter-of-factly. He's too proud of himself to let anything anyone says upset him. He looks to his wife; she's standing open-mouthed, staring at the spring. He smiles.



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- Chimes Portfolio 2