The luscious jungle was rich in every regard. The soil was fertile and the trees were a lively and verdant green. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but life.

Expect for one spot.

In the middle of this lush expanse was a barren hole. Now, when I say barren here, I mean dead in every manner of the word. The hole was about three feet in diameter, with seven feet more past that being nothing but scorched dirt. There was nothing growing in that seven feet around the hole, it was so dry. The hole itself was also no small thing. It dropped down to a depth that could not be climbed but could still be seen clearly, making it a fatal mistake to fall in. Furthermore, flesh eating bats resided on the underside of the hole, waiting to devour anything that fell in. Proof that they would rested in the many bones that littered the floor due to previous victims.

One day, a boy and his father built a house relatively close to the hole. They discovered the hole after the house was built and tried to fill it up, but were unsuccessful. No matter how much dirt or water they put in, there was never enough to fill the hole. Deciding to leave it alone, the man and his son moved on with their lives, taking care to keep their distance from it.

As time went on, the man and his son built a nice little farm. They soon had enough animals to become self-sufficient, thus making the day long walk to and from the nearest village unneccesary.

Late one night, the man heard wolves outside and, grabbing his gun, went outside to check. As he slammed the door shut, it woke up his son. Blinking his eyes, he heard the wolves outside and saw that the gun was gone. Putting two and two together, he lay back down to sleep. The son knew that any of the animals being killed could lead to them having to go to the village again, which neither him nor his dad wanted.

The next morning, the son got up and went into the kitchen. Upon not finding his father there, the son went into his father’s bedroom. Normally his dad was up by this time, so the son was concerned. Upon finding the bed disturbed and his father gone, the son remembered what had occurred the previous night and ran outside to look for his father. He looked all around the house and the farm, but was unable to find his dad. Eventually, he saw footsteps leading away from the house towards the hole.

Walking up to the hole, the son looked over the edge and saw his father at the bottom, lying unconscious with his gun beside him. Realizing that his dad must have fallen in because it was dark, the son almost yelled for his dad to wake up. He quickly caught himself, though, when he remembered that yelling would wake up the bats as well. Now knowing what else to do, the son sat down on the edge of the hole and let his tears hit the ground.

As the son sat there weeping silently, he knew that his father would die when the night came. Even if he managed to wake up before then, he wouldn’t be able to climb out before the bats woke up and devoured him.

As the sun moved across the sky and began to set, the son sat by the hole, weeping. As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting its violet hue across the world, the boy heard footsteps behind him. Jumping up, he saw a man behind him.

“Why are you crying?” The man asked, looking at him curiously.

Normally the son didn’t trust or talk to strangers, but not having anything else to do and hoping he would get help, he silently explained the situation. As the man stood there listening, the violet hues began turning darker. When the son finished explaining, he began sobbing again, knowing that soon the violet hue would go dark and his father’s life would go with the color.

Putting a comforting hand on the son’s shoulder, the man told him to look over the edge of the hole at his father and wake him up. At first the son didn’t want to, because it would wake the bats up. However, he quickly realized there was no need to fear that at this point, for the bats were about to wake up anyway. Seeing no benefit to the course of action, but deciding to trust, the son leaned over the hole and pleadingly asked his father, through tears, to wake up. As the violet hue began fading into the darkness and nothing happened, the man told the son to persevere.

The son leaned over the edge and, as a tear fell from his eye, said, “Wake up Daddy. I need you.”

As his tear fell and hit the ground, the father woke up. Very groggy at first, the father looked around, trying to find his bearings. His attention was quickly drawn to a spring that had started welling up in the center of the hole. The water kept on bubbling up the hole until it got to where the father had to swim to stay above the water. Even though progress was slow, the water reached the point where the son could help his father out right before the sun completely set. As the father and son embraced, the son looked around, trying to find the man. He did not see him, but he did not think much of it, he was so happy to have his father back. He concluded the man must have just gone back home.

The next day, the son went outside to take a look at the hole. The hole had caved in on itself due to all the water and thus ceased existing, taking the bats with it. When the grass began to grow over it not many days later, the hole truly ceased to exist, aside from in the son’s memory.

The end…🕳️