A bend in the tunnel swallows the last of the natural light. Darkness prevails now and within its world everything once recognizable becomes extraordinary. Rational thoughts become diluted as quickly as my sight, impaired by the blackness. In this flooded tunnel of mental blindness the imagination is left alone to visualize and analyze this unknown alien planet that encompasses me. What would perhaps be the sound of water droplets plummeting from the ceiling and smashing into the flooded tunnel floor below, become the sound of some prehistoric whale lurking just below the water line. My skin runs cold and goosebumps dot my arms with such a realization. Anxiety kicks in, my heart begins to beat faster and I pick up my walking pace which creates even more exotic sounds all reverberating through the blackened tunnel setting stage for a ghastly aura, for my mind to play upon.
I am convinced of it now, a once extinct underground tunnel whale, hungry for my flesh, is no doubt lurking within the water. Fear begins to overcome reality and my imagination's fueled thoughts become as real as they are outlandish. In a moment of self inflicted panic, I click on my flashlight and scour the surface of the water with its powerful beam, just to be sure the fears of my imagination haven't become a reality. "No whales yet", I think, followed by sigh of relief as I quell my mind of its ridiculous conclusions. But then I hear it, a loud high pitched whistle, which rebounds through the seemingly endless tunnel, echoing off the brick walls as it ricochets back and forth like a ball bouncing down a hill moving farther and farther away until it is finally gone. The whale is near, I've assured myself this time! I cringe in dismay at the thought of it surfacing as I am trapped, perched upon its back as it rises higher and higher above the surface of the water merely to take in a breath of fresh air while nearly sucking me in through its grotesque blowhole. Fantasy has now become reality, projecting itself within this unfamiliar world, just below the surface of what is tangible and known; comfort is dead, fiction becomes truth to my blinded minds eye.
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