A Hero's Journey

It was Tuesday. The day we found it, it was exciting at first but soon it became a nightmare. Ben and I were hiking just a little outside Saint George in Utah. We had been hiking for about three hours already along the trail we hike at least once a year when we travel down here but this year we found ourselves off the beaten path in an unfamiliar area. Ben decided where we were at was a good stopping point. We put down our gear and decided to climb the wall about two hundred yards away for where we were standing, I regret that choice more than I can put into words. I geared up and began my ascent up the face of this wall, I noticed a ledge about 45 feet off the ground and I was determined to make it up there. Another fatal mistake on my

Until Ben found a hole in the cave wall about as big as his arm, he inspected the hole and put his arm through to the other side. His face went blank and his body started jerking towards the wall, I sprinted over to him and tried to help him escape the grasp of whatever was on the other side. Ben Retracted his arm “I totally got you, you should’ve seen your face!!” And began laughing hysterically at my concern. I whispered some profanity under my breath and began scanning the cave.
Ben decided we would come back in two days with tools and another person to try to get deeper into the cave. On our way out the air felt still and we heard what sounded like a deep growl, we both agreed it must’ve been the wind. We climbed down gathered our gear and began our hike back to our car. I had a horrible feeling about that cave, I should’ve spoken up.
When we got back to town we stopped at a diner and discussed our game plan, Ben decided that incase the cave entrance was too small for him to fit we needed some form of communication, we decided walkie talkies is all we needed. We also needed to rent or buy some tools to make that hole big enough so we could get through. The next morning we rented some cordless drills and recruited a man named Chris who Ben apparently knew in junior high. The other guy we tried to get to come with us refused to go into that part of the desert, that should’ve been a warning

The second the bit touched the rock the air went still again and we heard the growl, Ben blamed it on the wind and I went along. It took about 4 hours or chipping and drilling to get a hole big enough to get my body through, they tied a rope around my waist and I began the crawl on my stomach. About ten feet from the entrance it got big enough that I could crawl on my hands and knees, about forty feet in front of me i saw a “room” and decided to turn back tell Ben and Chris the news, and make someone else explore the room first. As I began to turn around I heard the growl again, this time louder and more