Tales of the Unexpected drivel

In the middle of the wind swept Pennines, on a night when the rain
stung like scolding water, a figure wrapped in a thick coat, staggered
against the wind. The figure stopped occasionally and held a hand above
his eyes in an attempt to fend off the rain, and looked around trying
the get his bearings. They were completely lost.

The figure's name was Oscar, he had been travelling along the road
between Bishop Auckland and Brampton on the evening of the 14th
November 1972 when he had broken down. Oscar had no map and had been
travelling in the area for the first time. But in the dark desolate
environment where his car had stopped he had seen a light on a hill. He
had walked towards it but found it had disappeared when he had got no
more than three quarters of the way there, he had then decided to turn
around. He had not been able to find his car though, in fact he had not
been able to find the road either. Now he wandered desperately looking
for a sign of civilisation or at least life.

Oscar was freezing, the rain had soaked through his duffel coat some
time ago and the wind seemed equally capable of penetrating what before
seemed a totally adequate coat for all weather conditions in London.
His face was now numb with cold. His cheeks felt firey red, but when he
touched them with his frozen hand, they to were cold.

Where could he be, he asked himself. Stopping again to have a good look
around, all he could make out was ghostly dark shadow of land rises all
about, but no sign of a road or of any lights. He decided to climb a
nearby elevation in order to try and get a panoramic view of the
surrounding countryside. Of course, this meant walking straight into
the oncoming torrent again. He battled on. Soon he was half way to the
summit, the ground beneath his feet was a mixture of rock, shale and
tuffs of course grasses, in the darkness he often stumbled on all
three.

As he continued his climb he thought he saw an opening in the side of
the hill. Shelter, he thought to himself, it would be good to get out
of the rain , maybe till morning, when I can perhaps find a house more
easily. He struggled towards it. As he approached, he could see it
wasn't much, but an outcrop of three rocks making a rough arch. He lent
on one of the rocks thankfully and peered inside, it was very dark and
looked to go back some way. He entered cautiously. Inside, it was an
immediate sanctuary, the wind blew from the opposite way to the
entrance so inside was calm and the outcrop seemed free from any leaks
so provided excellent shelter from the rain. He knelt down and felt the
shaley ground, it was actually dry!

Oscar tentatively continued further into the sheltered haven, arms
outstretched. Three, four, five steps he took with no sign of a rocky
face, he stood stationary and stretched his arms out either side, he
could touch both sides of what he now knew was some kind of tunnel. He
stood, dripping, and shaking a little. He wiped his face, he was now in
a place he could shelter till morning, out of the wind and rain, he
should of been relieved, but he was intrigued to know where he was.
Where did the tunnel lead, now was possibly not a good time to explore,
it was pitch black in the tunnel, but where was he?

He decided to carry on, his curiosity was too strong to resist, arms
outstretched in front of him he walled on. Twenty, thirty, forty steps
he took. Amazed and giggling to himself madly he stretched his arms out
to his sides again. Air, he wasn't in a tunnel any more, all he felt on
either side was, well, nothing. A dagger of alarm struck in his chest.
He didn't want to come from being lost in the Pennines to being lost in
here, where-ever, here was. He had a light on his watch, so looked at
the time 1:46 am. Darkness for another five hours at least. He decided
now was the time to be sensible, he would sit down and try and sleep
till morning, when he would be able to find, the road and ultimately,
his car.

He laid down and fell asleep. The night tore and turned, up and down
and around outside the mouth of the outcrop. But all was still inside.
Oscar woke was a start, still pitch dark, he looked at his watch 10:30
am. Oscar looked around and then again at his watch, at that point the
digital display showed a Technicolor death display and went blank. It
had read 10:30. It had, it had, he but the rain had got into it, maybe
it was wrong. Why was it dark still, why? Maybe it was still night.
Oscar sat huddled for a second and then began to crawl, his confidence
was gone and his clothes still damp, confusion swam around his brain.
He crawled faster and faster, the shale scrapped his knees and hands,
but Oscar was oblivious to the pain, he crawled on, every now and then
stopping to sweep a hand around in front of his face.

Splash, splash, he had hit water, not deep but the iciness hurt his
hands, he stopped abruptly. It was an underground lake. He decided to
skirt the lake, he was by now hungry and thirsty, he tasted the cold
water, it was fresh, that was something he drank his fill and crawled
on his left hand wet from the fringe of the lake. On and on he crawled,
getting increasingly desperate, his hunger was now overwhelming, he
looked at his watch, nothing, the stupid thing would not work. How long
had he been down here, he crawled on.

It seemed that the lake went on forever, it also seemed that it was
curving to the right all the time, he decided to leave the lake behind,
so he consciously turned with the lake at his feet and set off away
from it. He was sure he could find it again if thirsty, but he was more
concerned in finding a way out now, for he was sure that it must be
mid-day outside, his hunger was beginning to make him weak and he had a
sore throat and mucous running from his nose, a result of sleeping in
wet clothes, in fact they were now dry, how long would that of taken?
He crawled on away from the lake.

Splash, splash, oh my God he thought, the lake, had he strayed to the
right or the left in the darkness? He turned one hundred and eighty
degrees, the lake at his feet again and then thought, the lake was
always bearing right, he decided to turn forty five degrees to his
right and crawled away from the lake at an angle.

Splash, splash, Christ. He turned again and crawled, splash, he turned
and crawled, splash. He was exhausted, the lake seemed everywhere. If
only he had light. He collapsed on his back, dazed. In the darkness
nothing stirred, it was absolutely quiet. Oscar was awoken by a wetness
around his feet, he pulled them back. And shuffled away from the
coldness on his backside then his backside became soaked&;#8230;..
Then it dawned on him, he was surrounded by rising water. Oscar sat on
his tiny Island and for the first time in the whole ordeal felt
calm.

He sat and waited, the water was at his feet and backside now and
rising, it was freezing and maybe he was hypothermic for he was totally
relaxed, he shivered in the cold. Drowserly he noted the water was
above his waist now, he was numb and tired. Briefly he dreamt of water,
steaming hot water, all around him, as he bathed in a comfortable
spring, the temperature just right and sky blue above him, birds flew
majestically in the air and people watched and waved all around him,
the feeling was one of total serenity, it was beautiful, and then
nothing.

The police were called to the abandoned car on the afternoon of the
16th November, a Mrs Partridge identified it as her husbands car and
the search began. Two hundred Officers and volunteers scoured the area
around the car. Two Officers headed north from the car past Rookhope
towards Nookton Fell. They were climbing the Fell when they came across
the mine entrance. It was boarded up, Officer Bradbury turned to
Officer Links and said "He couldn't of got in there, could he?"
"Not even with a crowbar" answered Links
"What is it, anyway?"
"You don't know!" said Links
"No"
"That's where those miners drowned twenty years ago, apparently they
knocked through to an underground lake, whole place was flooded, bodies
were never recovered."
"Still flooded?" asked Bradbury
"No it was drained for the reservoir in the valley, dry as a bone now"
pronounced Links.

They looked at the boarded up entrance and moved off up the Fell,
stumbling on the shale as they went. They never found the body of Oscar
Partridge. Mrs Partridge managed to get a part pay-off by the Life
Insurance company though, it was enough to go to Turkey, somewhere she
always wanted to go but Oscar wouldn't agree to. She is probably
bathing in the hot springs around Izmir to this day, face up in a
rubber ring with the blue sky above and the birds flying majestically
in the warm air.