Darkness was a cloth pressed close against her eyes. She could feel the emptiness flowing against her. She banged her helmet light.

"Damn."

The rocky walls answered in sibilant jubilation. "Damn. Damn. Damn."

A pinprick of light lay far behind her. She glanced at it briefly before continuing onward. She had gone down in these caves a million times before with Joseph, or at least it seemed like it. She knew her way around well enough, even if her light had gone out.

The steady dripping of water kept time with her heart as she scrambled over moist rocks.

"Joseph, where the hell are you?"

Her voice echoed around the caves, unanswered. She had told him to wait for her, but no. He was like a little kid sometimes - but that was what had attracted her to him in the first place. He was probably hiding down here, ready to jump out and say "boo!"

"This isn't funny, Joseph."

She continued on, as quietly as she could. A game, then. She'd find him first, out wait him. He'd light up a Camel sooner or later. His one real vice, and it'd help her this time. She snuck into an alcove to wait. She couldn't see the opening anymore, but she was confident. She did, after all, have a pack of matches that she could use to help her find her way out.

There, about a hundred feet down. He was behind a corner in the cave, because she could only see the glow of the lighter reflected from the walls. Good. She began to creep slowly down the cave, listening carefully to the drips of water. She snuck up to the corner and jumped around.

"Boo!"

The cigarette was hovering over her head. As she watched, it raised up even higher as something took a drag. And then it turned on Joseph's helmet light, still attached to his head and torso, held in one hand like a grotesque flashlight.