I stood rooted to the spot, not daring to move for a long while. The prickling sensation on my back hadn't faded; it was still digging into me.
I couldn't stay frozen there forever, either.
I took a deep breath. After making out the footprints on the ground, I stepped forward and placed my foot in another footprint.
Jingle...
The bell rang, but the gazes shifted along with my movements.
I stopped again, raised the phone in my hand, and carefully surveyed my surroundings.
In fact, as soon as I shone the light around, I could roughly see where those gazes were coming from.
My hand shook, and I nearly dropped my phone.
Between the stalactites hanging down in this jagged cavern, human heads dangled in midair. Their eyes were all wide open, staring at me without blinking. Blood trickled down from the severed necks.
Strangely, I hadn't heard a sound before. Now that I could see what was in the darkness, I could hear drops of liquid hitting the ground, too.
No—that was more like the sound of "blood dripping."
Drip, drip, drip...
It sounded as if a light rain were falling inside the cavern.
This was scarier than seeing a ghost. Though I supposed these heads could count as ghosts, too...
I took a breath and realized that the heads were doing nothing but staring at me. I relaxed a little.
The heads weren't floating in midair. They were hanging there, their hair tied to the stone pillars to hold them in place.
Just from the fact that they all had long hair, I could tell they probably weren't from modern times.
I counted as best I could. From where I stood, I could see eleven or twelve heads.
Just how many people had died in this cave...?