He'd lost her!

He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. Frustrated to have missed his chance. He slipped back into the black depths of the cavern.

How had she been so quiet for so long? He'd even had his friend climb the rope and pull it up to trap her.

"I shouldn't have played with her, toyed with her." He listened to his voice echo off the walls. As if he were down here with a dozen people, all agreeing with him. "Scaring her was fun."

The others agreed.

"I loved it when she ran."

In the pitch-darkness he'd been able to hear her terror. And he'd known that soon, soon he'd have her and she was the key to the treasure he wanted. Then suddenly he'd lost her. He'd searched for hours, but she never gave herself away. Her silence had been total.

But then he'd heard her screaming and had come fast, but the man had gotten to her first.

"Who was that who rescued her?"

The hoofbeats faded as he fumed.

"But she loves it down here. She'll be back." He shouted that and listened to it echo. "Then I'll have what I want!" His laughter echoed back from the world of friends who surrounded him.

Friends?

No, only one friend. It was time to get him to come out.