UNDER MONSERRATE.

The fog thickened as Valeria and Laura ascended the path toward the Monserrate church. They barely exchanged words, each immersed in her thoughts. Ever since they had read about the hidden catacombs beneath the sanctuary, Valeria had become obsessed with the idea of discovering them. She said she wanted to experience one of those horror stories they had read together. Laura, though less sure, had agreed to accompany her, drawn by a mixture of fear and curiosity.

When they finally reached the summit, they took one last look at the city. The sun was setting on the horizon, bringing the darkness of night, and the lights of Bogotá spread out before them in a flickering dance. They smiled at each other as if silently celebrating their victory; however, fear grew in their expressions. They turned around, and before them, the sanctuary loomed dark and silent, with the lights off and the air even colder after the afternoon rain.

They circled the building, searching for the entrance mentioned in blogs and forums. They walked around, scanning their surroundings, until they found, just as one of the articles had described, a small, rusty gate, half-hidden behind bushes.

Valeria pushed the gate open with a creak that echoed in the silence. A narrow, dark tunnel, which swallowed all light, stretched before them. Without saying a word, Valeria turned on her flashlight, illuminating only the stairs that descended into a deep void, and began to go down, with Laura following closely.

As they descended, the humidity and the smell of mold increased, filling the air with a suffocating heaviness. The stone walls seemed to close in around them, and the light from the flashlight barely reached the next steps.

Laura felt a shiver as her gaze stopped on the moss covering the walls, faintly glowing and forming strange patterns. They looked like symbols, though their shapes were unclear. As she focused on one of them with the flashlight, she noticed that the moss was gently pulsating, as if it were breathing. She tried to touch it out of curiosity, her hand trembling, but it recoiled at her approach, causing Laura to pull her hand back in surprise.

—Did you see this, Vale? —Laura asked quietly.

Valeria barely nodded, not taking her eyes off the path. Her expression was strange, a rigidity on her pale face that Laura didn’t recognize, as if she had seen something move in the darkness. The silence around them was so dense that any sound, even their own gasps, seemed like an intruder in that space.

They wanted to turn back, but the tunnel was as dark behind them as it was ahead; there was no trace of light where they had come from, and they felt the walls closing in and expanding around them. Laura pressed closer to her friend, and with a firm resolve, they continued to descend. Suddenly, a soft murmur began to echo through the tunnel. At first, Laura thought it was the echo of their own breaths, but then she realized that there was something else beyond it; the noise was a murmur from afar, coming closer to them, like a prayer or chant in a strange language that filled them with unease.

—Valeria, do you hear... that? —Laura murmured, her voice shaky.

Valeria stopped, but didn’t answer. Her gaze was fixed on a dark spot down the hallway in front of them, and her expression grew even stranger, almost absorbed, as if the whisper were speaking directly to her. Laura felt a knot in her stomach. She grabbed her friend’s hand, and Valeria squeezed it back, as if they both sought to protect each other.

—Valeria... I think we should go back. —Laura whispered, her voice breaking.

The murmur grew louder, and Valeria felt something in her mind trying to cling to that sound. Though she didn’t understand the words, there was something in the tone that seemed to penetrate her mind. Suddenly, in the light of their flashlights, a shadow walking toward them appeared, and without paying attention to them, it walked past and continued. As it passed, an icy chill ran through them, and with panic-stricken expressions and sweat running down their temples, they stood frozen until the shadow disappeared.

—Let’s keep going. —Laura said, taking one step at a time down the stairs.

Valeria followed closely behind, afraid to continue, but the thought of being left alone terrified her more. The moss’s glow became more intense, and the flashlights illuminated as far ahead as they could. The murmur of the prayers in that strange language returned, but this time, it sounded as if thousands of voices were praying in unison.

Both girls stopped in front of an archway leading into a vault. When they shone the light into the empty space, they noticed that as they turned the flashlight in another direction, the shadows seemed to walk from one side to the other before disappearing before the light.

They looked at each other. Their faces, full of panic, met. Laura had an expression as if she was about to cry; her eyes silently begged to turn back. But Valeria was still excited and full of curiosity. Something was hidden there, and she wanted to see it. Their hearts were pounding, their breaths syncing.

Valeria wanted to enter, but Laura, still holding her hand tightly, was completely still; she didn’t want to go any further.

—Come on, Laura. —Valeria insisted—. We’ll just take a quick look, just a glance, and then we’ll go.