Widow's Peak (Ch. 1)

Dr. Jason Peak had spent years hunting for it. He'd travelled through North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and then back through southern Europe again searching in vain. Alongside him was Sarah Higgins. She was once his secretary back at the university, and then his helper on the open road, and now his lover to boot. They'd fallen for each other during their many adventures together, but had kept the relationship a secret. A secret from Jason's wife, Danica.

While Danica herself was stuck at home back in the UK awaiting his eventual return, both Jason and Sarah were busy dangling from a single rope twenty feet above a cave in lovely Messina in southern Italy.

"I've followed you through thick and thin, but this really takes the biscuit," said Sarah, the sweat dripping from her brow as she descended below him.

"I know. This is a bit crazy of me. Impulsive even! But after our long journey I think we've finally made the ultimate breakthrough!" he cried down to her.

When they'd reached the bottom, their arms and legs ached from the tension. They had always been far too weak and academically inclined for this type of work, yet it came with the territory. There was no avoiding it. They both were wearing their usual safari shirts, tight pants and black boots; taking time then to wipe everything clean from the chaffing of the rope. After a moment or two, they felt recovered from the descent and effort, pulled their flashlights from their back packs and illuminated their surroundings, discovering themselves in a tomb of sorts. There were simplistic paintings on the cave walls, and some ornaments stored on nearby stone tables.

"Is this really it?" asked Sarah. "We've been in a few places like this before."
"Yes, but-"

Jason stopped almost as quickly as he started. He had noticed something on one of the walls and called her over. He held his flash closer and used it to brighten up a crude painting that led them straight down the corridor. The painting itself was like a tapestry revealing a story to them. It was of a boy that become a man: a big, muscular one that apparently developed a fierce head of mighty hair. He easily fought off lions and appeared to have endless strength in the following depictions until, finally, his hair was cut off. Weakened, his eyes were apparently cut out and he was put to work. In the next picture they found, the hair had grown back and he was seen toppling pillars and a temple collapsed upon him and others.

"Yes!" cried Jason. "After years of struggle, we have surely found the lost treasure of Samson himself."

"But how can we be sure?" asked Sarah. "Yes, this is his story upon the walls. But we're far from where said story supposedly took place. A sea away, in fact. So why would it be here?"

"Because," he continued, pointing to the next drawings on the wall, "Look!"

She noticed it then. Samson's story may have ended at the temple, but there was a scene etched onto the cave of a man taking Samson's original hair away after it had been cut at the behest of Delilah, his great love. It inferred that the hair had been moved to several places throughout the centuries.

"It's a lost relic," said Jason. "No one believed me when I said it existed. But I know it's here. Clearly, different people have been caretaker to it over the many years, and the latest, well, his last resting place is down this corridor. Yet now, the relic will be mine. I will be its last caretaker. Years of hard graft will finally be over. I can go home."

"We can go home," Sarah interjected.

Jason gave her a smile, but didn't answer. He continued down the dank, dark corridor until they entered a small room where a stone coffin lay. Though neither was particular big or strong, Jason and Sarah pushed together until the lid slide off and made a loud clatter as it hit the floor. They peered inside then and, inevitably, found a skeleton.

"Who was he?" asked Sarah.
"Unknown; but look at his hands!" he replied.

Indeed, they saw a carefully folded piece of fabric which had remarkably stood the test of time. There was even string binding it together. It bulged, suggesting that there was something inside. Jason quickly removed the skeletal hands and pulled the package free. He held it for a moment and didn't move until Sarah egged him on to open it. He took a deep breath then, and proceeded to tear off the string and fold open the ancient fabric. As he did so, it began falling apart in his hand. What was revealed, however, astonished them both.
"There you have it," Jason whispered. "Fully persevered as if it had only been cut off his scalp this morning."

It was, of course, the locks of Samson himself. Despite how old they were, and despite having been severed so long ago, the lengthy, full strands of hair shone in the gleam of their flashlights.

"Well done," said Sarah, 'Well done!"
"I've never been more proud," replied a smiling and relieved Jason. "Wait until Danica-"

He stopped then.

"What about her?" asked Sarah, her joyful face suddenly morphing into a frown.

"Sorry, it's just...she also doubted me on some level. They all did. But she supported my endeavour, too. She let me go. Yet showing her this will both spite and please her on some level. I don't know, I just guess there are a lot of people that I need to shove this discovery in their faces. It might be petty, it might not be the most professional reaction to such a find, but-"
"But nothing," snapped Sarah. "You did good. We did good. So let's make a big deal out of it."

She stopped then and stared at the large chuck of hair in his hands. She thought for a moment, tempering her excitement.

"I just realized something," she said. "What if we're wrong? I mean, we can show people this cave. We can talk about how we found all of this and the long journey to get here, but how do we convince them that this is really his hair? For all intents and purposes it looks freshly cut. They might accuse us of lying, or simply borrowing someone's locks for publicity. They could call us a bunch of scammers, and there's no way of us proving them wrong. In fact, if someone just came up to me and said we have the literal hair of Samson, I'd burst out laughing and walk away."

"You're right, of course. But maybe there is a way of testing it?" he suggested. "What if we could harness its power somehow?"

"That's a nice idea, but how?"
Jason shook his head. "I don't know.

He didn't say another word. Perplexed, he simple placed the hair inside his backpack in a special bag and gestured for Sarah to follow him. The air was very close in the cave now and he felt they had remained there long enough. His thoughts lingered on what Sarah had said, and still hadn't figured out a way to prove the authenticity of the hair by the time they had finally begun their long, perilous climb back up the narrow opening. As before, they expected to sweat perfusely and be exhausted when they reached the top, yet when Jason began to climb, the rope snapped as he pulled and its long remains slowly fell down beside them in a snake-like heap until they realized that they were trapped in the cave.

"My god, this is a disaster!" cried Sarah. "We're like in the middle nowhere out here. We didn't even tell the people in town we were going up here today."
"It's fine," advised Jason. "We can just ring someone to bring another rope up for us. No problem."

There was a problem, however. For so deep where they now that neither could get reception. It had been generations since anyone had come down here, and they knew it might many more before someone discovered the cave again. Thus, they were likely stranded under the earth for good. Jason tried not to panic and suddenly had a mad idea bourne out of desperation rather than sense. He threw his backpack down and took out Samson's hair again.

"Perhaps we could weave a strand or two into my hair and see if that works? It might give me just enough strength to scale the wall without falling back down to my death, and would also prove that this really is what we say it is."

"You mean," Sarah started, aghast, "Y-You want to risk giving yourself a little of his power? But what if something goes wrong?"

"Well, as a said, it'll just be a strand or two. We can just pluck it out and I'll go back to normal afterwards, but not before we escape. And when we've also proven that it's legit, there will be no need to use it again. OK?"

"I don't know," said Sarah, reaching up and rubbing her thin arms. "It seems like we're actually messing with powers we really shouldn't be. It's one thing to discover and display this stuff, it's another to try engage with or use it."

"I know it all sounds nuts, but if we don't try something, this will be our tomb, too. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work," he informed her while shrugging his narrow shoulders.

She reluctantly nodded and accepted his plan. As soon as she had Jason quickly pulled a few strands of Samson's luscious and legendary hair from the pile. Sarah was handed them, and then both stood under the light of the tunnel above, taking great care to try wrap and weave some around his existing hair. There was an obvious hitch to the plan though: Jason's hair had been thinning over the last few years, and while he let it grow out long enough that he could sweep some of it over, it just wasn't full enough for Sarah to somehow integrate it all together; even temporilarly.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, "But I can't get it to work. There's not enough there."

Jason was both disappointed and embarrassed. "Well, that is really unfortunate, and frustrating."

He then looked up and stared at Sarah.

"But what about you? Why don't you let yours down and try to wrap some around your long, golden hair?"

Sarah stepped back a little and out of the light of the shaft above. "I'm not sure about this," she said. "What if I turn into some type of monster?"

"You won't, I promise," he said. "In fact, the opposite might happen. You could become the hero that's gets us out of here and proves this whole thing is real!" he declared, holding the barnet of Samson before her.

Sarah cautiously walked back into the light, and, while unnerved on some level, lowered her head and undid her bun, allowing her hair to flow down both sides of her head and then her spine. Jason would often run his fingers through it when they were in more, shall we say, intimate settings; this time, however, felt more sinister and terrifying to them both. But her lover began gently wrapping some of the magical hair alongside hers, twisting the strands around as tightly as he could from root to tip, as if he were creating the braid of a Padawn. He then tied it at the bottom as best he could and stood back in anticipation.

"Well?" he said.
Sarah just stood there at first and thought that it wasn't working. But then she felt something unusual. Her eyes darted all over the cave as if some force was moving in around her. She suddenly lurched backwards, her upper body almost folding over, and then she darted forwards, and, finally, back up straight again. As she did so each time, she let out a scream in agony.

Jason was frightened at the unnatural, sudden movements of her body, and walked back into the darkness. In the light, though, he could now see Sarah undergoing a metamorphosis. Her biceps and forearms twitched and then started to swell. Her shoulders split the seams of her shirt. A number of buttons also exploded away from the fabric as her chest grew. She also reached upwards and was becoming a few inches taller. When it was over, she stood there, panting, with her head down and golden hair covering her face, braid included.

Jason stayed in the dark and was actually afraid to utter a word. In fact, it was she who broke the silence.

"Do you want to get out or not?" Sarah finally said, her authoritive voice echoing up the shaft.

"Y-Yes," replied Jason, walking towards her larger, more intimidating form. She was around 6 foot tall now; slightly above him, and also a lot wider due to the extra musculature that the strands had gifted her.

"Then let's get out of here," she said, excited. She threw her head back and he could see her beautiful face beaming. She started admiring her new body, felt her arms, and was openly delighted with the results.

"Why did I resist?" she wondered aloud. "This is incredible!"

"It really is," replied Jason, "But as you said, don't you think it's time to see if it's not all just for show? Why not try climb out and get some help?"

"Get some help?" she snapped back. "I don't need help now. In fact, we don't even need a rope. Wrap your arms around my neck and I'll climb us up the shaft."

"Eh, are you sure?" asked Jason.

"I said get on my back," she replied. 'We're climbing out of here pronto."

Jason did so, and, sure enough, she reached up and grabbed a rock protruding out inside the shaft. She then pulled both of them up and grabbed another and placed her foot on the previous rock, dragging them both up yet further. She continued like this, making the odd jump to get up the shaft quicker. Whenever Jason felt panicked and asked her to take more care and slow down, she just laughed and moved even faster, leaving her passenger clinging on for grim death.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before she had them both at the opening and back to safety. While she now seemingly had the inherent confidence to do all of this without question, she still was amazed by her newfound strength. When they reached the top and the sun was beaming down on them once more, she flexed her muscles in the light, and tore her shirt some more in the process.

"God, this is great," she said to herself. "I feel so strong. And just from a few strands of his hair..."

"I think we're going to be famous,' replied a hugely relieved Jason, grabbing his things. "I can't wait to get back and show everyone my -our- discovery!"

"Yes," said Sarah, staring off into the distance. "Especially...Danica."

To be continued...