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When I stepped back, Lake was nearby, ready to look in. “Don’t let Mrs. Rose in the cave,” I said, joking.
“Too late,” Carla said behind me.
I turned, as did Lake. A trail of girls had dropped down into the trench. The stream wasn’t the issue. You could easily step over it, and there was room on either side within the gorge to walk along its sandy bank.
But the girls were heading under the building, and into the cave, skirting the mini-waterfall as they went.
“Oh shit,” Lake said. “The crazy old bat is going to get us killed.”
“There could be bears,” Carla said. “I read about it. This is Hunting Island. There’s bears. And wolves.”
“I’m more worried about snakes,” Lake said. “Snakes like caves, right?”
I pressed my lips together. We couldn’t just leave Mrs. Rose and the girls to wander around in caves that might lead on forever. “Do we follow them?”
Carla nodded. “One of us should.” She pointed to Lake. “Can you circle the building? See if there’s another side to this stream where they might come out.” She pointed to me. “Go in after them. Try to encourage them to get out.”
“What are you going to do?” Lake said.
“I’m going to stand at the entrance here and be here when they come out. If something happens, we don’t want everyone stuck inside.” She looked at me. “Whistle if they get stuck somewhere. I’ll send Lake for help if you take too long. Make them use flashlights so they don’t break an ankle in the dark. Don’t trust the dark. Try to get in front of Mrs. Rose and encourage her out. Tell her there’s a bear out here somewhere if you have to.”
I couldn’t whistle, but was hoping if I caught up to one of the girls, she would be able to. I didn’t remember to bring mine and wished I had. I breathed in and out slowly and dropped myself down into the little canyon. I accidentally stepped in the stream on my way down, getting a bit of water on my boots. The little waterfall splashed into my face as I started in but I walked around it.
The air got colder the closer I got to the mouth of the cave and I could smell the musty dampness from within.
I stopped at the entrance, able to hear the echoes of the girls giggling inside, but it was all black from my perspective. I wasn’t sure I would be able to see once I was inside.
I also didn’t have a light.
“Hey!” someone above called to me and I looked up to find Carla holding a flashlight above my head. “Catch.”
I did and then waved to her. “Don’t you need it?”
“I’ve got my phone,” she said. “Don’t get lost.”
Easier said...
I turned on the light. It was small and had a narrow beam, but it was enough to allow me to see inside.
The cave started out as a small circular area, the building above my head. When I looked up, I could see inside the building, the pump inside and a pipe going into the ground. Parts of the mechanisms were exposed down here. It was clear this part of the cave was used to get access to the pumping system, so at least this part was probably safe.
However, the cave continued and had two paths, leading deeper in.
This was exactly what everyone had warned me about. Keep her out of caves.
The girls weren’t in the main room but I heard voices coming from the paths stretching inward.
I sighed, shining a light toward one path and then the other. “Where are you?” I called. “Which way did you all go?”
“We split up and went both ways!” one of the girls said. “Talk so we can still hear you.”
How could she have let them split up? I thought to go back to warn Carla, but I didn’t want to lose them further, either. What if the paths split again?
I wasn’t sure what to do, and I felt uncomfortable letting this continue. I thought the best solution was to get to them and encourage them out. We didn’t know if this place was safe and everyone warned us to keep Mrs. Rose out of caves.
I picked the right side path, following it in. My plan was to get one side out, and then go back and follow the other path.
It wasn’t long before I saw the beam of their flashlight, and I did my best to navigate in the dark, using the small light I had to make sure I didn’t trip over any rocks. The cave floor was uneven and the walls closed in at several points, making trying to follow the girls harder than I thought.
I was so focused on the ground and where to step that I bumped into one of the girls before I actually saw her.
She stood in the middle of the path and turned toward me. “I can’t go,” she said in a shaking voice. “I can’t go any further.”
I shone my flashlight down the path in front of her, where the other girls had already wiggled their way further in.
“Why don’t you go on out?” I said. “Carla’s waiting at the pump house for us.”
“I don’t want to chicken out,” she said. “And lose my chance at getting into the Academy.”
I was pretty sure the Academy wouldn’t kick her out because she was afraid to go into a cave. I tried to think of a good reason to encourage her to leave. “Carla could use your help. She’s watching for bears just in case one gets curious about the cave while everyone is in here.”
The girl nodded and then peered at me with wide eyes, barely visible in the darkness. “Walk back with me?”
I didn’t want to risk losing whoever was in front of us. “I’ll go with you until we can see the pump house again,” I said.
We started back, adding my light to hers so she could find her way out. When we were at the pumping area, Carla was just inside the entryway, shining her phone light in.
“Hi,” she said to the girl before turning to me. “Are they coming back?”
“They went both directions,” I said. “And I wasn’t able to get to them.”
“I went around,” Carla said, pointing above us. “There is a place further up the hill where the cave opens up again, like the creek, but it’s steep. They won’t be able to climb out, so they’ll
have to come back. And if there’s two paths, then I’m not sure which one leads there. I had Lake go over there and stay to encourage them out.”
I nodded. “I’ll go back on the right, and get them to return.”
“Do your best.” She said and then looked at the new girl. “Can you stay here and shine your light into the cave on the left? I’m going to go in and see if I can get them to come out.”
Were we being too cautious? Mrs. Rose was an adventurous spirit. I remembered following Nathan through paths in woods surrounding our neighborhood, and he was always eager to try new places we hadn’t discovered yet.
This felt different to me, but perhaps because of the cave and darkness.
Or if there might be bears sleeping at the end.
Or snakes between the rocks.
I went alone down the right path, unable to hear the other girls ahead of me. I was alone.
Thinking of snakes made my knees tremble and I moved along the right path much slower now. If only the boys were here. It didn’t seem so bad when someone else was here, and I had to be brave, but now it was just me with a tiny light facing the darkness and silence and I was shaking all over, afraid of bugs, of bats, of bears who might jump out at me at any moment.
I tucked myself between rocks. The walls became narrow, and I had to duck and squeeze. At one point, I was on my hands and knees, suddenly disbelieving the group could have possibly wanted to go any further.
“Hello?” I called out.
A voice replied, but it echoed and I couldn’t tell who it was, only that they were ahead of me.
Eventually, there was more light. I didn’t know where it was coming from until I turned a bend, and saw it was coming from above where a small section had opened up.
This had to be the path that opened up, the one that Carla found. I hoped Lake was still out there.
I continued on, now able to use natural light to make my way through the cave, and eventually turned a bend to find the little stream and the small gorge it had formed, except the walls were taller here, well over my head.
