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“It’s a different experience in the summer when all of the water’s flowing. But when everything is frozen over like this, I think it’s something special,” Titus said leading us through a gap in the icicles into the cave.
Standing within and looking around its ten-foot depths, I was awestruck. The sight was hauntingly beautiful.
“It’s like we’re in one of those survival movies,” I said trying to wrap my mind around what we were looking at.
“I could see that,” Titus agreed. “Could you imagine Hollywood coming here and shooting a movie? That would be something, wouldn’t it? Snow Tip Falls has so much potential. All it needs is someone to recognize it and give us a chance.”
“Maybe marketing could be something you study at University,” I told him. “You definitely have the personality for it. You’re selling us on how great it is here.”
“That’s something worth considering,” Titus said with a smile. “I’ve never thought about that.”
“You should listen to Quin. He’s pretty smart,” Cage said grabbing my attention.
It felt amazing to have a boyfriend who said nice things about me. How lucky was I? Everything I knew about him told me he was a great guy. I mean, he spent his free time playing flag football in the park with 10-year-olds. Who did stuff like that?
I smiled at Cage and reached for his hand. He took it and smiled back at me. It wasn’t a blushing smile. It was one that told me he was content. I liked seeing that. I always had so much running through my mind that it was hard to find peace.
We sat in the cave and enjoyed the scenery for over an hour. Half of it was Titus answering my question about what it was like growing up here. He was a talker. That was fine, though, because he was easy to listen to.
The way he described his childhood sounded a lot like mine without the money and travel. It was attending a tiny school. You got to know your classmates really well when you did. You did everything together.
The big difference between our experiences was that after graduation, the kids in my school could go their separate ways. They could meet new people and explore the world. Here, no one left town. If you didn’t like someone in high school, you had to deal with them for the rest of your life.
“It’s getting late. You guys must be pretty hungry,” Titus said finally running out of things to say.
“We could head back,” Cage said checking in with me.
While we were sitting, he had pulled me into his arms. I could have stayed there forever. But, the only thing we had to eat all day was Dr. Sonya’s sandwiches. I was okay with that, but Cage was a much bigger guy than I was.
“Yeah, let’s head back,” I agreed. “But, this was an incredible tour. The town is breathtaking.”
“Thank you! I’m glad you liked it. Remember, tell people,” Titus joked as he got up.
“Or, you can tell them yourself when you start at East Tennessee next semester,” I reminded him.
Titus laughed. “Right. There’s that.”
With Titus again taking the lead, I kept hold of Cage’s hand and followed the group. I kept wondering what it was like walking in Cage’s shoes so I did the next best thing. Finding his footprints in the snow, I matched our steps.
Being nearly 6 inches taller than me, his steps were longer. I had to bounce a bit to keep up. Leaping forward to match his stride, I lost my footing and slid. Slipping out of Cage’s hand, the ice came at me fast. I hit the ground with a crack.
In a second, my body froze in shock. The crack I heard was the ice breaking. I was surrounded by cold water and sinking like a rock.
I couldn’t breathe. The water was too cold. My face was going under. It was all happening too fast. I started to panic.
Losing which way was up, I waved my arms until my forehead hit something hard. It was the ice sheet. I had swum past where I had fallen in. It was so cold. My heart pounded uncontrollably. I was going to have to calm down. How could I, though? Everything in me screamed for me to take a breath.
Forcing myself to slow down, I heard something. People were yelling. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but looking up, I could see their blurred images. One of them was pointing away from me. Was there something in the water he was warning me about? That was usually what that meant when the person was pointing at something from a boat.
No, that wasn’t it. They wanted me to go back to where I fell in. They were pointing me towards the opening.
Turning around, I forced my quickly freezing limbs to push me towards the hole in the ice. The shadows above got larger. Something entered the water in front of me. It was someone’s hand, I had to grab for it. I wasn’t in control of my angle or anything else, but clutching our palms I was dragged towards the opening.
With my free hand finding the edge of the ice, I pushed it out of the water and into the air. Twisting around, I grabbed onto the ice and pulled my head out. It was Cage who had my hand. He was lying on his belly and he was pulling me out.
Locked in his position, there wasn’t much he could do once I got my head above water. So, after a deep breath, I did the rest.
“You have to kick your feet. Kick your feet!” Titus insisted.
