Post by ginger on Jun 21, 2009 15:07:03 GMT -5
The rocks ripped my already tattered jeans as I glimpsed the height we had accomplished, and how much more we needed to go. Beside me, the guide, with his thick curly black hair and serious green eyes, sweat madly, sweat beads trickling down like rain. Adjacent to him was two boys, tall and blond that seemed like they were turning this into a game. One pushed one, the other then elbowed him in the gut. But nobody talked, no murmuring broke the silence that hung over Craggle Mountain.
We were on a field trip, you see, to explore the unknown areas of this reservation. The whole Grade 6 class was divided into groups and, as always, I got the worst group, the one with the numbskulls in it. We would never get anything done at this rate.
By the way, my name's Elodie. Elodie Withers. I'm in the stupid Graffton School (more Graffiti School because the walls are so heavily coated in it) with a lousy teacher by the name of---Ms.Prudence, who hung around with her beady little eyes, making sure everything was alright. I have two friends: Sarah and Ashley, and two enemies: the two dummies in the group. Which is pretty sad, because they have a crush on me.
Straining my muscles, every part of my body screamed in pain as I hiked up and up. My hands were getting blistered, and already blood was seeping out of wounds on my arms, neck and legs, but that only made my ambition to finish this greater.
One of the blondies, whose name was Thomas, shouted, "Look! There's a bear cave up ahead!"
I nudged him hard, probably hurting slightly, and hissed in his ear, "Don't yell. That's why avalanches happen. Get it?" He looked at me with terror in his eyes, and I took that he fathomed it as a yes. Slowly he surrendered to his brother Richie, and crawled up, careful he didn't make anymore sound.
But, sure enough, there was a cave. It looked dilapidated and old, but the ancient cobwebs swathed near the mouth of it and the old tin bottles dropped on the ground, enchanted me. Sure enough our tour guy saw it, and gestured to us that we all come closer.
You had to climb up to get there. But still, it would be worth it. Pebbles slipped beneath our feet, tumbling to the base of the mountain while echoing on the ground. I gulped, but dared to get closer still to the entrance. Everybody else was scared but the guide, but even then he had been used to stuff like this. Closer and closer, we got nearer till we were right about to enter it.
"Okay, everybody hold hands and we'll walk together," the black haired dude ordered, and I could feel his fingernails dig into my skin. A few chills raced up my spine. But suddenly, a crumble sounded.
"What was that?" Richie and Thomas chorused. The crumbling got louder and louder, until...
"AVALANCHE!" We all shrieked, and the cave collapsed.
We'd never get out alive.
I felt like banging my head into the wall. Sadly, if I did I'd probably make the roof come down, killing us all.
Now the entrance was blocked completely. Boulders jutted outwards, rock building after rock after rock. No sunlight streamed through, not a crack. Almost the whole area was pitch dark, except for a flashlight.
Richie grasped the source of light uneasily, fingering the switch, the reason it kept turning on and off. With a terrified expression, he bit his lip till it bled a little.
"We'll never, ever, get out!'' Thomas fretted. "And mom won't be able to give me that Purdy's chocolate, and I won't update my Nintendo DS, and our soccer league will lose, and-"
''Hold it!" The guide demanded, sighing. "We'll find a way out. Remember the quote, 'When there's a will, there's a way?' It'll turn out fine. Everyone just take a deep breath, and calm down."
The two boys, the green eyed dude and I all held our breaths then heaved out. I decided to check something after, something...suspicious.
"Richie?" I asked gently. ''Can I have the flashlight?" Of course, having a crush on me he gratefully handed it over, his palm squeezing it so tight his knuckles had turned white. Quickly grabbing it, I switched the (on) button. Thomas ripped it away from me.
''What if you attract a bear? Then we'll just die!" he shriek-whispered in my ear. I returned the favor and grabbed it away too. After telling him a million times there was no bear, however, he let me look around. The guide, who now said his name was Devon, stitched his eyebrows together and salvaged a bottle of lemonade, a few energy bars and an old beer bottle his grandfather had collected. Somehow, the meal tasted good, but I was just impatient to further explore. But the man insisted we stick together, so I waited until everybody was full. As soon as they were done, I jumped to my feet and shone the light one way, then played with it. I made swirls of glow and hearts and diamonds, but finally Richie got up and grunted.
''That's not how you shine a light. Here, like this." He thrust the light, which was still partially in my hands, and gasped.
I think we found the way out.
There was a tunnel.
You know in those movies where they show a light, a little place at the end of a tunnel? Those movies where you can see almost rays of light around a place? This was exactly like it. It just needed the 'Hallelujah' theme song.
Instead, you could see icicle-like limestone attached to the roof, and hear the drip, drip, drip of the rain. Even though that didn't really match well, I felt like hugging Richie. Maybe we would get out after all, and I could still get the 'A'.
Devon shook his hair and muttered something I didn't catch, but was something frustrating. Like he was annoyed. I think he said, See? There was a way out! I was right! HA! But that didn't matter. Something was over that end and that was that.
We were on a field trip, you see, to explore the unknown areas of this reservation. The whole Grade 6 class was divided into groups and, as always, I got the worst group, the one with the numbskulls in it. We would never get anything done at this rate.
By the way, my name's Elodie. Elodie Withers. I'm in the stupid Graffton School (more Graffiti School because the walls are so heavily coated in it) with a lousy teacher by the name of---Ms.Prudence, who hung around with her beady little eyes, making sure everything was alright. I have two friends: Sarah and Ashley, and two enemies: the two dummies in the group. Which is pretty sad, because they have a crush on me.
Straining my muscles, every part of my body screamed in pain as I hiked up and up. My hands were getting blistered, and already blood was seeping out of wounds on my arms, neck and legs, but that only made my ambition to finish this greater.
One of the blondies, whose name was Thomas, shouted, "Look! There's a bear cave up ahead!"
I nudged him hard, probably hurting slightly, and hissed in his ear, "Don't yell. That's why avalanches happen. Get it?" He looked at me with terror in his eyes, and I took that he fathomed it as a yes. Slowly he surrendered to his brother Richie, and crawled up, careful he didn't make anymore sound.
But, sure enough, there was a cave. It looked dilapidated and old, but the ancient cobwebs swathed near the mouth of it and the old tin bottles dropped on the ground, enchanted me. Sure enough our tour guy saw it, and gestured to us that we all come closer.
You had to climb up to get there. But still, it would be worth it. Pebbles slipped beneath our feet, tumbling to the base of the mountain while echoing on the ground. I gulped, but dared to get closer still to the entrance. Everybody else was scared but the guide, but even then he had been used to stuff like this. Closer and closer, we got nearer till we were right about to enter it.
"Okay, everybody hold hands and we'll walk together," the black haired dude ordered, and I could feel his fingernails dig into my skin. A few chills raced up my spine. But suddenly, a crumble sounded.
"What was that?" Richie and Thomas chorused. The crumbling got louder and louder, until...
"AVALANCHE!" We all shrieked, and the cave collapsed.
We'd never get out alive.
I felt like banging my head into the wall. Sadly, if I did I'd probably make the roof come down, killing us all.
Now the entrance was blocked completely. Boulders jutted outwards, rock building after rock after rock. No sunlight streamed through, not a crack. Almost the whole area was pitch dark, except for a flashlight.
Richie grasped the source of light uneasily, fingering the switch, the reason it kept turning on and off. With a terrified expression, he bit his lip till it bled a little.
"We'll never, ever, get out!'' Thomas fretted. "And mom won't be able to give me that Purdy's chocolate, and I won't update my Nintendo DS, and our soccer league will lose, and-"
''Hold it!" The guide demanded, sighing. "We'll find a way out. Remember the quote, 'When there's a will, there's a way?' It'll turn out fine. Everyone just take a deep breath, and calm down."
The two boys, the green eyed dude and I all held our breaths then heaved out. I decided to check something after, something...suspicious.
"Richie?" I asked gently. ''Can I have the flashlight?" Of course, having a crush on me he gratefully handed it over, his palm squeezing it so tight his knuckles had turned white. Quickly grabbing it, I switched the (on) button. Thomas ripped it away from me.
''What if you attract a bear? Then we'll just die!" he shriek-whispered in my ear. I returned the favor and grabbed it away too. After telling him a million times there was no bear, however, he let me look around. The guide, who now said his name was Devon, stitched his eyebrows together and salvaged a bottle of lemonade, a few energy bars and an old beer bottle his grandfather had collected. Somehow, the meal tasted good, but I was just impatient to further explore. But the man insisted we stick together, so I waited until everybody was full. As soon as they were done, I jumped to my feet and shone the light one way, then played with it. I made swirls of glow and hearts and diamonds, but finally Richie got up and grunted.
''That's not how you shine a light. Here, like this." He thrust the light, which was still partially in my hands, and gasped.
I think we found the way out.
There was a tunnel.
You know in those movies where they show a light, a little place at the end of a tunnel? Those movies where you can see almost rays of light around a place? This was exactly like it. It just needed the 'Hallelujah' theme song.
Instead, you could see icicle-like limestone attached to the roof, and hear the drip, drip, drip of the rain. Even though that didn't really match well, I felt like hugging Richie. Maybe we would get out after all, and I could still get the 'A'.
Devon shook his hair and muttered something I didn't catch, but was something frustrating. Like he was annoyed. I think he said, See? There was a way out! I was right! HA! But that didn't matter. Something was over that end and that was that.
