Page 76 of Blossoms of the Heart
I watched them go and then turned back to the assistants who had begun taking pictures. I took some more and continued my admiration of the scenery. When I got closer to the waterfall I noticed another path just behind it. Anyone could have missed it because it looked like a part of the rock formation, but I could see that it was definitely a path. It was also quite dark but the ground looked smooth.
I looked back at the assistants and then to where Tai went. Maybe I could go and check out the area. Everyone else was doing something. The assistants were now writing down notes in their books.
I turned back to the path and decided I would investigate. Shining my flashlight ahead revealed that the ground was definitely smooth, so I walked on, keeping my flashlight steady in front of me. After a few minutes I stopped and thought I should turn back. This was clearly somewhere we could all go as a group.
As I turned to go my flashlight revealed yet another path and my interest started to pique. I thought of the map and the area where the samurai was found.
Could he have come down here?
I bit the inside of my lip, knowing Tai would probably tell me off, but proceeded anyway. I could handle myself and hadn’t needed any help or protection before now. Not coming down here would be torturing my zeal for adventure and exploration.
Something on the wall caught my eye. It was a groove. No…
I shone the flashlight over it and gasped. It was a drawing. An actual drawing of some letters in… Arabic?
There were Arabic characters in the journal.
On the wall was the sign for the wordattention. I looked at it and stared for a few seconds. Looking closer I saw another mark. This one looked like the clan symbol I’d seen on the samurai.
“Shit,” I gasped, completely fascinated. I shone the flashlight around to see if there were any more drawings but couldn’t see any.
A sound just above my head made me look up and I could swear I saw the ceiling move with the dark.
It was stupid of me not to have considered why the ceiling moved, especially given my experience. I knew that the one thing you should never do in a cave like this that could potentially have bats is raise up my flashlight to the roof.
However, I did. The flashlight and my headlight focusing up at once on the roost of bats disturbed them and sent a number of them flapping down.
I screamed from the depths of my soul and stumbled over myself, dropping the flashlight. I could be brave for a number of things, but not when it came to bats. That image of having my eyes pecked out flashed into my mind and I couldn’t stop screaming. The flapping around me made it a hundred times worse.
Managing to get up, I ran, leaving the flashlight, but the bats followed me. Fear propelled me and I lost my sense of direction. I must have verged down another path adjacent to where I’d come from. Then suddenly the path started to crumble beneath my feet and I was falling.
Falling to my death.
I screamed instantly reminded of the last time death came for me.
Darkness surrounded me then water.
I plunged straight in and went down deep into the dark depths of its stomach losing my hat.
The current sucked me in then snapped me forward. The trepid waves slapped against my head making me feel dizzy as I tried to swim and gain some control.
Someone called my name.
Who?
There it was again, and again. A panicked voice.
“Phoebe!”
It was Tai.
I pushed aside the sick dizzy feeling, gathered my strength, and called back to him.
Suddenly I saw him come into view. The light from his hat shone around him but he tossed it off and dived into the river, swimming powerfully towards me. I tried to swim to him too, but the pull was too strong. I looked down the trail of the river as light from outside peeked in, brightening the area.
Instantly I saw why the pull was so strong. I was heading straight for a waterfall.
I was a good swimmer, but falling down a waterfall that hadn’t been explored yet was a terrible idea in all books. Especially one in a cave that was covered with sharp rock formations. It could mean more rocks awaited me.
