A World Beyond the Waterfalls

A Whole New World

"Dakota." The words are whispered, barely audible in my state of slumber.

I feel Dylan's arsm wrapped around my body, tightly gripping me to his side. I slowly open one eye, lift my head up, and look over at him. But he's sound asleep, his mouth twitching with each shallow breath. I narrow my eyes and slowly push myself to a sitting position.

"Dakota." I hear it again. And I feel a hand on my shoulder. I slowly turn around and see Liam, kneeling beside me, his eyes filled woth concern, his mouth pulled into a grim line.

I let out a small gasp. "Liam? What-" But I don't get a chance to finish. He lunges and throws his arms around me, engulfing me in one of his famous bear-hugs.

"You're okay!" He squeals like a little girl. "I thought you two were dead." He sqeezes me too tight. I groan and let out a piercing yelp.

He quickly jumps back, his hands grazing my ribs. I bite my lip, trying to keep myself from screaming. "Liiiiiiam." I say.

"What?! Dakota?! Are you okay?"

I take a REALLY deep breath. "N-No. I-I r-really hurt my r-ribs." I stutter, in between sucks of air.

Concern is written all over his face. His eyes dart back and forth between my torso and my face. "Where do they hurt?" He runs a hand through his brown hair.

I sigh. "My left side hurts like hell." I answer, lying down so he can check them out.

"Good thing I've worked at the hospital for three years. I know enough. Lemme take a look." He rips off my soaking wet shirt and fingers my bruised skin. I wince every time his hand presses down in my side. He moves his hands more to my stomach a little and slightly sqeezes.

"OW!" I scream, my eyes tearing. He falls back.

"I-I'm sorry. Are you okay?!" He asks, frigtened. His voice is soft and gentle, yet utterly eager.

I simply shake my head, my eyes sqeezed shut.

"So it hurts more to the front..."

I nod again. "It...kills." I whine, my voice scrathcy and raspy.

Liam puts his hands up, letting me know he's gonna touch my side again. I brace myself for the worst pain in the world. He lightly taps toward the top of my ribcage.

"Not that bad. Only a tiny bit of soreness." I confirm. So he moves his hands down and taps. His soft touch feels good. I shake my head. "Still nothing."

He moves closer to my stomach pokes. A twinge of sharp pain shoots through my whole upper body and I yell. "Stop!"

Liam picks his hands up and nods his head. "It's really tender near your stomach. I think you might've cracked a rib. Or maybe you're being a baby and all you did was bruise it." He shurgs. "We can't be sure about it quite yet."

I nod. "Whatever."

Dylan's voice breaks our check-up. "What's going on?" He asks, eyeing my chest. Did he just check me out? I raise my eyebrows at him and he blushes and his eyes dart to the ground. "And why don't you have a shirt on?"

"Because Dr. Liam here was checking on my ribs." I say, as Liam slips his warm sweatshirt over my head. He grabs my wet shirt off the ground and puts it in the back pocket of his jeans.

"And how are you perfectly fine?" Dylan asks, looking at Liam in confusion,

Liam shrugs and raises one eyebrow. "No clue."

Dylan looks at me and laughs. "Well, we need to figure out where to go."

Liam's eyes widen in fake surprise. "How about we jump back through the waterfall?" He gasps sarcastically. "There's an idea." He rolls his eyes at us.

I look at Dylan. He just shrugs. "Whatever."

"Wait but I can barely move." I point out.

"Uh, guys?" Dylan whispers. For some reason, Liam and I both ignore him.

Liam rubs his chin, thinking. "Will it hurt if I piggy-back you?"

I nod and raise my eyebrows. "Uh, yea." I furrow my brow. "And wouldn't that be awful dangerous?"

"Guys." Dylan says again, this time a little louder.

We ignore him again. "Liam, you're gonna have to come up with another plan. There's no way I'm gonna be able to jump out of this place with these ribs." I say jabbing a thumb at my side.

"Guys!" Dylan shouts.

"What?!" Liam and I say in unison, jerking our heads toward Dylan. He stares in awe at something behind Liam and I. He lifts a shaky finger and points, his mouth slightly open, his eyes wide.

He gulps. "Look....Wall....How?" He stutters. Liam and I look at each other in confusion. We slowly turn around, not sure what to expect. And now's when I tell you that what we saw was not even in the POSSIBLE section of ideas. What we saw was definetely NOT what we were or were not expecting.

Where the waterfall the three of us crashed through was, is now a concrete slab, covered with sand, groves and jagged edges, fitting perfectly in between the two walls on either side of The Cave.