Exhume [H.S.]

I.

SEPTEMBER 1998.

Don't look down.

Those were the magical words to be repeated over and over in situations like this.

Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down.

The repetition didn't help at all, though, because Indy's curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't help but look below her.

Big mistake.

Violent waves crashed against jagged rocks nearly thirty feet below her, creating an ultimately disturbing melody as the sound traveled all the way up to Indy's spot on the side of the cliff.

Indy had done a lot of crazy shit in the past few years, but this took the cake. She was wondering how the fuck she ended up there, because she never would have agreed to this in a million years.

The goal was to climb down to a small cave nestled into the side of this cliff, which was inaccessible any other way besides scaling the cliff face from the top and moving down carefully.

The other goal was to not fall to an inevitable death in the waters below.

"Okay," Indy said to herself as she released a terse breath, trying to figure out her next foot placement. "Steady, steady, steady," she repeated to herself, realizing that she was alone and coaching herself through the trek while talking to herself. She felt crazy.

After carefully studying the ledges below her, Indy decided on one that looked the most promising. In a rookie move, she put too much of her initial weight onto the ledge once she moved her foot, not giving enough time to actually test the amount of weight it could hold.

Lethal, rookie mistake.

The ledge she had just shifted her weight to instantly crumbled beneath her foot, causing her footing to completely slip. She felt her stomach drop in that instant, and she tried her best to tighten her grip on the ledges that her hands were holding onto, but, by some sheer force of misfortune, those ledges suddenly crumbled too.

With all her points of contact disintegrating from her grip, Indy was completely hopeless. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she began to fall away from the cliff face, ultimately tumbling to the jagged, rocky waters below.

Despite the slow-motion, Indy hardly had enough time to even gather her thoughts during the free fall before her body crashed below and everything turned to black.

The strong sensation of falling caused Indy to gasp loudly and suddenly flail awake as her arms were thrown out beside her on the bed, indicative of her trying to catch herself while she fell in her dream.

Dream. It was more of a nightmare, in all honesty. Indy was practically drenched in sweat from the intense nature of the nightmare, and her heart felt like it was trying to beat its way out of her chest.

Nightmares like that were unfortunately a common occurrence for Indy.

Glancing over at the clock beside her bed revealed that it was only 4:30AM, so it was still too early for her to get up and start her day. The only problem was, Indy felt wide awake after that nightmare. She wasn't sure that she could fall back asleep any time soon.

That proved to be the case as she tossed and turned in bed for a couple hours before finally giving up and completely waking up around 6AM.

Going through her usual morning routine, Indy got dressed, put her hair up in a ponytail, and ate a quick breakfast bar before going on a run around her neighborhood. It was mid-September, so it was just starting to cool down from the warm summer months prior.