t w o

3 0 0
                                    

As she walked, she looked around. Clara had gone too far in. Her canary, Roxy, tweeted in fear. Even she knew they had traveled too far. Clara didn't mind. She enjoyed any and all adventure. Even if all the tunnels looked exactly the same... Dodging a stalagmite and then ducking down to avoid a stalactite, Clara kept singing. She kept intoning, even as she realized she was lost, but then suddenly, her echo wasn't obeying her.

She froze, lips unmoving but lyrics continuing. A prick of fear began to swallow her, and questions started popping in her head. Who was there? Why were they there? Why had they been repeating her lyrics? How long had this mysterious person been in here, repeating her lyrics? How were they in here? How long had they been here? The questions bottled up inside her until she could only squeak out one frightened word. "Hello?"

"Hi!" Said an eager voice. "I was wondering when you would find out that the echo wasn't just yours!" The voice belonged to what seemed to be a teenage boy. "I'm Luke, by the way." Clara paused. Should she trust this man? "I'm Clara, She said, "Why are you in the cave?" "Oh, well. As you know, it sometimes gets really hot in Vancouver, and" She interrupted him. "We aren't in Vancouver" She said in astonishment. Clara was completely and utterly baffled.

"We're in Seattle!"  

Clara's CavernsWhere stories live. Discover now