A Race Against Time

The River of Sorrow

Kate jerked her hand out of her pocket. Searing fire like pain shot up her arm. She fell to the ground, screaming in agonizing pain. Defender bent over her. She grabbed his arm and let him help her up. Slowly, she placed her hand on the golden watch. Her hand flew away. The fire was there again. She did it again. More pain.

"Why is it doing that?" She asked Defender. Was the watch causing the pain?

"Is what doing what?" He asked her.

"Is the watch causing that burning feeling when I touch it? Why is it making me feel like I am on fire?" If the watch was going to do that for the rest of the journey, she would feel like quitting, although she knew she could never do that. She has to save her mother from that Capricorn lady.

"Well, it is the watches fault. But look down." He replied back to her. What kind of answer was that? She did as he told her. What she found surprised her. There was a thick line of the snow they were just walking through for the past four days. One side was pure white snow littered with the footprints they left behind, the other side, purple flowers went on for as far as she could see. Between the two sides, was a thick dirt line that spreaded endlessly both ways.

"What is this and how does it answer my question." This was making no sense to her.

"When you step over this line, you feel the pain from the watch. When you step over this line, You no longer control what the climate and the terrain is. The watch isn't used to you not being in control. It thinks that you should control what you face. I don't know if that makes any sense to you, but it is the best that I can explain it to you. When watch gets used to it, it will stop hurting you." He replied to her. But when will it get used to it? How was she supposed to know if danger was near if she couldn't touch the watch? How was she supposed to use the watch if she couldn't even hold it? This was all so confusing for her. She often thought to hard about things. Way too hard. She often got awful headaches when she racked her brain for an answer. She always asked questions that no one could give an answer too. Like is the universe really infinite? If atoms build up everything, what builds up the atom? No one knew the answers to these questions, but she kept on asking them. It was just the way her brain worked.

"Please stop child, you are hurting my brain now. Please stop asking me those ridiculous questions." Defender said.

"Wait, was I asking those questions out loud?" She didn't want to bother him with her childish questions. Like he would know the answer anyway. No one knew the answer, and she liked it that way.

"Yes, I'm afraid you were. Now please touch the watch again. We have been walking for quite some time and I wanna see how much time has passed. I need to know how long we have left. Or don't have left" And with that he trembled, tears threatening to spill. She didn't understand why he got so touchy when it came to the discussion of her mother. It's not like he knew her...

Her shaking hand crept into her pocket again. Should she? She would likely face far more worse pain than touching that piece of metal. She had already felt much worse pain than touching the watch. But it was bad enough for now. She just did it. The chilly watch gave no sign of burning her hand. That was a relief. She pulled it out. It was glittering blue on and off.

"Why is it doing that? Why is it blu-" She was falling. Falling into the vast pit. Her instincts kicked in and she shoved the watch away, not wanting to lose it. She instantly grabbed onto a ledge. She was quite a way down. Purple tree's surrounded her and at the bottom, there was a river. Should she scale sown the wall, she was pretty good a rock wall climbing and had done it before in a similar situation, or should she wait and see what Defender had to do about it? He knew this place better that she did. She slowly felt her fingers slipping off the wet stone. She had to make a decision and fast.

Defender arrived at the edge of the canyon. "KATE! KATE! DEAR PLEASE ANSWER ME!" He yelled in despair.

"I'M HERE! I'M HANGING FROM A LEDGE AND I DON'T KNOW IF I SHOULD GO DOWN TO THE RIVER OR GET HELP CLIMBING UP?!" Kate screamed back at him.

"NO! WHATEVER YOU DO ,DON'T TOUCH THAT WATER! THAT IS THE RIVER OF SORROW. IF YOU GET EVEN A DROP ON YOU YOU WILL FEEL THE MOST EXCRUCIATING PAIN YOU HAVE EVER FELT IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE! IT WILL LAST UNTIL YOU FIND A VERY RARE FLOWER, THE AGONANARSE PLANT!"

"THEN WHAT SHOULD I DO?"

"DO YOU SEE THAT ROCK LEDGE ABOVE YOU?" She glanced up and saw the ledge. She nodded. "GRAB ONTO IT WITH YOUR RIGHT HAND. THEN PULL YOURSELF UP WITH YOUR OTHER HAND." She did as she was told. She reached with her right hand and grasped the ledge. But in a split second her whole life changed. In an instant something horrible turned into something devastating. Her hand made contact with the ledge. The surface was rough and slippery and right when she thought she would reach safety, her hand slipped. Sending her into the darkness of despair.