HAVEN BLACK - complete

THROUGH THE CAVE OF BATS

CHAPTER 36 - THROUGH THE CAVE OF BATS

"Come on Jacob, let's head back." Samara said as she walked hurriedly towards me, grasping my hand; she then lead the way out of the cabin and into the thick early morning forest air.

Darting my eyes around I couldn't help but blink uncomfortably; my eyes felt as though a thin plastic sheet had been wrapped around them, filtering out all color. It was definitely nighttime, but I could see everything as if it was day, but only in a monochrome sort of way. Vigorously I began rubbing my eyes in a failed attempt to make the color come back.

"What, what the hell's wrong with my eyes!" I said in a semi-panic.

Samara grabbed my hands and pinned them beside my hips.

"Shhh...just close your eyes," she said reassuringly. "Close your eyes, relax your eye lids, then open them slowly."

A tense moment later I slowly opened my eyes and took a lazy look around where we stood; the cabin, which stood next to us on an elevated clearing, out-looked above the forest canopy. My eyes started to feel uncomfortable again as I tried to gaze out beyond the forest that seemed to stretch out vast distances in all directions like a thick blanket. The horizon appeared a reddish, devilish color and I figured sunrise couldn't be far away.

"This place really is in the middle of nowhere." I mentioned as I focused my sight back to Samara and this seemed to help make the aching sensation disappear from my irides.

"It's my little getaway..." Samara said appreciatively as she once again grabbed my hand and proceeded to pull me down the hill and into the darkness of the canopy. "Keep hold of my hand, it's easy to get lost in here."

Samara pulled my hand with an immense strength and we picked up a rapid pace along a path she clearly had taken numerous times before; weaving in and out between the trees I could feel my hair, all the way to the follicles, gently shifting position every time we rounded a trunk and it felt as though a billion tiny fingers were massaging my head in unison. My brain struggled to keep up with the ever-changing direction that Samara was doing to avoid hitting tree trunks and branches and by the time we had made it to the sandy shoreline of a beach, I felt utterly exhausted.

"Shit Samara! - Could you - not have - run any faster?" I said indignantly as I bent over myself, resting my hands on my knees and trying to catch my breath.

"There's no need for that Jacob," Samara fired back.

"Well - you - could - have - at least - warned - me that you were..." I began hotly between gasping breaths.

"Not that Jacob!" Samara interrupted. "You don't need oxygen, so stop trying to catch your breath... You can be funny you know."

"What - are - you saying?" I gasped.

"Literally just stop! Stop breathing," Samara bellowed out in a winsome laughter, "then you'll see what I'm saying to you."

Gasping once more, I then stood up, held my breath in for a moment then as I exhaled, Samara held my palm up to my face, an inch from my mouth.

"Did you feel your breath on your hand?" she asked cheekily.

"Um, no," I replied perplexed.

"And do you still feel out of breath?" Samara questioned as she let go of my wrist.

"Err, no," I replied, blowing on my palm again and feeling nothing.

"See now?" Samara said coolly.

"Yeah, but it's such a strange feeling, I mean my body still feels like it needs to breath," I said as I blew to no avail on my hand once more before shaking it away from my face.