The Cave

Chapter 3

"That's an excellent question." Michael says pulling me away from the wall over to Scott and Bella. "Have you guys seen Kate and Mr. Winchester?" He asks.

"Uhh...." Scott says, "No.. We haven't."

"Well, we should probably find them." Bella says concerned.

"Yeah, why don't we start by trailing the perimeter of the walls." Michael says taking charge.

"Sounds good to me." I say shrugging.

We set off running our hands over the cave walls looking for anything that could show us where they'd gone.

"Hey, guys." The ranger says calling down to us from the top of the rock wall, "You need to stay with the group."

I look over at Michael, Scott, and Bella and we all head over to the wall. The cold water swishes around us. Scott and Bella go up first.

They don't have any trouble, but of course when I start up the wall my foot slips. My leg scratches against the hard, jagged wall. I groan as I feel something warm drip down my leg. Great, I think, now I'm bleeding.

Michael looks down with concern at the sound of my groan, "Rien?"he asks.

"Hmm?" I ask.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm just grand," I say sarcastically. He doesn’t say anything, just continues up the wall,  "I'm sorry... I just scraped my leg against the wall and it's bleeding." I say pulling myself further up the wall.

He reaches the top and climbs over, and disappears from my view of sight.

My hand grips onto the top of the wall and Grayson is there again, taking my hand, pulling me up.

"Thanks.." I say looking over the edge and feeling automatically queasy at the sight of how high up we are. He helps me over to a wall and I set down with my back against a big rock.

"We need to get this cleaned." He mutters to himself.

"Does someone have a first aid kit?" Bella asks the group.

The ranger walks over and starts to examine my leg. She opens a first aid kit  and I see that it contains  a bottle of water, antibiotic ointment, gauze, and surgical tape.

She pours the water over my leg and it stings. I clutch at my knee. Michael looks at me; a worried look plastering his face.

"Does it hurt that bad?" He asks, kneeling beside me. I nod.

The ranger carefully applies some antibiotic ointment along the four inch cut, running down my raw shin. She lays the gauze over top and takes the tape, running it around my leg at the top and bottom of the bandage.

He sits back and looks at me. "I'm sorry." I say looking directly into his eyes now.

"You don't need to be sorry." He replies sitting down beside me.

"Yes I do. I was rude, when all you wanted to know was if I was okay." I look at Bella and Scott standing against the far wall.

"It's okay. Okay?" He says pulling my eyes back to him by his voice.

"Okay." I say giving him a small smile.

He stands and pulls me up beside him.

We rejoin the group and Michael stays close to me, but doesn’t touch me.

Bella and Scott seem to be in their own little world, whispering and trying not to laugh.

Michael starts to walk towards the far wall. "Where are you going?" I ask and realize too late that I sound a bit childish.

"I think I see a small opening through there." He says smiling at the concern in my voice.

"At least let me come with you." I say limping over to him.

"Please, Rien, please be careful." He says taking hold of my arm, attempting to keep me steady.

"I'm fine." I say reassuringly.

We walk over towards the opening, trying not to be obvious. We get to the wall and Michael stops looking back at me. "Let me go first. I'll come and get you if it's safe." He says.

"No." I say firmly.

"What do you mean no?" He says taken aback.

"Exactly that. No. My friend is the one who has disappeared. I'm coming with you." I say not backing down.

He's hesitant. "Okay." He says before turning and sliding through the small opening in the wall.

I follow him through. There is barely enough space for us to stand side by side, but I manage to get beside him.

Our sides pressed together between the two walls. I look at his face and see horror and confusion. His mouth is gaping open and I follow his line of sight. With what I see...

I immediately wish I could take it back.

Before me I see Kate in her bra and shorts laying underneath Mr. Winchester  who is also in his shorts. They were making out, but i knew they were about to do something that I know for a fact would have scared me for life.

I look at Michael again, but he’s already heading back the way we’d come.

We get out of the cave and I pull him over to where we'd been before.

"Please tell me you were just as disturbed by that as I was.." He says looking at me with wide eyes.

The only thing I could do was to nod.