Rise from the ashes

Chapter 5 - The Plan

    Kaylie awoke the next morning to tapping on her window. She didn’t like sleeping in the basement because you could hear every little thing that hit the glass.  

    The tapping kept going, one after the other, like someone was tapping on it purposefully. Kaylie jerked out of bed with a sudden thought. Is someone spying on me?

    She looked out her window and was relieved at what she saw. It wasn’t a creep, it was just a bird. It kind of looked like a crow, but it had red tipped wings and tail. The bird was looking at her, never blinking, that’s when she realized the bird was tapping on the window.

    As she made her way to the window a knock came at from the door, scaring the bird away. She turned and said “come in”. The door opened and in walked her dad. “Hi sweetie”, he said.

    Kaylie hatted it when her parents called her sweet names like sweetie and pumpkin, for two reasons. Number one, it was just plain embarrassing, and number two, it meant they were going to talk.

    “What do you want?” She didn’t mean for it to come out so mean, but she could see the hurt in her father’s eyes.

    “We just wanted to talk to you about your need to have filthy critters.”

    “They’re not critters.” Kaylie said a little offended. “Their lonely ANIMALS that need a friend.”

      “Is this because we don’t spend enough time with you.” Her dad asked. “Because we try, we really do, it’s just that your mom and I are so busy that we forget to schedule you in some times.”

    “I know.” Kaylie said.

    “We promise to spend more time with you, ok?”

    “Promise?”

    “Promise.” Her dad said and left the room.

                             ~******~

    Once he left the room, she closed the door and looked out her window. The bird was still there, still staring. All the sudden the bird moved. It pecked the window then the ground then flew off. Circling above the trees before flying away.

    Did the bird want me to look at the ground? She walked over and looked. Nothing. She turned to go and noticed tiny scratches left in the glass. That stupid bird left scratches in my window. But upon closer inspection she noticed words and a picture. 

    In very neat cursive she read,

Find me in the hole in the cliff.
All is welcome.

    “Hole in the cliff?” She thought. Then she looked at the picture and found her answer. 

    It was a picture of a cave in the side of a cliff she was familiar with. It was behind her house at the back of a grove of walnuts. 

    She would have to check it out.  She headed for her closet to pack a backpack full of supplies because the cliff was about three miles away and it was the middle of summer.

    She would need water, snacks, a rope, and of course a flashlight and flint. She was all packed and ready to leave when she was stopped by her parents. 

    “What are you doing?” the asked.

    “Going for a walk.” She answered making sure not to lie. Her parents always knew when she was lying.

    “Don’t be long, we have something special planed for you when you get back, ok?”

    “Ok.” Kaylie answered and walked out the door.

                            ~******~

    Once she was out the door, she was struck by how hot it was. Glad she had packed some water, she headed to the grove of walnut trees behind her house. It was fairly simple to get to, all one had to do was follow the dried up creek bed till they got to the sheer cliff, then just take a right and follow that till they found the cave. She had found it by accident one evening when exploring the old grove. She wasn’t even sure if her parents knew about it. 

    She was jolted out of her thoughts as she stumbled over a stone. Oops she better pay attention to where she was going, she didn’t want to get lost out her. She kept her eyes glued to the riverbed she was walking in and didn’t look up till she saw a shadow cross her vision. She looked up to find the bird at her window was now flying above her. Did this mean she was headed in the right direction? She took off at a run, keeping her eyes trained on the bird, flying above. Next thing she knew she was on her butt with a sharp pain in her head. She was confused until she looked up, SHE HAD RAN FULL FORCE INTO THE CLIFF. Now she was super confused, the cliff shouldn’t have been for a couple more miles, how could she be here already? 

    She stood up and felt dizzy, she reached up and felt her head; it was warm and sticky. She didn’t want to but she looked at her hand and found what she thought she would, blood. How was she going to explain this to her parents? Maybe now they might actually pay attention to her. She turned right and started walking, the fresh air helping the dizziness. She saw the bird in a tree to her right. That stupid bird. 

    As soon as she thought that, the bird took flight, screeching once and flew on ahead, probably to the cave. She kept walking till she heard the caw of the bird. There it was, sitting on the ground just looking up at her. She looked to her left and there was the cave, just as she had thought.       

    She looked back at the bird. “Well?” she said. The bird just stared at her. She hit her face with her palm. Why did she follow a bird, A BIRD, all the way out here? She went to turn around to go home, but when she turned around she found herself still looking at the bird. She was really confused now. She turned again to find herself in the same spot. She kept turning till there was a lurch in her stomach and she thought she was going to throw-up. 

    “Fine, you win” she said “what do you want?” The bird still continued to look at her. She reached down to catch the bird and it hoped away into the cave. She followed. She had never really been into the cave. She didn’t like to admit it, but she was kind of scared of closed spaces, but as long as she kept the entrance in sight. She turned to look at the entrance to find that there wasn’t an entrance. She turned back around and found the bird had gone also. She was in a cavern, a small cavern with no exits, and she was all alone.