Queen of the Ashes

Signs of life

I'm not sure how long I laid there, staring at the sky, nothing but the sound of the water crashing against the rocks in the background, before I noticed it. The only sound was the water, no bugs, no birds, just water. I sat up and looked around at the surrounding trees, listening. The longer I listened the more deafening the water became. Suddenly my fight or flight systems ramped my anxiety to the max and I felt the need to run away from the water. I looked down at Lucy and tried to steady my breathing. She seemed to be doing okay, but I still wanted to remain in eye distance of her just in case.

I pulled myself to my feet and tiptoed to the water's edge. I stared into the water looking for any sign of fish, but again, no signs of life. I sat back on a boulder at the bank and began untying my sneakers. I was a firm believer in facing your anxieties head on, being afraid of the water was not going to stand. I slowly stepped of the bank and put my feet into the water. At first it was abrasively cold, almost painful. My feet started to turn pink and a chill ran up my spine. The tiny needle like icicles danced across my nerves and I turned to retract back up the bank. As my back turned to the waterfall the entire temperature seemed to change in an instant. The water was warm and comfortable, inviting even, and the deafening waterfall seemed to fall into a background lull. I slowly turned back around towards the waterfall something about the way the water cascaded down the rocks mesmerized me. I could feel it pulling me in, beckoning me to sink beneath the glass topped pond. My legs began to move forward. Fingers crept up onto my shoulder and I let out a loud shriek as I turned to see Lucy staring at me.

"Oh god, Lucy, you scared me half to death.are you okay? You passed out." I studied her face, her eyes didn't meet mine; instead they were locked on the waterfall behind me.

"Get out of the water. Stop listening for it." She said flatly.

"Listening for what?" I thought of the eerie silence I noticed before.

"The call, if you listen hard enough you will hear it. Don't listen. We will all be swallowed up soon enough." Lucy pulled me back into the shore. "Don't trust what you hear."

Snapping twigs pulled my attention back to the tree line as a line of exhausted girls poured out of the jungle with Rylee as the leader. As soon as they were in eyeshot Jackie took the lead and began scanning the area. Lucy stood still facing me on the shore, eyes closed.

"Oh thank heavens, Lucy is awake, Rylee made it sound as though you were dying." Jackie said smugly. I was too far from Rylee to hear her groan but I could feel it all the way from over here.

Lucy's eyes flew open and she spun around towards the group. "Oh no, I'm perfect! Just tired, a nap was all I needed." She cheerfully stated. "I just saw this place and thought this should be camp, I was so comfortable I just must have fallen asleep." I shared a concerned look with Rylee, even on the best of days Lucy didn't act this ditzy. Especially not when just moments ago she was solemn, and very creepy.

"Agreed Lucy! If we have to be stuck here until we are rescued this is the place to do it! We can make camp here next to this gorgeous waterfall, right girls?!" Jackie smiled around at the waterlogged, exhausted group, trying to raise morale.

Lucy hopped up the shoreline to stand with Jackie. "There's a nice clearing right up there, against some rocks, it could be a great place to build a shelter." Lucy pointed across the lake. How would she know that? We had never left the shore here, and inexplicably she was right. We arrived to the other side to find it was exactly as she described. I sat on a rock near the shore, we were closer to the waterfall here, yet the noise didn't seem as loud. As I stared out the glassy water a bird swooped down grabbing a fish out of the water.