Pearls

Chapter Ten

"Cave in." Yellow gasped, though nobody could hear her. Instinctively, she dropped to the floor and curled into a ball, throwing her arms up over her head. The ground beneath her rocked, and behind her, the sound of stone crumbling continued, though the thump of her own blood pounding in her ears helped to drown it out. Yellow squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself to be hit by falling rocks at any second. Panic was flooding her brain and the echoes of the explosion still rang inside her head, making it difficult to think straight. All she could do was make herself as small as possible and hope against hope that the shaking would stop soon.

And it did stop, eventually. The noises receded first, then the shaking, until finally, everything was silent and still. Yellow remained curled in her ball, though, her heart pounding away in her chest, trying to even out her breathing. She was too dazed and terrified to move, worried that shifting her position even the tiniest bit might bring the whole cave down on them.

"Yellow!" Blue's voice came from somewhere above her head. Yellow felt a slim hand grab her shoulder and shake it roughly. "Yellow, wake up. Yellow, please wake up." It was enough to rouse Yellow from her paralysis. She groaned to affirm that she was still alive and started to uncurl from her tight little ball, slowly, testing each of her limbs to make sure that none were broken before carefully sitting up.

"Oh, thank the Diamonds." Yellow heard Blue sigh. She stood shakily and offered Yellow her hand. Together, they lurched to their feet, staggering as their legs re-acclimated to supporting their weight. Yellow scanned the dim cave, assessing their situation. The air was thick with dust and chunks of rock littered the room. Most of the blue lanterns had been buried, crushed, or extinguished, making the space awfully dark. The entrance was no longer anywhere to be seen. They were surrounded on all sides by thick dirt walls that looked about as immovable as anything. Yellow considered testing them, seeing if she could break through any to the passageway that must be beyond one, but she knew that none of them would budge.

The effects of claustrophobia began to cloud Yellow's already racing mind, but she forced it away. They were in no immediate danger, as far as she could see. She ordered herself to calm down and get a grip. She took a deep breath. Exhaled. Then laughed.

"What?" Blue asked, standing next to her.

"It's just, we have such terrible luck." Yellow lamented.

Blue snorted.

"I mean, really. Why is it always us? That ankle thing just had to explode, didn't it. Not only that, it had to explode by the only exit from the most unstable section of the mine."

"Conversely, we also have really good luck." Blue pointed out, quiet but not shy. "Because that collapse should've killed us. But we survived."

"Only to be trapped and die of boredom." Yellow said. She felt exceptionally giddy, and maybe a little bit insane. Perhaps she should be taking this situation more seriously, but for some reason, she couldn't.

Blue laughed good and properly, which made Yellow feel lighter. She turned and really looked at Blue for the first time since the collapse, grinning. Blue was dirty and ragged, but seemed mostly unhurt, except for...

"You're bleeding." Yellow realized, pointing to a spot near Blue's hairline where blood was coloring her bangs dark red.

Blue reached up to press her hand against the bloody area and winced. "I'm fine."

And then she fainted.

"Blue!" Yellow lunged forwards and managed to catch her before she hit the floor. What was happening? She must be going into shock. Either that, or she had sustained a major brain injury that'd messed her up so badly she'd lost consciousness. Yellow decided it was the first option, simply because she didn't know how to deal with the second one. She gently set Blue down on the floor and tore a chunk of fabric off of Blue's already very filthy and torn skirt. "Hang on." She muttered to Blue's prone form. "Just let me..."