Spirit Walker, page 2
As I warm up, I pump my legs faster, darting through the trees. Now running like the wind, my heart thumping in my chest, I duck and weave, avoiding the branches snapping toward me. I don’t know how long I’ve been running or what direction when my phone chirps again, causing me to stop. There’s another photo, this time of a lush meadow area with another blurb describing the area and various plant life.
My eyes flit around, getting my bearings, and I realize I’m not too far off thinking it’s the perfect place to rest for a moment. Leaving the trail, I head to a little grassy knoll that looks cushy as I sit down, getting out my water to gulp some down. I stuff the M&M’s in my front pocket for later and munch on the Cheezits. Exhausted, I lay back, closing my eyes to the soft sunlight and enjoy the solitude. It’s a perfect day for this, I must admit. My eyes closed, my breathing steady, I let myself fade away.
Jolting awake, I cast around for the sound that woke me. How could I be so stupid to fall asleep? Grabbing my phone, I check the time and see that it’s much later than the allotted time for the walk. Great, now I’ll have to rush if I want to be done before dark.
I get up, brushing grass and leaves from my sweater as I return to the trail. How odd to have fallen asleep so easily. I guess Val was right. I needed to get some fresh air and peace. I walk along the trail until I’m stopped by a giant of a tree blocking the trail. The thing is huge, causing me to search for a way to get around it. I decide it’s easier to just climb over it and grab hold of the old wood before pulling myself up.
Higher up now, I can see I’m running out of time as the sun starts to fade behind the treetops. My eyes take in the forest floor below, and I decide it will be quicker to just jump down. As I hit the ground, the forest floor gives way. My mind shutters, unable to grasp what’s happening. I can’t even manage a scream as I fall for what seems like an eternity. Finally hitting the ground with a breath stealing thud, I cry out as my ankle snaps, the sickening crunch making me nauseous. Pain radiates up my leg, making my vision swim and finally fade to black…
~ Andie ~
I wake, dazed and chilled to the bone. Shivering kicks in, causing me to shake wildly. A plonk-plop sound of water dripping somewhere close by makes me realize it’s so dark I can’t see! I can’t even make out my hand in front of my face. Unreal! This is so my crappy luck. Pain shoots up my leg as I move. Grumbling, blind, I pat myself down, searching for other injuries. My hand digs in my pocket, searching for my phone, for the flashlight. Unable to find it, I give a little huff of frustration. Seriously? Hands shaking, I pat around the ground, searching for it. Well, this is just great. My hand splashes into a cold puddle of what I hope is water. My luck seems to get better by the minute. My search continues as my hand brushes something slimy feeling, making me cringe. I don’t even want to know what that is. I wouldn’t even be out here in the dumb ass forest if I could just let it go!
“Deep breaths Andie, deep breaths,” I tell myself, my voice echoing in the darkness. I can’t believe this is happening to me, I think as I snort, “Oh yes I can!” my voice reverberates through the cavern. I can totally believe this is happening.
I crawl in a circle, being careful of my ankle, patting the ground as I go along, fighting to keep from losing it. As I inch my way along, a stench like rotten ozone wafts up, making me gag. I’m chanting phone, phone like a mantra in my mind. And what the fuck is that SMELL? I retch, trying to not throw up and sniff, trying to clear my nose when I hear a scratching sound, making me freeze.
I hold my breath, straining to hear a repeat of the noise. Nothing makes a sound. The only thing I hear is my heartbeat thumping rapidly. My chest stills, my body stiff, holding still as I crane my neck, listening. Nothing. I hope there’s no bear in this cave. That would be the icing on the damn cake. I exhale, trying to calm myself, my panting breaths deafening in the dark. Rolling over, hissing from the pain shooting up my leg from my ankle, I edge along, being careful as I search for an edge or wall. As I reach out my hand into the inky blackness, my fingertips brush something wispy and spider-like, making me squeal. Not spiders, please lord no. Argh. A shudder ripples through me as I push through my growing terror. Please let me find something helpful.
My fingers brush something distinctly like my phone causing me to snatch it up. I heave a sigh of relief followed by a yelp of pain as I realize too late the screen shattered as it slices my hand open. A little bubble of hysteria whimpers from my lips, a hysterical-laugh building as things get worse and worse.
“Deep breaths, Andie, Deep breaths,” becomes my mantra as I gingerly follow the rough, rocky ground. My fingers hit a rock. Feeling for the edge, I realize it’s not a rock but the wall. I smooth my palm up the wall as my eyes adjust to the inky blackness. The wall begins to softly glow, allowing my vision to come to life. The glowing grows brighter with each breath I take. As the wall lights up, the room turns to a misty storm, reflecting off the glow. I scramble back, my ass hitting a sharp, painful stone as I scoot away. I see now I’m in a cavern as the whole area burns to life.
An eerie thick smoke swirls through the room, lighting up the most amazing electric neon blue. The smoke dances through the area on currents of air, swaying and twisting back and forth. The wall blazes to life with shapes and symbols forming, as if it’s telling me something, yet I don’t understand. My palm spikes with stabbing pain drawing my attention, and I look from it to the wall, realizing my blood is all over the writing on the wall. This area glows the brightest, fascinating me, calling to me, holding my gaze. The air becomes thick, making it hard to breathe, pressure building in the cavern. I feel like a diver deep in the ocean frantically swimming to break the surface of the ocean.
“What the hell?” I whisper, yet it sounds like a clap of thunder.
My eyes climb the wall, widening as big as saucers as the cave comes alive. Strange sigil-like writing swirls around flowing into solid lines and crosses. Pictures form as if telling me a story, capturing my attention as they ebb and flow into one form after another. The artwork is magnificent and not at all what you would expect cave drawings to look like. This is something else entirely and I’m puzzled what it could mean. I’ve managed to back to the center of the room as this all played out. As the cave lights in a vibrant blue misty storm, I scootch in a circle on my ass. My eyes watching the show as it travels along the walls like a child’s night lamp coming to life. I concentrate trying to take in the forms before they dissipate and form into something else before you have time to work it out. Is the cave trying to talk to me? Goose bumps rise, my hair standing on end, giving me a subtle warning. I have just enough time to wonder what’s going on before I am frozen in place, a shock running through my core.
As my eyes go wide with awe, the swirling storm forms a picture of a beautiful maiden with her long hair whipping in the wind. Animals of different varieties lounge around her feet, seeming to guard her. On her side, a giant of a man stands pulling her close, his arm resting along her waist on the curve of her hip. She gestures and before my eyes, he turns into a hulking iridescent bear! She throws her hands out as if in command and all the smoke animals charge at some unseen enemy, dissipating into a great smoky vortex that flows down over the hill like a waterfall of roaring destruction.
My mind blanks, my eyes wide as I take it all in. The drawings change into shapes and symbols repeating over and over across the cave walls, too fast for me to keep up, my head swimming and ears buzzing. My vision pinpoints when I’m unable to catch my breath. Shuddering, I gasp, trying to get air gaping like a fish when my body is electrified. I’m thrown into the air head flying back, convulsions arching my back as I spin a foot off the ground held by some unseen force.
The blue smoke builds along the roof of the cave like a summer storm gathering. It emits a pulsing thump as if alive, hovering in the air. My mouth gapes open as I desperately gasp for air. Panic builds when I try to move, only to realize I can’t. I try to claw my throat and can’t. I’m desperate for air but held immobile by some unseen force. The mist above me billows taking a great heave before a moment later shooting straight down my throat, burning, making my eyes water and my head buzz. I try to scream, my throat filled with the awful sickening smoke as it overwhelms me. No sound escapes. With tears running down my cheeks I have a sudden last thought that this is the moment I die. Brian’s face comes to me, hovering like an angel coming to take me home. I give myself over to him. Relief fills me, happy to be free of the pain. In that moment, the force holding me releases me, letting me fall to the ground. My cry of pain echoes and dies out, my erratic heartbeat the only sound now. The room plunges into darkness once again, the vibrant blue smoke having filled me, disappearing. Unable to catch my breath, I slide into unconsciousness.
I come to sometime later, exhausted, filled with pain, and colder than I’ve ever been. Everything that just happened floods my mind in an instant as I begin to worry over what the hell that was and what did it do to me? My thoughts take a dark turn as I settle, giving up, sure that I’m dying and there’s no escaping this black hole of death. Despair flows through my bones hand in hand with the numbing cold. Every little sound I make echoes through the cavern, empty and hollow like my heart.
I just lay there a moment, in total defeat, my eyes open to the blackness. Do I really want to live? I’m sure Brian is with me. I felt him. Warm tears trickle down my face into my hair. I’m beyond caring anymore. My mind plays tricks on me as my eyes take in a tiny light forming on the roof of the cave. I blink a few times in disbelief. Whatever is up there lights up a little more, giving me enough light to see the cave wall and floors. My breath comes quicker in my excitement to get the hell out of this cave while I have light to see by. Swallowing great heaving gulps of air, fighting through the pain and exhaustion I drag my body up the slight incline towards what I hope is the opening.
It’s slow going, but I’m filled with determination to get out. Tears cascade down my cheeks, hope building, as I inch up the slope, the air becoming fresher. As the slope rises, light filters in. Relief floods me. The outline of the cave opening appears, my excitement at finding my way out builds making me crawl faster, all injuries momentarily forgotten in my haste. A strange little whimper crying sounds falls from my lips in my hysterics to get out of the friggen cave. I emerge into the blinding brightness of the sunlight, like a newborn chick collapsing.
Blinded, all I can do is lay there, panting and shaking. Every part of my body hurts and aches and I can’t stop shaking from the cold. My head is spinning worse than a drunken night out, the urge to vomit strong. I feel like I’ve caught the flu and I’m fearful that whatever that was in the cave, it’s going to kill me. My eyes close and I lay there breathing in the fresh air of the forest. For the moment I am thankful I made it out and I’m alive. Awareness that I still need to get back to my car niggles the back of my mind, but right now I’m alive.
The warmth of the sun on my skin like nothing before renews me. I give a little half laugh. I bask in the sun, letting it warm me before I bother to worry about getting back. One thing at a time. After a while, the bone-numbing chill I had gained crawling around in puddles of water and muck dissipates. With my arm over my eyes, I rest, waiting for my strength to return along with the warmth. I play it back in my mind trying to work out what just happened, but the whole thing doesn’t make any sense. My head feels as if it might pop thinking about it all. How will I ever explain this?
After a time, the numbness in my fingers has finally gone and, feeling better, I sit up to look at myself. Gasping in disbelief, I see I am covered head to toe is some blue powder substance. I try to wipe it off, but it sticks like glitter, catching the rays of the sun and throwing blue prisms all around. I must look like a friggen Smurf! What the hell? Until now, I was hoping-no-praying, that it was all in my head. This dust is proof that what happened did in-fact happen. A foreboding uneasiness fills me as I try to decide what to do.
~ Andie ~
“Are you Andi?” I hear a deep smooth voice ask, surprising the hell out of me, and hissing with pain I jump. My sight goes up and up, the sun blinding me again, making me shade my eyes with my hand to see. Before me stands the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. He’s lit up like an avenging angel with the sun all around him. All golden blond wavy hair, broad shoulders. His outline is a masterpiece of manliness. My brain stops to function as I just gawk at him.
“Oh, sweet heaven, have I died, and this is Jesus?” is my first thought.
A rumbling chuckle fills the air as I realize, in horror, that I just said that out loud. Stupid mouth. Stupid brain.
“What’s your name?” He questions again. Still my brain refuses to be helpful. I stutter out “Farmador,” only then realizing he meant my first name. So dumb, can I just die now?
He chuckles again, bending down. “Are you hurt? In pain?” I shake my head, but wince as he reaches out to touch my ankle. “This looks really swollen, Farmador” he states, examining my ankle. I wince, not at any pain but at him calling me by my last name.
I correct him “Andie, just Andie is fine.”
He grins, giving me a sexy little wink, taking his backpack off and digging through it, searching for something. He pulls out bandages and supplies, then turns to me, his golden-brown eyes deep pools of caramel.
“You look like you’ve had a hard time. Where does it hurt?” he asks. His gaze assesses me in a clinical fashion as he waits for an answer.
“My ankle,” I say, looking down at my injuries. I raise my hand to the light, only then realizing how bad the damage is to my palm. There’s a deep cut running the length of it, crusted in the blue powder. “Seems I’ve cut my hand as well.” I hold my palm out for his inspection. He glances at my palm, nodding his understanding as he continues to assess my damage.
He holds up a bandage, gesturing at me. “Mind if I bandage those up?”
I nod. “My names Vaun,” he purrs. I nod again, like a bobble head. As I think this, I stop my head from moving and vow to not nod again. Jesus, what a mess.
“What’s this blue stuff, Andie?” He asks, running his finger along my leg to gather the dust and rub it between his fingertips. He sniffs it and eyes me again like a puzzle that needs solving.
“I don’t know, it’s from the cave.”
He wipes the powder off his finger on a piece of gauze, setting it aside like he’s collecting a sample. He turns back to me, his eyes focusing on my swollen ankle and the boot covering it.
“We need to get this off, it could be cutting off circulation.” He grabs a pair of scissors but before he cuts into my boot, he looks me in the eye waiting for my permission. I go to nod again but recall the bobble head I’ve become and instead just give him a soft “Okay.”
“This is going to hurt, this ankle’s pretty swollen,” He watches me as I turn my head muttering “Okay, go ahead.”
He cuts the laces, working the boot open as I grit my teeth, determined to not be a baby about it with golden boy helping me. The humiliation is strong. My leg heats causing me to turn my gaze back on what’s happening, and I feel his hot palm engulfing my ankle as he gently pops my boot off. Oddly, it doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would and I sigh in relief, my head falling back as he wraps it.
“Well good news, it doesn’t appear broken.” He announces.
“That’s impossible, I’m sure I heard it snap. Hell, it felt like it snapped” I frown now confused. He props my foot up on his thick thigh as I watch, he expertly wraps my ankle, his arms strong and confident, flexing in the sun. His warm palm circles my ankle, the heat from his palm seeping into it, and I realize he’s wrapped it up so well, I don’t feel any pain at all now. He gives a gentle squeeze to my ankle checking how tight the bandage is. His eyes, when he glances at me seem to glow gold and I blink wondering if I caught that right. But instantly they are back to their normal brown. I frown. When he finishes, he catches me watching him and gives me a sexy little wink, making me blush.
“You’re very good at that.” I sigh out in relief.
“Let’s have a look at that hand.” He holds out his hand, waiting for me. I sit up and gingerly place my injured hand in his. The warmth from his hand flows into me causing a shiver to run up my spine. Heat climbs my neck when we make contact as I take in his giant hand engulfing my much smaller one. I’m sure I look like a bruised tomato right now with all this blue powder and blushing. Jesus. He gently pours water over the cut making me hiss through my teeth but then he astonishes me by bringing my palm to his mouth to gently blow on it and I laugh when it actually helps. I study him, lashes lowered as he cleans my cut. Where has he been hiding? Our town is the only one for miles. He must live there, but I’ve never seen this beautiful god-like specimen before. His eyes flash gold in the sunlight as he concentrates on my palm. He pokes and prods it, pulling it in for a closer inspection but pauses when another pain filled hiss escapes my lips, his eyes jumping to mine.
“Sorry, it’s got rocks in it pretty deep. They’ll need to clean that out for sure.” his soothing voice like velvet as he bandages my hand. Continuing in his assessment of my condition, his eyes land on my knees and I follow where he’s looking. Only then do I realize the state of my knee’s as well. Damn, I gulp as the pain from my knee’s flares to life.
“You’re a mess,” he chuckles trying to put me at ease.
I fold my arms across my chest, a little offended, and arch a brow at him. I don’t miss when his eyes jump down to my breasts. I smirk when his eyes jump back up to mine, a blush setting his neck on fire, having been caught in the act. Yeah, I saw you looking buddy. He hesitates a moment, as if unsure.
“I’m working out the best way to clean and wrap your knees without causing too much pain, they are shredded.” He states all business, but I don’t miss his neck turning redder as his eyes travel the length of my legs.
