Rachael woke up with a start, her stomach gurgling loudly. She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. As her vision cleared, she realized she unknowingly fell asleep on the floor of the cave room where she previously met the breathtaking stone statue yesterday.
The luminescent algae on the walls casted an ethereal glow on the cave. She could hear the gentle sound of waves lapping against the rocks and the distant songs of whales in the deep ocean. Rachael stretched out her arms and felt the weightlessness of her stomach. She has not eaten for days, and the thought of it made her hungrier the more.
Racheal barley stood up as she waded towards the edge of the cave, hoping to find some berries among the beautiful plants that grow in clusters at the furthest part of the cave. To her surprise, she found nothing other than seaweed and mushrooms.
"How foolish of me to think there's something edible here," she sighed in disappointment. Rachael's attention was drawn back to those white mushrooms by another grumble in her stomach.
" Well, some mushrooms were edible." she stared at the mushroom with hunger in her eyes. Mushrooms are edible. But eating a raw, uncooked mushroom was enough torture for her already. Unless she would make a fire and get it roasted.
Except, there's also a need to gather wood before making her fire. She was totally handicapped at that moment.
No food.
No fire.
And the salty water of the ocean was not an option either.
At first, Rachael was hesitant to take any, but as the hunger continued to gnaw at her, she eventually reached in and grabbed one of the mushrooms. She didn't care if the mushroom was poisonous or not. All Rachael knew was that she needed food if she wanted to survive in this new world.
She bit into it. The first taste made her giddy with ecstasy at the moment. She was doing something new and out of the ordinary for the first time. It had been too long since she had eaten anything other than the stale bread that tastes like mold the villagers gave to her when she was caged and locked up in their 'prison'.
Rachael took another one and shoved it in her mouth speedily before she vomited it out. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but at least she could take a little comfort from the food. After having a few more bites, her throat became dry from lack of moisture. She needed to drink water to quench her thirst even if it meant drinking from the salty water of the pool that surrounded the stone statue.
Rachael immediately turned her back to take a look at the stone statue of a man who was kept in a torturous condition, only for her to discover the stone statue wasn't there anymore.
Her senses became more acclimated to her surroundings. Something was wrong.
As she gently approached the elevated altar that was bathed in the middle of the pond, she wondered where the statue must have gone.
She had seen it yesterday and had been mesmerized by its beauty. The statue had been of a man, with strong and chiseled features sculpted into it. It had been around two meters tall and had been standing firmly on a pedestal carved out of rock and with the silver chains that bound him to his cruel fate.
Rachael's eyes swam around the room, her eyes scanning every inch of her surroundings with the hope that she might get some answers or clues. But when the realization of what was happening had registered in her brain, she discovered he was gone!
There was no trace of him in the cave. The only thing that made his existence evident was the metal chains that once held him captive, which were found loosely scattered on the floor. She had wanted to search all the places in the cave but then, who knows what danger she might run into?
Rahael's heartbeat quickened as the feeling of dread clawed in her chest. When she started walking closer to the pool, panic started to bubble up within her, making her movements jerky and uncoordinated.
She lowered her body and scooped the cold water of the pool into her hands, and brought it gently to her face before she drank it. After she drank the saltwater to her satisfaction, she sat by the poolside alarmed by her surroundings. The more she tried to think of possible explanations for the disappearance of the statue, the more her head hurt from the numerous answers that flooded her brain.
Rachael tried to calm the panic in her heart. Reassuring herself that nothing had happened. Maybe the stone statue fell into the pond and… She waved away the intrusive thought.
Nothing happened Rachael. Maybe…
Her situation was getting more uncanny and helpless with each passing hour. She thought. The creatures that brought her here were nowhere to be found ever since she arrived in this strange place.
The sound of her own breathing echoed in her ears, and the only other sound was the slight rustling of the water in the pool. Rachael sat there for hours, lost in the thoughts of her mind.
Suddenly, she heard a splash from the pool, like the sound of something large moving into the water. A larger volume of water sloshed over the edge of the pool, before returning back. She turned her head, freezing in anticipation.
"What was that!" she thought. "What's in there??"
She stood as still as a statue, barely breathing, and listened hard. The sound seemed to come from the pool that surrounded the altar. There was nothing to hear now… only the trickling of water through the cave pools.
Had she imagined it? Nope. there was no imagining the sloping of water over the edge of the pool. Definitely, something big moved in there. She knew this with every fiber of her being. Grounding herself in real possibilities, she thought, "Maybe there's a turtle in there. Or a seal?"
She stood up and slowly stared at her reflection on the surface of the water. If the animal - or fish, she reminded herself - was injured or frightened, she didn't want to upset it further.
She just wanted to take a look. Just a quick look to see if something needed help. The water itself was dark. So dark she could make out the ripples on the rock pool, but couldn't see the bottom.
She stood upright and focused on the water.
"What… what was that?" A wave flowed away from something moving in the water. In the gloom, she thought she spotted a flash of color under the surface of the water.
Rachael moved further around the pool, curiosity, and concern getting the better of her. She was already softly crooning, reassuring whatever was in the water that she meant no harm.
The rocks at the foot of the pool were slick and wet. Rachael was trying to be careful as she crept closer to the edge of the pool. One last step and she would be able to see right back into the pool. One. Last. Step.
And then it happened. She felt her foot slip. Rachael scrambled for a footing, but the rocks were so slippery. She lost her balance and fell hard, knocking the side of her head on a rock as she fell.
"Aghhhh."
Rachael lost control. Her body slipped over the rocks and over the edge of the rock pool. She was too dazed by the blow to her head to react in time.
"Oh no…" Gasp!
Splash!!
Rachael hit the dark water clumsily on her side and immediately sank to the bottom of the pool. She was slow to realize where she was. The blow to her head had disoriented her. It was already throbbing loudly.
She opened her eyes. And then she panicked. It was dark and she was deep under the water, floating just above the bottom of the pool.
But she could feel it… A movement in the water around her. Rachael couldn't see anything, but every instinct was screaming at her.
She was not alone!
Rachael's throat constricted. She needed to breathe. How long had she been underwater? She needed to GET OUT OF HERE!! But she was also terrified. A primal fear paralyzed her.
What was in the water with her?!?!?! Was it going to attack her? Her body tensed.
Every image of shark attacks she had seen crashed into her throbbing head. A sob escaped her. No one would even know to look for her.
She could feel her heart trying to break through her rib cage. Her lungs were about to explode. And her head… Ooohhh, her hammering head…
And then relentlessly, everything misted over and darkness overcame her.