The light suddenly disappeared.
Someone said. It’s gone.
Disappeared, a more terrifying feeling,
not knowing where it is, I tightened my grip on the stone in my hand. I looked around in a hundred eighty degrees, probably even more than that.
My cousin's classmate was behind me, and I guessed he felt the same way.
My cousin didn’t move either. We were all very quiet, holding our breath, everything was silent, our necks twisted without a sound, after all, we weren’t fitness enthusiasts who could twist their necks with a crack.
Suddenly, on my right side, there was a rustling sound, and my heart tightened. I was ready to use the candle in my right hand to look.
I didn’t expect I was still slow; both of them extended their right hands and then quickly retracted them.
It startled me, and I was ready to turn around and crawl away.
Ah~ What is it?
The candle almost got extinguished by my nervous movements, or shaking.
I don’t know,
Look at your feet!
I jumped up as if I heard a command, but I was lying down. Only one hand was supporting the ground, and my right hand was holding the candle.
I was a bit off balance, my head leaning forward.
With a slurp, I smelled the scent of roasted bones,
my candle went out this time.
There were some small pebbles on the ground. Someone said.
Whose hair is burning?
My candle went out. Help me quickly.
My cousin asked his classmate to help me light the candle; he continued to stand guard because the danger came from that direction.
When lighting the candle, his classmate said, “A small tuft of your hair got singed.” I touched it; it wasn’t smooth anymore, it had a sandy texture, and I could still rub it off. After a few seconds, I seemed to remember something and decided to stop. I continued to observe my surroundings.
My cousin said, “Collect stones. As many as possible.”
Then we started to place the stones around against the wall, ready to grab at any time.
My cousin said he wanted to use the stones to scare away that unknown creature,
it’s a good idea, so let’s start. My cousin was in front, with no obstacles, making it easier to throw, and I threw a few from behind.
My cousin said, “Give me both of yours. We can’t waste ammunition.”
We both agreed.
Just then, there was a splash or a thud, the sound of something falling into the water.
Who threw that?
No one threw anything.
No one threw.
Good.
Is there water in the cave?
What creature?
I don’t know.
Afraid of stones.
Yes.
Continue throwing?
No more throwing.
My cousin said he would go ahead to scout.
He scattered some stones ahead
to facilitate his progress in stone-throwing exploration.
We stayed in place, ready and unmoving.
After 5 minutes? Or ten minutes?
My cousin said there was a puddle ahead.
Let’s catch up and take a look. No other creatures have been found so far.
We also reached the front, side by side, a maximum of 2 people, and had to slightly turn sideways. The puddle was neither big nor small, about 1 meter; if it were flat ground, one could jump over it directly, but in the cave, crawling made it very difficult.
We still wanted to get across.
My cousin said to find stones to fill it and see how it goes.
So we started to relay the stones from inside the cave and slowly throw them toward the puddle.
All the stones were used up. But the water still felt quite deep.
My cousin said, either swim across, or check the water level regularly, or look at other cave entrances. Or we could just leave it for today and go home.
I said let’s go home. I’m hungry.
His classmate said he was hungry.
Alright.
Let’s retreat.
At the cave entrance, we couldn’t climb up. There was no place to push off, and stepping on the dry earth wall wasn’t solid, causing us to slip down.
The final solution was that his classmate was lighter and still had strength; we let him step on our hands and slowly dragged him up. Once he got up, he pulled me up, and finally, we pulled my cousin up.
This failed cave exploration, we probably never went to that cave again. I guess that place has been developed now.
Years later, my cousin and I were on our way to the arcade when his classmate said to me, “Do you remember that guy?” I said I remembered, he had quite a few freckles on his face, and he made a mini pool table at home using glass beads, wood, and velvet cloth. Really impressive.
My cousin said, “What a pity, a few days ago, I heard my aunt say he drowned. They searched for many days and found his body among the floating debris in a big water gate.”
I felt quite sad, and we traveled in silence.