****
Alec and I meet up on our way back from hiding our tablets. He gives me a small wink and that’s all it takes to get the butterflies in my stomach moving. Just the proximity of being so close to him makes my heart soar.
We round the corner back towards the elevators and find Connor and Claire in a rather passionate embrace. I stop abruptly and turn my head. Alec does a little coughing thing and they both jump so high their feet leave the ground.
Claire puts her hand on her heart. “Oh my gosh, you guys scared me!”
“Sorry about that,” I mutter.
“Well,” says Alec breaking the awkward silence. “I think it’s about time to go, yes?” We all hop in the elevator and Connor pushes the ‘S’ button for Storage. The door opens and we all hobble out taking a moment to make sure nobody is around.
When we feel the coast is clear we slink over to the grate. Connor goes to work, like before, taking out the individual screws and handing them to me. I take it I’m the official screw holder-er, if that’s even a word. Connor slides the grate off a little bit at a time making some slight squeaking noises as he goes.
We take turns crawling in as before with me being the point man, or woman, I guess. Connor slides the grate back on and we begin our journey to the ‘sewer systems’. You would think with all the twists, turns, and pathway changes, one would get lost, but that’s so not the case with me. It feels like second nature already.
It takes us a while but we eventually make the last turn and stop next to the final grate.
Connor removes it and Alec puts his hand on mine. “Let Connor and me go first. Then we’ll help you ladies down.” The guys have a rope ladder in their bag but they are trying to avoid having to take it out until we are on our return trip.
I hate being seen as a weak link, but I’m not about to break another limb. He already helped me successfully down the first jump from the platform, the one where all heck broke loose before.
We nod our heads at the boys and they begin to jump down. Claire goes first and Connor helps her down. I’m next. I jimmy my way as close to the edge as humanly possible and stop. Alec has his hands lifted up towards me putting my anxieties at rest. I scoot down backwards like a small child and take the leap of faith. Alec catches me immediately and slowly lowers me down to the floor. He leans in to my ear and whispers, “I’ll never let you go, Willow.”
Goose bumps run up and down my arms like freight trains. “Thanks.” I manage to say without swooning.
"Dude, it's another freaking tunnel." Connor complains. "This one better lead somewhere."
We shine our flashlights around the tunnel trying to see ahead of us. I catch sight of all of our gear from the last trip in the corner and chuckle. It was pretty useless.
"I'll take the lead on this one." Alec says and heads to the front. Since there is no recorded map of these tunnels, my memory isn't useful for navigation. I fall in place behind Alec and the others follow single file as the tunnel becomes increasingly narrow.
"There it is again." Claire says.
I stop and try to listen to what she hears and when I focus really hard I manage to hear the steady dripping sound. "It must be coming from up ahead." I say.
We start walking forward and I can nearly feel the moisture in the air the further we go into the cold, dark tunnels. The tunnel takes a turn and we end up in an even narrower one that gets increasingly shorter in height as we walk. We go from standing full up, to crouching down and eventually we have to get on all fours to crawl. All of us put our flashlights away to better crawl except for Connor who is in the back as usual. He's holding onto the flashlight in his mouth. It casts eerie shadows that bounce off the tunnel walls.
"I guess your big mouth finally came in handy." Alec jokes as we crawl. Connor can't answer which makes Alec's anecdote that much funnier.
I'm grateful for the lightening of the mood because this tiny tunnel is making my insides go crazy. My stomach starts to clench and my heart races. I've never been claustrophobic but something about the way the flashlight bobs up and down against the tunnel walls and the cool damp air makes me feel nervous. The further we crawl the louder the dripping sounds become and the smaller the tunnel seems to get.
"Ah crap." Alec calls from ahead of me.
I realize what he's complaining about when my hand lands in shallow water and the first knee of my scrubs gets soaked. "Well, no turning back." I say.
Alec stops and grabs his flashlight to get a better look. The ceiling of the tunnel is wet in some places and dripping water. Up ahead there is another turn. "Interesting. I wonder where all of this water is coming from." He says.
None of us answer because we don't know. In my head I just pray this water is clean water and not sewage. It doesn’t stink so I think we're good.
He starts crawling again and when we make it to the turn we enter a new tunnel that is getting increasingly taller as we crawl. Eventually we are able to stand up again and I breathe a sigh of relief. The nervous feeling starts relenting as I stretch my aching, soaked knees.
We all are able to turn our flashlights on again which makes the tunnels look a lot less eerie. We walk forward and take one last turn. "Oh my gosh!" The air whooshes out of me and I stop dead causing Claire to run into my back.
"Hey don't just stop...Whoa!" Claire says upon looking around the cavern.
Connor makes a whistle sound showing his amazement. We all stand quietly for a few moments just illuminating the area in front of us with our four flashlights.
It's unbelievable. I have never seen a place like this in real life before. We are standing at the entrance of a gigantic cavern the size of two football fields. Stalactites drop down from the ceiling in thousands of inconsistent sizes and lengths. Five or six of them are so long that they reach all the way down to the ground. The most amazing thing about the cavern is that it's filled with a lake or spring or whatever you would call this body of majestic looking sea-blue water. The dry or actually semi damp ground only extends twenty feet into the cavern before the water starts. We walk further in to the water's edge and shine our lights against its surface. The water is clear and seems to get deeper the further out it goes.
"Cool." Connor whispers.
"I know." Claire whispers too.
"Why is everyone whispering?" I ask quietly.
"Perhaps subconsciously we are trying to keep from scaring the bats awake." Alec says in his full voice.
Everyone giggles but I shiver. I never liked the idea of bats or anything with fanged teeth. Creepy!
"I wish we brought our swim suits." Connor says. I turn around to look at him. He's sitting on the ground taking off his shoes.
"Wait, you aren't gonna go swimming in your underoos are you?" I ask nervously. I'm not prudish about seeing a guy in his boxers but I certainly don't want to dress down to my white underwear and bra in front of Alec.
"Only if you want me to." Connor jokes sarcastically and Claire slaps him on the back of the head. I stifle a giggle while Connor rubs his wound. "Ow!" He says in a whiney voice.
Claire laughs and says, "Man up Connor. I didn't hit you that hard."
That sets Alec into a laugh and Connor gives him the 'don't knock me when I'm down' stare. Alec stops laughing.
Connor rolls his pants legs up and touches his toe to the water. "Freezing!" He says then tests it a little further. I see him visibly shiver as his whole foot steps into the water.
I lean over and touch it with my hand. It isn't necessarily freezing but it's mighty cold. I would say it's either in the high sixties or low seventies in temperature.
Claire trots over barefoot and walks into the water close to Connor. "Oh my." She says. Connor puts his hand around her as she shivers.
I look to Alec and shrug. We both start taking off our shoes and socks. I roll up my scrubs to mid thigh and step in. It feels even colder on my feet then it did on my hands. I stand there for a moment allowing my body to
adjust to the temperature.
Alec comes to my side. We stand there for a few more minutes and then I start inching forward.
"Be careful babe." Alec says.
The term of endearment warms my heart and I feel more courageous to move forward. I grab ahold of his hand and he matches my step. We walk forward slowly. We keep our flashlights shining on the water in front of us. For the most part, the water seems clear all the way down to the bottom. We are able to walk twenty feet into the water before it reaches knee level. When we get to a stopping point we all just stand there in silence shining our flashlights around the cavern and enjoying the beauty of this secret place.
"I wonder how many people know this place is down here." I say.
"Most likely only a chosen few since it's not marked on any of the maps." Alec answers.
"Yeah, but somebody must know. After all there is a manmade tunnel leading to it." Claire offers.
"Well it's our place now." Connor says and mimes the action of sticking a flag into the ground like the astronauts did when they made it to Mars so many years ago.
"Yep! This can be our secret hangout." Claire says sounding youthful like a kid.
Connor gives her a loving look and it makes me smile. I like to see people who have been through a lot find happiness. Alec must like it too because he squeezes my hand just so.
My stomach growls loudly and I blush.
"Guess that's the alarm for lunchtime." Alec says playfully. He pokes me in the ribs, which tickles. I giggle and splash him a bit with my foot. "Watch it!" He says and then makes a move to splash me with his hand but I run from him back to dry ground.
He chases me, both of us sloshing through knee-deep water laughing like kids. A second later my feet are up out of the water and he's got me in his arms. He swings me around like I'm lighter than a feather and I laugh as my world spins. A moment later he sets me down on dry ground and I wait for my brain to catch up with the rest of my body. When the dizziness settles I lean into him.
Connor and Claire are talking and have already made their way to dry ground and are rummaging through our supplies in search of the Powerbars. I look up at Alec and my heart is like butter, melting in the gaze of his emerald green eyes. He leans in kissing me gently on the lips.
Then he whispers in my ear, "Lunchtime." He turns me around and we start walking to where Connor and Claire have set up a mock picnic.
"This isn't much of spread is it?" I ask Claire who's looking up at me with appraising eyes. I guess they saw the kiss too.
"Well there are honey flavored Powerbars and cinnamon raisin. So at least you have a little bit of variety." She replies with a silly grin. I imagine she's singing that 'kissing in a tree' song in her head.
"We need to bring our swimsuits next time." Connor says between bites of his Powerbar.
"So I guess we've found us a new hang out spot." Alec says.
"Yep and it's only for us!" Claire says.
"Yep, this is our place!" I say in confirmation.
We finish off our Powerbars and spend another hour exploring the shallow waters and talking about a whole bunch of nothing before we head back for the afternoon. This has to have been one of the best days I've had in a while.
Project ELE Page 16
