by Cat Crafter
I was surprised. Death, it turned out, was a lot like falling into an icy cold river.
But then it turned out I wasn’t dead. I had in fact fallen from the tree into an icy cold river (who would have guessed?)!
I was so surprised, I accidentally breathed in a lungful of water before I tried to kick my way to the surface. It was tough, because this wasn't a calm, sedate river. This one was flowing quickly through the jungle, and I felt myself being dragged along with the current. Even when I managed to surface, I was still dragged along and any attempt to hold onto a stone or the edge was met with failure. Then, the water disappeared and I was falling again!
Down and down and down I tumbled, until I hit even more water. Except this time it was dark and quiet. I easily kicked to the surface, and looked around.
I wasn’t in the jungle anymore.
Above me, a shaft of light shone down from the waterfall that had thrown me into a large, blue underground lake. I treaded water for a while, trying to figure out what to do, when I heard a voice from above me.
“Hellooooo?” It was Cat. She looked so small, peering down the hole up in the cavern ceiling. She waved at me.
I coughed and spluttered. “I fell out of the tree!” I said.
“We noticed!” Cat replied. “You fell into a big hole too. Pretty dumb thing to do.”
“I didn’t exactly plan for this to happen,” I groaned. “Can you help me out?”
Cat looked around. “It's a pretty deep hole. Try to see if you can follow the river underground. It has got to come out somewhere.”
I frowned. “Does it?”
Cat shrugged. “Probably. We'll try and meet you at the other end!”
“Wait!” I shouted, but Cat had already disappeared.
So I’m stuck underground, alone. Fantastic. It’s cold and dark down here. Adventures are the worst. I'd better get moving.
Tuesday ??? - Still underground – Mood: Grumpy
So, good news: I’ve managed to make a torch out of some coal and sticks I found, so I have some light and am not stumbling around in the dark. Hurray!
This tunnel with the river seems to go on for aaaaages. I've stopped now to try and dry out a little bit, and sulk. I mean, why did I have to fall underground? Why couldn't it have been Abraham with all his magic powers? He probably would have loved it down here. There are so many rocks he could be talking to.
That's all the scenery I have down here. Grey rock, grey rock and...oh look, a grey rock! The never-ending excitement of the underground. I always wondered why Scotty liked mining so much. It doesn't seem that great.
If I'd had just ignored Abraham and Scotty, if I had stayed at home, here is all the cool things I could be doing right now:
Not being underground.
Being completely dry
Eating cake
Playing with my sheep.
Not being chased by monsters.
Not being in the dark.
Not hearing ominous noises behind me.
Wait...what is that noise behind me?
Oh no. I'm going to have to run again, aren't I?
Who even knows what day it is anymore – Mood: Had enough!
Monsters. There are monsters in the dark. Of course there are monsters in the dark. They are terrifying and they are everywhere. It's like they are just spawning here. I guess we know now where the monsters go in the daylight. Right here! Where I am! And I have to run as fast as I can!
Obviously I’m not running right now. I am too busy writing things. Where am I? Well, I've managed to find a little ledge that is just high enough to be out of the reach of the monsters. So I’m catching my breath, with the monsters standing below me and looking up at me hungrily. Yeah, you would like to eat me, wouldn't you, monsters? Well, that isn't going to happen! Not if I have anything to say about it!
I could be in bed right now.
I could be anywhere else.
Anywhere else with no monsters. How great would that be? But no. Here I am, huddled on the ledge, and my journal has only just dried out.
Huh, there’s an idea. I could just swim out of here. The river isn't that far away. I could probably jump into it from this ledge. I could jump and then let the water carry me calmly out of this underground hole, like a princess. Yes, that sounds like a very good plan.
I think I’d make a great princess.
Sorry journal, but you are about to get very, very wet again. I'll try and keep you safe. Here goes nothing.
Tuesday Afternoon – Soaking wet by the river – Mood: I’m free!
I’ve learned that I would make a terrible princess. Instead of being carried sedately, I was tossed and turned and spun around like a squirrel trying to play football against a team of rhinos! Soon, I lost all sense of what was up and what was down.
I occasionally popped out of the water, just long enough to gasp in a lungful of breath before I was dragged back down again. Being a princess is hard.
Finally, the water began to slow and I managed to fight my way to the surface. I took a deep breath and bobbed out of the water, happy to see sunlight in the distance! I smiled and sighed. Finally, I would be away from the monsters and darkness, and out of trouble. My plan had been perfect...ish.
Yeah. Like it would be that easy.
I heard a strange sound. It sounded like a distant hissing, like someone was letting air out of a balloon in another room. I frowned and looked around. What could it be? Where was it coming from?
It was only as I got closer to the hole in the wall that I realized that there wasn't any land on the other side. It was just air.
I sighed. “Another waterfall? How many of these are there?” The path alongside the water had long run out, so I knew what was going to happen. I was going to go over the edge.
This was the previous waterfall’s big brother.
It was his very, very big brother, standing on stilts on top of a very tall building. By that, I mean it was a very, very, very, extremely large waterfall. I saw this just as I toppled over the edge and began to fall.
“Oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo” I shouted as I fell down towards the water at the bottom.
It was a long, long fall. For a brief minute, I swore I could even see my house, although that could have been unrelenting terror playing tricks in front of my eyes. Luckily, the pool at the bottom of the waterfall was deeeeeeep. So when I hit it, I kept going down for a while into the murky darkness, with a loud...
I sank down and down, the light fading above me. I blinked a few times. I was alive. Still alive! I grinned and began to kick my feet to get myself to the surface again.
I broke the surface of the water with a loud “Whoop!” and lifted my arms in the air. “Who is amazing at surviving? I am!” I shouted.
I have now climbed out of the pool and am looking for a good place to dry off, so I can wait for Abraham and Cat, who I probably overtook in my crazy underground river extravaganza (which is totally what I am going to call it from now on!). Ahhh, I love the sunlight.
I’m feeling good. I don’t think I need to worry about anything else for a while.
Tuesday – In trouble – Mood: Realizing I spoke too soon
Of course it all went wrong. It would all go wrong, wouldn’t it? Although this time, it wasn’t monsters or water or darkness or getting lost. No, this time, it was people.
Yeah! Other people! I didn’t even notice them at first. I was just minding my own business by the river, as you do.
Tuesday – In trouble – Mood: Realizing I spoke too soon
Of course it all went wrong. It would all go wrong, wouldn’t it? Although this time, it wasn’t monsters or water or darkness or getting lost. No, this time it was people.
Yeah! Other people! I didn’t even notice them at first. I was just minding my own business by the river, as you do, relaxing and trying not to think about scary monsters or anything bad. I was waiting for Cat and Abraham to arrive when a voice rose behind m
e.
“Raise your arms and stand up. Slowly.” The first thing I noticed about the voice was that I had no idea who it was. All I knew was that it was male and sounded slightly older than me. Unless Abraham had suddenly gotten a lot younger (to be fair, that could probably happen with him), it was someone I did not know.
Also, they were poking what felt like the pointed tip of an arrow into my back. I decided very quickly that it would be better not to argue, and slowly raised my hands and stood up. As I looked across to the other side of the river, I saw that this strange man, whoever he was, was not alone. In fact, he was far from alone. There were at least ten more people with him, each armed with bows and arrows or swords, surrounding me. They were all wearing clothes made out of leaves and twigs, as if they were trying to blend in with the forest around them. Considering I hadn’t really seen them until right now, it was clearly working.
I looked at them, terror rising in my stomach, and I tried to say the bravest thing I could think of at that moment.
“Hi?” I said. Yes, I realize this probably wasn’t the best or most heroic thing to say, but it is hard to come up with good ideas when you have an arrow poking you in the back.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the man asked. I heard the bowstring creak as he pulled it back slightly. Rude.
But I also heard a slight waver in his voice. Was he scared? What did he have to be scared of? His buddies all had weapons pointed at me, and they were all the protection you needed in this forest. My fear gave way to pure stubbornness.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” I asked right back.
There was a pause as they looked at each other in confusion. The man behind me coughed uncomfortably.
“What?” He looked around at his friends. The nearest one shrugged. “No, I asked you first. You have to answer,” he told me.
“No, I don’t,” I replied, getting more confident with each passing second. “You are being incredibly rude, sneaking up behind a person and poking them in the back with an arrow. I don’t have to do anything you say.” I grinned to myself.
The arrow poked me in the back again. It hurt! My smiled dropped away instantly.
“Don’t let her mess you around, Trevor,” came a woman’s voice. “She’s trying to get in your head.”
“Yeah,” said the man, apparently called Trevor. “Stop messing me around.”
“Are you from the Angry Mermaid?” I asked.
Voices rose among the other members of the party. “How did you know that?” Trevor snapped suddenly.
“Shh!” the woman said. “He didn’t mean that,” she said to me now. “You don’t know anything.”
I blinked. Really? These were the brave crew that Scotty sailed here with? No wonder the boat was left ruined on the shore. I guess Cat’s description of them wasn’t too far off.
“Is Scotty with you?” I asked, suddenly getting excited. “Scotty, are you there?” I looked around at the faces of the people who were standing around me. No sign of Scotty.
“Quiet!” snapped Trevor again. “You’ll draw the monsters towards us!”
“Let’s just bring her with us,” whispered the woman. “Cap’n might want to talk to her.”
“But-“ Trevor began, but changed his mind. “Alright then.” The arrowed poked me again. “Girl, start walking. We’re going back to our base.”
That’s what we began to do. I was escorted through the jungle by a bunch of well-armed, very nervous sailors towards their base. As we left, I took one last glance back at the end of the river, where I had said I would meet Abraham and Cat, silently praying that they were somewhere close, listening to it all, and that they would be able to follow us.
Somehow, I doubt that they were.
We’ve stopped for a break now. I’ve found out that the woman who was ordering Trevor about is called Kelly. Trevor is the first mate of the Angry Mermaid, but Kelly seems to be the one in charge. She’s a tall woman with blue, messy hair that never seems to go where she wants it to. She keeps brushing it out of her face, but it just springs back into place. Very strange.
They are looking at me weirdly now. What do they want?
Tuesday – In the jungul – Mood: Happee to be going home – Trevor’s diary
I do not like this jungul. I miss being on the ship. Evryfing mayd sense there. The gurl we fownd had this book on her and wuz riting in it. It is myne now. Kelly sed I can keep it becuz books will not help us in the jungul.
The gurl is angree becuz we took her book. It is my book now I hav told her but she sez ‘no it is myne!’ but she is our prizuner so she cant hav it bak.
We hav had a gud day 2day. We hav fowd lots of food to bring bak to the camp. Kelly sez that we will eat well tonyte. That is gud becuz I am hungree.
Tuwsday – At camp – Mood: Grumpee
Kelly sez that i hav too put the prizuner girl into the cage. I do not lyk to put prizuners in the cage becuz the other laydee in there is mean. Shee tryd to hit me last tyme and called me mean names. Kelly is telling me to stop riting in this book and get on with it.
Kelly can be mean sumtymes too.
Tuesday Evening – Locked in a cage – Mood: Annoyed, but glad to have my journal back!
There is nothing worse than someone stealing your journal and writing in it!
Alright, yes, being trapped in a cage on an island filled with monsters is pretty bad too, I guess, but they took my journal!!!! I mean, this is an important and personal document of my life. You aren’t allowed to read it without permission, and Trevor went and started writing his own entries in it!
Wow, his spelling is bad. I feel a bit sorry for him, though. It looks like Kelly pushes him around a little bit.
Also, Cat may have tried to punch him in the face.
Oh yeah! I forgot to mention: Cat and Abraham are here! I know, crazy right? What are the odds?
As I was forced across the camp at arrow point, I saw a bunch of metallic cages set up in the corner, and Cat and Abraham were locked inside! Unsurprisingly, they were furious.
“Do you know who I am?” roared Abraham. “I am Abraham, Great Wizard of the Forest, Elder of the Magic Council, Savior of the Diamond Realm, Juggler of Eggs, Maker of Slightly Burned Cakes, Quite-handy-with-a-Spade and you have locked me in a cage! How dare you!”
“Yeah!” shouted Cat. “And I’m Cat!” There was a pause. “That didn’t sound as impressive, but you can’t hold us in here!”
It turns out they were captured long before I made it out of the cave, and they’ve been locked in cages since. They thought I was doomed to wander the underground forever. Abraham even made a little doll of me, out of sticks, and he was planning on holding a little funeral for me. That’s...er...nice, I guess?
The annoying people are refusing to let us out until the ‘captain returns’. Who knows when that will be - they won’t tell us anything.
I should probably tell you about their camp, though. First off, I was completely right about that strange structure. The crew of the Angry Mermaid seem to have made their camp right at the bottom of it. It’s a small camp, hastily made, whose main purpose is to keep the monsters at bay while they sleep. Most of the items they built are made out of wood they have gathered from the jungle. Beds seem to be piles of leaves. In fact, the most well made thing in the camp is probably our cells, which are made with iron bars. Cat seems to think they were taken right out of the Angry Mermaid’s wreck.
Aren’t we lucky?
It doesn’t look like we are going anywhere any time soon. This is going to get boring. I can tell.
Tuesday Evening – Still in the camp – Mood: Nervous (it’s getting dark)
The sun is setting. The sun is setting and we are still in the jungle. I can’t help but feel this is a bad place to be when it gets dark. I can see that I am not the only one thinking that. Our captors seemed to be getting even more nervous. They are making sure their weapons are ready and in the best condition they can
be in, but it is still easy to see that nerves are a little on edge.
Cat thinks this is the perfect time to try and escape. She has managed to bribe Abraham into trying some magic, and we are getting ready to run as soon as it gets dark. I mean, it isn’t the perfect plan, but anything is better than being stuck inside a metallic cage, isn’t it? OK, we are ready to make our move now.
Tuesday – A strange development – Mood: Uncomfortable
It didn’t exactly go to plan. To begin with, Abraham tried to cast a spell and all he managed to do was summon a cooked salmon into Cat’s lap. She wasn’t super annoyed, as she was quite hungry and it smelled great, but it didn’t help us out in any other way.
Then, Kelly came up to us. She sauntered over to the cages like she was the boss of the world, and looked us all dead in the eye. “Now, you’re going to tell us what you’re doing on this island or bad things are going to happen.”
“What kind of bad things?” Cat asked.
Kelly blinked. We could all tell that she probably hadn’t thought this through completely. Finally she narrowed her eyes and said, “Bad, bad things.”
“I...see,” Cat said. She glanced at me and I shrugged.
“We’re looking for Scotty,” I said. “We don’t want to harm you or any of your people. In fact, we have a ship and we can probably take you all home.”
“I never agreed to that!” Cat snapped.
Kelly narrowed her eyes and looked between us. “You have a ship? I’ll have to tell the Captain.”
“That’s fine!” I said. “Tell the captain! Is he here right now? I’ll tell him, where is he?” The thought of finally being able to talk to the captain was great. I mean, my legs were starting to cramp from the uncomfortable cell floor.
“If you let us out, we can help with the monsters,” Cat suggested.
Kelly snorted at that. “No one can help us,” she said. “Do you know how many monsters we have had to fight over the last few days? There are thousands of them! They are endless. All we can do is wait here until....”
