Our fears are finally starting to settle down. Rahi and I have begun to have one word conversations about stuff like the weather, or the dishes, or our sleeping arrangements. I’m not as wary of the windows anymore, and I can actually relax, somewhat.
Although, it’s no surprise that they wait until we do just that: relax. There’s no fun in scaring someone when they’re already scared.
Rahi sees them first; he nudges my side. I instinctually look out the window, expectant fear seeping into my veins and flooding my body with flashes of fire and ice.
There they are, walking up the street, as if nothing is wrong. As if they aren’t about to terminate two people’s life. They’re big and barrel-chested; just the kind of people you’d want to have frighten someone.
I start to panic. We’re stuck, me and Rahi. There’s no tunnel out, and there’s no loophole from these men. There’s no hope.
I’m immobilized. Rahi puts a finger to his lips. I realize I’m hyperventilating, and try to calm my breathing. He pulls me by the elbow over to the bookcase.
I think, the bookcase? What?
Rahi quietly pushes the bookcase out of the way. I’m amazed. There’s a small tunnel way in the middle of the wall, where the bookcase was. The hole is just big enough so that an average human could fit in and crawl. I’m 5 foot 7 and a skinny stick, so I’ll fit with room to spare, but Rahi is 6 foot even and has broad shoulders. He’ll just have to squeeze a little; he’s skinny enough to do that. It won’t be, however, I realize with joy, big enough for those guys to follow us through.
We’ve got to hurry. I can’t see the assassins, but I can feel their impending presence, pressing down on mine with a force that leaves me breathless. Rahi practically shoves me into the tunnel, and I can vaguely hear his whisper screaming, “Go! Now!”
I now know what a caterpillar trying to escape its cocoon feels like. All I feel is the pitch black, the tightness of the tunnel, and the strong desire to live. I sense Rahi behind me, so that’s a small comfort. I keep going. It’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic.
An hour has passed, I think. At least it feels like it. I still can’t see any light.
Another hour. I’m starting to get cramped. I wonder how Rahi is doing. He occasionally blows on my bare feet to reassure me that he’s still there. I don’t think that anyone is following us, since Rahi has had a steady breathing pattern since a while ago. I think he just wanted to get as far away as possible before he could relax.
I finally see a light up ahead. It’s a lot fainter than when we entered the tunnel. It’s got a greenish hue to it as well. I’m surprised that I recognize the color green, or even know its name. I’ve never actually consciously seen green before. It makes me sad, just thinking about it. I suddenly realize that I’ve never seen a lot of colors. Although to know that there are colors other than shades and tints of brown, black, gray, blue, and white, I must have witnessed them sometime. Right?
I slip out of the tunnel into the green light. I have to shield my eyes from the brightness. I hear a thump on the soft ground a minute after me. I suppose that it’s Rahi, squeezing his way to freedom. When my eyes adjust to the light, I slowly open them.
First I see Rahi. What I see next completely blows my mind.
“It’s a forest.” I murmur.
Greens of every tint and shade explode everywhere. Columns of brown support the everlasting ceiling of bright green. Rays of soft light filter through small spaces in the ceiling. The ground is slightly springy, and is made up of dark, rich brown chunks of damp dirt. Surrounding every monster column of brown are green…what? I don’t know what to call them. They look sort of wilted, but for some reason I know that they aren’t dead. They radiate with life. For as far as I can see, there is only green and brown. It’s a pleasant feeling, though, of calm and peace. It’s something I’ve never witnessed before. It’s the first thing in my life I can truly call beautiful.
Rahi is amazed, but not dumbstruck, as I am.
“It’s better than I remember….” That comment snaps me out of my funk.
“’Than you remember’? What’s that supposed to mean?” I demand. It’s annoying, really. Here we are, in a gorgeous paradise, and he’s just now disclosing important information about it.
“You know how I was knocking on the bookcase for all this week,” He asks. I nod, “Well, on the first day of silence, I was knocking on it, and I heard a hollow sound. You didn’t hear it; you were too concentrated on your drawing to notice anything else. I was glad, actually, that you didn’t hear. Anyway, that night, I decided to check out why it was hollow in that spot. I moved the bookcase, and there was this tunnel,” He gestures to the gray wall behind us. It seems so out of place, in such a pretty location, “Which reminds me, I have to replace this rock.” He hoists up a gray slab and places it over the hole. It appears to not even be there, the way it suddenly melts into the surrounding area. Melts…? I shake it off as a trick of the mind.
“So why wasn’t that rock there when we came out?” I insist. I lift one eyebrow suspiciously.
“I left it off because I had a feeling that we would need it.” He shrugs. No need to elaborate on that one.
“Oh. Continue.”
“So, that night when you were asleep and really asleep, not just half asleep, I crawled through, only to come out here. Let me tell you, I was so confused, that I just stood there for five minutes trying to make sense of all this,” He makes a hand movement to indicate all the forest around us, “and I decided to come back the following night, because it was just too good to be true. I actually convinced myself it was a dream! Ha!” It’s the first time I hear Rahi actually, really laugh. It surprises me, since we’ve never had time to have fun, or things to laugh about. I like it, though. It’s pleasant, and warm, and it makes you want to laugh too. I unconsciously grin. A warm feeling goes through my chest and spreads to the tips of my toes and fingers, to my head.
His laugh and smile fade to a sort of pleased scowl, “But today, when I saw those men coming, I instantly had no doubt in my mind that this wasn’t a dream. It was, and is, real. Thank the gods too, because who knows where we’d be if this hadn’t been here to save us.” He taps on the wall.
We sit in silence for a moment. Then:
“Aren’t they going to send someone after us?” I’ve been worrying about this, but it just now comes to conscious mind.
“It won’t open for them.” Rahi grins from ear to ear, like he’s just accomplished his biggest feat ever.
“What do you mean?” I’m confused.
“It’s got a flesh-memory to it. I tried it on a couple animals. You can try it, but it won’t work.” I press my hand up to the wall. Nothing. I try it with the other hand. Still nothing. He’s not lying, which is a very good thing, because if it did open for anyone else, then we would dead for sure.
Another thing comes to mind, “Wait, how did you get animals to test it with?”
He thinks about it, his brow furrowing, “I don’t know, actually. I was thinking the same question as you, the first one I mean, and then some of them just…came up to me, I guess. It was strange.”
“It’s not like you minded, though, huh?” I nudge his shoulder with mine, smiling. He smiles back. We’re joking with each other. It’s a change of atmosphere, and I love it. I love it all: the green and brown, the beautiful light, the happy feeling of just having a good time with my family.
“Hey, do you want to go look around? I haven’t done that yet, and plus I want to get in as much experience with this place before nightfall. Do you know how to climb a tree?” He takes my hand in his and hoists me up to my feet. We start to walk on what seems to be a pathway.
“A tree? Is that what these giant things are called?” I reach my hand out and let it slide along the trees, and gaze up at their immense height.
“Yeah. The word just came to me when I first got here. I don’t know where I’d heard it from before, though.” We’re walking along quietly, just enjoying each other’s company and the presence of the forest.
We’ve been going for an hour. The light is starting to dim, and it makes the forest look slightly intimidating. I sidle up closer to Rahi. A little while goes by, and the light is nearly gone.
Rahi stops and looks around, “I suppose we could sleep up there for tonight?” He points up at the now barely visible ceiling of dark green.
“What? Sleep up…there?” Gulping, I imagine falling out and breaking my…no, don’t think, just do.
“Yes. We don’t know what lives out here, and I don’t want to wait and find out on the ground, where it’s open and things can see us. Now move.” We go to the nearest tree, and start to climb. Thank the gods that there are things sticking out, I think. They act as footholds, and I slowly make my way to the top. Rahi stays next to me the whole time, encouraging me and forcing me on when I want to stop or get scared.
“Just don’t look down,” He tells me, “and use the branches to pull yourself up with.” Branches. Another new word.
Finally, we reach the top. It’s actually comfortable, laying here on the canopy of leaves. That’s a word that Rahi told me on the way up. It’s the ceiling that I saw, and pretty much accounts for everything green here. I go over the additions of vocabulary I learned today: forest, tree, branches, leaves. There’s probably many more words that I haven’t learned yet, but I’m excited with the words I have now.
I slowly drift off to sleep, smiling, reveling in our newfound freedom.
Forest, tree, branches, leaves….
Can't wait for the next chapter -