The light suddenly disappeared.
Someone said. It’s gone.
Vanished, 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.
My cousin's classmate is behind me, I guess he feels the same.
My cousin hasn’t moved either. We are all very quiet, holding our breath, everything is silent, our necks twisting without a sound, after all, we are not fitness enthusiasts who can twist their necks with a crack.
Suddenly, on my right side, there was a rustling sound, and my heart tightened. I was about to use the candle in my right hand to check.
I didn’t expect I was still slow; both of them stretched out their right hands and then quickly pulled them back.
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 swoosh, 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 is 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 rough texture, and I could still rub it off with some effort. After a few seconds, I seemed to remember something, so I stopped. I continued to observe the 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 scare away that unknown creature with stones,
it’s a good idea, so let’s start, my cousin in front, with no obstacles, it’s easier to throw, 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 thud, the sound of something falling into the water.
Who threw that?
No one threw it.
No one threw anything.
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 explore the path.
He scattered some stones ahead
to facilitate his advance and stone throwing.
We stayed in place, ready and unmoving.
After 5 minutes? Or ten minutes?
My cousin said there’s a puddle ahead.
Let’s catch up and take a look. So far, no other creatures have been found.
We also reached the front, side by side, a maximum of 2 people had to slightly turn sideways. The puddle is neither big nor small, about 1 meter; if it were flat ground, one could jump over it directly, but in the cave, crawling makes it very difficult.
We still wanted to get over.
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, slowly throwing them towards the puddle.
All the stones were used up. But the water still felt quite deep.
My cousin said, either swim over, or check the water level regularly, or look at other cave openings. Or we can just leave it for today. 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 nowhere to push off, stepping on the dry dirt wall, it wasn’t solid and kept slipping down.
The final solution was that his classmate was lighter and still had strength, we let him step on our hands, slowly dragging him up. Once he got up, he pulled me up, and finally, we pulled my cousin up.
This failed cave exploration, we probably haven’t been to that cave again. I estimate that the area has been cultivated now.
Years later, while on the way to the arcade, my cousin said to me, do you remember that guy? I said I remember, 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 he heard my aunt say he drowned. They searched for many days and found his body among the floating debris in a large water gate.
I felt quite sad, and we were silent all the way.