by Moxham, Paul
The constantly creeping water was now knee deep. A shiver ran down his body. The water was rapidly rising and it would keep on rising. No longer concerned about the time, he tried to think of a way out of this mess.
With a sinking feeling, he realised that he could do nothing. He would just have to wait it out. He leaned against the wall and stared at the slowly rising water.
Time passed slowly. Joe tried to stay dry by standing on the pile of rocks that he had moved. He had thought about moving the rest of the rocks to see if there was a tunnel, but his arms were too sore.
After standing on the rocks with water up to his knees for what seemed ages, he noticed that the water was finally receding. He grimly smiled. The tide was finally going out and, by the sound of it, the storm had passed.
Moving towards the entrance, he discovered how stiff and cold his legs were. All that time standing in the water had taken its toll. He glanced at his watch. It was almost noon.
His stomach rumbled from hunger. He hadn’t even eaten breakfast. He tried to forget about it as he sat down on one of the wet rocks and waited for the water to recede.
~
It was unusually quiet at Rose Cottage. Sarah and Amy were trying to play a board game while their mother sewed, but every few minutes one of them would pause and glance through the window to look for any sign of Joe.
As noon came and went, Amy could tell that her mother was quite worried. She was sewing, but what she had done in half an hour could easily have been done in five minutes.
Amy had to do something. Looking out of the window, she saw that the storm had finally passed. The last drops of rain were falling and the sun was coming out from behind the clouds. She stood up. “Why don’t Sarah and I go outside to see if we can find Joe? I promise to be back here in an hour if I can’t find him.”
Mrs Mitchell thought it over. “Okay, but be careful.”
“Thanks, Mum.” Amy gave her a hug and rushed outside. Sarah followed her.
The girls decided they should go to the caves in case Joe had decided to explore them on his own. They walked along the beach until they reached them. However, they found that most of them were partly underwater due to the high tide. Deciding that Joe wouldn’t have been foolish enough to enter one of them at high tide, they started to walk away.
Suddenly, a brief noise in the distance caught Amy’s attention. It sounded like a voice. She looked across at her sister. “Did you just hear something?”
“No, why?” Sarah asked.
“I thought I heard someone call out,” Amy replied.
Sarah glanced around. “I can’t see anyone.”
Amy suddenly realised something. “Golly, he must be in the caves! Let’s yell out and see if he answers. That will save time going through all of them.” She shouted out. “Joe!”
Sarah joined in. “Joe!”
“Where are you?” Amy cried out. “Please answer!” She listened for an answer. There was no reply.
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