by P. Z. Walker
Sheila looked at her friend. "Damn, you could be right. Maybe this cave is the wrong spot. Maybe we have to find the Five Oaks here."
Josy wished her good luck. The area was crammed with oaks, huge and mighty ones too.
"But I can switch on my sight, remember? If the same five are here then I'll be able to see them that way," Sheila reminded her.
"I suggest we put that off until tomorrow. It's getting nice outside now. Let's go out and catch some sunlight. Work on our tan," Josy said with a grin.
They walked along the mountain range until they saw the high waterfalls. Josy looked up. "No matter how often I come here, I'm impressed with that power. Come, over there's a great spot to lie in the sun and hear the water crash down."
Sheila was still disappointed about her failure to make fire, but once they lay in the warm sunlight, feeling her entire body soak up the heat, she soon felt better.
"Hey you," Josy poked Sheila in the ribs.
"What?"
"Still can't get over the fact that you're here. That you came looking for me."
"Well, I did, and now you're stuck with me," Sheila grinned.
"And you came naked. Really, that blows my mind. Sheila turned naturist. I'd have bet a year's wages against that."
Sheila let out a long pfffffttttt on that. Then she grinned. "Yeah, true. I hadn't thought that possible either." After a while of baking in silence she asked: "How was it for you the first time?"
"The first time what?"
"Taking all your clothes off and being nude in front of others."
"I was a bit nervous," Josy admitted, "but that didn't last long. Once I found that no one stared at my boobs or my butt, but that those other nude folks were just nice people, I felt fine. And you? Must have been a shock for you."
"It was, kind of." Sheila explained how it had happened for her, and how strange the realisation had been to find that people stopped looking at her once she had taken off her bikini.
"Yeah, that's how it goes." Josy was impressed to hear that Jeffrey and Lizzy had also stripped down all the way. She didn't know them, but knowing that they were from Sheila's witchy group spoke volumes to her. She stretched herself in the warm sunlight like a cat would do. "And now it's nothing but really nice, isn't it?"
Sheila grinned. "It is. Can you believe that's one of the few things I think are just the best here? No clothes needed?"
"Oh, I hear you, sister," Josy agreed.
"Think of all the laundry we don't have to do," Sheila grinned. "Do you believe that I already notice that at home too?"
"You do? Sheesh, girl, you've become a home nudist too?" Josy sat up and looked at her friend. "When you go for something, you go all the way, don't you?"
"Actually it was Mike who suggested to do it that way. And he was right, it works best when you start on your own where no one sees you. Well, it did for me."
"I wish I could do my laundry now," Josy then remarked.
"I understand, Josems." Sheila sat up as well. "Maybe we should try to find the Five Oaks now."
Josy looked at the sky. "Sun's going down soon, tomorrow would be better. We could go jump from the waterfall though."
Sheila looked up at the tremendous heights from where the water came crashing down. "Surely you don't mean those."
"Haha, of course not. Come, let's go. You'll love this." Josy led Sheila along the ridge of high waterfalls until they came upon a lake. "It's not very deep but perfect to swim in. And look over there." She pointed at a spot some forty feet over the water, sticking out of the rock. "Ready?"
"Ready!" Sheila laughed and she followed Josy to the foot of the mountain. They took off their shoes and left them there. Josy led the way up, hopping from one foothold to the next, and soon they were high on the ledge.
"First time is spooky," Josy said, "but it's a kick to do it." She let out a scream as she ran to the end of the ledge and jumped. Sheila quickly walked over and saw Josy splash into the water below. Then she went back to the rock, ran as far as she could and also jumped with a scream. The water was cold, but the rush of the fall was enough to compensate.
"Whoa, that's cool!" she exclaimed after emerging, "let's go again!"
They spent some time climbing up and jumping down, until they grew tired and the cold water started to get to them. They then found a spot in the late sun to dry and warm up again. Sheila looked up at the waterfalls. "I wonder if there's a spot up there where I could find Acaraho," she said, pointing. "It's about there where you found me, right?"
"No. Further up and back there," Josy pointed. "We can try that tomorrow too, before or after trying to find the Five Oaks. Which I honestly don't have much confidence in. Hey, are you dry enough? I'm getting this feed me feeling inside me."
Sheila agreed. All the swimming and jumping had made her hungry too, so they headed back for the cave and looked for food on the way.
*
Sheila woke up. It had to be night, everything around her was pitch black. Wondering what had woken her up she turned on her other side to close her eyes and sleep on, when a screaming sound shocked her to the pit of her stomach. "Josy!" she screamed, scrambling around and finding her friend next to her. "Thank god you're safe! What was that?!"
"Cover your ears and ignore it, Sheila, they'll go away soon," was the reply. Before Sheila could ask who they were, another scream tore through the night, leaving Sheila shivering for fear. That was nothing human. She did the only thing she could: follow Josy's advice, but despite that the screams kept coming, scaring her.
Chapter 21.
The two young women left the cave in silence, very tired as the screaming had gone on until the break of dawn. They spent some time collecting edible plants and roots, and only as they sat eating them by the river where they had cleaned their earnings, Sheila asked Josy what the noise had been.
Josy stared into the water. "I don't know exactly. They sometimes come, but always at night. One time I tried to go outside and find them, but it was too dark. And to be honest, I'm not sure if I want to see them. I'm afraid they're going to kill me when they see me ."
"So it's not so deserted as you said."
"Sorry, Sheila. I should have warned you." Josy let out a sigh. "They hadn't been there since so long I kind of hoped they had gone somewhere else."
"I'm with you on that," Sheila said, who felt like a rag after the bad night. "Maybe we should try to make bows and arrows or something, just in case."
Josy laughed a joyless laugh. "You heard them, Sheila. They're probably huge. What good will a bow and an arrow do against something that's probably as big as a house? My best bet is to stay in the cave while they're out there."
"We have to get away from here. Get home." Sheila had to agree with Josy though, inside the cave they'd be safest if the noise-making, nerve-wrecking animals returned.
"Well, we're fine now. It's light, they've never come out in the light. Thank god for that, I'd hate to live in Jurassic Park. So, you want to see if we can find the Five Oaks now?" Josy asked. "Going home sounds good to me."
"Absolutely. Any idea where we'd have to look?" Sheila wondered. The area that they were in was entirely different from the resort they both knew.
"Not really. I'd say we have to take the waterfall where you appeared as a start. That looks like a way through. Hey, maybe we can use that!"
Sheila agreed that it was worth a shot, so they walked around the mountain range and she followed Josy up the path to where they could walk the wide ledge behind the water that came crashing down.
"It was here." Josy was certain of it. "Here is where I found you." Hopeful she looked at Sheila.
"Okay. Here goes." Sheila activated her special vision. The rocks didn't show her anything out of the ordinary, apart from a few dull colours that could be minerals or metal or something similar. The ground also was just rock, and as she looked along the water that fell she didn't notice anything either. "So far, so nothing," she told Josy. "I'll try to meditate an
d get into a trance here, but I'm not sure it works with that noise." She pointed at the falls.
Sitting on the rocky surface with cold water spraying over her constantly was too distracting. Sheila tried several times in different places, but the ground was too cold and the rush of the water only made her and Josy half deaf. Disappointed the two young women went down again and stood in the sunlight to let the water dry and warm up their uncovered bodies.
"I'm sorry, Josems. I hoped it would work."
"Yeah, well, you tried," Josy shrugged, looking more disappointed than she would admit.
Sheila looked up at the waterfalls. "If that is the fall, then the Five Oaks should be..." she looked around trying to find anything she recognised. "That way?" It was a lucky stab.
"I doubt it," Josy said. "Remember when you come up from the resort to the mountain that you look over a stretch of land, and then the fall is on the other side of the mountain? It has to be back that way, even further round than where the cave is."
"But that's where the river runs, and there's no river there in the park!" Sheila objected.
"Most of these mountains are gone too, remember?"
Josy's point was undeniable. "True. Let's go along the river a bit then and see what we find." Sheila disabled the colour-view. It wasn't easy walking around with that in this vibrant environment.
They reached the river and as they followed it, they looked for edible things. Along the water there was a lot they could use, and Sheila looked at a few fish that swam by. Without a fire however those would be difficult to eat, and they also had nothing to catch the fish with. The two stopped occasionally and Sheila would look around if there was any sign of blue flames.
"Well, this sucks," she sighed after the eighth stop that showed nothing but dense forest. "Maybe our five oaks haven't even started growing yet, and then, uhm, well..." She didn't dare to say what she thought, but she suddenly feared that there was no way out of this place.
Josy looked at Sheila, her face telling what Sheila avoided to say out loud. "We should go back to the cave," she said, resignation in her voice
"Yeah." Sheila put an arm around Josy's shoulders for a while as they walked, until the passage became too narrow for that.
"Josy. Stop. Maybe when I meditate here I might get something." It sounded reasonable to herself. The ground was much softer here, and there were barely any sounds.
"Think so?" Josy sounded listless and as if she'd entirely given up.
"Hope so, anyway." Sheila sat down and took a few relaxing breaths. She imagined being among the Five Oaks as she closed her eyes, and soon she was ready to hear Acaraho. The problem was that she heard nothing but the wind rustling the leaves overhead and Josy's pacing back and forth. "Josems? Can you sit down please? You're making this difficult with your walking around."
"Sorry, girl." Josy sat down, leaning against a tree. "Didn't know. I'm not into this stuff, remember? I like to see things and people with my eyes open."
That hit Sheila. "Damn, you just said something!"
Josy was surprised. "In case you haven't noticed, I say a lot of things."
"Yeah, true, sometimes your mouth can't stop, but you said something important for me just now. And what do you mean you're not into this stuff? You stumbled in a patch of energy that threw you here, I went through something similar and you still don't believe this is real?"
Josy was still figuring out what part of Sheila's response to react to first when a sudden sound startled both of them. It sounded like an elephant's trumpeting, but much louder, and it had a distinct, raw edge to it.
"What was that?" Sheila whispered after the sound had echoed away.
"I don't know," Josy replied, "but I don't like the sound of it. I suggest you get your ass off that ground and we get both our asses back to the cave."
Sheila got up without a word and they started back along the river, towards the mountain range. "Do you feel that?"
"The ground trembles, yes. Care for some running?" Josy asked. She didn't wait for an answer and Sheila saw no need for one. As fast as they could they ran through the forest and then along the mountain side, until they found the opening to their cave and tumbled in.
"We lost our food," Josy noticed.
"We're alive. We can go out for more later," Sheila said. "Much later," she added as the floor of their cave vibrated lightly. "What the hell is that out there?"
"Go look if you want. I'm not that curious," Josy said as she huddled in the back of the cave, even averting her eyes from the opening.
Sheila crawled on all fours and carefully peeked out of their safe spot. Quickly she scrambled back.
"What is it?" asked the woman who wasn't curious.
"It's a freaking dinosaur," Sheila said as she found a spot next to Josy.
"A dangerous one?"
"Hell, how would I know? It's one of those long necked ones that eats from the top of the trees, it's scary big so that counts as dangerous for me. It would step on the both of us and not even notice."
"Okay. A dangerous one."
They waited until the tremors in the floor had gone, and then a while longer just to be safe.
"Think it's gone?" Josy asked.
"Curious? Go look."
"Oh no, not curious at all, trust me."
Sheila grinned in the dark and crawled to the cave's entrance. "All clear. Big boy has left. And you're sure you never saw one of them here?"
Josy made a rude sound. "If they're really that big, they would be hard to miss, huh?" She came to the opening as well and stepped out. "Jesus, look at the prints in the grass!"
The dinosaur had left giant marks. Josy lay down in one of them and fit easily. "That's scary."
"Yeah. We need to get away from here, Josems," Sheila nodded.
They went looking for food again and as they sat eating Sheila explained what it was that she'd thought of earlier. "You said something about seeing things, and then I remembered that I had practised seeing Acaraho when I tried to reach him. I have this specific image of him, you know."
"Oh, cool. Is he a hunk?" Josy wondered.
"No, he's an old Indian man. A Crow native," Sheila went all defensive on Acaraho's behalf.
"Oh." Josy shrugged.
"Get your hormones under control, Josy. I found that when I visualise Acaraho, it's much easier to reach him. That's what I forgot, but your remark made me remember."
"Yeah, I'm good, aren't I?" Josy grinned.
"You're amazing for someone's who's naked," Sheila grinned in turn, knowing she'd get something back for that.
"Look who's talking," Josy snorted, poking Sheila in the waist. "Come on, what are you waiting for? You had your share of food, go call that Indian of yours and get us a way back home. And that's... not an order. Just something I want... Need."
"You're not the only one, Josems." Sheila pondered if finding the Five Oaks location was worth another trip. The screams they'd heard had given her enough of a fright to put that idea on a mental shelf for a while. "I'm going to try it here."
"Okay. I'll shut my trap and won't walk around you," Josy promised.
"Warn me if there's a dinosaur coming, though. If necessary you can drag me into the cave. Mike and Wendy never got through to me when I was in a trance talking to you."
"Oh yeah, you bet I'll get you to safety. You're my only chance of getting home, Sheila." Josy looked worried at that realisation. "Maybe I shouldn't let you out of the cave, come to think of it."
"In your dreams," Sheila grinned as she sat down in a nice spot under a tree, out of the direct sunlight. That light would only be distracting, she knew. Slowly her breathing calmed down as she tried to get in the right mood. The recent visit of the huge dinosaur made that difficult though. Also the thought that something else, something more vicious could come along and Josy wasn't able to warn her or get her to safety in time didn't make the exercise easier.
After what felt like a long time, Sheila's mind was calm enough to slip
into a trance-like state. She carefully reached out to Acaraho, trying to envision the man as she'd seen him in his living room. "Acaraho? Shíile Isshiiá is calling you," she thought. "Acaraho, can you hear me?"
She waited. It was hard to listen to what felt like something black, which in itself was already a strange experience. "Acaraho?"
Sheila thought of him in her living room, of herself in her living room looking at him, and several other options she could imagine, but none of them brought her what she was hoping for. Her frustration grew and pushed her out of the trance and back into the real world. She wanted to kick herself for failing to reach him, as one time she had heard him, even when it had been weakly.
"And?" Josy asked, her face far too hopeful.
"Sorry, Josems... didn't work." It pained her to see the disappointment on her friend's face. "If it's any consolation, I feel shitty about it too. He got to me once here, so it's possible. Maybe I should try in the cave again in a while, that's where he reached me."
"Can you try it now?" Josy asked eagerly.
"Phew, better wait a while. Doing this stuff is quite hard work even if it doesn't look like it," Sheila explained.
"Yeah, okay I guess. You know best. So what do you want to do now?"
"Maybe we can try to make fire again," Sheila suggested. "Look for something that's stronger than the strip of the twig we found."
"Are you still on about that root soup?" Josy grinned, which was good. It took her mind off the disappointment. They decided to give the fire-idea another try, so they set off into the forest. As they walked along, Josy located a sturdy stick that she picked up. "I'm armed now," she declared. It wouldn't be much good against a dino, but it somehow gave both of them a feeling of safety, one they needed. The two also came across a large field of edible plants, which was an unexpected surprise. Harvesting it was easy, and it would supply them enough food for a few weeks at least, Josy estimated.
With their hands full they started back to the cave. No string for the fire-making bow showed itself that day, but with food and Josy's 'spear' they considered it a good day.