Spelunking

Just some writing...

Katie and Aaron were stuck. Not an existential stuck, but quite physically stuck. Aaron pulled his legs closer to him, forcing himself to be curl into the fetal position as Katie was bent over him, her cheek resting on the top of his head, and her sunlight blond hair hanging into his face. Katie was arched over against what felt like a rock wall, her back rounded like a cat that was pissed off and ready to hiss at anything. Aaron was sitting there, thinking to himself that this would be a preferred position if they were on a comfortable bed or even a couch, but as they were trapped in some tiny space in a cave it sucked. Katie and Aaron were stuck.

“How did this happen?” Katie sighed, her breathing strangled as her rib cage expanded into Aaron’s knee. She couldn’t even breathe effectively because Aaron’s long legs were in the way. She glared across from her at the opening into the larger area of the cave, heaving another giant sigh, “This is all your fault.”

“Me? You were the one who signed us up for this stupid trip.” Aaron tried to shift his head out from under Katie’s only to have her head fall onto his shoulder.

“You’re the one who took us down this rabbit hole.” Katie responded. Aaron could hear her teeth grind in anger, almost like the sound of a steamroller pounding rocks into a pot-hole.

It was true. He was the one who decided that it would be fun to investigate the small hole in the back of the cave. “It’ll be just like crawling through the tunnels at the McDonalds playground.” He had told her. It would have been, except for the fact that the two of them were much older and, therefore, much larger than when they were children. Aaron shrugged at the thought.

“Stop moving,” she grumbled as his shoulder knocked her nose then mumbling under her breath, “Idiot”

Yes, he thought, he really was an idiot.

“Do you think that the group would hear us if we yelled for them?” Katie tried to shift her body so that she wasn’t arched over him. He could tell that not only was this position making her physically uncomfortable, but having his face that close to her chest was not only uncomfortable for her but also disgusting.

“I doubt it. We will probably die here.”

“Not funny.”

Aaron chucked, thinking that her growl sounded more like that of a koala cub rather than a ferocious mama lion. They had traveled so far into the cave that, realistically, there was no way that anyone from the main group could find them. Eventually they would have to try and get out of this position, which would prove to be very difficult unless she voluntarily decided to get a little closer to him.

“Heaven forbid,” he whispered, listening to the sarcasm of his voice as it seemed dripped down the wall.

IIIII

“Hey! Katie! Over here!” Aaron screamed as he waved his small arms.

Katie was running full speed towards him through the grass, the wind whipping her tiny blond pigtails behind her like they were each a small kite. Aaron smiled through a small laugh as he began to climb the large cedar tree that he was sitting next to.

“Wait for me Aaron!” Katie’s small voice called as she caught up to him, looking up at the tall tree with her eyes wide open, “I…I…I don’t wanna climb that.” She pointed up at the large tree, her finger shaking.

“It isn’t that scary!” Aaron rolled his eyes, leaping onto the branch in a sitting position, staring down at the little girl in from of him, “Girl’s are stupid” he continued to grumble.

“I hate you!” Katie spat at him before turning around and stomping back towards the house. Aaron thought that he should call her back as his small face fell, ashamed at what he had said, though he really thought it was true.



IIIII

Katie was afraid of everything he liked, which made him think that she just couldn’t stand being near him. One time he had collected a jar of spiders and was so excited to show them to her but when he did show her, Katie screamed and hit the jar away from her. It had landed in the floor and broken. Some of the spiders had escaped but Aaron, picking up the broken glass in his hand, realized that the majority of the spiders had been crushed and killed by the glass that had caved in on them except for one. The small spider, which had an almost emerald tinge to its fur, was stuck under a small piece of glass, its legs flailing wildly. He felt like that spider now as he rolled his eyes to the side, glancing at Katie’s head on his shoulder.

“Have I ever told you how much I hate you?” Katie groaned as she moved her head to the side. Aaron could feel her warm breath on his neck as she spoke, and it made his hair stand on end.

“Yes, you’ve made it very clear how much you hate me on numerous occasions. If I could disappear from the world without a trace, I am sure that you would kick up your heels and sing.” Aaron tried to force out sarcasm, but he was certain that his attempt failed when he felt Katie’s head relax a little bit more into his. He wasn’t sure whether to feel comforted or unnerved by that movement.

“Do you think that they are ever going to find us?” Katie asked, her voice sounding like a lost child in a supermarket asking the clerk where her parents were. Aaron smiled at her change in tone towards him.

“I am pretty sure that they left the cave already,” Aaron looked down at his watch and shrugged, being careful not to over emphasize the gesture as to not disturb her head too much. “Maybe when the bus gets back to the hotel they will notice we aren’t with them. In the meantime there is no reason we shouldn’t get comfortable” He placed his hands around her waist to try and pull her around and towards him.

“Get your hands off of me!” Katie screamed and her body recoiled like a spring, her back hitting the wall and her leg smashing down on his, an audible crack sounding in the tiny hole.

IIIII

Aaron watched Katie sweep off the porch as he mended the fence for her father. He had been working for Katie’s family this year, their first year in middle school. Her mom had just passed away a year ago and her father worked two jobs just to support them. Saturdays were always nice because he would come over and help Katie’s father do heavy labor while Katie maintained her mother’s porch garden.

“Hey, Aaron, come here and help me lift this!” Katie demanded. Aaron threw down the hammer by the pile of wood and nails and began walking towards the porch.

“Honey, look out!” Aaron heard her father scream from the roof as a clay roof tile slid towards the lip of the gutter and off of the roof. He felt like it was falling in slow motion as Aaron ran towards Katie, grabbing her around the middle and forcing her out of the way, her body falling back onto his left wrist. A surge of pain shot through his entire arm as he felt the bone in his wrist snap as it hit the wooden floor of the porch, Katie’s shoulder sandwiching it in.

“Thanks.” Katie shook the dizziness from her head, realizing that Aaron was still hanging onto her, “Get off of me! Do you think that you’re some kind of hero? Off!” Katie stood up, smacking him away from her and walking inside.

“Girls, no one ever understands them.” Katie’s father yelled down to Aaron, shaking his head. Aaron hoped that Katie’s father would have a talk to his daughter about this. He had practically saved her from having her head split open by a piece of the roof, and all she did was get angry at him! Aaron became so frustrated that he chose to ignore the throbbing of his wrist and went back to work. He worked quietly, but his movements were sharp as he slammed down the hammer on the fencing, imagining that the post was Katie’s head.

“Aaron.” A small voice squeaked out behind him. He turned, only to be met by Katie’s large brown eyes, and her small hands holding out an envelope, a chocolate chip cookie on top, “I…I’m sor…I sure hope your hand is okay.”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Aaron rolled his eyes. Why couldn’t she have just said sorry and gotten over herself. He grabbed the letter and the cookie, nodded “thanks” and stormed out of the property only to hide behind one of the large cedar trees to watch her. She had her head cradled in her hands and her shoulders were palpating with the sobs he knew were coming from her great big eyes.

“Damnit” Aaron grumbled as he left, ignoring his mother berating him about not coming home sooner when he had hurt his wrist, ignoring her talking while driving him to the hospital, ignoring the doctor telling him it was broken with multiple stress fractures because he did work with a broken wrist, and thankfully getting a chance to ignore the world once he was put under anesthesia so that they could put nails in his wrist.

IIIII

“Aaron…Aaron are you okay?” Katie had repositioned herself, sitting with her back on the wall to his right, her legs under his, and the possible broken leg on top of her lap.

“Ouch. Woman, stop that” Aaron growled as she began to pull up his pant leg. He didn’t know what she was expecting to see, considering it was already dark in the cave to begin with.

“Don’t call me “woman,” idiot.”

“That’s that second time you called me an idiot. At least calling you a woman isn’t untrue.”

“Neither is calling you and idiot.” Katie glared at him, “Give me the wrap on your wrist.”

“Remember when you broke my wrist back in middle school? The doctor said that anytime I did something stressful like, I don’t know, climbing in a cave, I would need to wrap it up.” Aaron spat bitterly at her.

“You aren’t climbing now so hand it over.” Katie looked at him like he was a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti, ready to be pounced on and devoured by a sadistic lioness who just killed for the sheer enjoyment of it. He consented to her glare and unwrapped the bandage from his wrist, handing it to her and stifling groans of pain as she began to twist it around his leg.

“What time do you think it is?” Aaron asked as he leaned his weight even harder against the wall behind him, fatigue suddenly hitting him.

“Well we started spelunking at eight this morning and it has had to have been at least two hours so far. Everyone was planning on heading back to the hotel around ten and you already said that they probably left.” Katie answered his questions without any anger or pretense, her voice completely serious.

IIIII

She looked so beautiful, walking into the Olive Garden in her velour emerald green dress. Her hair was hanging in wavy locks over her shoulder. Every step she took towards him made his heart pound even faster than it had while he was nervously waiting for her to arrive.

“Hey,” She said softly as she reached the table and smiled down at him. Bolting upright like a rocket he stood and pulled the chair out for her, sitting down across from her once she had slid the off-white shawl from her shoulders.

“You look amazing.” Aaron swallowed, smiling once the nervousness had seemed to pass. They had great conversation during dinner, and the actual dance went better than he had expected. His two left feet swung Katie around the dance floor, her laughter ringing in his ears like the pealing of a bell.

On the ride home Katie couldn’t stop talking about the night that they had had together and how nice it was to see everyone together one last time before graduation. They were going to colleges on different ends of the country, so these last moments were important for him, like the last few seconds of a game when everything rests on the toe of one player kicking the ball into the goal. As he pulled up to the side of her house Aaron breathed in as much air as he could, getting ready to speak.

“Hey, your Mom is here!” Katie said before Aaron could even form words, jumping out of the car. Aaron’s head twitched to the side, he blinked, and then stepped out of the car to his red haired mother coming out of the door, arm in arm with Katie’s father.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” Aaron asked as he walked up next to Katie, grabbing her hand in his.

“Aaron,” Katie turned her head into his, her lips brushing his ear as she whispered, “You didn’t know?”

IIIII

“Aaron,” Katie nudged his shoulder to wake him from staring aimlessly. He shook his head and looked her in the eyes, “What were you thinking about?”

“Prom.” He responded shortly. A lot of things had happened between them since they were in high school. Life had seemed like a soft breeze, but had quickly turned into a howling wind.

“That was an interesting night. I still can’t believe that you didn’t know our parents were dating. Dad knew that she was waiting to tell you until the right moment; I guess it ended up okay though.”

“Yeah, it was okay.” Aaron nodded.

“Katie! Aaron! Are you guys alright?!” A deep voice echoed through the cave wall, two bright circles shining into the small alcove.

“Besides the fact that I have been stuck with this idiot for the past few hours, I’m doing fine. He broke his leg though.” Katie said, trying to maneuver around him so that she didn’t touch his leg, which he was appreciative of.

“What are you talking about? You’re the one who landed on it!”

“Aaron, why can’t you be nice to her once in a while?” Aaron cringed as he heard his mother’s voice berate him, her red hair just visible in the small tunnel.

“Yeah. I knew there was a reason I never wanted a brother!” Katie turned and stuck her tongue out as she was pulled out of the small niche in the cave by his mother.

“Well, I never wanted a sister!” He yelled back as his mother’s piercing glaze shot at him as she grabbed his wrist and began to pull. I definitely didn’t want Katie as a sister; he thought to himself again, gingerly dragging his broken leg behind him, “By the way, we are never going Spelunking again!”