Page 68 of Dawn of Hope
“Follow me. I was going to look down by the river today.”
She turns and strides away quickly. I follow behind and can feel nerves rising throughout my body.
Now isn’t really the best time to be honest with her and tell her I am deathly afraid of water.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Have you been to the river yet?” Mara yells to me as we make our way toward the center of the island. I’d seen the river when I first arrived, flowing from the lush waterfalls coming off the mountain and splitting the island in two. From the quick look, I knew some parts seemed calmer than others, but either way, I want to stay far away from it.
“No,” I yell back. “Dane and I started our tour on the other side of camp.”
Noise from the canyon ahead gets louder as we approach. I don’t know where along the course of the river we are approaching, but it must be somewhere near rapids. The closer we get, the more the roar of the water drowns out her voice, making it hard to hear her warnings.
“I know this part looks dangerous, but don’t let the parts that look tame fool you. There’s a nasty undercurrent, and all kinds of creatures that lurk beneath the surface.”
“Stay out of the water. Got it.”
“We’re going to need to cross. I want to search the other side today.” She points across the way, and I notice a difference in the trees. It is odd, as if this side of the river is tropical, and the other side is more like the forests back home. “There’s a bridge a little farther down. Follow me.”
She jogs closer to the edge, and I follow, paying attention to my feet and staying far from the cliff. At one point, I make the mistake of getting a little too close and slightly lean over the edge to peek, and my stomach drops. The canyon is deep, and the crashing water below could easily throw me against the rocks and pull me beneath the surface.
Nope. I need to stay away from there.
A few minutes pass and I am feeling breathless from the jogging when I see a crossing in the distance.
I gape at the structure I’m expected to cross. “That’sthe bridge?”
I was expecting something made of stone, something sturdy that didn’t look like I was about to fall to my death.
No.
This bridge looks like it would snap with a strong wind. The plank steps that had definitely seen better days, are spaced out and held together by thick ropes, with thick rope sidings to hold on to. This bridge barely looks like it could hold the weight of one person, let alone two. The river below it is much calmer than the rapids farther upstream, but with Mara’s warning of the undercurrent, it doesn’t give me any more confidence.
“What, are you scared?”
“Actually, yes,” I say matter-of-factly. “Now is probably a bad time to mention that I can’t swim.”
She chuckles at my admission. “Not being able to swim is the least of your worries. Even if you could, those guys wouldn’t let you swim far.”
I peer over the edge to see the stuff of nightmares. Huge, deep green reptiles fill the calm water below. Long, sharp yellow teeth stick out of their mouths at all angles, and red beady eyes follow any movement we make. Some are floating calmly, while others gnash their teeth, jaws snapping at another in a fight for some unknown prize.
I’d seen artist renditions of dragons and other non-existent creatures, but these…I can’t believe what I am seeing. Nor can I believe that I’m supposed to calmly walk across a death trap of a bridge above these creatures, just to search the other side of the island. At least they are all the way down there, and we’re up here.
“Just whatever you do, don’t stop on the bridge, and don’t look down,” Mara says as she strides confidently over to the entrance.
I suck in a breath, and nod in agreement, mostly trying to psych myself up rather than acknowledging her, since she isn’t even looking at me anymore. I push my fear of water far from my mind and try to focus only on getting to the other side.
Mara takes the lead, stepping onto the planks of the bridge and grasping the ropes with each step. Her directions to me were dripping with confidence, but I can see the whites of her knuckles from her tight grip.
“Should I wait until you get across to go?” I call after her.
She doesn’t turn around but yells back at me. “Yes!”
In a few breathless minutes of watching her feet steadily step on each plank, she finally reaches the other side. She turns back and waves her hand at me, signaling my turn.
If I thought I was breathless watching her, it is nothing compared to the way I feel knowing it is now my turn.
I step up to the edge and try not to look down at the river below, but fail. The beasts are still laying across the surface, some on top of each other, and others swimming in small circles around the rest of the group. It’s like they are waiting for me to make a misstep, to be their next meal.