LIMINALITY

Chapter 2.

"Why were you two late?" Their teacher, Mrs Lindorf asked, tapping her foot. "I um.. I tripped on the way here and had to go to the nurse..." Sadie smiled sheepishly, holding up the ice packet for 'proof.' "And why was Ivory late?" She crossed her arms. "Because-" "Let her answer herself."

Sadie frowned and looked over at Ivory. She was terrible at coming up with lies. "Sadie..- she um..." She paused, "she had trouble walking and I didn't want her to fall again." She said. Mrs Lindorf sighed, "go sit down." Sadie grinned and walked over to her seat, fake limping along the way so her teacher didn't suspect anything. Mrs Lindorf started teaching again. Sadie sighed, bored. She doodled on her paper, not bothering to pay attention to what she was learning. She hated math class, it was her first period of the day. Her least favorite too.. "Sadie, mind telling me what the answer to number four is?" Mrs Lindorf asked. Sadie panicked and looked down at her paper, "u-umm..." She looked over to Ivory who was holding up seven fingers, "the answer is... seven-" She said hesitantly. Mrs Lindorf paused, "correct... Keep your head up, it looks like you're sleeping." She sighed and turned back over to the board. Sadie grinned at Ivory to show her thankfulness.

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About thirty more minutes of mathematics later, the bell rang. Time for the second period which was ELA. Sadie talked to Ivory while they walked down the hall about numerous things. They always had things to talk about, and that's what made them best friends, "soo...I've been wondering, do you have a crush on anyone?" Sadie asked, "no, not really." Ivory shrugged, "awh, that's lame...you like no one? No one at all?" She urged, wanting to know. "Nope, I like no one in that way." She sighed. "What about you?" Ivory asked. "I- no one-" Sadie stammered. She did have a crush on this one particular person, but she didn't want to admit to anything, "hmm..okay I guess.." They turned and walked into their next class.

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A few periods later, it was time for lunch. "Finally..." Sadie sighed, getting up and walking to lunch, looking for Ivory. She spotted her from across the hall and speed-walked over to her, "ready for lunch?" She grinned, "yeah.." Ivory sighed, "class is sooo tiring.." She muttered. "Yeah, I hear ya." Sadie agreed and walked into the loud lunchroom.

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Cold burgers without cheese were for lunch. Sadie sighed, "at least it's food I suppose.." She said and began poking her spoon at the...mystery fruit. "You want some of my noodles?" Ivory asked and offered her a fork, "sure!" Sadie nodded and took the fork, sharing noodles with Ivory. "Thanks, I really didn't feel like starving today..." She thanked and chuckled, "no problem! Anything for my friend." Ivory smiled warmly.

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Lunch was over, Sadie got through a few more periods and it was time to leave. "Another day of school finished." She sighed and walked to her bus. "Hey, how was school, Sadie?" The bus driver asked, "It was fine." She responded and fist bumped him. She walked down the aisle to her assigned bus seat. The driver wasn't really a stickler on where you sit, but the bus monitor was. She was a bit older than Sadie, but very strict. She'd yell at you even if you had just one foot in the aisleway. It got annoying, but Sadie had earbuds to block the sound of her yelling out. A few minutes later, she got off of the bus and walked into her house, "I'M HOME, MOM!" She yelled, not really expecting an answer. Her mom wasn't home again. "Guess not.." She sighed, walking around the house, trying to find something to eat. She found a mini pizza in the freezer and popped it in the microwave for about three minutes. "Hmm...I wonder what Ivory wanted.." She thought, "oh well, I guess I'll see when I go to the playground." And...she thought she should start getting ready for it. Sadie ate the pizza quickly and ran upstairs into her room, taking out some of her crusty makeup. She hummed whilst she put on some mascara and blush to make her look more presentable. By the end of the school day, she looked pretty rough. Considering she slept in most classes and it messed up her hair. Before she knew it, Sadie realized it was almost five. "Oh shoot, I gotta get to the playground-" She slipped on her shoes, ran downstairs and out the door. She walked along the sidewalk, occasionally glancing at the cars zooming past, or the kids playing outside in their yards, envious that they could do that. Sadie's childhood wasn't the best, and never was. She tried to get those memories out of her head and just focus on seeing Ivory. Finally, she arrived at the playground and saw her best friend. "Hi, Sadie!" She shouted as she sat on the swings with her feet placed on the ground, "Sup, Iv!" Sadie ran towards the swings and sat in the one next to Ivory, "soooo, what'd you need me here for?" She asked. "Oh, right! I actually didn't really need anything, I just wanted to hang out." Ivory smiled sheepishly and began swinging, "seriously!? Well, I guess I have no choice but to stay." Sadie chuckled and swung as well. "Well, I'm glad I did come, because I found this super cool cave-" "No. We are not going on one of those crazy adventures of yours." Ivory said sternly, "please! It'll be fun! I already have a whole backpack of things we can bring with us!" She urged, "you're gonna get us killed, Sadie!"

"Pleasseeeeee, I promise this'll be the last adventure thing we do."

Ivory paused, "fine...but we'll only stay in the cave for a couple hours, okay?" She said, "YES! YOU'RE THE BEST, IV! C'MON, LET'S GO!" Sadie jumped off the swing and began running in the direction of the cave, "WAIT UP!" Ivory shouted as she followed her.

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The two arrived at the cave, "you didn't tell me there was caution tape surrounding the place..." Ivory muttered, "well, I knew you'd chicken out if I did tell you, but there's no turning back soo... LET'S GO!" Sadie grabbed Ivory's hand and pulled her into the cave, "S-SADIE! GIVE ME A MINUTE-" Ivory stammered, quite scared. "Don't be scared, I'm here! I'm your knight in shining armor, remember?" She grinned, "yeah, I guess so..." Ivory squeezed Sadie's hand, still scared. The two walked around the cave, exploring every bit of it. "I thought it'd be much cooler than this.." Sadie muttered, kind of disappointed. Water dripped from the roof, the air was cold and the atmosphere was heavy. Bugs crawled on the floor, Sadie stomped on them whenever she saw them skittering around. They kept walking around the cave until they realized something they wished they hadn't..

They were lost.

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"H-HOW COULD WE BE LOST!?" Ivory screamed, "I DON'T KNOW, I DIDN'T THINK THE CAVE WOULD BE THIS BIG..!" Sadie continued to scamper around, trying to find the exit while arguing with Ivory, "WE'RE GONNA DIE, SADIE!" She said, Sadie paused for a moment, "we won't die, Ivory. Calm down." She said sternly, "But-" "No buts, don't be so negative."

Ivory nodded and shut her mouth. About 30 minutes of wandering around later, they stumbled across a strange area of the cave. Sadie's vision turned red, then blue, then red again, occasionally seeming purple. The atmosphere felt different, it smelled bad...more worse than before and they could hear a sort of...humming noise, "w-what's that?" Ivory stammered, scared. "I don't know..let's leave this area..." And just as Sadie turned around...

she passed out.

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