What am I?

IT hadn't rained all day, but of course the skies abruptly opened up like the mouth of a blue whale right in the middle of our coastal walk. I didn't typically mind rain that much, but just standing out in a downpour wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. So when Sam grabbed my hand and started dragging me along the chalky cliff-side path, I let him. Sarah sprinted after us, shrieking and holding her arms over her blonde head in a pathetic attempt to keep her hair dry.

"Where are we going?" My yell was almost completely drowned out by the booming sound of the heavy thunderstorm.

"The caves," Sam replied, glancing briefly over his shoulder at me, then past me – checking Sarah was following.

"Caves?" Concern sparked in the back of my head. "Is that safe?"

"We'll be fine." Sam squeezed my hand tightly, brushing a thumb over my knuckles. "We can just go inside to wait out the worst of this heavy shower. If we try to make it back to town, we'll get completely soaked!"

We darted inside the nearest cave and I drew in a deep sigh of relief, no longer feeling the heavy splats beating down on my head. Seconds later, Sarah dashed in after us, groaning as she tugged at her blonde curls which the rain had mostly flattened into darker straighter clumps.

"Don't worry," I muttered under my breath, fighting off the burning desire to roll my eyes at Sam's younger sister, who we'd been forced to bring with us. I'd been hoping for more of a romantic stroll; instead I'd basically ended up with babysitting. "I wouldn't be looking for a potential date here if I were you."

Ignoring the murderous glare she gave in return, I stepped away from her. Standing by the cave entrance, the souls of my shoes coated in a muddy chalky substance from the wet ground of the cliff-side path, I stared out at the choppy grey sea and the furious dark sky. The sound of the heavy rain pouring down and beating the ground was still deafening, but the caves added an odd echoing distortion to the noise. The rocky shelter provided a strange sense of alienation from the rain, even though I knew if I walked two metres forward, I would get soaked.

I turned away from the view and back into the caves, drawing in the damp, earthy smell as I inhaled. Nearby, Sarah was inspecting her jumper, the pale blue knit spotted with darker patches from where raindrops had fallen. Sam, on the other hand, was staring further into the caves, dark eyes seemingly deep in thought. The greyish light from outside highlighted the rain on his smooth pale skin, dewy with the droplets of water.

"Sam?" I tried to pull him out of his thoughts.

He spun back with a mischievous smile. "Who knows how long this storm will take to pass," he murmured, rubbing his hands together. "Let's go exploring."

Sarah glanced up from her clothes at her brother. "Is that a good idea?"

Sam offered up a nonchalant shrug. "We'll be fine, sis. What, you think murderers are hiding out here, just in case someone comes along?" He gave a derisive snort. "Come on."

He headed deeper into the labyrinth-like network of caves and, exchanging a brief wary glance with Sarah, I started to follow him.

The further into the caves we headed, the darker it got, and the more the tumultuous noise of the rain outside faded into warped reverberations. Sarah stuck pretty close by my side – closer than Sam. She glanced around the rocky caverns with wide pale blue eyes, holding her arms tightly across her thin body. Perhaps the rain soaked into her jumper was making her cold.

In the next cave, there was even less light, and even the echoes of the rain outside had mostly faded away. Other than our footsteps and indistinct breathing, all I could hear now was a slow drip of water, like a tap not quite fully turned off, coming from somewhere nearby – perhaps there was a gap in the roof of the caves around here. And then suddenly, an eerie whistling.