Aladdin - the Arabian Nights

Chapter 5

Aladdin's head hurt.

He could feel himself lying at an awkward angle on what felt like a cold stone floor, though part of him seemed to be on some different kind of material, something warmer and a little softer. His whole body ached horribly; he could feel numerous hard objects inside his clothes digging into him, some of which had sharp angles. Someone was pushing at his head. He wanted to tell whoever it was to stop it, but he couldn't find the strength to speak.

"A-lad-din," came a little monkeyish voice close to his ear. "A-lad-din, wake up!"

It was Abu pushing him. And now Aladdin felt the soft thing underneath him pushing him gently upwards into a seated position, which was a lot more comfortable since the jewels were no longer digging into him. Aladdin opened his eyes.

How long had he been lying there? What had happened? He vaguely remembered falling down into the belly of the Cave as the stairs disappeared beneath him, unable to find any handholds, barely having the chance to look out for any, sure he was going to die... And then something catching him, something soft and springy and... Aladdin turned around. Yes, there it was. The magic carpet from earlier. It had come back to find them after all! And none too soon. There passed several happy moments as the Carpet wrapped itself around a laughing Aladdin, showing him how glad it was to see him, and Abu let Aladdin know the same by leaping onto his shoulder with some happy monkey chatter.

But the joyful reunions were short-lived. Now that he was fully conscious, Aladdin noticed that the Cave seemed strangely dark. Not only had the stairs disappeared, but the entrance they led to - which Aladdin could have reached very easily now that he had the Carpet - was nowhere to be seen. And Aladdin felt no fresh air coming in from above, saw no stars or sky beckoning him. Their only way out was gone.

Nervously, Aladdin turned towards the entrance to the other chamber, the brightly lit garden one which made him feel a lot more comfortable than this dark one. That chamber had also been set up to resemble the outdoors, so perhaps there was a second exit from the Cave in there somewhere? Something Aladdin hadn't noticed before when he was focused on collecting treasure, and had no reason to think he wouldn't be able to get out the way he'd come in? But... where was the door that led there? He turned in every direction in case he had become disoriented, but he saw no welcoming glow. The entrance to the treasure room had also disappeared. He was trapped, sealed in this small dark chamber until he starved to death or ran out of air, essentially buried alive.

Aladdin felt a great surge of fury towards Jafar - "That two-faced son of a jackal!" and Abu angrily shook his fist, mirroring Aladdin - and also some anger at himself for ever having trusted him. "I should have known he wasn't my uncle," he moaned despondently, and Abu gave a furious chatter as if to agree.

Why had he ever trusted Jafar? He could see quite clearly now, the way parts of Jafar's story didn't fit into what Aladdin knew about his family, the way Jafar had clearly been looking for the Diamond in the Rough and not his long-lost brother. If only he hadn't been so anxious to have just one family member who understood him and didn't think he was useless....

Aladdin sank down onto the floor of the Cave, head in his hands, and began to cry.

For just the briefest of moments, he was almost ready to give in, almost ready to accept that he would never get out of here. But then he felt a tiny hand on his knee, and a slight brush of tassel on the Cave's cold stone floor. He raised his head to see Abu looking anxiously at him, with both concern and hope in his little monkey face, sure that Aladdin would figure out a way to save them from this awful fate. The Carpet, too, was leaning towards him in what he would almost have said was a comforting manner, and even patted him on the shoulder with a silky golden tassel.