Meet Me Halfway (EDITING)

Chapter 29: The Ditch

They continued to walk and wander off in this cold place, surrounded by a storm of trees. Sarah set one foot into the soft ground, only seconds later to realise there was no ground for a foot or so. She fell feet first into a small yet spacious hole. Sarah's faint screams immediately filled the space of the campsite. They echoed aloud and could be heard metres away. She struggled to stand still at the end of the hole after she plummeted down. All she could see was black, as if someone had punched her in the face. A galaxy of swirls entered her sight.

Sarah yelped in pain. A starch had begun to painfully swell up in her foot straight away. All four boys rushed at the top of the hole, hovering over to approach her. She sat at the bottom, like it was a dark well - almost like it was hell.

"Sarah!?" Jay yelled back, shouting so loudly that it echoed inside the ditch. She scratched at the dirt wall of the ditch, digging her fingers into it to feel it was still soft soil, yet dry.

"Help me, please!" She yelped, loud enough for the boys to hear her in their presence still. Their heads all covered the sky from her view, only a bit of the sun's rays seeping through in between their heads.

"Hey, Nate! Did you grab the rope that tied Vince to the tree?" Jay asked as Nate fished through his bag. He pulled out the long rope and watched as it extended as all the boys pulled on it. The boys threw it down the hole, watching as it twirled and hit the dirt walls as it went down. Jay's fringe flapped back down as he released the rope from his hands, waiting for Sarah to grab hold of it.

"You got it?" Nate yelled with his curls falling in his eyes. He parted them with one finger so they became a curtain on his forehead.

"Yep, you can pull me up!" Sarah shouted noisily, keeping a tight grip on the rope. As she got ready to leave the hole, she felt something touch her foot softly. It gently brushed against her heel as she moved over for the rope. She coughed in advance and screamed defiantly.

Finally, she was pulled back up to the surface of normal ground. She breathed heavily and threw her hair behind her shoulders. She touched Nate on the shoulder and gripped him securely, kneeling beside him steadily and boldly.

"You ok?" He asked, leaving her hand on his shoulder untouched. They all knelt over the hole, seeing nothing now but light inside from their shadows leaving. Sarah shook her head slightly and looked over at Jay's shocked face. He looked at her as if asking how she was as an alternative, but he joined in to look over the hole.

"Well, what's wrong? Why did you scream?" Jack asked, seeing nothing wrong with the situation.

"I felt something touch my foot," she finally said considerably. The boys all looked at her blankly, almost like they couldn't believe it - like she was lying.

"I doubt that. There's nothing down there," Vince said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, something really did. You don't know what's down there. None of us do," she replied, almost hyperventilating. They all looked at her with suss, furrowing their eyebrows. They all wanted to see for themselves, but had a weird feeling come over them that made them think Sarah was actually telling the truth. They were all in fact a little terrified, but didn't want to admit it or show it.

"Ok...so what do guys want to do about it?" Vince asked, looking back at the others as they looked to him and back to the hole with curiosity.

"You really want to go down there and look? Ok, you go. I'll stay here with the rope." He said smartly, crossing his arms jokingly but in a serious way. The others hesitated, but knew it couldn't be that big of a deal if it couldn't get out of the hole - whatever it was. Even Jay was curious.