I'm not one of you <Frans>

CHAPTER 21: Echoing Flower

Time: Unknown
Now that I've slept. It is completely unknown as to what time it is on the surface. The times and days are merging into one. How long did I actually sleep? Only time will tell.

Opening my half-lidded eyes, I tiredly looked up from my small ball of condensed body-heat. Directly ahead of me, a cave wall could be seen clearly. "I guess my vision is back." I mumbled to myself. It was strange. The first time I ever saw the cave walls, naturally was in the dark, and so far along on my journey. "Ok." I hummed, taking a look at my swollen ankle I had gotten the ...night? Before. "How do I even tell the time down here?" I complained, looking at my bare feet with hopelessness. "How long have I gone without food? 2 days? 3 days?" I asked myself. "Hell, even 4 days. The body does weird shit when you're about to open the first stages of frostbite." I wined. "Who knows how long I've been asleep?" I complained.

At this point, I guess the laboratory is looking for me. I don't even remember where I put the case files of information on the underground. Though a lot of what I've seen now, either complicates the theories more, or debunks them on the spot.

"I don't know which is worse!" I put my head in my hands with dread. In doing so, I glanced at my ankle again, knowing what a drastic detour it would have on my journey through the underground. I hummed, thinking for a bit. "What can I use to get you some support?" I said, talking to the purple ankle. "I wish I had some bandages or something. Even a piece of cloth that can act as some sort of support." I said, looking around only slightly. The stench of hotdogs only consumed my thoughts, and my stomach growled loudly. "Shut up." I growled to my stomach.

Struggling to get up, I used the wooden poles on the sides of the small stand for support, so I wouldn't have to apply much pressure on my injured foot. I hopped up, limping slightly and looked around at the scenery with started eyes. Next to the stand were more piles of dust, spread out slightly, but grouped in small areas around the small stand. The dark blues and blacks lit up the area in a calming tone, making me at peace. Looking up in awe, I could see the fake stars that were stuck to the ceiling to resemble a night sky. "Though, you're nothing like the night sky, huh?" I whispered to myself, smiling at the serene beauty of this place.

I could only whip my head around swiftly when I heard a whisper back from next to me. Taking a sharp inhale to speak, I quickly noticed there was no one there, only but a tall, blue flower, with luminescent petals. It's almost as if the light emitting from the flower was creating the light source it needed to live— a self-made light source to produce sugars from photosynthesis.

I narrowed my eyes with curiosity, limping over towards the beautiful flower that stood so beautifully in the darkness. It was amazing that it had the abilities to adapt to the darkness of the cavern. It was probably dark here 24/7, and to put this flower in the light would probably kill it, giving it too much light for its leaves to produce the sugars. "Though, you're nothing like the night sky, huh?" Small, barely audible whispers came from the flower, repeating the phrase I had said just a small moment ago.

My eyes lit up, and I laughed a small bit, causing the flower to repeat a small "haha" shortly afterwards. As if echoing me in a way. Did that mean that it had the ability to speak? How is that possible? It couldn't be an echo of the cave, for some reason, my voice didn't echo here. So how? "Curious..." I said, trailing off, only smiling more as it repeated my speech once more. I reached out to touch the glowing flower, feeling it's soft petals in between my fingertips smoothly. I handled it with delicacy, as if one slip up and the flower could die.

It had strong, large petals, and the glow didn't seem to rub off of my fingers. It continued repeating "Curious..." in the same tone of voice as I did. Mimicking me. "Maybe it's an act of defense?" I said to myself, trying to think of a solution. "So this is what you were hiding..." I said, looking up at the ceiling, glancing up at the stars. "The beauty of this place." I trailed off again, smiling once more of the flower's echos. "That still doesn't explain why it's so desolate here..." I said to myself, looking at the piles of dust on the ground.

Looking back at the flower, I immediately got an idea that made me smile. "If you echo.." I said, still feeling the soft petals in my hand, "And you're a plant, then you need to reproduce. Therefore there are more flowers like you..." I said, nodding to myself. "And if there are more flowers like this one, then I could listen for a story. I could listen for something to figure out the mystery of the underground, and even a way out while I'm at it. I won't last forever without food." I said, laughing a bit as the flower tired to keep up with my speech.

It was slower at speaking, but it repeated the last sentence of my speech, so it would have to be the same of the people who lived here before me. Hoping that they speak the same language, I could probably detect and figure out where they all went!

"Speaking of..." I said to myself, looking around. "Where did my device go?" I asked myself, looking around and patting my pockets, as if it would fit in them. I looked over the stand as well, only to see nothing where I sat. "Please don't tell me..." I said, turning on my heel, creating a small hole in the soft dirt, to face towards the snowy village that I came from. My heart sank at the sudden realization. "Nooo..." I complained. The flower echoed my 'nooo' for a while, and I put my head in my hands, sighing loudly. "I am NOT going back there." I said to myself, looking back at the flower, mumbling.

I waited for the flower to repeat my sentence, but my heart stopped and my eyes widened as it whispered back to me.
". . .B  e  h  i  n  d     y  o  u . . ."