Kenji Nobu was standing at the cave entrance in the side of the low hill, pulling back the desert bushes concealing it. He slid the radio he was carrying into the fold of his white tunic, and tightened the belt on his brown robe to hold it against his chest, muffling the sound of the announcers and music playing on it. He peered into the darkness, sniffing the air. He turned to Rosa Jardine and Theo standing nearby, and waved them towards him. “Come after me, one at a time, please! The hidden garden is on the other side,” he shouted and turned to step into the tunnel. Theo ran over to follow Kenji, Arfie bounding behind him. “You’ll need to use both hands to feel your way through, it’s pitch black in the middle. Watch out for snakes and rats!” Kenji said to them, winking his right eye at Rosa.

Rosa shouted after them, with a tremor in her voice, “Theo, just stop where you are! We can climb up and go over the hill if we have to!”

“This way’s much faster, Rosa,” Kenji said gently. He gestured up the slope of the hill and said, “There are a lot of loose rocks and you’ll wear yourself out climbing in this hot sun. Don’t worry, I’ll lead the way and wait for you at the other end and call each of you through.” With that, he stepped into the cave, his square wooden sandals clicking on the rocky path inside. Theo stepped up to the entrance, and pulled back some of the branches that had whipped back into place to conceal the tunnel again. Arfie poked his snout into the cave, sniffing cautiously at the darkness.

“We’re going up and over the hill, young man! There’s no way we’re going in there,” Rosa said as she walked up to the young boy and Husky dog. “We’ve taken enough chances today, as it is.”

Theo leaned into the tunnel, listening intently to Kenji’s progress. “C’mon, mom! Kenji said this is best way. Don’t worry, I think he’s almost all the way through.” Rosa frowned, and reached over to grab Arfie by his silver and blue collar, holding the Husky back from jumping into the dark hole. Arfie looked back at Rosa with his blue eyes, straining within her grasp and whining slightly.

From the other other end of the tunnel, they could hear Kenji call out to them, echoing down the tunnel walls, “I’m through! OK Theo, you’re next! Remember, one at a time and feel your way through.” Theo immediately stepped into the cave entrance, and before Rosa could stop him, was gone.

“Theodore Jardine!” Rosa screamed after him, “You come back here right now!” Arfie was now pulling hard against his collar, his dog tags jangling noisily with the silver five-petal rose pendant attached to his collar.

“I’m fine, Mom! It’s not that bad… you can see a little bit in the dark,” Theo called back. “The ground’s pretty uneven, but I can feel both sides of the tunnel… oof!”

“Go slow, Theo!” Rosa could hear Kenji calling from the other side. Her face grew red with anger, pulling back the branches of the bush roughly and leaning into the tunnel.

“Just about tripped there… I think I’m-” Theo shouted and then screamed, the sound of falling rocks echoing back to Rosa. Arfie wiggled violently against Rosa’s grasp of his collar, and freed himself to run into the tunnel after Theo.

“Come back, Arfie! Theo! What happened!” Rosa screamed in a mixture of rage and panic. She could hear Arfie barking as went further into the tunnel, and then make a sharp yelp. Rosa looked desparately up the slope of the hill and then into the darkness of the tunnel, unsure about which path to take. She involuntarily took a deep breath and plunged into the entrance, stepping hurriedly over the sharp rocks on the floor of the tunnel and frantically reaching out to the rough walls, her hands feeling the crevices of the rock edges. Now engulfed in darkness, her eyes adjusted to the dim light coming from where she entered the tunnel. Not able to see anything, she called out to Theo and Arfie, “I’m coming after you! Kenji, can you see them at your end?”

“One at I time, I said! Theo, can you hear me?” Kenji shouted back from the other end of the tunnel. Both Rosa and Kenji could hear a slight moaning from Theo and whimpering from Arfie. Rosa could hear Kenji scrambling back into the tunnel.

Rosa tried to walk faster into the tunnel, her hands grabbing at the rocky walls, pulling down loose rocks as she went. She squinted at the path ahead of her, but couldn’t even see the other end of the tunnel from where she was. Panic started to set in, and she was breathing loud and shallow now. “Theo! Arfie!” she shrieked, and tripped on the uneven floor. She reached out ahead of her to stop her fall, and was surprised to find a wall ahead of her instead of empty space. She fell hard against the wall, hitting her head against a protruding rock and collapsed to the ground.

Cool silence and darkness enshrouded the young woman, and she drifted into unconciousness.

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***