“I went to his tent just now.”
Fine.
Later, we split up and continued searching for them. Laurel and Tessa were with me, while the others went away together.
The search wasn’t as frightening as expected. It wasn’t difficult to move about when the moonlight was shining brightly on our path.
“Do you think that Ms. Zimmer did this on purpose? Why did she run so far away? It’s just a diarrhoea. Is she trying to get Mr. Featherstone to spend time with her in the wild and seduce him?”
Laurel made jokes while flashing the torch onto the ground. I chuckled without commenting on it. Judging from the landscape around us, Rachel couldn’t have found a secluded spot here, but I’m certain she wouldn’t go too far away. Did something happen to her?
Meanwhile, Tessa seemed to be in a foul mood tonight. “She has always been a loose woman. Why does she have to have a diarrhoea now? I’m sure she has an ulterior motive,” she said in a frigid tone.
Clueless about what Nora had done earlier, Laurel asked, “Tessa, I can tell that you dislike Ms. Zimmer too.”
Tessa snorted coldly. “Only men love a woman like her. I bet any other woman will hate her too.”
I stopped listening to their gossips. Afterward, I spotted a darker zone in the middle of the tea farm. Out of curiosity, I marched toward it.
“Ah!” Taking a few steps forward, I fell downward.
“Sienna!” Laurel shouted in a panic.
I fell into a pit. Unable to judge my current situation, I said, “Laurel, call Nora now. This pit is quite deep.”
“Okay, don’t be afraid. I’m calling them now!” she consoled me.
Reaching into my pockets, I couldn’t find my phone. Perhaps it dropped out of my pocket when I fell.
I squatted down and explored around, trying to look for my phone, but all I could touch was the soil. It was pitch-black all around me, so I could see nothing at all.
Fear grew in my heart. Afraid that I might accidentally touch a snake or an insect, I squatted on the ground and dared not do anything.
“Don’t fret, Sienna. Nora and the others are coming over. Hold on, I’ll look for them. I’ll be right back!” Laurel said from above. She then added, “Tessa, talk to Sienna and keep her company. I’ll get the others here.”
Tessa remained silent for a while. “Let me look for them. My stamina is better than yours, so I can walk faster.”
Nodding her head, Laurel stayed here after the woman left. Sprawling beside the pit, she turned on the flashlight of her phone and shone it downward. “Sienna, can you hear me?”
I saw a glimpse of light over my head. “Yes, I can hear you. Don’t worry, I’m fine. It’s just that it’s too dark down here.”
The woman attempted to drop her phone to me, but I stopped her promptly. “Don’t throw it down. What if I lose it too? I can’t see anything here. Just chat with me.”
Laurel nodded in agreement. Her voice sounded worried as she said, “My phone is running out of battery. Hopefully Tessa will be back soon. We’re not familiar with this hill, so I’m afraid she might lose her way. That’ll make things worse.”
That was totally possible. Though I felt troubled, I reassured her. “We’ll be fine. Don’t think too much. This place is near to the city. If worse comes to worst, we’ll have to wait till the next morning for someone to come to our rescue. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
Despite my assurance, the woman was still anxious. “But didn’t Tabitha say that landslide will probably happen? What if it rains?”
Exasperated, I have no choice but to comfort her. “No, no, that won’t happen. Nora checked the weather forecast, and it’s not going to rain today.”
She hummed in response for several times. Overwhelmed with anxiety, she chatted with me unceasingly. “Sienna, won’t you regret giving up on an outstanding man like Anthony?”
Giving it some thoughts, I answered solemnly, “Yes, I’ll regret it. But isn’t it inevitable to have regrets in life?”
“You’re right.” The woman nodded her head in agreement, letting out a sigh. “Rachel is…”
Rumble, rumble. Unexpectedly, a low rumbling of a thunder sounded.
Laurel’s voice trailed off in mid-sentence. She sounded desolate when she asked in a quivering voice, “Is it going to rain?”
Trepidation shot through me at her words. Due to the darkness in the pit, I couldn’t see the situation outside. In case of raining, the water would flow into the pit. Once the rainwater accumulated to become deep enough, I would get drowned.
Lifting my head, I asked, “Laurel, take a look at the sky. Maybe it’s only a dry thunderstorm. It won’t rain as long as there’s no dark cloud.”
The woman was on the verge of crying. I could tell that she was trying to choke back her tears as she whimpered, “Yes, there are dark clouds in the sky now. They appear out of nowhere. It’s drizzling now. Why is Tessa taking so long? Where’s she now?”
Pressing my lips together tightly, I couldn’t deny that I was freaking out. Nevertheless, there was no way out other than trying to save myself now.
Otherwise, not only would I be drowned, but I might also be buried alive if the rain grew heavier and caused a landslide.
Glancing up, I asked, “Laurel, calm down. Try to look around for a thick and long vine or branches and throw them down.”
The woman nodded and hummed in response before she went away.
Now that no one was around to talk to me, the pin-drop silence in the pit intensified the crippling terror within me.
The boggy soil reminded me of the night I had the miscarriage. My body couldn’t help trembling like a leaf.
I couldn’t afford to let fear overtake me, or else I would probably kick the bucket here. There were so many things left undone. I had yet to raise Summer up and achieve my dreams.
“Sienna, can you hear me? I found some branches. Be careful, I’m dropping them now.” Laurel’s voice came from the opening of the pit.
“Okay, do it,” I replied.
In the next second, some branches fell from above, and she asked, “Sienna, why did you ask for the branches?”
I felt for the branches on the ground. Holding it in my hand, I knocked against the ground and found that soil around me was pretty solid.
I took a few steps forward hesitantly. “I’m using them to check my surrounding, because I’m afraid that I might fall into another deeper pit.”
“I see, you’re really smart. Hold on, I’m going to find a vine now.”
Then, I could no longer hear her voice. I continued to scan my surrounding with the branch in my hand. After a few steps, I noticed that something was wrong. The soil beneath my feet was too marshy. To my dismay, I found myself sinking gradually.
My heart grew heavy, and I broke out in a cold sweat. At once, I knew that I had stepped into a swamp in the pit.
I raised my head and shouted, “Laurel, are you there?”
Fortunately, she was nearby and rushed over when she heard me. “I’m here.”
“I’m in trouble.” Deep down, I felt a little despondent. “I think I accidentally stepped into a swamp.”
“Ah!” she shrieked all of a sudden. “What should we do now?”
Feeling hopeless, my body sank gradually into the bottomless swamp.
“Don’t sweat it, Laurel. Quickly look for a vine or seek help. I can still hang on for a little longer. Don’t panic!” Trying my very best to keep calm, I racked my brain for a solution, recalling that before the ground I was standing at earlier was solid.
Grateful that I’m still holding the branch, I poked the ground around the swamp. Sure enough, the soil was much harder. Breathing a sigh of relief, I got on my hands and knees to reduce the weight on my feet.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
Leave a Reply