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w w w. g e t p u b l i s h e d . c o m . a u
Emerging Writer
Arisen by Kate Rose
A
s the scroll delicately fell into the pool, a ripple rhythmically billowed outwards, until it reached the edges of the cavern. The girl watched its journey by the glimmer of her candle and at the precise moment that the water calmed once more she uttered the words. Words that had been passed down to her by her ancestral mothers, never spoken out loud, always scribed. The scroll she had released into the pool had been written by her great grandmother. The girl’s soft whispers, like the ripple, set off a vibration around her. For a moment, doubts began to prickle her thoughts; had she said the words right? Was anything going to happen? Was all of this even real? Without a perceivable breeze in the stillness of the cavern, her candle suddenly flickered, once, twice, then blew out! The girl was despairingly cast into complete blackness as not a flutter nor fraction of light existed. She was consumed and buried in gloom. Hairs stood on end all over her and she felt the weight of hopelessness crushing in on
her lungs. Her stomach boiled with fear as she rose to her feet in panic, arms flailing out into nothingness. All she had was the smell of candle smoke mingling with the iron-dankness of the pool, to keep her company. Nobody knew she was down here, in fact, nobody knew this place existed. She doubted she could find her way back to the tunnel, nor to the surface, without light. Perhaps this was it! This Was It! Terror clasped her mind as she drowned in the devouring darkness and flapped around hopelessly. But then, after half a minute, a calmness began to pour over her and she stilled her limbs, her arms hung by her side. She breathed in…………… and she breathed out………..and submitted her senses to the cavern. Her mind emptied and her eyes closed, she bent her knees and lowered to the ground. Placing her hands on the cavern floor she crept her fingers forward bit by bit until they found the edge of the water. The surprising warmth from it attached to her and spread through her hands and arms and body, clothing her in a balminess.
