Space Geographer Returns: Part 12

By Morgan Hannah, Life & Style Editor

It feels like I’m trapped in an earthquake, and this is the last place I’d want to be if I am. The ground is shaking, the walls are shaking—everything is moving altogether as one.

And when I think it might be over, I am wrong. Dead wrong. The mountain uproots itself and lifts up out of the sand. I know this because the entrance is now up much higher, and I can feel the sensation of my organs rising into my throat, like when on a ride at an amusement park. I just hope there’s no drop later.

The scrabbling noise from further inside the mountain, and the darkness, doesn’t stop but only quickens in pace. My heart is beating so hard, my ribcage stings—I need to get out of here! It was a stupid idea to enter a breathing mountain!

Opening my eyes, I make for the exit. One foot after the other, it’s a struggle to move fast while shimmying sideways though the small space, and it doesn’t help that the rocky surface all around me is damp and slippery—in the dark it’s difficult to make out stable footing. My numb fingers push at the rock rather than grip it, and I’m almost at the edge when behind me, there’s movement.

“Aaaahhhh!” They push, shove, claw, and jump around my body as if I am nothing more than a boulder in their path. My stomach is flat against the rock—it’s cool to the touch—and I look up just in time to see alien after green alien jumping, leaping, and catapulting out the entrance to the rock, all the while the shaking, earthquaking motion has not seized. In fact, it seems as though we’re moving forwards. My God! This is a giant creature of some kind—it must be!!

Getting to my feet, I follow after the creatures, pausing at the lip of the crack. The sun is blinding and hot, and I am up at least 15 feet. There’s a pile of green bumps and limbs squirming through the sand down below.

“Why did they all jump?” I ask myself, and only the rumbling of the mountain answers.

There’s something else coming… The thought is dark and surprising, and I have to count to five before I dare turn around and stare into the darkness, just to make sure there’s nothing behind me. I’m alone. For now. But there’s still one more question left to answer: Do I jump?

Continuation of this exciting adventure next week!