Joanne's Cabin Finale

I know I could go on and on with Liz's adventures in Joanne's world but I am feeling my heart being pulled in other directions so here is Liz's finale:

The birds lead Liz through the thick forest over rocks and slippery moss paths. Once she nearly loses a shoe in a hole broken through to a tiny underground stream tricking into the dark lake. She steps out of the trees onto a sheet of rock and stops in a ray of warm sunshine. A dirt road snakes around the back of the stone. She pauses to warm up, damp still from her time in the water. She hasn’t been able to dry along the long shady trek through the thick brambles and the caressing tree branches. A shiver hops up her spine as her skin warms.

Her feathered guides sit on the arm of a thin paper birch and wait, pruning each other as if they understand what Liz needs. She stretches up as high as she can and waves her arms like a tree in the wind. Her back cracks. It feels good to have bones and joints again.

A string of notes bounces down the road. Liz drops her arms and freezes. It’s no bird she knows. She perks her ears in the direction of the sound but hears nothing but the breeze in the quivering aspen leaves.

She spots the birds with necks craned in the same direction.

“Is that Joanne?”

The yellow bird tweets.

“Joanne? Are you there?” Liz calls up the road.

“Joanne? Are you there?” returns an echo.

That must be her. No one can echo up a path; you need a cliff and calm water.

She runs up the bumpy road and the birds take flight, chirping madly. The road twists to the left and the tree canopy changes. It is dark and cool. She jumps over a rock in her path and lands squarely in a mud puddle. She sinks to her ankles. She tries to lift her right foot but it’s stuck. The other moves slightly and she shakes that one to loosen the mud's grip.

“Do not move, Liz,” barks a sharp whisper.

Her eyes dart to a shadow beside the road. It’s Joanne. She’s sitting with her knees up to her chin. She slips up and hops along the rocks beside the road.

“I’m so happy I found you,” Liz cries out.

Joanne steps out of the shadow and puts her index finger to her mouth. Liz freezes again. Is there something behind her, a hungry predator? Her heart skips a beat and then drums forth madly like a moth on a light bulb.

Joanne points to the mud puddle and whispers, “Mud sharks.”

Liz snorts out a giggle. Her dad spent her childhood pointing at puddles like this on Big Wolf and warning her to stay out for fear of the infamous mud sharks. Joanne does not laugh. Her eyes are full of panic. She shakes her head and Liz stills. Her eyes scan the puddle for some silly little dorsal fin circling her shoes. But, if it’s true, it wouldn't be so silly. She likes her toes.

A bubble belches up next to her ankle.

With her eyes glued to the puddle Joanne move quietly around her.

“Do not move, Liz. You have woken one but their only sense is movement. They are blind and deaf,” Joanne whispers.

Liz breathes as shallowly as she can, only filling and releasing the very top of her lungs.

Another bubble belches up, this one much larger than the last and a stirring churns the mud beside her left foot.

Her head begins to tingle. She must be holding her breath. She can’t faint here. If she does, it’ll be the end of her. Her breath begins to pulse sharply as pure panic rises with more mud bubbles.

“Relax, Liz. Breathe slowly,” Joanne whispers along her cheek as she wraps her arms around her convulsing body. Saying “relax” never helps anyone hyperventilating. Joanne tightens her embrace and her heartbeat is strong against Liz’s back, much stronger than a heart should be. Liz’s erratic breathing stops as her focus flicks to this strange phenomenon.

The churning continues, and a body slides under her foot. This time she remains still, hypnotized by Joanne’s beating heart.

“You need to step out of the pond quickly,” Joanne whispers in her ear.

Without moving, Liz whispers, “My right foot is stuck.”

“I can help that. Stay still for one more moment. I will count to three and then you need to hop out onto this rock as fast as you can—no pausing.”

Liz nods and her eyes return to the bubbling puddle.

Joanne squats next to the puddle and slowly parts the water with her fingers. She closes her eyes and a blue light plumes out. Liz can feel the mud thinning around her foot but the ground below also pulses from a body weaving back and forth just below the mud. She’s done for. Bubbles burst around her left foot and the entire bed she stands on quakes.

“1.”

Liz holds her breath, preparing to launch.

“2.”

Joanne’s eyes rise. “3!”

Liz leaps back as a huge dark creature dives out of the water like a pike on a line. Its skin is dark brown and lumpy with mustard yellow thin sharp teeth. It snaps at the air but finds nothing and one milky blue eye flashes by as it drops back under the surface. The puddle heaves with its great weight and mud covers Liz’s legs. Bubbles pop all over the surface and then it calms.

Liz steps off the rock onto the scrub behind.

“How can that huge creature live in that small puddle?” she whispers through a shaky breath.

“There are caves under the ground. These puddles are little pockets to their world.”

“But, how? I was standing on the ground?”

“There is a thin membrane that separates their world from ours. They can feed on anything that happens to stick in the puddle but our atmosphere weakens them. They can’t stay here for long.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do.”

Liz quivers. “It was as if I was a bug caught in a spider web.”

Joanne nods and takes her hand, pulling her away from the road and up a sloping shield of rock.

“Why have a road if it has mud sharks?”

“It isn’t a road. It is a valley.”

Liz looks back. It could be any dirt road around her lake, warn down with use.

The rock opens up to the sun and Liz drops to the warm surface, suddenly feeling drained. Joanne slips down beside her and wraps her arm around Liz.

After a time of quiet, Liz asks, “Why did you lead me to the puddles?”

“Lead you?”

“I heard your bird call.”

“I didn’t know you were on this side, Liz. I told you never to come here alone.”

Liz drops her chin to her knees.

“Why were you there then?”

“I don’t know. I sit there sometimes. I like to throw stones into the puddles and watch them quiver with life.”

“You’re not afraid of falling in?”

“A little but I’m a little afraid of everything here.”

“Why don’t you come back with me? You’d be safe on my side.”

Joanne rests her head on Liz’s shoulder. “I cannot leave this world for more than a few moments. I am like the mud sharks. I would die in your atmosphere.”

“How long can you stay on my side?”

“I do not know exactly. I begin to feel weak and know it is time to return.”

“Maybe it would pass if you stayed? Your body could need time to recalibrate in our atmosphere.”

Joanne shakes her head. “No, I would die.”

“But you don’t know that.”

“Yes. My dad drove my mom through a doorway once. She was so frightened. She must have thought to hide away on the other side. When she did not return, I slipped out to search for her. She was not far from the doorway. She chose to die rather than return to him. I ran away, traveling very far from my family. I have never seen anyone from my world since.”

“How did you travel so far with all the terrible things in this world? I was almost killed twice today.”

“Twice?”

“I fell off Big Wolf.”

“Big Wolf?”

“The cliff.”

Joanne’s eyes widen. “You fell into the water?”

“Yes.”

Joanne shakes her head. “Wow. I think you would do fine here then. You must have some faery luck. There are many terrible things in that lake.”

“Yes. I almost turned into a weed.”

Joanne gasps.

“The birds woke me up before I completely changed.”

Liz points to her two feathered heroes dancing in the leaves of a mountain ash, picking at the bright red berries.

Joanne smiles. “This flock has cared for me throughout my life. They are never far.”

Her smile fades and her eyes drop to her lap. She takes Liz’s hand and releases a long sigh.

“I need to apologize, Liz.”

“For what?”

“I tend to hold onto friends too hard and sometimes nearly choke them with my embrace.”

Mom’s story pops into my mind of when Joanne had trapped her in the cave.

“I can have decades where no one finds me so I am unsure how to be a friend when one finally does. I want to hold onto them and never let them go. I know you are thinking about Lilah, your mom. I was terrible to her and will never forgive myself for my selfishness. She could have died. I was surprised when her daughter entered my world knowing what I had done.”

“I didn’t know at first.”

“U-huh. That makes sense.” Her eyes drop.

“I would have come anyways.”

“You would have?” Joanne asks. Her sad eyes fix on Liz’s face.

“Sure. I’m here now and I know what happened to her.”

“Why did you come back?”

“I guess the combo of curiousity and the disbelief that you are truly bad.”

“Really?”

“I think you need a friend who’ll always come back.”

“You will come back after all that happened today.”

“Yes, but only if you promise you’ll never try to trap me here.”

“I swear!” Joanne jumps to answer.

“A swear isn’t strong enough. You need to pinky-swear.”

“Pinky-swear? What’s that?”

“It’s unbreakable,” Liz explains. “If you do not keep the promise, you will surely die.”

Joanne’s eyes widen.

Liz raises her pinky finger. “Do you swear?”

Joanne nods.

“You need to say the words while we shake pinky fingers.”

Joanne wraps her pinky finger around Liz’s. “What do I say?”

“Repeat my words exactly.

Joanne nods with gaze locked on their two small joined fingers.

“I pinky-swear that I’ll never trap Liz or lead her anywhere that could cause her harm. I, Joanne will protect Liz with my life and will always let her return to her world when she must leave.”

Joanne echoes her words and they shake fingers. They release and Liz pulls Joanne into a bear hug. “Okay, the pact is made.”

“But what about your pact.”

“My pact?”

“You promised you would always return but never pinky-swore on it.”

“True. Sorry,” Liz says, taking Joanne’s pinky in hers. “I pinky-swear that I, Liz will never abandon you, Joanne and will return whenever I can. We will be friends forever and ever, amen.”

Joanne smiles. They sit in the warmth of the sun until Liz feels hot and dry.

“You probably need to go, hey?”

“Yeah. It’s been a big day here.”

“Yes.”

“Maybe tomorrow we can throw rocks at the sharks.”

“What? Are you crazy? You almost died here.”

“Sure, but I didn’t. I’d love to taunt them a little bit.”

“You have an evil root inside you, Liz,” Joanne says with a wicked smile.

Liz returns Joanne’s smile and laughs. “I guess I do.”

She pulls Joanne up and they take off through the trees to trek back to Joanne’s cabin at the top of the cliff.