The Broken Window (chapter two)

    After crying for a little longer, I took a deep breath and stood up.

    I wiped my eyes of tears and smoothed down my hair. I tossed my head in determination and took a step slowly, cautiously as if afraid of what might happen next. 

    I decided to walk at a slightly brisk pace, concerning my current situation. With Amelia lost—or at least not with me any more—I was on my own, but that didn’t suit me; I had to find my sister.

    I tugged on the edge of my shirt and bit my lip in anxiety. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was making the right decision. I couldn’t help but wonder if I should just wait here for Amelia to find me. But no, I was the one who got us both into this mess, and I was the one who was going to get us out of it.

So I kept going. I didn’t know where I was going, but I was going somewhere. Somewhere down a tunnel—not just any tunnel, an underground tunnel. It was somewhere below the orphanage, but I had no idea. The only thing I knew about this place was that a lever in the hallway was pulled and zoom—down we went on a slide to wherever we are now. Or rather me because I had no idea where Amelia was. Actually, I had no idea where I was either!

I sighed, but didn’t stop going. I had to find my sister.

I glanced around the dimly lit tunnel, taking in each significant sign that I could use as a landmark if need be. I noticed that there was a slight chip or dent in a section of tunnel on the left wall; I figured that was notable because I hadn’t seen anything like it yet. 

As I made my way farther into the tunnel, I spied a spot in the ceiling or roof or whatever the top of the tunnel was that had a leak in it. All I could hear was DRIP. DRIP. DRIP. DRRRRIP. DRRRRIP. DRRRRIP. DRRR. It was quite obnoxious, but at least it was a noticeable thing, I guess. For that one, though, I’d have to keep my eyes—or ears—peeled because apparently it was not super constant or loud for that matter even if it was constant.

Soon, I stepped on something that made a CLINK! sound. I gazed at the ground, but because everything was so dark, I couldn’t see anything. I bent down and noticed something slightly shimmery. I picked it up and found that it was sharp glass, for it pricked my index finger. 

What down here in this tunnel was glass? Nothing that I had seen so far. I had no idea, so I followed a trail of glass—a short one, but still—and found a frame, or so I supposed.

What on earth would glass and a frame have to do with anything down here in this tunnel? Then it hit me; it could have been a mirror! My only questions were: why was there a mirror down here when it was near pitch black, and who put it here?

Wait...what if the glass and frame didn’t make up a broken mirror, but rather a broken window? Although it was broken, I was positive it wasn’t always. I mean, of course it wasn’t always broken, but—well, anyways—there probably was a place for it somewhere in this tunnel. There had to be! There had to be some place where this window belonged. I didn’t care that it was broken, but I did care that there was a window because that could mean a way out!

Yet, another question beseeched me; why was this window broken?

Then, I grinned to myself. If Amelia were here and she knew about all the questions I was asking, she would call me Gertrude the Grand, Detective Premier. Oh, how I yearned to find her, so badly I did!

I shook off those sad feelings and got back to the broken window.

There must have been a logical explanation or a good reason or a developed hypothesis or something as to why there is this broken window in the middle of a “secret” tunnel!

I huffed and crossed my arms, pursing my lips in frustration. I slumped down against the wall and fell through the back!

“AHHHH!” I screamed as my feet shot out from under me. I plummeted down...but not for long because there was something hard and slanted. “Could it be another slide?” I asked myself.

I gasped. Maybe that’s where Amelia was! Maybe that’s why the window is broken: because Amelia and I got separated by different slides, and she came out this way, feet first into the window! 

I decided to discover this new possibility and let the slide carry me—around and around, not down and down. That seemed peculiar to me, but I went along with it; I had no choice after all. It almost seemed to me like I was going up slightly, but I probably wasn’t. 

Finally, I felt the slide speeding up as it hit a straight a way. I figured this was the end of the slide and I would shoot through the frame of the window, and I was right. I landed hard onto the ground.

I stood up, dusted myself off, and continued straight on ahead along the tunnel’s path, assuming that it was where Amelia was. Only, she was much farther along than me, so I jogged for a bit. 

The air seemed a bit damper at that point, so I figured that there was more moisture, possibly more water sources or leaks or something. It wasn’t that it was harder to breathe or anything, it was just something that I noted. Honestly, I was noting anything at that point.

Not only was there more moisture, but it seemed as though the tunnel was widening. I decided that that probably wasn’t true, so I just shook my head and kept on going, but to my dismay, it was true; the tunnel was not just widening—it was widening into a fork in the tunnel!