Crash Landed In Camelot

“Guys! This isn’t funny anymore!” I said as I attempted to remove my blindfold.

“No peeking! It’s cheating!” Rachel called out.

“And you’re right, it’s not funny” Lizzie said seriously. “It’s flippin’ hilarious!”.

“Come on. I’ve been looking for twenty minutes and I swear you keep changing hiding spots for my stuff!” I replied bitterly.

“It’s been fifteen and we have not.” Rachel cried indefinitely.

“Fine,” I growled. “Can I at least take off the blindfold? It’s already pitch black out here by now.” Rachel, Lizzie, and Skyia quietly argued, Skyia taking my side. Skyia and I had been BFFs from the moment we met twenty-three years ago in our diapers. Our mothers were best friends and their mothers before them. It was a strange unending line of best friends; I suppose we took the term forever to the extreme.

We eventually met Lizzie in the high school choir. Well, I met her in choir. Skyia has the most wonderful voice I had ever heard but she had this terrible thing called stage fright. Put her in a room with family and extremely close friends and she's fine but one stranger and it’s bye bye voice.

When I first met Liz, we clashed. Her personality far more outgoing and straightforward from mine but she grew on me. She was new to the school and everyone wanted to be her friend because she was loaded. Well, her parents were. Her grandfather had helped invest in cell phones and computers and they were set for at least ten generations. But Liz really was tired of all her friends ogling her money and that’s where Sky and I come in. We didn’t care that she was rich, in fact we didn’t even know until she told us. Bit of a shocker for all of us. Liz thought we were lying when we didn’t know and Sky and I were just floored that we didn’t even get close to that rumor. However, she realized we were really her friend when she was stranded in the middle of forest after a party, no one would get her but us, and we’ve been great friends since.

Now we have Rachel. Rachel completes the circle of friends. We have Skyia who is almost too kindhearted for her own good and shy. Me, Cadi by the way, outgoing with the right group and probably the weirdest from the group but that’s for another time. Lizzie, who let off an air of importance and spunk but insecure inside. And lastly Rachel or should I say, Miss I’m-So-Perfect-Bow-Before-My-Hot-Body. I say that in the nicest possible way… sort of. Rachel became the unofficial leader of our quartet. Nothing wrong with that but she sometimes doesn’t realize that the way she treats others is not the best but behind all that she’s just as scared as Skyia. Rachel was abandoned at the age of nine with her twenty-two year old brother, who tried to raise her but it was tough alone and freshly out of college. Her mother had died of cancer at two and her father just left her with her brother one day and never returned. Her brother insisted she stay with her family. She had it tough and never let anyone know about her past or her fragile soul. Liz, Sky, and I are the only ones beside her brother that know the truth. But I diverse.

“It has been decided,” Lizzie declared in a deep booming voice, “You may take off your blindfold but then we leave you here alone to find your own way back.” I internally debated. After I found my backpack, I could use my flashlight to find my way back but that’s assuming I find it. However, I basically grew up in these woods. The odds were in my favor.
“I’ll see you guys back at the tents.” I replied taking off my blindfold. I heard Skyia protest but eventually give in and say her goodbye. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the little starlight that poked through the trees. I took a moment to take in my surroundings. I soon realized I was on one of the trails Sky and I had created when we were in middle school. Only the four of us knew about this trail as we disguised the entrance. The trail led to a small valley that had a river and followed the river to the top of a twenty-foot waterfall that was breathtakingly beautiful. I had a hunch they put my bag there and started the trek to the falls.

When I arrived, I squinted in the darkness looking for my midnight blue backpack, regretting the color choice. I eventually found it… on a tree branch… over the river. How they got it there amazed me. I suppose it was Liz that did it; she was the most athletic of us. I contemplated how to approach reaching the backpack. They expected me to get this with a blindfold on. Insane. What was I suppose to do keep walking until I went over the falls and grab my bag as I went over? I bet it was Rachel’s idea. Correction, I know it was Rachel’s idea. I figured my best bet would be to climb the tree that my bag rested on. It would be a test of my awesome cat skills. Too bad I was a dog lover.

After several attempts to get the right foot friction on the tree, I finally reached the branch. I slowly inched my way towards the end. Gripping the tree extra tightly every so often in fear of falling into the freezing cold raging river. After three mini-heart attacks and one stab in the hand by a twig, I reached my bag.

I whooped in triumph as I carefully slung it on my back. Take that Rach! Unfortunately, I had forgotten where I was and I plunged into that freezing cold raging water I was talking about earlier. And personally, I like to think I’m a good swimmer but I was too close to the falls and the current swept me away. I screamed for help as I reached the edge and knew that they couldn’t hear me. As I fell, no thoughts crossed my mind for I was so terrified. When I hit the bottom, I hit my head on a rock and everything went white. I had died… or so I thought.