Guided By The Glow Of Abigail's Heart
Centuries ago, pirates would sail along the rivers and lakes to plunder from other ships and villages. In the dark, dank caves of the lake outside of Oakdale, stories told that pirates hid their treasures deep into those caves, far from prying eyes. According to legend, the treasures were abandoned because of the lake's rise and fall with the rainy seasons. So the treasures are allegedly still there...
#
"Willy, are you paying attention. Hey Willy!"
Willy snapped out of his thoughts. He turned his gaze toward the large squirrel talking to him. "Leave me alone, Waggs." Willy was waiting on a small rock, nervously fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
"And why are you so nervous?" asked Waggs with a smirk. "Admit it, you're waiting for your girlfriend to show up."
Willy scoffed. "She's not my girlfriend. She's just a friend." But then, he saw a small boat down the river. He stood up, bouncing on his feet out of excitement.
Waggs squinted his eyes against the bright morning sun, and sure enough, he could see a small rowboat with a woodmouse in blue overalls riding on top, approaching fast. "I see your girlfriend. So are you two going on a date?"
"She's not my—ugh...Look, it's not a date, all right." He folded his arms in a dignified manner. "In fact, I'm taking her into one of the caves in the lake."
"Don't tell me you're looking for pirate treasure," laughed Waggs.
Willy wanted to retort, but he was distracted when he saw Abigail pull the boat to the shore.
"Hey Willy, good to see you again," greeted Abigail while she waved at Willy.
Just hearing her voice caused Willy to blush profusely.
"Willy and Abigail sitting in a tree..." sang Waggs under his breath.
"Oh knock it off," said Willy. He approached the boat to help Abigail out, however Abigail easily jumped off the side of the boat by herself.
"Hey Willy, what's been going on here in Oakdale?" asked Abigail.
"Oh, the same old thing."
Waggs stood nearby pretending to throw up.
Noticing Waggs's reaction, Abigail approached him. "So Waggs, are you joining us to find pirate treasure?"
Waggs scoffed. "No way. I got better things to do."
"Fine, more treasure for us," said Abigail with a smirk.
Waggs walked away in a huff. He mumbled something under his breath, which Willy could not hear, but he scoffed anyway, knowing it was probably another insult.
"So, are we going to swim into the cave?" asked Abigail.
"Oh no," reassured Willy. "The water level in the lake is low, so we shouldn't have to swim." He picked up a backpack he had left on the ground. "I'm all set to go."
"Great, lets get started." Abigail enthusiastically jumped back into the boat. As Willy climbed on board, she said to him. "By the way, thanks for inviting me along."
"You're welcome," said Willy, blushing softly.
Willy pushed the boat back into the water before jumping in himself.
"Hey Willy, do you want to row the boat with me?"
"Uh...sure."
She scooted aside to let Willy sit down.
Excited, he picked up an oar just after she did, and the two little mice worked together to row the boat.
As Willy paddled along, he felt very exuberant just to be near her.
From the moment she fell on top of him, it was love at first sight, although he was not sure what it was that attracted him to Abigail so much. Perhaps it was her tomboyish nature or fearless attitude. He had never known another girl who would prefer to wear overalls as opposed to a pretty dress and ribbons, nor had he ever known a girl who thought the idea of a journey into a dark and dank cave would be fun. The why was not important. What was important was that he knew he had to tell her how he felt.
"Uh, Willy, where is the cave?" asked Abigail as the boat sailed further down the river.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Willy said, "Uh, don't worry. I'll lead the way."
#
It was not long before they reached their destination. The mouth of the cave was situated just above the water, perfect for allowing two little mice to proceed on foot.
Once they reached the entrance, Abigail started digging into her backpack.
"What are you looking for?" asked Willy.
"Something I brought along, just in case we get lost." Abigail withdrew from her bag a ball of string. "We don't know how twisty or complicated the tunnels are, so I'll tie one end of the string to something and unravel the rest of the string as we walk."
Willy let out a quiet huff, feeling a little annoyed that he had not thought of that. Putting his feelings aside, he said, "Okay, lets do it."
While Willy lit a lantern, Abigail tied one end of the string to a root jutting out of the rock wall. With Abigail unraveling the string and Willy holding the lantern, the two ventured into the tunnel.
The inside of the cave was dank and cool. The earthen walls seemed to swallow the adventurers whole like an extra long throat. The moist air stank of rot and mildew. The ground was hard to walk on because of the soft silt and dirt that moved under the weight of their footsteps.
As they walked, they found some odd looking mushrooms growing along the ground and out of the walls.
"Odd, I don't remember seeing any mushrooms like these before," said Willy, leaning over to examine one of them. "I wonder if they're poisonous."
Abigail examined the mushrooms, marveling at the light brown color and the cone shape of the caps. Of course, Abigail knew better than to eat a mushroom she could not identify. Still, she wanted to cut off a piece before Willy shouted, "Abigail, look at that."
Curious, the two mice walked a little further down the cave to find a shear drop that fell into a lower area of the tunnel. The ground below was knee-deep with water. But what was so peculiar about the drop was the wooden ladder lying next to the edge.
"Where did this ladder come from?" asked Abigail.
"Pirates must have left it here," said Willy, excited. "That must mean the treasure's nearby."
Abigail knelt down to examine the ladder, noting how old and rotted the wood looked. "It might be usable. We should probably go down there one at a time."
"I can go down first." Willy kept one hand on the lantern as he slowly climbed down it. The ladder wined in protest as it held up his weight, but despite that, it held up.
Once Willy got both feet on the ground, soaking himself in the water, he called up to Abigail, "It looks safe to me."
"Then let's get some pirate treasure." Abigail dropped the ball of string into the water, causing a splash that nearly got on the lantern.
Willy impulsively lifted the lantern away from the flying water. "Careful, you nearly put out our only light source.
"Sorry about that," said Abigail while climbing down the ladder.
Feeling excited, Abigail started to jog ahead of Willy as soon as she got into the water. With the unraveling ball of string spinning in her hands, she sprinted into the darkness despite the uneven ground, the mushrooms growing out of the walls and floor, and the water soaking her overalls.
"Abigail, slow down," shouted Willy as he sprinted to keep up.
Abigail stopped and turned around to see Willy panting.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I guess I got a little excited. I've never gotten the chance to see real treasure before."
Willy looked at Abigail's smile. She was so giddy and carefree.
"Are you okay, Willy? You look a little nervous."
"Yes, I-I'm fine." He gave her a halfhearted smile. "I guess I'm feeling excited too." It was then that he noticed something sparkle behind her. "Oh no!"
From the lantern light, the two mice could see that the rest of the tunnel was underwater and stretched on longer than could be seen in the light.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Willy, staring in dismay at the endless darkness.
"I guess I'll just have to dive down there and take a look," said Abigail as she stepped into deeper water, but she then suddenly froze.
"Abigail, what's wrong?" asked Willy.
Abigail spotted a large creature swimming toward her. She backed away from the creature just as it leaped out of the water, a single claw snapping in front of her face. Screaming in fright, she backed away from it.
With the creature in full view of the light, Willy and Abigail recognized it as a crawdad. It stared at them with lidless beads for eyes and a face bereft of a mouth. Its many legs carried it across the water, its antennae waving wildly around. It snapped its claws at the mice, reaching for them.
Abigail and Willy fled the crawdad, running as fast as they could with Abigail taking the lead. Without any regard toward tripping over the uneven floor or picking up the ball of string, they merely followed the tunnel back to the ladder. Abigail reached the ladder first, and hastily climbed up it, but Willy climbed up after her without thinking. The rickety old ladder, which had no problems holding the weight of one mouse, creaked loudly under the weight of two mice. With a loud crack, the ladder collapsed just as Abigail was about to reach the top. With a cry of despair, the two fell with the collapsing ladder, hitting the water hard and dousing the lantern's candle.
When the lantern light went out, they were suddenly enveloped in a soft, green light. As Abigail got off of Willy, she rubbed the water out of her eyes to see that the light came from the mushrooms. She approached the mushrooms, marveling over the light.
Willy, clawed at the walls, trying desperately to climb over, but the rock wall was too steep to climb. He clawed at the walls in distressed panic. "Help us!" He shouted down the tunnel, hoping someone would hear, but no one came. He eventually calmed down enough to turn around and see Abigail examining the mushrooms.
"I've never seen mushrooms glow like this."
"There's no time to be admiring the mushrooms. We need to get out of here."
Ignoring Willy, Abigail withdrew a pocketknife from her pocket, carefully cut the mushroom off, and held it up by the base like a torch. "It's like nature's lantern."
"Abigail, please, we need to start calling for help." Willy froze with freight when he heard the sound of many legs approaching.
"I don't think anyone will get here in time." Abigail picked up from out of the water a piece of the broken ladder and snapped it in two on her leg, creating two wooden spears with splintered tips. She gave one of the spears to Willy.
Sure enough, the crawdad was following close behind, its pincers snapping wildly.
"Come on, Willy, we have to get passed this thing," shouted Abigail.
"W-Why?" said Willy, nervously.
"I doubt the crawdad could climb up and down this wall," Abigail pointed at the ledge behind her, "so there has to be another way out at the other end of this tunnel."
"But you can't know that for certain." Before Willy could argue his point further, the crawdad began snapping its pincers at Willy. Frightened, he picked up the sopping wet lantern and smashed it against the crawdad's head.
The crawdad shook wildly as it tried to brush the broken glass of its face.
Abigail and Willy snuck around the crawdad and made a break for the end of the tunnel. Thankfully for them, the crawdad was not very fast, but running in knee-deep water was not helping.
Once they reached the deeper waters, Willy was too frightened to object anymore. The two mice took a deep breath and dove into the water. Abigail held the mushroom out in front of her as she swam, lighting the cave, but before she could get far, the crawdad grabbed her by the ankle.
Abigail desperately stabbed the crawdad in the face with her spear, but with the dim light and being held down by an angry crawdad, she was helpless to fight back. Willy swam toward the crawdad and stabbed it repeatedly, but the flimsy wood was not sharp enough to pierce its shell.
He nearly released his breath when the crawdad grabbed him by the chest with its other pincer. Fighting fatigue and panic, he stabbed blindly in the dim light until the spear hit a tender spot under the carapace. With all the strength he could manage, he forced the piece of wood under the carapace.
The crawdad thrashed wildly in pain, letting go of Abigail and Willy as it tried to pull the piece of wood out.
Running low of air, the two mice swam to the surface, gasping for breath as soon as they reached air. Without thinking, they took in another breath of air and dove down. They swam past the crawdad as it yanked the spear out with one of its claws.
With only the light of the mushroom lighting their way, they swam down the tunnel. Their large ears could hear the scrapping sounds of the crawdad in pursuit. They did not look back as they swam, but in the dim light, they could barely see beyond their own noses. Fear and panic began to overtake them as they swam, fearing they would drown in the caves. But then, just as they feared the worst, they saw sunlight. They desperately pushed on, their lungs burning from the lack of air.
Abigail dropped the mushroom so she could use both hands to swim. She moved past Willy as the two escaped the tunnels. Growing blue in the face, they desperately swam to the surface.
As if a weight was lifted off their chests, they broke the surface and breathed in some air.
Once Abigail got her breath back, she looked down into the water and saw that the crawdad was gone. "We did it." She laughed with excitement.
However, Willy looked pale, not from nausea, but from sheer terror.
#
After retrieving Abigail's boat, they rowed back to shore and dried off at Willy's house, telling his parents that they fell overboard, explaining why they were sopping wet.
Willy's family lived in a house near the river. It was a quaint little place with a fenced off backyard where they stayed to dry off.
Abigail wore a white towel while she hung her overalls to dry on the clothesline. "That looks good, and with the sun, they'll be dry in no time." She saw Willy sitting on the back porch dressed in a new shirt and looking disappointed. She sat down next to him and asked, "What's wrong, Willy?"
Willy let out a mournful sigh. "This whole trip was a disaster."
"Well, maybe we can find treasure next time."
"It's not that. I really wanted to impress you on this trip."
"Impress me? Why?"
"Well, it's because," he started nervously playing with the hem of his shirt, "I like you." His face turned bright red like a strawberry.
Abigail pursed her lips, unsure as to how to respond.
"Do you feel the same way about me?" asked Willy.
"Well," Abigail's pause was drawn out, "I don't know. I do admit you're kind of cute, but I've always thought of you as a friend."
Willy lowered his ears in disappointment. "I was afraid you'd say that."
"Don't take it the wrong way. It's not that we can't be together one day."
"But I'll never be like you. I invited you along because I knew you liked adventure, and I wanted to be a part of that with you, but I can't do it. You're the one who got us out of that cave, and I was just in the way."
"Oh...that was just luck. There was no way I could have known whether or not an exit was at the other end. I just took a gamble."
Willy's voice became choked with emotion. "But you were so brave and resourceful. I wasn't helpful at all."
"Don't sell yourself short. After all, you rescued me from the crawdad. It's like what my dad told me: 'being brave just means overcoming your fears,' and whether you know it or not, you were brave."
Willy's ears perked up. "Really?"
"Of course. Don't feel bad if we don't enjoy the same activities. We're still furlings, after all. Who knows how things will change in the future."
Willy smiled. "Thanks, Abigail. You know, you're the smartest girl I've ever met."
Abigail smiled back at him. Seeing her beautiful smile gave Willy a warm, comfortable feeling in his chest.
#
Abigail put on her overalls as soon as they dried and got onto her boat to head back to Dapplewood. Willy was there to say good-bye.
"Have a safe trip," said Willy, giving Abigail a halfhearted smile. "I'll be sure to write another letter to you tomorrow."
"I'll be waiting for it." Abigail leaned back and forth on her feet like an excited child.
"Well," Willy said, awkwardly, "bye."
Abigail did not know what else to say. After Willy spilled his heart out to her, it did not seem right to her to leave like that. So, she leaned forward, and kissed Willy on the cheek. "Bye Willy, I had fun today."
Willy was so stunned by the gesture, he just stared at her, mouth agape. He watched Abigail as she jumped into the boat and rode off down the river. As he watched her disappear into the distance, he put a hand to his cheek and smiled. He had never felt happier.
The End