Introduction
This is the story of Matoaca and Orianna. They are two best friends who were looked totally opposite. Matoaca was Native American of the Nez Pierce tribe. She had very long black hair, chocolate brown eyes and swarthy skin. Orianna, on the other hand, was of Irish descent and look every bit the part; red curls only tamed by pulling her back in a short pony tail, bright green eyes, fair skin, and a faint trail of freckles across her nose. Matoaca's parents had left the reservation for work when she was small, the family often visited Matoaca's grandfather who still lived on the reservation. This time, they invited their daughter's best friend to join them.
The afternoon after they arrived, Matoaca and Orianna decided to explore the woods near the house.
"Grandfather says he found a cave in there somewhere." Matoaca said as shrugged on her favorite bright blue knee-length jacket.
"Sounds like fun!" Orianna answered, zipping up her light pink hoodie. They didn't have a long walk before they passed under the eves of the woods. Gold sunbeams slanted through the tree tops as the two girls walked over a carpet leaves, twigs, and moss. Suddenly, Orianna ran ahead.
"What is it, Ori?" Matoaca called, as she tried to keep up with her friend
"I think it's the cave, Mattie!" Ori called excitedly. Sure enough, when Matoaca caught up, Ori was standing in front of a opening in a large boulderous areaon a steep hillside. However, the opening was small and low to the ground; they would probably have to crawl through.
"You want to give it a try?" Mattie asked with a shrug.
"Sure!" Ori nodded quickly. "I've got a litte LED flashlight in my pocket." Ori pulled out her flashlight which turned out to be a mini Maglite. She turned it on and went in first with Matoaca close behind. The two girls had to crawl on their hands and knees for the first ten feet, then it opened up enough for them to stand. Ori flashed her light around the cave, but suddenly it winked out.
"Oh no." she cried. "Don't you be doin' this to me now!" She hit the end of ther light with with her hand "I just changed your batteries the other day!" The darkness around them was complete.
"It's alright." Mattie soothed. "We will just crawl out the way we came in."
"Would love to, Mattie, but if you haven't noticed the entrance has kinda disappeared." Ori huffed sarcastically. Matoaca started, and began looking around, but could not find a trace of light to indicate where their way out was.
"Ok, let's get down on our hands and knees and feel for it." Suggested Mattie.
"Couldn't hurt, I guess, though I can't see the hand in front of my face." The two got down and crawled around, making sure to not loose each other in the dark. Suddenly their hands felt nothingness in front of them and they tettered off the edge of a long drop in the cave's floor….
