"Cindy? Cindy? Where are you?" Jimmy yelled, glancing up at the sky. It was a deep periwinkle with a hint of pink and dotted with the beginnings of stars. The sun was yellowish-orange and just beginning to sink beyond the horizon. If he wanted to find Cindy, he'd have to do it fast, because it was going to be dark soon. He had maybe an hour at most.
"Cindy!"
He sighed, worried. Where could she be?
Duh, Jimmy, he thought.
There had to be some way to get from his side of the crack to Cindy's side. But how? He looked around, scanning the area for any fallen trees that spanned the width of the crack. No such luck. It looked like the only way to get across was to climb down, then climb back up. But he couldn't do that with his ankle in the shape it was. He touched the splint. Cindy's hair bands were holding up pretty well. He smiled, remembering how worried she had been when she found out his ankle was hurt. She hadn't shown him that kind of worry very often, but he could remember one instance very clearly….
~*~Flashback~*~
Jimmy sat quietly in his cell, listening to the others fight. His fault. It was all his fault they were stuck here. Him and his stupid curiosity.
"Jimmy? You there?"
It was Cindy. Jimmy instinctively braced himself for whatever insults were coming, but subconsciously he realized that Cindy's voice didn't sound taunting. It sounded more… caring?
"Look, don't listen to them. They're just scared." She paused. "Are you okay?"
Jimmy was confused. Was that Cindy talking? He sniffed back a couple tears, not wanting to cry in front of his rival.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, trying to sound convincing, but a waver in his voice gave away his lie.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," she told him. "We'll get out of this."
Jimmy didn't say anything. Easy for her to say. She wasn't the one who had caused their parents to be kidnapped by giant space eggs.
Cindy seemed to know what he was thinking.
"So you made a mistake. Beating yourself up isn't going to fix anything. You know," Cindy began, taking a breath, "I was the smartest kid in school until you came along. And… I admit you know more about some things than I do. But I know one thing that you don't seem to get, and that's that we're never getting out of here without you. So why don't you buck up, mister, and put that big brain of yours back to work. Nick can handle the fighting stuff, but first we have to get out of this cell."
Jimmy was in total and complete shock. Was Cindy actually talking to him without making fun of him like she always did? If so, why? He decided to ask.
"Cindy? Why're… why're you being so nice to me?"
"Because there's a bunch of kids in here that need you." After a moment's hesitation, she added, "And I do, too."
Jimmy blinked. Cindy being nice and saying that she needed him, that she needed his help? What was going on with her? Did she… did she like him? No, that was impossible… wasn't it? But now wasn't the time to think about that. He had to think up an escape.
~*~End flashback~*~
Jimmy shook his head, clearing his mind of the memory. What in the world made him think of that? Stupid irrelevant thought trains. He had to take one in the middle of searching. Now it's too late, Jimmy thought, looking up at the sky, which was almost black. I'll never find Cindy in this darkness. Even with the moon and stars it's still pitch black.
Jimmy yawned, realizing for the first time how tired he was. Not even paying attention to where he was, he lay down on the ground and fell asleep.
Cindy stretched and yawned, her limbs stiff from sleeping on nothing but some leaves. She blinked a couple times, trying to clear her vision, then stood up.
"Jimmy?" she asked, before remembering that Jimmy was lost. She knew that Jimmy couldn't have climbed down with his leg in the condition it was, so she'd have to climb back up. She really, really wasn't in the mood to climb, but she knew that if she wanted to find Jimmy – and she did want to find him, she wanted to a lot – then she would have to climb. Sighing resignedly, she searched for somewhere that she could get a decent grip and climb up. Luckily, she found a spot and climbed up without incident. But when she reached the top, quite a shock met her.
"Jimmy?!" she gasped.
Sure enough, Jimmy was curled up on the ground, fast asleep. Cindy walked slowly toward Jimmy and shook his shoulder softly. Jimmy stirred and sat up, blinking.
"Hmm?" Jimmy mumbled, looking around.
"Jimmy! You're okay!" Cindy cried, throwing her arms around him.
Heh heh heh. Looks like I was right, doesn't it?
Stupid voice, Cindy thought, blushing bright red and letting go of Jimmy.
"Hey Cindy," Jimmy said, blushing a little as well. "Didja miss me?"
"Of course not! Well, okay… maybe just a little," Cindy told him, grinning sheepishly.
"You're a bad liar," Jimmy said. Cindy stuck her tongue out at him, unable to come up with a retort.
BOOM.
"What was that?" Cindy asked, glad for the distraction.
BOOM.
"I might be wrong, but I believe that our friend Mr. Rex is back," Jimmy said. Cindy decided that maybe she didn't like the distraction so much anymore.
CRASH.
The T-Rex emerged from the forest, some sixty yards away. It let out a roar, sniffed the air and charged straight at Jimmy and Cindy. The two looked at each other.
"Run!" they both shouted.