Chapter 6

August 17, 2022 at 1:00 pm

Sportacus reported to the police that he couldn't find her and that the increasing bad weather was forcing him to abandon the air search. He and Joshua quickly parked the airship and climbed down the ladder. The two ran toward the search team's headquarters.

While his parents and Samantha's parents talked to Captain Dogooder about the next course of action, Joshua had this horrible feeling in his stomach. Samantha was out there somewhere in this weather. He overheard Captain Dogooder saying that the woods needed to be combed through but that with the rain the search would be very difficult especially since the trees were too dense to see through from the air.

It might be difficult for them but not me, Joshua thought. Quietly, the soon-to-be–hero got from his seat and walked away from the search team's headquarters. He would find Samantha himself.

WWWWWWWWWW

The rain continued to soak the forest. Samantha was surprised that the dense forest let that much rain through. She slipped and fell in the mud. Soon she was covered head to toe with muck. Luckily, her duffel bad was lined on the inside and her clothes stayed dry but her sleeping bag and pillow were soaked.

Samantha came to a clearing and saw there was a cottage. Quickly, she ran to the door and pounded on it.

"Is someone there? Can you let me in?" When no one answered, she tried the door. Finding it locked, she ran around the house until she found a window. It looked as if it had been broken by something but she needed to find somewhere to get dry so she found a stick and tried to remove the remaining glass.

Once this was done, she flung her bag and sleeping bag roll through. Samantha then managed to lift herself up and squeeze herself in through the window. Tumbling to the floor, her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Carefully the ten year old stood up and walked toward a nearby wall.

There she found a light switch and flipped it up. The light bulb dimly lit the room but it would be enough to see around. Samantha walked back over to her belongings and grabbed up the soaking wet sleeping bag and pillow. Quickly, she opened up the sleeping bag and looked for something to throw it over so it could dry.

Towards the center of the room was a cage of some sort. It seemed odd but by the amount of dust and cobwebs, whoever had been there hadn't been around in awhile. However the cage was very dirty and she didn't want to get her only blanket to be dirty and wet. Placing the sleeping bag over her duffel, Samantha pulled her wet and muddy shirt off. Using it as a dust cloth, she cleaned the cage off and placed her sleeping bag over the cage.

The next step was to try to dry her pillow off. There was a stool in the corner of the room and she figured that would do. Again using her shirt as a dust cloth, she cleaned the stool and put her pillow on it.

With her shirt off, Samantha began to shiver she was wet and cold. Grabbing her duffel bag, she opened it and pulled out some clothes. She smiled as all the clothes were dry. Seeing a doorknob, she hung the strap of the bag over it so the bag would dry.

Quickly she stripped off her wet clothes and slipped on a dry outfit. Warmer now, Samantha decided to investigate what was behind the door. She was pleasantly surprised to find it was a bathroom. Placing the remainder of her dry clothes on the sink counter, Samantha threw her dirty clothes into the sink. Silently she prayed that there was still water running through the pipes as she turned the knob on the faucet. Something began to flow out of the faucet and it didn't look like water. She slammed her fist against the spigot and the brown liquid turned clear. A broad smile crossed her face and she washed her dirty clothes.

To Be Continued…