The sun awoke from its slumber beneath the earth and kissed the night sky goodbye, before rising to the tip of the horizon. Goldie was up and finishing up packing her bag. She was off for a hike in the cascades. Everyone had given her a good review of what the cascades looked and were like, so she was thrilled to head up there after all this time waiting to move in. It was early in the morning, it would be very rare if anyone was awake at this time. But sure enough, there Apollo was, lying on his rocking chair under an apple tree. She greeted him and he waved, in a hesitant manor. Before she left off, she decided it would be polite of her to go and say a quick hello to Apollo before she left.
"Hello! What a fine morning it is!" She said, cheerfully.
"Why hello! What're you up to?" He said politely. Goldie beamed
"I'm going for a hike in the cascades!"
Apollo spilt his mug of tea onto the ground. Goldie was startled but he quickly reassured her it was an accident.
"Sorry 'bout that. A hike in the cascades, eh? Cool, remember to stay careful out there, Goldie. It's a dangerous place!" Apollo warned with a hint of fear.
Goldie laughed.
"I'm sure I'll be fine, Apollo. See ya later!"
They exchanged waves before Goldie made her way up the newly installed staircase.
From the first layer, the view was already beautiful, copping a dazed face from Goldie. She was obviously impressed how Sage kept the island so she reached the final layer, she wandered to the middle and found herself at the top of the cascade swirl. It was magnificent, the view was jaw-dropping and would make a single heart beat faster than ever. She sat down on a large rock and layout a picnic mat to have breakfast she had packed.
After gobbling up her delectable breakfast she was off again, curiously walking over rocks to see if there was anything interesting to take a closer look found a large baobab tree beside a cascade and went over to take a closer look at it. She thought it was wonderful, and that it should be treated as a historical memorial and protected under island law. She made a note of that, remembering to tell Sage and Tom Nook about it.
But, after twisting around to hear the island tune playing from the speaker, she noticed a little gap in between two identical cascades. Ignoring the island announcement, she made her way over and clambered down jagged steps. The gap was big enough to fit a little dog like her so intrigued but foolish Goldie crawled inside. There was an abundance of stalactites, giving the giant cave a 'Bat Cave' effect. Goldie's jaw was open the whole time, admiring the cave and its interior. She assumed it was man made.
Boy was she wrong.
She made her way across the eroded pathway that had been smashed by waves. At first glance, the place gave off a pretty eerie vibe. But Goldie ignored that sensation in her head and moved on. She was determined to find some sort of hidden treasure at the end of the cave. But strangely, the cave pathway didn't stop. She felt like she was walking forever until she came across an intersection.
The intersection had a left and right pathway but a cut down the middle which Goldie could see through stalactites that hung from the roof. She could make out some sort of ragged room, with stones piled in each corner. Eager to discover something, she slowly wandered over to the room. At this point, Goldie's stomach started to swirl as she got closer and closer to the room. Her foot pattern started to form into a fearful stance.
The echoes of the cave started to brim the cieling. They were terrifying from Goldie's perspective, and with each step, she looked behind her shoulder making sure she wasn't followed by the horrors of the cave. That's when it occurred. The whole cave shook and so did Goldie.
The petrifying roar was yelled across the cave, making rocks fall and stalactites shatter on the ground. Goldie's eyes widened as a giant scaly beast stomped in front of her. She fell to the ground, pure terror flushing over her face. Before she knew it, another roar had escaped from the mouth of the dinosaur making the rock palace cave in.
Dust freely swirled around the debris as hundreds of stones and pebbles piled on to the floor. Seeing as the Sprintosaurus was massive, it didn't come crumbling down with the other rocks. Instead it mindlessly wandered back into the room Goldie was aiming to go into. She was now buried underneath a pile of rocks and flying stones. It was impossible for her to make it out alone.
It was near midday and the island cleanup was halfway until completion. The whole of the island had come together to fix up their surroundings and Sage was more than happy with the final outcome. Although Goldie had reassured him that she'd be back before the island was half cleaned, as she didn't need all that long to hike. Sage decided not to worry about it in the mean time, as she was probably just curious.
But the longer she was gone, the more worried Sage got that something had gone wrong. He told Butch who simply replied with "She's probably just exploring." But Sage knew for a fact that she'd be back by now. It was early afternoon.
Butch kept telling Sage over and over that it was fine but Sage was not. After the clean-up, Sage was practically on the edge of his seat. He was scared, anxious and worried she'd hurt herself hiking. He gathered up the island residents and told them that Goldie was missing. Butch, being Sage's buddy, agreed to accompany Sage on his mission to find Goldie.
But it was getting nearer to the evening so they decided it was best to look for her early in the morning as rest was important.
The entire night Sage looked out his window, hoping to god Goldie was alright