Chapter 2: Down the Well
Mori walked along the sidewalk. She tried to pick out the conversations of the people around her, testing her Japanese. She had got much better at the language in the two months she had been here. The bigger problem living in Japan was that she was completely lost geographically. The only areas she knew well was the way she walked home. Luckily the Higurashi Shine was right on the way, so she didn't fear getting lost.
At least Kagome seemed nicer than her friends, Mori thought as she came close to the grounds of the shrine. Mori stared down at her school uniform and felt sick. She hated wearing the stupid sailor uniform. Good thing she carried extra clothes in her bag. That way she didn't always have to go home to change out of this foolish outfit.
Mori stared climbing the steps to Kagome's house. The grounds of the shrine was actually quite lovely. There was nothing like this back in her old town. She walked up to the door, as was about to knock when she say something out of the corner of her eye. Mori looked, and saw Kagome walking across the grounds with a fall backpack over her shoulder. Mori looked down at the pile of books in her hands, and wondered what Kagome had in the backpack. She doesn't look very sick to me, she thought.
She watched as Kagome walked to what seemed like an old shed. Mori thought about she dropping the books off on the doorstep, and going home. But then she thought, and she knew she'd feel like a coward for just dropping the books off, so she started walking in Kagome's direction.
As she walked, Kagome entered the shed. How odd, she thought. She reached the shed, and peeked in through the doorway. Kagome was standing over what looked like an old well. What the hell... Mori thought, and was even more suprised when Kagome threw a leg over the side of the well and jumped down.
"Hey!" Mori shouted and dropped the books she was carrying. She ran over the the edge of the well and looked down. She saw the dirt at the bottom of the well, but no Kagome.
"This better not be some sick joke," she said. She looked around the room. Was this some kind of set up? She looked down the well again. There was a rope hanging down into the well. Looking around to make sure no one was around again, she said "I can't believe I'm doing this..." and grabbed hold of the rope.
She swung her legs over and began climbing down into the dark. What the hell am I doing... she thought. Then she realized she still had her bag on, after it started making her arm swore during her decent. She tried to shift her shoulders to adjust where her bag was hitting her. She gave up, but then her bag started to fall down her arm. She shoved her foot into a place between to rocks and tried to get a good grip on the rope. She took one hand off the rope and pulled her bag up on her shoulder again. As she did this, she looked down. And must have leaned too far back. The rock her foot was resting on crumbled, and she scrambled to get both hands on the rope. She tried to scream and looked up at the top of the well as she fell. Then she squeezed her eyes shut as she tumbled down.
She waited for the pain of hitting the ground, and was suprised when she felt herself come to rest lightly on the dirt floor. She opened her eyes and started up at the top of the well. It seemed lighter than she remembered. Maybe I did hit the ground hard, and got knocked out. She guess the it must be a different time of the day, and the light must just be entering the shrine differently than before.
She pulled herself off the ground. She didn't feel hurt. She dusted herself off, and looked around the bottom of the well. Nothing. Where the hell did that girl go?
Fuck this, I'm getting out of here. She reached around to find the rope. Instead she came across a vine where the rope should be. She looked at it and up. She could have sworn it was a rope before. I must have cracked my head pretty hard, she said as she climbed.
She reached the top of the well and threw her arms over, and pulled herself up. She blinked.
Then blinked again.
"Where the hell am I?" she said to the empty air.