All Turned Around

speech

The poor woman wasn't quite sure what was her mind playing tricks on her and what was reality. The barest hint of another scent muted by the dampness of the air, the scrabbling of stones could have been a loose pebble or claws on stone. She was almost afraid to move at all, unsure if she'd be heading towards the exit or back towards the lake. Then she heard it, a voice, audibly young. Still she couldn't help the mixture of hope and anxiety that fluttered in her chest.

She turned quickly to try and face towards where she thought the voice had come from, even though the walls of the cave caused it to echo ominously and made pinpointing the origin hard. "Yes, I'm here!" There was a note of desperation in her voice and it quavered with the fear of being lost down here for a long time.