Claudia and Nina spent the whole afternoon in the forest. To Claudia's enjoyment, Nina didn't want to change her game at all. She liked it just the way it was. Later, into the afternoon, when the sun began to set, the two children reached the middle of the forest. They walked into a beautiful,small clearing. Nina gasped and ran into the middle of the clearing.
"Oh my goodness! This place is so beautiful!!!", cried Nina.
Claudia smiled but walked carefully out of the shelter of the trees and looked towards the west, "We should be getting back. It will be supper soon enough. Nina! Be careful! You don't know what's out there! Oh my! Your dress!"
But Nina wasn't listening. She had run into the middle of the clearing and thrown herself on the ground and was staring at the sky. Claudia walked over and stood above her with her arms crossed, frowning.
"This is no way for a lady to behave." ,she said bluntly.
Nina laughed, "Since when did you become so fancy?"
Claudia straightened up to her full height, "I happen to be a refined young lady and only play games to amuse children like yourself."
Nina stopped laughing and frowned at her, "You're the same age as I am so stop putting on airs! You made that game up ages ago! You told me yourself!"
Claudia sighed, "You'll never understand."
Nina shrugged, got up, and ran towards the trees on the other side of the clearing, "Hey Claudia! Have you ever been in here?"
Claudia walked over and shook her head, "No, as a matter of fact I haven't."
They peered into the darkness and looked around. Claudia strained her eyes to see anything in the darkness. Suddenly, a huge black shape emerged from the shadows. Before either of them could look at the animal clearly, Claudia and Nina had raced back across the clearing at full speed. Claudia's eyes were focused only on the trees in front of her when she realized that Nina had disappeared from her side. She looked behind her and saw that Nina had fallen. Claudia looked back to where they had first seen the strange creature, realized that it wasn't chasing them and then ran back towards Nina.
Nina was shaking all over. Her leg was caught in a hole in the ground and she was trying to free herself.
She was trying to look behind her, "Is it following us?" ,she asked in a whisper.
Claudia pulled her out of the hole and pointed towards where they had seen the creature,"I think we scared it or something. But that was loads of fun! I wonder what it was?"
Nina was still shaking when she said, "I really don't think I want to find out."
Claudia turned her attention back to the hole. She looked down, down, down, and down. It seemed to go on forever.
Nina seemed to know what she was thinking, "When I fell down I didn't feel a bottom."
The hole was big enough for a person to crawl down but it resembled neither a rabbit hole nor a snake hole. It just seemed to be just a perfectly round hole that went straight down and was placed there by a someone for their own reasons.
Claudia bent down and shouted into the hole, "HELLO!!!!"
All she heard was a loud echo. She then threw a rock down. They waited for a good 10 minutes but they never heard the rock hit the bottom.
Claudia looked up at Nina, "Would you like to go on a real adventure?"
Nina looked down at the hole, "I'd rather stay up here thanks. Besides, you're the one who said we should act like ladies."
Claudia frowned,"Forget what I said.This is our chance to go on a real adventure. Games are fun but this will be a whole new game that no one has ever played before!"
Nina looked at the setting sun, "Shouldn't we be getting in for supper soon?"
Claudia sighed, "Fine I'll go first and if i'm not interested or if I don't die (Nina shuddered) then go to the shed in my backyard and get the rope or if you want to you can get my father but i'm going down there whether i'm in time for supper or not."
With that Claudia looked down the hole, took in a big breath, and slide herself down with one last look at Nina who was waving to her with a small frown plastered on her face.