Lauren--Part Forty

Splog # 139

Forty

   Lauren sighed with relief. "Well, that's the way to go, behaving like a silly little girl. Getting all scared before you even took a look around to see what's what." She laughed a little because she was glad not to be stranded in the middle of the black plain. "Now come on. Pull yourself together. You're getting all emotional just like a child." And so, composing herself, as all proper grown-up ten year old girls should be, she slowly turned to her right and placed her foot in the glowing ring, feeling further relief when another lit up just ahead of her. "There we go," she said to herself, "back on track. Although, we don't seem to be heading across any more but over to that big black rock, or whatever it is." She carefully watched as the rings glowed out of the dark ground ahead of her but at the same time tried to catch glimpses of the tall object that she was approaching. It put her in mind of the schoolhouse below where she had met Jane and Bart (what were they doing at this moment, she wondered). That hadn't looked like anything more than a huge rock when she'd first seen it but had ended up holding a few surprises. She hoped that any surprises she found here wouldn't conform to the ominousness that seemed to permeate the landscape. The lack of any color around her caused her to feel as if she were in an old black and white movie. She wondered why they called them black and white when they were really composed of myriad shades of gray. And now the huge structure in front of her was crowding on her vision without any need for her to glance up from the rings she was following. They led her right up to it and there she encountered a glowing circle large enough to accomodate both feet. She stepped into the circle and then took her first good close look at the large object in the middle of the plain. It confused her mind a trifle because it didn't seem to be anything more than a big black rock. She put her hand out, but then hesitated to touch it. A visual examination suggested that it hadn't been constructed by human hands. The surface looked rough and uneven. There was no particular shape to it. It was vaguely round but on consideration it occurred to her that most stones and rocks have roughly circular shapes. And it was very tall. When she first saw it from the ridge where she'd climbed the steps, she hadn't realized that it went up quite so high. She couldn't tell whether the object had a consistent shape and texture as it receded into the distance. Maybe it tapered in to the center. She looked back at the surface she was facing. Blank and rough and impersonal. She had an urge to walk around it but, when she examined the ground, she could find no rings leading in either direction. And the ones that had brought her here had faded out also, which came as no surprise. Well, she wasn't going to panic this time. At least, not until she'd explored her options. But there didn't seem to be many options. Were there any at all? Stepping out of the glowing circle would be an absolutely last resort. But she tried to think what would be a likely first resort? She was standing in front of a very big rock in the middle of a lifeless plain. She couldn't just stay here. But the circles had led her here so she was probably supposed to be here. Would a person or an animal appear? Maybe Austin was around. She turned her back to the stone and took a long and careful survey of the area. Not a sound or movement anywhere. She gazed toward the place where she had come up the stairs. She ended up having to make an educated guess  as to the correct spot because the ledge looked the same all along it and she hadn't come straight to the rock. But she kept her eyes on the ridge for a while, hoping that someone or something would appear and relieve her solitude. But she waited and waited...She must have waited at least five minutes when she figured no one was coming. She was on her own. She turned back to the rock. Not having any other ideas, she lifted a hand and with one finger very lightly touched the black immensity in front of her. She didn't really expect anything to happen...and nothing did. Except that when she tried to remove her finger, it didn't come back to her. It wouldn't lift off the stone. It was stuck or attached or something. She had ventured only the very tip of the forefinger of her right hand but the attachment seemed quite strong for such a small surface. She moved her hand around, sideways, up and down, but this produced no effect. She feared pulling the skin off her finger but finally tried a good strong yank of her arm. Her muscles ended up a little strained but with no results. At one point she nearly put her left hand on the stone for leverage but caught herself in time. In fear and frustration, she let out a cry of "oh" and would have followed it with "bananas" but, the moment her voice hit the open air, her finger dropped from the stone so quickly that she almost lost her balance. Once she had recovered herself, she found that there was now a small glowing circle in the stone facing her. It was slightly higher than her waist and reminded her of a keyhole.