Zawadi is up early the next day. She hopes more than anything that something exciting happens.
Sephora and Miles are still tired after partying the night away at Club DYTO. They spend Sunday sleeping in.
The house is too quiet as Zawadi leaves the bathroom after taking her shower. She hoped that her mom and dad would be up so that one of them could take her to the park.
She eats toast and jelly hoping that her mom and dad will be up soon.
After a few hours, they are still not up. Zawadi doesn’t want to spend time in the house, but unless she can get permission to leave, she has no choice.
“Mom?” Zawadi calls.
“Hmm,” Sephora mumbles in her sleep.
“Hmm,” Sephora mumbles in her sleep.
“Mom, can I go to the park?” Zawadi asks although she knows that Sephora isn’t really awake.
“Uh huh,” Sephora answers in her sleep.
“Uh huh,” Sephora answers in her sleep.
Zawadi realizes that she shouldn’t wake her parents while they are sleeping. She also knows that her mother’s mumbles are not confirmation that she has permission to leave the house…
…but Zawadi feels that she has just enough wiggle room to get away with going to the park on her own.
The island is quiet on this clear, calm Sunday morning. Zawadi hops on her bike and rides against the breeze.
There is an area of the island that she has heard about at school. Apparently there is an underground passage that kids at school sometimes claim to have explored. Zawadi wants to have a story to tell, so she decides that she will explore it as well.
As she gets closer, she begins to have second thoughts. “I could really get in trouble,” she says quietly to herself.
Zawadi stops and gets off of her bike when she arrives at a cliff at the edge of the island. She is pretty far from home and her heart beats with fear and excitement as she runs closer and closer toward potential adventure combined with big trouble.
She is not quite sure where to find the secret passage, but according to the kids at school, it is in the middle of some bushes and brush designed to conceal the entrance.
Zawadi finds stairs leading underground. As she stares down at the dark room below, she almost changes her mind and goes back home. However, the only thing waiting for her there is loneliness and boredom.
Zawadi stares down once again. From here, the darkness looks endless like a pit. She picks up a pebble and throws it down the stairs, listening for it to hit the ground. It’s not long before she hears the pebble.
Zawadi takes one step at a time. When she gets to the middle of the staircase, she realizes that there is light at the bottom.
This gives her enough confidence to continue descending.
Finally she can see the source of the light; a lone candle in the middle of a brick path. Zawadi walks slowly as she looks around. She can hear her footsteps echo as they hit the brick floor. She wants to call out, but she is afraid of what may answer.
Zawadi rounds a corner and spots a figure. Her breathe catches in her chest, but she releases it when she realizes that he is a real man, not a ghost or monster.
Again she looks around and sees strange vases with tops sitting on the floor. What type of flower goes in those? She asks herself.
Suddenly the man in the passage begins to wail loudly. Zawadi is afraid. Her body automatically goes into flight response and she begins to run without thinking.
She continues running until she reaches the staircase. What would make a grown man cry like that? Zawadi is curious, but not curious enough to go and find out.
As fast as her legs can take her, she climbs the stairs. Now she has her own mini exploration story to tell the kids at school.
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