"Well, what now?" asked Barbara, looking up. "We're up a creek, that's what now!" wailed Catalina. "Now I'm never going back to civilization!" "Calm down!" cried Javier. "It's just a deep cenote. We'll be fine." "Or not," rumbled a voice from the deep. The siblings and Catalina turned around, startled. "What's going on?" asked a frightened Catalina. A humanoid creature, covered in seaweed, rose from the water. "Why, what do you think this pit is for?" she remarked. "You're mine now." "What does she mean?" whispered Maria. "Better question," added Javier, "where the heck is Inez?" The creature laughed. "I've already taken one of you." "What did you do with Inez?" snapped Maria. "A straight answer, please." The creature clearly found the children hilarious. "Why, I consumed her life force." "You WHAT?" screeched Maria. Lupita began to sign angrily. Barbara translated. "She says she hates you, and that you need to let us out of here." The creature giggled. "Oh, I do love human children! Anyway, the five of you will remain in here, and each week I'll need another one of you. I'll let the last one go free. I'm kind. That's what I need to form somewhere other than this dumpy cenote." "I'm not making any deals with you!" yelled Maria. The creature silently disappeared back into the deep. Javier broke the silence. "What the heck just happened?"
Otaku
I think this story needs something simpler than usual. Can we start with another prompt?
This is a writing game where players take turns writing a portion that continues the above portion of the story. Your goal is to write a solution to the above situation or continue the story until it has reached its natural conclusion.
The jungle trek took a few hours, but for the Garcia siblings, it felt like days. They followed their parents, Diego and Beatriz, across the thick Yucatan jungle in Mexico. The siblings swatted off bugs and rustled off shrubs that caused itchiness, not helped by the extreme humidity and heat.
"Can we rest yet?" Javier lamented, feeling his tired legs.
"It's getting hot, and I'm itchy," Maria said as she scratched her right hand.
"I can't carry so much things," Inez complained as she lugged her bags.
Lupita groaned, nearly dropping on the ground.
"Why can't you even clam up and continue walking?!" Barbara yelled, still tugging her bags while keeping her hair straight from bugs.
Tagging the siblings along was their niece, Catalina, who was the daughter of their aunt, Tia Isabella. As they could recall, Tia Isabella had purchased a fancy retirement home using her pension and savings. The home was located on the Yucatan coast, just along the shoreline where she could see the beach. The only problem was that to head to her home, they had to trek across the rainforest since the rustic road had not yet constructed.
"Tia Isabella, why!" Catalina howled.
"Stop whining, kids!" Diego reprimanded. "We can't let our spirits down. Tia Isabella is preparing a good lunch for us."
"And for Catalina, don't be such a spoiled girl," Beatriz reprimanded.
A few minutes had passed, and the Garcia siblings along with Catalina collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. They panted heavily, trying to catch their breath and let their ached legs rest.
Lupita wiped her brow.
Diego glanced at his wife, Beatriz. "Kids these days,"
"Our kids and Catalina; they're always expecting of conveniences because they lived in a modern society filled with modern technology and junk food." Beatriz stated. "And they need time off their screens and enjoy some fresh air, instead of cooped up in their rooms and breathing the urban air of Laredo, Texas."
"Yeah, they're not skilled in surviving on their own, especially if they get stranded in the jungle or somewhere else the wilderness," Diego replied.
"Diego," Beatriz retorted. "That's not nice thing to say to your kids,"
"I'm just being brutally honest here," Diego replied. "I'm a major wildlife expert. When I was Javier's age, I learned how to survive in the jungle on my own,"
"Why don't you teach them survival skills?" Beatriz suggested.
"I can't," Diego blurted. "They know some, but pretty inept without my supervision,"
Just then, Barbara tugged Diego's shirt. "Dad, we're so tired! Let us rest, alright?"
Diego thought about it, then allowed it. "Sure thing, but only for 15 minutes, okay?"
The Garcia siblings and Catalina nodded in agreement, excited.
Diego and Beatriz brought the Garcia siblings and Catalina to a clearing in the rainforest. It was rather small, but enough shade to cover from the intense sunlight and some rock outcropping to lay down their heavy bags.
Beatriz stood in front of the siblings and Catalina, arms folded. "Right, stay there until we come back, okay? Don't wander off. This break will take 15 minutes, do you understand? I don't want to repeat this again."
The Garcia siblings nodded as well Catalina.
"Great," Beatriz left them at the clearing.
Inez mumbled, then said: "Let's have a bit of a chat,"
"What do you want to talk about?" Barbara said.
"Can you look at me? People ask, 'Is this your daughter?', every time someone sees me," Inez pointed as she coiled her light brown hair.
"At first glance, you don't look like us," Maria noted. "You have light brown hair and tanned skin whereas the rest of the family has dark skin and dark hair, well, except for Tia Isabella and our niece, Catalina,"
"I do really look like the long-lost daughter of Guillermo del Toro," Catalina added.
"And please don't say anything stupid or insulting," Barbara said, as she transcribed the conversation to Lupita through sign language. "Lupita's deaf,"
Lupita gave a statement in sign language.
"Let me spell it out for you," Barbara said. "I'm 9, Barbara's 15, Javier and Maria is 12, Inez's 11, and Catalina's 10."
"Great," Javier huffed and stood up. "Well, I'm straying off. I want to explore on my own instead of chatting,"
He stood up, and quickly left the clearing as he shoved off shrubs and bushes. He took a small trek in the jungle, knowing he has to return within a few minutes before the their break expires.
"Gosh, that idiot boy," Barbara blurted in chagrin. She ventured into the jungle in Javier's direction as Catalina, Maria, Inez and Lupita followed her.
As Javier trekked in the jungle, he saw something ahead of the thick vegetation and tall trees of the jungle. He whacked off foliage and passed through the trees as he got closer to the place. It slowly increased in brightness, as if something was reflecting sunlight.
At last he managed to arrive at the gleaming. To much of his amazement, he discovered something pristine, something secluded. It was a deep cenote, a sinkhole filled with clear freshwater tinted green. It was surrounded by vegetation with a rim of bare soil and rocky outcroppings.
"Yeah!" Javier exclaimed, "A natural swimming spot!
He glanced back and around the surroundings. "Hope nobody came here first,"
Then suddenly, Barbara and the others emerged from the vegetation. "You!" Barbara snarled, pointing her index finger. "You shouldn't be straying off, it's dangerous!"
"It's a cenote!" Inez exclaimed as she recognized the natural formation. "It's a sinkhole or a pit filled with freshwater, formed from a collapse of a cave."
"Huh?" Barbara mumbled surprised.
"It's a good natural swimming spot," Maria noted. "Swimming pools these days are crowded with people, so does the beaches and lakes. Mom says it makes me sick every time we go to the public pool during peak summer,"
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Catalina stated, looking at Javier.
Javier smirked with anticipation. "Want to swim?"
All of them changed to their bathing suits and dove into the cool waters of the cenote. They splashed, swam and played in the waters. They enjoyed their leisure time in the water until they nearly forgot time passed and they felt a bit worried about it.
The Garcia siblings and Catalina were exhilarated and wanted to leave the cenote, but they realized too late they didn't bring rope to bring themselves out of this and the cenote was too deep.