Nadia clasped her mouth shut with her hands. For some reason she didn't want anyone else to find out about this just yet , not that anyone would be able to hear her anyway, she was too deep into the woods.
The crater in the ground was approximately four to five feet deep. She looked around herself. Only the grass in the clearing was burned. The edge of the land where the trees started was barely affected.
She approached the center of the burned surface slowly and looked down at the cavity. That was odd, even though she was positive it was a meteorite crash, the actual space rock in question was no larger than the size of her fist and it had a uniquely shiny surface.
Sunlight was reflecting off of it. Nadia wondered if that was how all meteors ended up looking like. How could something so small cause such a massive impact. The burned land seemed to be approximately one meter in diameter. Nadia slid towards the center and stopped in front of the rock. It looked tiny and helpless , how was it strong enough to create such destruction? Was the acceleration and force of collision enough to create such a huge crater?
She juggled with the idea of picking the stone with her bare hands or if it was dangerous, but only for a moment, for her curiosity was so high and so insatiable that she would have picked it up even if she knew it as dangerous.
She bent down and grabbed the rock in her hand. She expected it to be warm but the temperature completely caught her off guard, she dropped it startled and stumbled backwards, tripping in the process.
She landed roughly on her hips. Before she could exclaim with pain on hitting the ground, she stood up just as quickly as she had fallen. The ground closer to the center was burning hot, she could feel it searing through her jeans.
She soothed her bottom and stood there for a while, wincing in pain. She wondered if she would have trouble siting after this. She was a grateful no one was around to see her make a complete fool of herself.
As expected a rock from outer space coming in contact with the earth's atmosphere would burn due to air friction and be extremely hot. Most of the times they don't even make it to the surface and only remain as a streak in the sky. This was normal. This was expected. But this was not why Nadia had dropped the rock.
The rock was too cold. Like ice. Even colder than ice if that was possible. Like liquid nitrogen except that it did not look anything like it. For a few seconds that she touched it, it felt like it sucked the heat as well as any sensation in her hand. Her fingers felt numb .
It had weighed nothing. Lighter than a usual rock but it was hard. She pressed her foot over it and tried applying some pressure. It did not budge. She tried applying all of her weight, still nothing. It was tough alright.
She rubbed her hands together and blew breath between her hands to warm herself. Nothing was going today like she thought she knew or was aware about. A crater in this quiet place and nobody heard or saw it coming? There must have been a huge fire and nobody heard that either? How could this rock be so cold? Wait.. was it even proper to call it a rock?
She back tracked a bit.
The books she had read about meteors were written by professionals and people a lot smarter than her. It was implausible to think they could be wrong. Which meant she probably was.
In her excitement Nadia had not considered the possibility that this whole situation could be man made . Maybe there was a fire that got a little too out of hand or maybe there were fireworks involved. The explosions could be explained.
It was not illogical to think that people living here had started some type of fire or used some kind of explosives. There were a few house around this area. Her house was up on a slope. But there were couple of houses here and there. Not close enough to be called neighbors but close enough to be considered being part of the same town. What if this was all done by people from those houses. She still should have heard something but it did not sound as outlandish as her meteorite theory. It was possible, yes.
But then, what about this cold stone? Some type of element she had never heard of? But why now, why here? Maybe it got left behind by one of the people that set the fire. A peculiar stone like this must belong to someone and Nadia wouldn't be surprised if it was special or worth a lot of money.
It was strange, sure, but surely it was something that could reasonably be explained. After all, she wasn't aware of every type of rocks and elements in the universe. Once a grown up explained it properly , she would see reason behind it too. Whoever it belonged to might be searching for it.
Or it was just someone's idea of a messed up prank.
Her zeal and enthusiasm was promptly replaced by anger and indignation.
She was aware she had no right to feel possessive, but this was a special place for her and she spent most of her free time here. She loved this place and someone just came over and decided to set it ablaze . The grass was black and charred. What was earlier filled with the smell of woods and flowers was replaced by the smell of burning lumber. And for what? So some idiot could have fun and have a bonfire?
Nadia clenched her fists furiously. She had half a mind to throw the stone off the cliff. But on second thought what if its owner was some big shot. She did not want to get involved in this any longer.
Nadia looked down at the rock closely, careful not to touch it again. It was smooth enough to be called a pebble. It was shiny golden in color and it almost looked like gold. Wait.. what if it was gold? No.. No, it was way too light. Gold that size has weight. She was tempted to touch it again despite everything.
This was getting nowhere. Now that she had reasoned herself out of it. The whole situation seemed trifle. What was she thinking being so excited about a crater and a rock? Damn her over imaginative and childish brain. It was nothing of importance and she had wasted enough time already. She would have to miss the first class. Maybe she would make it if she sprinted but that would be cutting it close.
The rock must have belonged to someone and that someone might come looking for it. They would find it if they come back here again. But they had burned her home, should she just leave it at that? For her sake, she should, she reasoned. No matter how vexing it was.
That was the right thing to do.
She should continue to going to her school as usual.
Nothing good could come out of
Nadia grimaced as she jogged towards her school.
She knew the proper thing to do and yet she couldn't quite explain why she had just carefully picked the rock with a glove and it was now safely tucked in her backpack.
YOU ARE READING
The Caged Princess(Book 1)
Fantasy"If her head wasn't stuck under water she would have wailed and cried. Her body trembling. She had no sense of self. Hardly noticed that the water's temperature had dropped further to a freezing degree. "There was just one thing. One solid thing. T...
