“They’re not…” I place the pads of my fingers over the bridge of my nose. Sure enough, my brow’s furrowed. Self-conscious over what I consider generous, if not bushy, eyebrows, I force my forehead to relax and concentrate on not furrowing my brow.
“I’m stuck again.” He reaches out to the left, moving his arm in an arc, fingers searching for purchase. He does it to the right as well.
“You’re maybe five feet from the tree I spotted for you.”
“Five feet?” He cautiously looks over his shoulder and tries to gaze downward, where I point to a branch strong enough to hold his weight, but his brows tug together, almost kissing in doubt.
“Five feet down, or five feet out?”
“Um…” I take another look at the tree and draw in my lower lip between my teeth. It looked closer to the wall from up above. “Probably both.”
“So, five feet down and five feet out?”
“Looks like.”
“And you see nothing to grab?” He turns his attention back to the slick rock.
The mist from the falls coats everything in a sheen of water and the slime that thrives in this environment. We raise our voices to be heard over the thunder of the waterfall.
“Not on the rock.”
“How does the ground look beneath me?”
“You’re going to jump?”
“If I have to.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it. The base of the falls is covered in rocks. Boulders actually.”
“That’s what I was afraid of…” His lips twist as he debates his next move.
“What can I do to help?”
“Unfortunately, not much.” He turns toward the rock in front of him and rests his forehead against the wet stone. His shoulders lift and lower with each of his deep breaths.
He’s contemplating his next step while I wring my hands with worry. If something happens, it’ll be all my fault. He wouldn’t be in this predicament if not for me.
Bringing my thumb to my mouth, I nibble on the nail and wait for Hayes to decide how he wants to handle this.
“And there’s no plunge pool at the base of the falls?” he asks.
“A what?”
“A plunge pool. You know, where the water forms a basin? A pool?”
“I can't see past the mist.”
“With this much water, I’m surprised…” He arches his neck back and looks at the water falling overhead. “You know what’s funny?”
There’s nothing funny about any of this.
“No.”
He’s in a scary predicament because of me. I’m the one who slipped and fell into the river. If I hadn’t been distracted, we’d both be safe. Now, he clings to a slimy wall of rock while I watch from a perch in a tree.
Not funny at all.
“There’s a cavern behind the falls.”
“A what?”
“You know, an undercut? Erosion at the base of a waterfall wears away the area behind it. It creates a hollow behind the waterfall, and I see a way to it.”
“A way?”
“Yeah, ten feet up.” He clicks his tongue, then climbs.
Up.
Not down.
My heart races as I struggle to conceal my shock.
“What are you doing?”
“There’s no way down from here, so I’m going up.”
“But…”
“Up to that ledge, then behind the waterfall.”
“But that makes no sense.”
“I’ll be able to get down from there.”
“How? How do you know there’s a way down?”
“Because the rocky outcropping at the top.”
“Huh?”
“It means it sent down boulders as the edge wore away. I’ll go behind the waterfall and work my way to the boulders near its base. Trust me, I’ve done this before.”
“This?” I don’t believe him.
“I’m an adventurous spirit. Don’t worry, this isn’t my first rodeo.”
I bite my tongue and watch him climb. The entire time, my gaze never leaves his backside; and I may have a few un-pure thoughts along the way.
Without a word, Hayes pulls himself up to a ledge only marginally wider than the one I guided him to moments ago. He’s more nimble on that ledge and scoots in toward the waterfall.
With my heart lodged in my throat, he disappears behind the curtain of water falling down. I shimmy out of the tree and race to the base of the falls.
Thunderous sound drowns out all other noise. Falling water and dense mist make it impossible to see anything.
Shifting foot-to-foot, I clasp my hands and place them under my chin. Peering up, down, left, and right, I search for Hayes and pray he makes it out alive.
The seconds tick by, one agonizing heartbeat at a time. There’s no sign of Hayes. My breath catches in my throat and I fall to my knees in prayer.
By the grace of God, please watch over Hayes and bring him safely to my side.
My heart pinches in pain, and that agony reveals a truth I’m not ready to accept.
Somewhere along the way, Hayes has become something more than my rescuer. What that is, I can’t say. Not because I don’t feel a connection to him, but because I’m not ready to allow that kind of emotion into my heart.
I’m not ready.
On my knees, hands clasped, I pray to God to keep him safe.
The seconds stretch to minutes.
It’s been too long. I don’t know where Hayes will emerge, but there’s no sign of him anywhere.
FIFTEEN
Hayes
Nothing about this rescue is going according to plan.
Not one damn thing.
Separated from my team, stripped of all technical support, I’m left to rely on my survival training and far too much bad luck.
The mist from the falls makes it nearly impossible to see. The roar of the water as it crashes on the rocks below makes it impossible to keep track of Rosalie.
She’s a smart woman and I hope she moves to the base of the falls to wait for me.
The tiny ledge I found is just that—tiny. And I’m facing the wrong direction with no way to turn around.
For a nanosecond, I consider flipping around to face outward instead of facing the rock, but the ledge isn’t wide enough for me to spin around.
The undercut below the falls brings some relief from the mist. It thins out as I move behind the falling water. A quick glance down brings a string of curse words to my lips.
From the height of the falls, and the volume of water flowing over it, I expected the falls to overhang a little, but that’s not why I cuss.
Waterfalls are interesting creatures, beautiful to behold, but dangerous to those who don’t understand their nature.
The force of the falling water acts like a drill, eroding the ground at the base. Over time, that erosion carves out a basin, or plunge pool.
The plunge pool is deepest at the base of the waterfall. It’s the reason I can go over a waterfall in my kayak and survive. That pool cushions the fall, then the kayak pops back to the surface like a cork.
Higher waterfalls create deeper plunge pools because of the increased force of the water drilling the ground below.
In a perfect world, I should be safe to jump into the water and swim free of the waterfall, but without the buoyancy of my kayak, the swimming up is more of a challenge; I’m a strong swimmer though.