The Moroccan Cave
Grades 6-8	

	"Hello all honor roll students from Harper Middle School!" the principal articulated as three sisters chatted in the corner paying the least amount of attention," Welcome to our week long trip to Yosemite National Park! This field trip was made for those who work hard in school and have a grade of atleast 94%, or as we call it, our honor roll students. This trip was sponsored by our lovely teachers at Harper Middle School. You students have worked very hard and this is our token of gratitude for you. We will have lots of fun but you will have to stay within  limits and be sure not  to wander off too far.  I will let you venture around; however, you must remember to keep your cell phones in case of emergency. Also remember to not go past the yellow lines,the boundaries of the hiking area , because everything beyond it is prone to disasters and you will have trouble coming back here, to campsite 34A. Please be sure to note down our campsite number in case you accidently get lost. Enjoy this time and venture far, just remember to come by 7:00 p.m. for dinner. Okay you guys can go and explore."
	"Finally, his long announcement is over, let's take a walk around." Marybeth remarked, the oldest of the three sisters.
	They all agreed and the sisters, Marybeth, Clarabeth and Annabeth set off to explore the vast green scenery of Yosemite National Park. They reached a yellow line, beyond a sign labeled a cave as the "Moroccan Cave," this made the youngest sister, Annabeth very excited.                
	"Come on, let's go inside the cave, it will be so much fun!" Annabeth exclaimed.
	"The principal was saying something about the yellow line. I wonder what he was trying to say. I guess taking only a couple steps won't harm us." Clarabeth declared hesitantly .
	 The three sisters took their phones out to light the entrance, they took a couple of steps, it was dark, and mysterious. There was water dripping ceiling. The height of the cave was low but high enough to stand in. There were cobwebs and tiny insects crawling all over the place. The sisters went in further when they heard a loud grumbling sound; they turned around and coughed by the cloud of dust formed. Once the cloud cleared the girls found, to their terror, that a pile of boulders had blocked the entrance of the cave!
	Suddenly the sisters heard a distance shriek, "HELP ME! SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE PLEASE!"
	"Who is there? Common lets go find out!" Annabeth insisted.
	"I am not going in, there are so many gross bugs, and anyway it will ruin my brown hair and my new clothes. It is your entire fault Anna, if you didn't insist on going in this cave we wouldn't have been trapped and neither would we have been here in this state. The principal was probably saying to not go beyond the yellow lines." retorted Marybeth.
	"Now you guys, lets' stop arguing or we will be stuck here in this cave forever. We should try to find a way out of here, there won't be any signal to call someone, we will be fine, and I had brought some snacks. I think the principal said that the campsite number was 34....A or B I am not sure. Oh! Now I remember it was 34A. When we get some rangers it will be helpful."Clarabeth remarked.
	They all sat down and had a snack.  The cave was dark and many creatures were crawling around. With Marybeth in the lead, the sisters walked through the cave, there were pots and pans lying around broken into small pieces. There were stalactites and stalagmites growing all over the place. Suddenly Annabeth tripped over a rock and fell down right next to a pot. Her eye caught something shimmering in the darkness. She flipped open her phone and peered inside the pot, only to find a rusty old key. Annabeth decided to share her discovery thinking that the key might be helpful.
	"Mary! Clara! Look at what I found!" Annabeth shrieked.
	The two sisters hurried and saw the rusty key.
	"Lets keep it for now; maybe it will come handy later on." Mary declared handing the dirty key to Clara.
	Suddenly they hear the distant squeal again "ANYBODY THERE, I GOT STUCK IN THIS CAVE!"
	"Let's go, we will eventually find the girl. As long as we are together, nothing will happen. Just don't wander off too far especially Anna." Mary commanded.
	With Clara in the lead this time, they all silently inspected the large cave; suddenly they came upon a two way path.
	"Where should we go? What if we get lost? I am scared," complained Anna.
	 A moaning sound came from the second entrance. Anna started crying, as Maria calmed her down Clara crept away towards the moaning sound. Clara walked away silently as a mouse; the only sound was the crying of her sister. Excited to find a way out of the cave she went to the end of the tunnel, only to find it was a dead end. A key was dangling from the ceiling, slightly out of her reach. She jumped to the tips of her toes and grabbed the shining key which looked more recent than the one Anna had found. She put the key in her backpack along with the other one. Clara came back to where she had last left her sisters, only to find that they were gone.
	"Mary! Anna! Where are you?" bawled Clara, desperate to be with her sisters again, and wishing she hadn't left without them.
	"Clara! Is that you? Come here, Anna is ill. We won't be able to move any further today, she got the cold. By the way, what time is it?" inquired Mary.
	Checking her phone Clara retorted, "It is 8 o'clock, put Anna to sleep."
	Clara went through the other tunnel and found Anna lying down; Mary was giving her some water and food. Clara gently set her down as Anna slept soundly. It was 9:00 p.m., and the three sisters fell asleep. Anna woke up first crying for water and food. Mary calmed Anna down and pulled Clara out of her sleep.
	"We have to get moving, sleeping like this won't get us anywhere. It is 10 o'clock, we only have four days to get out of this dark cave and all you are worried about is your sleep and comfort. I found a small pool right through that tunnel over there, take Anna and freshen up, once you are done we will start moving" ordered Maria.
	"Come on Anna, Maria has turned to her bossy old self again, lets go to the pool," said Clara reluctantly.
	"Hey, don't murmur that I am too bossy, I am the oldest and Mom gave me you two as my responsibility." Mary averred.
	The two sisters walked carefully to the small pool and freshened up. Soon, Mary joined them and started their second day in the musty cave. For two long hours the sisters treaded along the uneven path filled with spiders and other small creatures. Once again they heard a loud moaning from the heart of the cave. Louder than the last time they had heard before! Mary hurried them along until they reached a dark room, in the corner a girl sat down crying in grief. Her long black hair reached her face, the blue eyes looking hopefully at the sisters. Mary decided that they should take her along with them.
	"What happened? How did you get stuck in this cave? We can take you along with us, we are lost too!" Anna adjured with an earnest look in her grey eyes.
	"Be quiet! Can't you see that she is worried?" Mary snapped in a whisper tone to Anna.
	"Oh, it's fine, it has been a week since I have talked to anyone," the young girl bemoaned, "my name is Claudia, my school was on a field trip to this park. I wandered into this cave; however, I traveled too far and got lost. It's been a week since I have seen sunshine. Now that you are here we can make it back to the entrance and we will be able to go home, right!"
	"Actually, the moment we stepped in this cave there was an avalanche, now a pile of rocks blocks the mouth of the cave. By the way, have you seen similar keys to these?" queried Mary holding up the two keys they had found.
	Claudia, disappointed, nodded her head and pulled out eight similar keys, Mary snatched them and placed them in Clara's bag. The four girls traveled further for many hours. They all longed to see the green trees and the colorful flowers. Clara stopped the group breathless, using hand movements to notion that it was 9:00 p.m., and that they should take rest. Everyone agreed so they stopped at a room and fell into a deep sleep. Suddenly an alarm clock rang and everyone woke up, it was 6:00 a.m.
	"Rise and shine everyone! We have to get moving, we are on the third day of this field trip. There are only two days left; we will have to get moving quickly." Mary explained.
	"Mary is right; we don't want to get left behind." Claudia acceded.
	"Wait, since when did we agree that we will take you back home with us, looks like your spirits have rose a little too far." Mary snapped.
	"Mary, she has been stuck in this cave for an entire week; of course her sprits will rise at the hope she will be able to see her family again. You should apologize, that was very rude," vied Clara.
	Mary shook her head and refused to apologize. Without wasting any more time, the four friends once again resumed their journey to sunlight. Huge rocks surrounded the pathway, water dropping with a silent tip-top. It was getting darker and more mysterious. The ceiling hung low, reducing their movement to a slow crawl. Slowly they were able to stand and walked in a fast pace in hurry to reach the camp before the end of the week. Everything was dark, an hour had past and they were still nowhere. They reached a circular room and chose to take a 15 minute break from the hike.
	"When will we get out of here? I am so hungry, and tired. I wish I had never insisted in entering this Moroccan cave in the first place!" bawled Anna.
	"Calm down, it was no one's fault. No harm will come as long as we are together. It is no one's fault except for mine; I should have been more responsible." Mary lamented.
	"Are we going to stay here forever? Lets get moving right now or you will never make it back to camp on time," ordered Claudia.
	"Well Anna, I guess we will have to deal with another bossy girl. Let's get moving," whispered Clara. Anna giggled to herself.
	"Be quiet" Clara demanded.

        Reluctantly the three sisters followed Claudia down the corridor. Mary watched Claudia and noticed her bossy attitude. The girls could see a ray of sunlight, and ran towards it, only to find ten locks on the door.
	"Mary, can you get out the keys, I think they unlock this door! I will finally be able to breathe fresh air, it's been weeks since I have been outside," inquired Claudia in a polite manner.
	Maria took out the ten keys and unlocked the door revealing a beautiful forest with a creek running through. Everyone stood outside absorbing the beauty of the scenery. Everyone took a sip of water refreshing their dry mouths.
	"I have never felt so better, now we will be able to return to camp. By the way, where are we?" crowed the excited Anna.
	  No one had an answer to Anna's question. Where were they? No one had a single clue as to where they were and how to reach the camp. However, Clara had in mind exactly what to do. She went to the easiest tree to climb and went to the top. Clara dialed a number and called the rangers.
	"What is wrong with that girl? Climbing a tree and wasting our time. I am leaving this very instant. I think that you sisters care for your personal needs rather than going back to your camp. Whoever wants to join me can come," insisted Claudia.
	"Well, we sisters are one and we are not separating. Go, alone and wander about lost. It was your own choice, so don't come back pleading to let you join us. Go on, we don't need you," retorted Mary.
	Claudia left in hatred and wondered why she associated these rude people in the first place. Clara jumped out of the tree and walked back to her sisters.
	"What happened to Claudia, where did she go?" queried Clara.
	"Oh, don't even ask about her. She thought that you were wasting everyone's time and left," retorted Mary.
	"Mary gave her a fitting reply. I didn't like Claudia in the first place, she is so bossy," added Anna.
	"Well I have good news. The rangers will come in a day, so they will come on the fourth day of the field trip." Clara informed.
	Anna leaped in joy; everyone made a campfire and had a small snack of sandwiches. They lay down and gazed at the star-filled sky. Soon Anna fell asleep, than Clara and lastly Mary, still thinking about Claudia and how irresponsible she had been. If Mom found out she would ground Mary. The sisters woke up to the chirping of the birds. They stood and waved Anna's red bandana as high as they could. A ranger flew by and missed the girls.
	"What? How could they miss three girls standing waving a red bandana? I will go climb a tree and get the ranger's attention," informed Clara.
	Clara climbed high into the tree; however she lost her balance and fell straight to the ground. Crying in pain, Clara tried to stand up, however it seemed like as if she broke her ankle. Anna and Mary ran over to her and brought her back to their fire. Mary gentle wrapped a band aid from Clara's bag across the injured bone. Clara cried, Anna tried to console her but failed.
	"How will we get the rangers, tomorrow is the final day of our field trip and I broke my ankle!"Clara shrieked, "We will be stuck here forever!"
	"Don't worry; I will call the rangers again. I am positive that they will find us." Mary consoled.
	Mary ended up climbing a tree as well to get signal, she called the rangers and informed them of their location. She came down and screamed in joy, the rangers were coming. However, the sisters waited for hours, yet the ranger didn't come. One by one they all fell asleep. The next day they woke up and waited for the ranger. Mary gazed outside and found a shadowy figure coming towards them.
	"I think it is the rangers! We will be able to go home!" shrieked Mary.
	Everyone jumped and squealed in joy.
	"It is the ranger!" squealed Anna, "Let's go! I will help you Clara."
	They all ran to the figure with Clara limping from behind as her foot got better over night, but it wasn't whom they expected, it was Claudia with a ranger!
	"What are you doing here with the ranger?"inquired Mary in a stern voice.
	"I decided to help you guys, you traveled for days. You had the will to come out and return to your own home while I just sat in a corner and cried for help. I was inspired by your determination, you helped me so much. Just bringing a ranger is nothing compared to what you guys did for me. I am sorry about my rudeness," explained Claudia.
	The sisters forgave Claudia, and got on the jeep brought by the ranger. Clara checked the time, the bus was going to leave at noon and it was 10 o'clock. Clara told the ranger to hurry and to go to campsite 34A. They reached the campsite at 11:45.
	"Okay everyone! Pack your stuff we will be heading back to school today. Everyone has to be ready by noon," announced the principal, "What happened to you girls, Marybeth, Clarabeth, and Annabeth, you guys are filthy and you went past the yellow lines even though I forbade you, take a shower and pack up your stuff, I will forgive you this time because you are honor rolls."
	 Everyone took a shower and packed their luggage to go home. The bus came and everyone came on board. Mary peered outside and saw Claudia standing gloomily.
	"Can you wait for a second Mr. Principal, I forgot something," Mary queried.
	She ran outside for a few minutes and returned with Claudia. The greenery flew by until they reached Sacramento. The city lights were everywhere, finally the sisters reached home along with Claudia.
	"Hi Mom! We found Claudia while we were at the park." Clara remarked, "Can you drop Claudia at her house."
	"Of course! I will just add some bandage to your wound. Your foot will feel a lot better" replied Mom.
	Their mom left with Claudia and the three sisters jumped on the sofa and took a heaping sigh.
	"This trip was really fun! I want to invite Claudia over for lunch sometime!" exclaimed Anna.
	 Everyone agreed and thought about their adventure vividly appearing in their minds. All of them promised themselves that they will never go through this experience again.




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