Okay, sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I haven't been able to do much for a while. But tomorrow I'll have an uber-long chapter, so stay tuned!
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The massive door continued to slowly open. Rico knew he was doomed; the adults would surely find him. But something inside of him told him there's still hope. It was some kind of indescribable mysterious force that possessed him to keep striving.
Filled with newfound confidence, Rico quickly stood up and started to run away. He looked back. Joey was closely following him, but Perm was nowhere in sight. Rico impatiently sighed and scurried back to find his fellow mudokon.
The door was now halfway open. Rico could see dozens of pairs of mudokon legs waiting on the other side of the door. Perm was calmly chanting something with his eyes closed.
"What are you doing, Perm?!" Rico whispered desparately to Perm. Perm continued to chant as hif he was unaware of the circumstances. "Come on, you moron! They're going to find us!"
The door was almost fully open now. He glanced back at Joey. He was curled up in a ball, whimpering. Rico gulped, closed his eyes, and waited. He could feel his knees shaking below him. Sweat beads sluggishly inched down his pale, nervous face.
The door locked in place.
The adults came out.
Rico gulped nervously.
They walked right past Rico as if he weren't there.
He just stood there. How could this be? Surely the adults would have noticed him by now; they were walking right past him! Children were forbidden from this cave!
Rico looked for Perm and Joey. Both were nowhere to be seen. He could have sworn they were right behind him a second ago.
He felt two hands grab him by the shoulders and drag him away.
I knew it was too good to be true, Rico thought. They've found me now. I'll probably be banned from the tribe. He imagined living alone in the wilderness, striving to find at least one measly scrap of food.
A tear slid down his cheek.
Looks like this is the end, he thought.
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