I told him he didn't have to go. I begged him. I'll be fine! He'd insisted. Yet here we were, watching as Alex grabbed Frederick by the foot and threw him up toward the hole. I gasped as he grabbed onto the ledge with one hand and hung there, swinging back and forth. He took a deep breath, and pulled himself up, up, and through the hole. We couldn't see him anymore.
 "Frederick!" I shouted, running under the hole and looking up into it. It was dark. "Fred! What's up there?"
 "Oh man!" he grumbled from up there. "I can't see a damn-woah!" he stopped mid sentence, then uttered a surprised yelp and we heard a loud thump. Then he groaned.
 "Frederick!" my voice squeaked as I screamed in his direction.
 What followed were loud pounding noises, moans, cursing and then, after about five minutes, the sounds faded away. No one spoke. I was trying to envision what had just happened up there. A robot, running out of the darkness, attacking Frederick and ripping him to shreds! No. I pushed the thought from my mind. After a very long pause, we heard a cry from far away.
 "Guys? Andrea?" It was Frederick. It sounded like he was in agony.
 I turned to Alex. "Give me a push.  I'm going up."
 He didn't bother arguing. He grabbed my foot and pushed me up. Once up there, I strained my eyes, but I couldn't see a thing. I began calling out. "Frederick! Where are ya, bud?" I heard him yell back something, and then his figure slowly appeared out of the darkness. From what I could make out, using the light from down in the hole, he was bleeding. I ran over and hugged him. He crumpled in my arms. I struggled to keep him on his feet and brought him over to the hole. I set him down and took a look. His cheek was cut and he was bleeding down the side of his face. I called down to Stephanie and Alex, telling them to throw me up the sheet from Stephanie's bed, Frederick was injured. Stephanie threw up her sheet that she'd partly dampened from the stream. I dabbed lightly at his cheek. He tried not to wince. I got him cleaned up and by then the bleeding had stopped.
 "There." I said. "All better." He didn't respond.  He just looked at his leg. "Oh my god!" I gasped.
 "What!" called up Stephanie. "What is it!"
 I ignored her. I wrapped the sheet around Frederick's leg. He clenched his teeth and let out a little yelp as I tied it, and gave it a secure tug.
 "What happened?" I was finally able to ask.
 He looked up at me and tried to speak. He started spitting out a bunch of nonsense. His breathing accelerated.
 I held his head in my hands to steady it, and tried to calm him down. "Slow down, Fred. You don't have to tell me right away. You're safe now.  You're with me. You're fine."
 He dropped his head on my shoulder and took in a deep breath.
 "Much better." I told him, as I ran my hands through his hair. It was matted and tangled, not at all like before he went through the hole. I kept telling him he was fine as I tried to unscramble and sort out his messy hair. He smelled like a wet dog.
 Finally, he tried to tell me the story again. This time it came out slow, and sturdy. He recalled what had happened. "I got out of the hole, and stood up. I couldn't see anything. Suddenly however, as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I saw a figure, on four legs, staring at me. Before I could react, it jumped on me. I tried to fight it off, but I wasn't really much of a match for it! It's big claws nearly ripped me to shreds, but I managed to dodge its blows. I got away, but it followed me and grabbed my leg in its mouth. As it dragged me back into the darkness, I tried kicking it in the face. It wouldn't let go. Then I managed to give it one, right in the eye. It let go and began blinking. I think I got a rock in it or something. I knew that if I ran it'd just come back and get me again. I'd have to obliterate it. I took that opportunity to jump on its back. It started yelling and running around, trying to fling me off. I knew I was getting farther and farther away from the hole but if I got off it would surely kill me. So I hung on and it went totally psycho! It started banging its head against the walls and ramming head first into them! Finally, it just dropped dead. I felt for a pulse and when I couldn't find one I jumped off its back and started back in the direction I thought I'd come from. Then I heard your voice and realised I was going in the total opposite direction." he laughed.
 "You must have been terrified!" shouted Alex from in the hole.
 "Uh, Nah!" replied Frederick. "I just kept thinking about how glad I was that I didn't let Andrea go first." he said, as he lifted his head from my shoulder and gave me a killer, but lopsided smile. All I could think about was how incredibly cute he was and how brave! He risked his life for me. I hugged him closer and lightly kissed his forehead.
 "Wow," I said. I didn't know what else to tell him. I laid my cheek on his head and let out a relieved little chuckle. "You need rest." I told him.