Golden Hope

Where was I?

I stopped to get my bearings, looking around inside the cave. The silver strands of sunlight peered down from the entrance, shimmering off the flecks inside golden goop that covered the opposing wall of the cave.

When all hell had broken loose, I hadn't expected to wind up here, in the bottom of this cave. But it only showed the randomness of the universe, I supposed.

I reached my hand out to touch the shimmering sap, pulling it back when I made contact. Now, there was some stuck to my hand, which I brought to my nose to sniff. It smelled like honey, too. I thought there was no more honey since the bees went extinct.

The news had said that all the bees were extinct. I found it hard to believe, initially, but it had seemed like bees were on the decline in recent years. With no bees that meant no honey, right?

I confirmed the substance was honey by licking it off my finger. But what was I to do then? Report it to the news? Keep it for myself? Call some kind of 'Save the Bees' organization? I couldn't come up with any conclusive answer. Maybe I'll just make a decision later, I thought at the time.

My thoughts were interrupted by rustling above, and then the screams of another person crashing down into the cave echoed through the chamber.

I dashed over. My mind was now racing, trying to figure out what to do. A woman about my age had also landed in this cavern. She laid flat on her back for a moment, breathing heavily.

"Hey! Are you okay?" I crouched down, piloting on instinct to help her up.

She took my hand, and I pulled her up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for checking on me." She dropped my hand, looking around. "Where are we? What's your name?"

"I'm Sam," I answered. "But, as for where we are, I'm not sure."

"Sam? I'm Leah." She walked deeper into the cave, looking around. "How did you wind up here?"

"I fell. Same as you did."

"Really? That's so weird..." Leah paused, staring into the honey. I followed her eyes as they trailed around in the liquid.

"There's something in there!" She exclaimed.

"No way." I clamored over, peering into the honey. Squinting, I tried harder, nearly pressing my eyes against the shining sludge. "I don't see it."

"Look harder," Leah demanded. "I know I'm not crazy."

But, no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't see it.

"I'm going in for it," Leah decided, sticking her arm slowly into the goop.

"Wait, but what if you get stuck?" I asked. "Should I hold your ankles so I can pull you out?"

"Actually? Go ahead." Leah nodded, now up to her shoulder in gleaming glop. "Alright, I'm going in. I'll kick twice if I need to come out."

I nodded. "Go ahead."

Leah pulled herself in face-first, sticking her other arm into the honey, too. She pulled herself in progressively farther while I held her heels, looking past her to see what she saw.

She kicked twice. Slowly, I began to pull her out, leaning back slowly while watching inside the honey. I realized she was clutching onto something, but I couldn't tell what it was. Eventually it came into view, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Leah gasped, clutching a giant bumblebee in her arms. "This is what I saw!"

The bee flexed its mandibles, moving her abdomen up and down. Its appearance–a massive, hairy body with two, fluttering wings–sent shivers down my spine as I stared into its complex eye.

Leah set the giant insect down. It was bigger than a Labrador and fuzzy as a lamb. It crawled around on its six legs, flexing its tubular tongue and fluttering its wings.

"I thought those like... just went extinct. That's a massive bee!" I nervously studied it, hoping it wouldn't sting me.

Leah paused. "Well, what does this mean? What do we do now?"

The bee looked up into my eyes. I felt frozen before that moment, unable to make a clear decision as to what we should do. But, when the bee looked at me, I suddenly started making headway.

I knew what we needed to do.