Boy, Missing by Sophie McKenzie

Author:Sophie McKenzie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2022-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

I drop down to all fours and crawl into the tunnel. The damp stone is cold under my knees. My phone is between my teeth, the torch app casting a spooky flicker of light along the ground ahead. I shuffle a few inches, but the walls are so close. Too close. Like they’re pressing in on me. Fear surges up from my belly, sending a tornado of panic down my arms and legs, and up into my head. I stop moving. My breath is coming in jagged pants and gasps.

Behind me Harlan calls, ‘What’s up? You okay?’

I can’t speak. I’m reliving the moment the mud and limestone fell earlier: thudding down, blocking the light, the air, the way out. I’m fighting for breath, my chest heaving. My phone falls from my mouth, landing on its back and sending the torchlight straight up, into my eyes.

I shut them tight, frozen to the spot.

The rock fell before. Suppose it falls again?

There must be way more limestone pressing down on this passage than there was mud on top of the overhang. What if the roof caves in? What if rock fills the small space that we’re in before we can crawl back out? What if we’re buried alive?

‘Ellie?’ Harlan’s voice is gentle. I vaguely notice, under my panic, that he’s using my pet name again.

‘I’m fine,’ I insist, but my voice sounds tiny and fragile to my ears. ‘I’m just worried about the rock falling in. Like… like… happened earlier.’

‘It won’t.’ There’s a firmness in Harlan’s voice, a strength that reminds me of Dad’s. ‘We’re too far inside the hill. The overhang was wide and thin. Fragile. It collapsed under the weight of the mud from the landslide. But these passageways are made by water eroding the limestone – they’ve been here for tens of thousands of years. They’re not going to fall in on us today.’

‘Okay.’ I try to take in what he’s saying, forcing my attention to the solid rock beneath my hands and knees. I breathe out, into the ground, remembering Dad’s instructions. Silently I count, letting the full breath out until fresh air flows in.

‘Ellie? You ready?’ Harlan asks.

‘Almost.’ I open my eyes.

This tunnel is our only option. Wherever it leads has to be better than sitting in a cold cave waiting to die. I take and release another couple of deep breaths.

‘I’m ready,’ I say. ‘I’m okay – the tunnel just freaked me out. It’s so much smaller than the cave.’

There’s a pause, then Harlan says, ‘Technically it’s not a tunnel. Tunnels are man-made, like the quarry. This is natural.’

‘Right.’ I grimace. ‘Thanks for the science lesson.’

‘Actually it’s more geography, but whatever.’ Harlan’s voice is as ironic as my own. ‘Always happy to help.’

I roll my eyes, but I’m grinning, in spite of myself. I pick up my phone and shove it into my mouth, spitting out the flecks of dirt on my lips. The torch lights up my path. I take another deep breath and start moving again, one hand and knee after the other.

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