It's Behind You by Kathryn Foxfield

Author:Kathryn Foxfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2021-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FIVE

The noise goes straight through me and I feel it inside my teeth. A plume of dust erupts through the cavern and engulfs us all. It stings my eyes and catches in my nose and burns my lungs when I take a breath.

All I can do is curl up in a ball on the ground and hope it stops. But it doesn’t. The thundering goes on and on. It’s like the whole gorge is caving in and being swallowed up by hell itself. I’m sure it’s only a matter of seconds before I am swallowed up too.

My heart beats so fast I think it might burst. I really, really don’t want to die. All I can think about is how my parents will find out about my death from a kindly police officer knocking at their door. Teacups rattling in their saucers and my mum smoothing down her skirt again and again: a nervous habit she has. “Right,” she’d say. “Thank you for telling me.”

It would break her, and she’s broken enough as it is.

It’s not often I admit this to myself, but I can be massively selfish at times. I only stop to think about others when it’s already too late.

At this thought, the rumbling and thundering stops. It feels like this brief moment of introspection paid a tithe. Like the cavern was testing me. I sit up and dare to open my eyes barely a slit. I can’t see a thing.

I can hear someone coughing. I crawl around, groping around in the darkness. I find something. A leg, perhaps. I pat its length, looking for the rest of its owner. It’s a skinny leg, clad in Lycra. Not moving.

“Python?” I say.

“Thank god,” he replies, breathing out heavily. “I thought you were the Puckered Maiden. Why are you feeling me up, Lex? Now’s not the time but later, maybe.”

“Urgh, don’t flatter yourself. Are you hurt?”

He coughs again. “I think I might be dead.”

“You’re not dead. Come on.” We find each other’s hands and feel our way sightlessly through the cave.

“Lex? Python?” It’s Liam’s voice. I walk straight into him: my face, his chest. Liam must mistake our collision for a hug, as he puts an arm around me and pulls me against him. “It’s going to be all right,” he says, squeezing me tightly.

“Can I have a cuddle too,” Python says, angling himself between us and wriggling in close. “This is nice.”

I laugh, despite the awfulness of our situation.

“Why isn’t this radio working?” Jackie’s voice asks. I can’t tell where she is.

“There’s no reception down here,” Ben replies. “We’re cut off.”

Their voices fade to murmurs as they move away through the darkness.

“Abbie?” I call. “Marla?”

“I’m all right,” Abbie says from somewhere nearby. She doesn’t sound any different from usual, like this is a perfectly normal way to spend the night.

“Marla’s here,” Liam calls. “I’ve got her.”

I follow his voice and nearly trip over Marla. She doesn’t complain, which isn’t a good sign. I drop on to my knees and check for signs she’s breathing.

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