Night Chill (19 page)

FORTY-SIX

Sarah was mad. Becky was hogging all the cool band aids, the ones with the Sesame Street characters on them, leaving her the very uncool regular band-aids to play with. And whining wasn’t changing her sister’s mind one bit. The whole thing just served as a reminder that big sisters were horrible sometimes, a fact she pointed out to Becky in a pouting voice. In response, Becky called her a baby and gave her hair a hard tug. Tears welling up in her eyes, Sarah got up to go tell Nurse Haddie. And, as if things weren’t bad enough, as she walked over to the nurse’s station she realized she needed to go to the bathroom.

 She poked her head around the corner and saw Nurse Haddie talking on the phone. Her mom always told them never to go to the bathroom alone in the hospital.
What if you fall in?
she always asked. The comment predictably broke the girls up into a round of giggles and promises to flush each other down the toilet at the first chance.  But they always followed the rule. As funny as it sounded, the idea of getting stuck in the toilet was kind of scary.

But Nurse Haddie had her back to Sarah. She was twirling her hair around her finger and laughing into the phone. Her voice sounded funny, like her mom did sometimes when her dad called on the phone. All giggly and soft. Adults were weird, Sarah decided. After a full minute of waiting, her bladder won out over her pride and she went back to ask her big sister to go with her.

“I told you you’re a baby,” Becky teased. “Can’t even go to the bathroom by yourself.”

That was enough. She scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue. Since that didn’t have the effect she wanted, she bent down and picked up the pink rubber ball they’d brought from home. She raised it in the air as if she was going to hurl a pink fastball at her sister’s forehead. It worked. Becky let out a shriek and covered her face with her hands.

Sarah lowered her hand, turned and walked away. After a few steps, she turned around and, with a roll of her eyes, said, “Becky, you’re such a baby.” She kept walking, a huge smile spread across her face. 

After one last hopeful look into the nurse’s station to see if Nurse Haddie was off the phone yet, Sarah set off for the bathroom. She’d been to the hospital enough to know where it was, just through the door that led out of the emergency room and down the hall to the right. She walked to the door with her head down, trying to bounce the ball with alternating hands, the pink ball looking extra bright against the lime green floor.

Through the door, out of the ER, and right into temptation. On the other side of the door was a long, empty hallway. Shiny linoleum stretched out in front of her like an airport runway, completely clear of any obstacles, and totally absent of any adults. The hall almost begged for her to throw the rubber ball. It was clear all the way down to the elevator at the far end. She could just imagine how cool it would look with the ball skipping along the linoleum, bouncing off the walls the whole way down.

But what if someone walked out of the side rooms and saw her? And what if they told her mom?

She chickened out. Her mom would be really mad if she heard she threw a ball around the hospital, especially since she wasn’t even supposed to be in the hallway by herself to begin with.

She spotted the blue sign for the bathroom three doors down the hall. Seeing the sign, her urge to pee took on new urgency. She hustled down the hall to the door and was about to go in when a different urge hit her. She turned and faced the direction she had just come from and chucked the ball down the hall toward the emergency room door. It bounced around in a satisfying way, careening off the white walls and making neat squeaking noises when it hit the linoleum. After bouncing for a bit, it rolled to a stop against a wall, well out of the way where anyone might step on it. Sarah decided to leave it there and pick it up on they way back.

She leaned all her weight against the heavy bathroom door until it swung open and she went inside.

When she reopened the door she was pleased with her accomplishment. She couldn’t wait to tell her mom that she had gone all by herself, even though she weighed the possibility that she might get in trouble for it too. She’d just blame Becky. After all, she had asked her sister to come with her and she was the one who said no. Maybe she could find a way to get her sister in trouble and brag all at the same time.

Sarah’s plotting was interrupted when she glanced down the hall. She felt a pit form in her stomach as she realized she might get in trouble from her mom after all. Her ball was gone. Someone must have walked by and found it while she was in the bathroom. Busted.

Something hit her between the shoulders, not too hard but enough to scare her.

She little out a yelp and spun around.

It was her ball.

And there was no one in the hallway.

“Hello?” she called out. There was a soft echo in the hallway, a sound effect that made her feel very alone. She felt nervous, like someone was watching her. It was time to get out of there. She bent down to get her ball, but as she reached down, it started to roll down the hall.

Scrunching her eyebrows together, she watched as the ball came to a stop a few feet away from her. She stepped closer to it, but again it rolled away just out of reach. “Who’s doing that?” she demanded of the hallway. Nothing. Not even the echo this time.

Squish. Squish
.

Footsteps on linoleum.

Right behind her.

Sarah turned around at the sound. But the hallway was empty in that direction too. Holding her breath from being so scared, she turned back and saw her ball rolling away from her. And it wasn’t stopping this time. In fact, it was speeding up as it went. Sarah stared, watching it go further and further down the hall, all the way down to the elevator.

Just as it was about to hit the elevator, the metal doors slid open and the ball shot inside and bounced off the back wall of the elevator.

Sarah stepped back against the side of the hallway, wishing she could blend right into the wall. Whoever was in that elevator would definitely tell her mom.

But no one came out. The ball bounced around, hitting the different walls, and then came to rest. Sarah knew the elevator doors usually closed after a while, but these didn’t. The elevator stayed open. The ball right in the middle of the compartment.

Sarah waited to make sure no one came out of the elevator. She looked back the other direction to see if she could spot whoever was responsible for the ball’s strange behavior. Still no one.

She took a few faltering steps down the hall trying to gather her courage. She looked over her shoulder again wishing there was someone else around. The hospital was never very busy, but usually
someone
was around. A nurse or a cleaning person. But there was nobody. The hall was empty. She thought about going to get Becky or Nurse Haddie. But part of her knew Becky was somehow responsible for all of this. Sarah pictured her sister hiding at the end of the hall, waiting for her to chicken out so she could call her a baby again.

The image of her sister was enough to get her feet moving. Thinking the quicker she moved the less time she’d have to get caught, she broke into a run and hurried down the hall as fast as she could, the squeaks from her sneakers the only sound in the dead air.

By the time she reached the elevator, she was out of breath. She stopped. Now that she was there, so close to the getting the ball, she started to get nervous again. Too scared to rush right in, she wiggled her toes right up to the edge of the entrance and peered in. Her ball was the only thing in the elevator.

Balancing on one foot and holding on to the side of the open door, Sarah stretched her other leg into the elevator compartment, trying to reach out for the ball. Her toe just barely touched the side of the ball. Shifting forward a little, she was able to get a better angle and place the side of her sneaker on top of the ball.

Carefully, she pulled her foot back toward her. It was working. The ball was rolling toward her. Suddenly, her foot slid off and the ball skidded to the back of the compartment.

Sarah groaned. The last thing she wanted was to go into the elevator. She couldn’t explain why, but the empty compartment scared her. Maybe she should just leave the ball where it was. She would get into a little trouble, but it wouldn’t be that big a deal.

But the image of her sister stopped her. Sarah imagined her laughing and singing;

Baby. Baby. Sarah’s a baby.

Sarah took a deep breath and wrung her hands together. She needed to get her ball.

Reaching out with her right hand, she wished as hard as she could that the ball would just roll to her. She imagined she could reach all the way to the back of the elevator. She pictured her arm stretching out until her hand hovered over the ball. In her mind, she lowered her hand until it wrapped around the ball.

To her surprise, she felt the pressure on her fingertips. She felt the texture of the ball. Carefully, she pretended to pull the ball toward her. Her eyes went wide.

The ball moved.

One rotation.

Then it stopped.

Another rotation.

Then it stopped again.

Sarah smiled. She was doing magic. She wasn’t sure how but she knew it was cool.

But then the ball was stuck. No matter how hard she tried, it refused to move. She concentrated but the ball not only wouldn’t roll toward her, but it went back the other direction one rotation.

She cocked her head to the side. It felt like something pulled at her hand when the ball rolled back. She tried to make the ball move again.

Nothing.

She relaxed her concentration.

As soon as she did, something wrapped around her wrist and yanked her arm.

She flew forward into the elevator, hitting the floor hard.

She scrambled to her feet, knowing she had to get out of the elevator. She had to run back into the hall as fast as she could. Get back to the emergency room. Back to Nurse Haddie. Back to her sister. Back to safety.

There was a hiss. Then a roar. The heavy metal doors flew in from the sides and crashed together with enough force to shake the compartment.

Sarah ran at the door and tried to force her fingers into the seam and pull the doors open. It was too late. She was trapped.  The elevator was already going up.

FORTY-SEVEN

The tunnel was a tighter fit than Jack had expected. Unless he had seen Lonetree disappear through the hole in front of him he would not have believed it possible. He kept reminding himself how much larger Lonetree was than himself. If the big man could fit through then he ought to be able to get by without a problem.

But it was a problem. He was stuck. The passage was all smooth rock now. The absence of the mud ought to have made the going easier, but Jack had only moved forward a few feet after over ten minutes of struggle. The rock pressed in on him from all sides. The ceiling was so low that he had to turn his head to the side to pass through. It was impossible to turn to face the opposite wall. His helmet would get wedged between the floor and roof if he tried to change positions.

The small space felt suffocating. Over and over, Jack forced back waves of panic. But seeing Lonetree slide through so easily helped him psychologically. He started to feel more frustration than fear. He wasn’t used to having to be wet nursed through a physical challenge.

The area around him was illuminated by both his own light and Lonetree’s who now crouched at the end of the section of the tunnel and coached him on how to get out of the tough spot.

“Jack, rest for a second and just listen.”

Jack stopped straining and did as he was told, lying flat on the cool rock, the side wall of the passage inches from his face.

“You can’t fight a rock. You’re not going to win. This stuff is all technique. Here’s what’s happening. Notice how the passage is so much lower on the left than the right? There’s half the vertical height on that side than the high side. See what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, I see that.”

“O.K. When you’re moving forward, your body is sliding downhill and lodging into that wedge down there. Slide back a little. Then push off with your left hand and foot and keep on the high side.”

Jack dug his toes into the rock and pulled himself backward. He jammed his hand and foot into the left wall and shifted his body to the high side. Keeping his body weight on the left, he edged his body forward, crab walking through the passage. He was amazed at how much easier it was. Less than a minute later he reached the end and climbed out of the tight tunnel into an open gallery.

The gallery was long and narrow, just wide enough to walk through. On either side, the walls soared up into the darkness. Jack craned his head backward to shine his light upward. The smooth rock walls towered above them, the beam too weak to penetrate up to the ceiling. The stone was a pale white that seemed to absorb the light from the intruders and give off its own soft glow. Wide streaks of dirty brown and green glistened when the light hit them. Jack reached out and felt the wall. It was slimy with algae growth and ground water oozing through the rock. 

“How far up does that go?”

Lonetree threw Jack a bottle of water from his pack and glanced up. “Hundred feet or so. The ceiling is interesting.”

“How so?”

“It’s alive. Crawling with bats. Thousands of them.” Lonetree opened some water for himself. “The walls look like that from the guano.”

Jack lifted a foot off the ground and felt the sticky floor suck his boot down. “Nice.”

“Can’t hurt you. Makes a hell of a fertilizer.”

“How could you have found this place?” Jack asked in between gulps of the warm water. “Did you grow up around here or something?”

“No. But I grew up in caves like it. My father taught me and my brother.”

“Oh yeah?” Jack said as he tossed the water back to Lonetree, a little surprised at Lonetree’s sudden chattiness. “He was into caving?”

“Archeology. Growing up he dragged us around the country to different caves. Always trying to prove his grand theory.”

“What was his theory?”

Lonetree took a deep breath as if wishing the conversation had gone another direction. “He was convinced that there was a whole undiscovered record of early North American civilizations buried in the caves throughout the U.S.”

“How did he come up with that?”

“Early cultures on every other continent went into caves for rituals, for burials, to record their lives with paintings. There are more being discovered all the time. Sometimes miles deep into cave systems. But the record left by early Native Americans seemed minimal compared to what had already been discovered around the world in other civilizations.”

“Makes sense. So did he find what he was looking for?” Jack asked.

“He made some important finds. Nothing flashy, you know. Nothing that ended up in National Geographic or anything. But they were enough to keep getting grant money and get him tenure at the University of Oklahoma. For years, he kept looking, sure his theory was correct. Then, finally, he made the find of a lifetime.”

“This cave.”

Lonetree nodded. “This is it. He came in the same way we’re going right now. So did my brother. And what they found changed everything they believed.”

Jack looked around the gallery, again arching his neck to shine his light upward. “So, what did he find?” But when he lowered his head Lonetree was already walking down the gallery and pulling the backpack over his shoulders. Jack hustled to catch up with him and then fell into line behind him. He was about to ask his question again when he noticed the floor of the gallery.

They were following a well worn path. Jack at first thought there had to be another explanation for the feature so far underground, but the more he studied it, the more it seemed to him to be a trail worn into the solid stone by years of heavy use. Based on the little Lonetree had just told him, he guessed that he was walking on the path carved by ancient Native Americans. But why here, so far underground? Jack had no answers, something he was starting to get used to. But with the appearance of the path, he felt as if he was finally close to getting some.