Breakdown

by Kathryn J. Beherns

“Maddy, I think you need to leave the detective work to us. That’s a little far-fetched. If you hear from your mom, please call immediately.”

  “But how? You can’t even keep track of a freaking squad car, let alone a human.” Maddy could feel the lump in her throat. “And that human is the only family I have.”

  Maddy stood up and walked out of his office, slamming the door so hard it rattled pictures on the walls. When Maddy reached Owen’s car, she turned to him and said, “It’s up to us now. Are you in?”

  “I’m all in.”

  Chapter 12

  “We need to make a plan, Maddy,” Owen said as they drove back to Maddy’s house. “We keep talking about this cave. Everything seems to point to this cave. We have to find it!”

  “What if everything people say about the cave is true?” asked Maddy.

  “Maddy, I can’t believe I’m saying this—we’re talking about risking our lives—but you will never forgive yourself if you don’t at least try. Besides, if anyone can overcome an evil, life-eating demon, it’s you.”

  Maddy smiled and gave Owen a huge hug. The car swerved into the other lane.

  “Easy, we still need to live through this ride home.”

  Owen pulled over and parked when he got to Maddy’s house. She kissed him passionately. It felt so good to be in his arms and feel his lips on hers.

  Maddy slid out of the car and turned around. “Well, are you coming?”

  “I just thought—” Owen was not used to being invited into her house this late at night.

  “We need to make a plan if we’re going to find my mom tomorrow.”

  “Very true,” Owen said.

  They sat at the kitchen table Googling images of the river, pinpointing where they had found her mom’s squad car and where the cave might be.

  “So once we find this cave, then what?” asked Owen.

  “Then I don’t know. I go in?” Maddy replied.

  “We go in,” Owen corrected Maddy.

  “You’re not going to follow me in there. Besides, someone has to stay outside in case we need to call the police.”

  “Maddy, you don’t get to decide for me. Now, what will we need to bust open a sealed cave and defeat an evil spirit?” Owen typed it into Google.

  Maddy held her hands up. “I don’t know, peanut butter and jelly?”

  It felt good to laugh. Even if it wasn’t that funny. Things had been so serious and they had felt so powerless. But now, finally they had a plan.

  The sun was almost up by the time Owen left. They decided they would get a few hours of sleep and leave after lunch. Maddy lay her head on the pillow. For the first time in what felt like forever, she fell asleep before her restless mind started to worry.

  But even in Maddy’s sleep she couldn’t escape Pike. He was there. She could hear him breathing just behind her ear. Maddy’s eyes popped open. The breathing must have been a dream, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was in the house.

  It was almost noon. Owen would be there soon. She got into the shower, hoping to lose the icky feeling. She let the hot water run down her back. She was sore from last night’s swim in the cold river. The words “Save Me” echoed in her head. She stepped out of the shower and began to towel off.

  Then, just as she lifted her head to look in the mirror, she saw a figure standing just behind her left shoulder. It was the shadow of a person. Maddy spun around. She saw no one. And then, as if spoken into her ear, a low demonic voice whispered, “It is me.” Then Maddy was alone. She could feel that she was alone.

  She quickly got dressed, putting on layers because she had read that caves were very cold. She had a flashlight and her cell phone in case she ran into trouble. She sat down to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but just then Owen pulled up and gave a quick beep. Just as she was about to leave, she spotted her mom’s pocketknife and slipped it into her pocket.

  Owen beeped again. She ran to the car, her sandwich hanging out of her mouth.

  “Breakfast of champions, huh?”

  With a huge bite in her mouth she replied, “You know it.” She swallowed and then gave him a peanut buttery kiss.

  “How’d you sleep?” asked Owen.

  “Like the dead,” replied Maddy.

  Chapter 13

  They reached Minnehaha Falls. Police tape blocked off where they had previously entered the water. Owen retrieved the canoe from the roof of the car. Maddy ripped the police tape down. They wouldn’t be needing that. They hiked toward the river. The riverbank was steep and slippery with wet mud. Owen led the way down it. A large black crow cawed from a distance.

  “It seems more difficult to get to the river today than it was the first time,” Owen said.

  Maddy felt the same way, but didn’t let on. “We’re just more tired, that’s all.”

  Owen took small, careful steps, but even then his heel slipped and he lost his balance. He fell in the cold, wet mud. Maddy lost her grip on the canoe. Owen and the canoe slid to the river’s edge.

  “Are you okay?” She ran to the water.

  “Yeah.” He was holding his shoulder.

  They finally made it to the water and began to paddle downstream. As they paddled, Maddy noticed a crow following them. Watching them. Dark, heavy clouds moved in, blocking out the sun.

  Owen looked up at the sky. “A little rain can’t stop us.”

  They kept paddling, watching the riverbank.

  “This is where Mom’s squad car was found,” Maddy said. “Keep your eyes open for what looks like an entrance to a cave.”

  They had to weave around more large boulders.

  “I had no idea there were so many animals here!” Maddy pointed out. “I swear I just saw like three deer running that way.” She was pointing upstream, the opposite direction from where they were heading.

  “I know! I just saw a fox running the same direction.”

  Then they saw more deer, raccoons, rabbits, even coyotes, all running the opposite direction they were heading.

  “Maddy! Look!” Owen pointed to two large brown bears running at full speed. “What are they all running towards?”

  Maddy didn’t say anything. Fear grew inside her like a cancer. She looked up into the trees. “Or maybe they’re running from something.”

  Owen’s paddle stopped. It was one thing to talk about spirits and evil beings, but it was another thing to actually witness it. He took a deep breath and dipped his paddle once more in the water.

  Pulling the blade of their paddles through the water was becoming increasingly difficult.

  The crow that had been following them since they arrived flew low and landed on the front of the boat. Its black, beady eyes stared at Maddy, and it let out three loud caws, as if to tell them to turn back. Owen shooed it off the boat. The crow swooped low and nipped at Owen’s head.

  “Ow! I think he actually got a clump of my hair,” Owen said, holding his head.

  Maddy pulled his head to her lips and kissed where the crow had attacked him. “There, all better.” She smiled.

  It fell completely silent around them. No wind to rustle the trees. No birds singing. No insects buzzing. The river had slowed to a standstill.

  “That’s strange,” Owen said. “We’re circling around like a whirlpool.”

  “Or a tornado. Look up there.” Maddy pointed to the sky. The clouds rotated in a circle as silent bolts of lightning zapped the earth.

  Owen wasn’t looking at the sky. He was speechless. He grabbed Maddy’s arm and pulled her so she would look at the giant cement wall fixed onto the side of the riverbank.

  “Holy crap!” Maddy said. “I think that’s what we’ve been looking for. They used cement to seal off the main entrance of the cave.”

  The cement wall was covered in graffiti. Maddy and Owen canoed over to the side of the wall.

  “Do you hear that?” asked Owen. “It sounds like water dripping.”

  They pulled the canoe onto the rocky riverbank. Walking w
as difficult because the riverbank had changed from slippery mud to sandstone that crumbled beneath their feet.

  “I think it’s coming from over here,” said Owen.

  They were almost in the river when they found a pile of rocks that looked as if they had come from a different planet. They appeared to be shiny black shards of glass, except thicker and a lot heavier.

  “It is! There’s water running into these rocks,” Maddy yelled excitedly. She could almost feel her mom. They were so close now.

  She began to quickly pull the rocks from the pile to see where the water was running. Owen came over to her just as one of the sharp rocks sliced her finger. Owen glanced at the bloody finger. His face turned white. Maddy quickly put her finger in her pocket. The last thing she needed was to have Owen faint at the sight of her blood.

  “There, no blood,” Maddy said.

  Color returned to his face. Maddy continued to remove the strange black rocks until finally a small opening appeared.

  Chapter 14

  The clouds were so thick in the sky that it seemed like night. The silent lightning was getting closer.

  Maddy thought back to her dream. “Stay here,” Maddy commanded. “This isn’t your fight.”

  “No, we already talked about this,” said Owen. “I go with you. This is my fight too. This Pike thing messes with you, he messes with me.”

  “Ladies first,” Maddy said. She lay down and carefully scooted into the cave on her belly. She could feel the jagged rocks scratch the delicate skin on her stomach. When she stood up, she was in Pike’s Cave. She had never seen such blackness. There was absolutely no light.

  She didn’t realize Owen had joined her until he flipped on his headlamp. “Wow,” he whispered. “This is amazing.” They were standing on the edge of a huge room made out of stone. It had a thirty-foot ceiling with spikes that looked like rock icicles. Water pooled on the floor. The dripping sound that had led them to the opening was actually the echo of water droplets falling off these rock icicles, or stalactites. She turned on her flashlight. Already she could feel Pike watching them.

  There was only one way to go, and that was forward. They walked through the open space, into the unknown darkness. It smelled like dirt and something rotting. Soon the cave narrowed. Owen had to hunch. Maddy’s flashlight darted. She was looking for a clue—something that would lead them to her mom. Her focus was so complete, she didn’t notice her foot snag something. She crashed to the cold ground. Owen shined his light.

  “It’s a duffel bag,” Owen said. He bent down to free her foot.

  “Let me see.” Maddy took the bag and opened it. Inside was a jar of peanut butter and jelly and her mom’s police badge.

  Maddy hadn’t felt this excited for days. They walked on. The cave opened a little, so Owen could stand up straight. He paused to stretch and take a look around. Small holes had apparently been drilled into the wall of the cave. He shined his light on more of the rock wall. There were chains attached to it. Maddy tugged on his shirt.

  There, stuck to the wall, were two dead bodies. Their skin was thin, pulled tight over their bones. Their lips had rotted away so their white teeth stood out. One body was clearly a woman, the other a man. Neither had shoes.

  “The missing couple,” Maddy said.

  She reached out and grabbed the purse lying next to the dead woman. Then she took a deep breath. Trying hard not to tremble, she lifted the man’s overcoat away from his hollow, empty chest. With the very tips of her fingers, Maddy reached into the inside pocket of the coat. She pulled out his wallet. As she did, her hand brushed the dead man’s arm. It was enough force to make his hand fall off his body onto the cold ground next to Maddy’s foot. She screamed. Stepped back. She was really more startled than scared of the dead bodies. After all, a dead person can’t hurt you.

  After the initial shock, she said, “My mom will be happy to see these.”

  Maddy stuffed the man’s wallet into the dead woman’s purse. She wrapped the purse across her body.

  “Let’s just take a moment to honor the dead,” said Maddy.

  They stood in this evil place saying their own version of a prayer.

  Maddy could feel something soft moving over her feet. It was so light she almost didn’t feel it. She shook her foot. Then it was back. She shook her foot again, but this time it wrapped around her ankle and wound up her calf. She shined the light on her leg. A snake. No, snakes—plural. Maddy kicked her legs and whipped her arms. She bent down and yanked the snakes from her thigh. Involuntarily, she started to run. The slimy creatures wriggled beneath her feet, but she didn’t stop. Owen tried to keep up, but in the dark it was difficult. For a long time he just followed the beam of light coming from her flashlight, but soon that disappeared.

  He slowed to a walk. He listened in the cave for her voice, her cough, even for her breath, but he heard nothing. Only silence. The narrow cave split into two different passageways. Owen had to make a decision. The left passage was pitch-black. He looked down the right passage and couldn’t believe his eyes. There was a dim light at the end of it.

  After what Maddy had just gone through, he was certain she had taken the passage to the right, the one with the light at the end. He turned and began his journey toward the orange glow.

  Chapter 15

  Maddy stumbled and tripped over loose rocks. She fell and twisted her ankle. Huddled on the ground, Maddy was surrounded by darkness. The cave smelled like the earth, not rotting flesh and snakes. It was also much colder than before. There was an eerie quiet. Maddy could see her breath in the beam of her flashlight. She trembled. She couldn’t tell if it was because she was scared or if it was the cold.

  Out of the darkness arms wrapped around her. One around her chest and the other around her mouth.

  “Mouse.” It was a faint whisper, but it was enough.

  “Mom!”

  Immediately, Maddy was shushed. “He’s out there. The one that killed the couple. The one that is trying to take me. He’s looking for me now. I got away, but he will find me and do something awful.”

  “I’ll get us out,” Maddy said confidently.

  Maddy’s mom hugged Maddy tightly and kissed the top of her head. Maddy started to backtrack with her mom close behind her. They got to the split in the cave. Maddy noticed the dim orange light. Her mom adamantly pushed her forward.

  Mom whispered, “That is where he is. The glow isn’t real.”

  They pushed forward. Past the place where the snakes had been. Past the dead bodies. And finally into the large entrance of the cave. There waited Owen.

  Maddy lurched in his direction. She had been so worried. Her mom grabbed her by the shirt.

  “Run, Maddy!”

  “Mom, it’s Owen.” Maddy was trying to free herself from her mom’s grasp. “He came here to save you just like I did.”

  “Look at his eyes, Maddy.”

  Indeed, there was something intense, something malicious, in those eyes. And yet there was something else, too.

  Tears.

  Owen was crying.

  “Pike is in his body but not his mind,” Maddy said, repeating something she’d read in The Atlas of Cursed Places and heard from Willow.

  Suddenly Owen lunged at Maddy’s mom with a rock as sharp as a spear. She dodged him but slipped on some loose gravel. Owen spun around and pinned her to the ground with his boot. He held the stone spike just above her heart, but Maddy grabbed him from behind. She pulled on his neck and beat on his back.

  Owen turned. Maddy saw his eyes once more. Tears continued trickling down his face.

  He was mortified at what his hands were doing, but he couldn’t stop them. They went up to Maddy’s throat. They squeezed. Maddy put her hand in her pocket and fumbled around. She found the pocketknife and pulled it out.

  “Owen, I am saving you!” Maddy shouted.

  She took the knife and pressed the sharp blade into the palm of her hand. Warm blood gushed out. Owen saw the dark, red liquid.
His face turned white. His knees quivered, and he fell to the ground. Maddy wrapped a jacket around her hand to stop the bleeding.

  Dropping to the cold ground beside Owen, she brushed the hair from his eyes and gently kissed him. His eyes fluttered open.

  “I love you, Owen. I always have,” Maddy said with tears pouring down her cheeks. He gave her a wide grin.

  “We have to leave, now! Pike will come back and use one of us,” Mom commanded.

  “Owen, you have to get up. Can you do that for me?”

  Owen nodded, still groggy from fainting.

  They slid out of the small opening. First Owen, then Mom, and then Maddy.

  The clouds broke apart in the sun. They heard birds in the distance. Owen steadied the canoe as Maddy and her mom stepped into it.

  They paddled for a while in silence, catching their breaths.

  “So, Detective Connelly?” Owen finally said.

  “Yes?” Maddy’s mom replied.

  “Sorry for trying to, you know, stab you with a rock back there.”

  “No worries,” she said. “Thanks for, you know, coming to my rescue.”

  “No worries,” Owen repeated.

  The three of them paddled in silence again.

  This time it was Maddy’s mom who spoke up. “When we get to shore, how about the three of us grab some dinner?”

  “I’d like that,” said Owen.

  “PB&J?” asked Maddy.

  Maddy’s mom smiled. “You read my mind.”

  About the Author

  Kathryn J. Beherns has a Master’s of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults and an undergraduate degree in English Education with a decade of experience teaching young writers. She has also taught writing classes for teens at the Loft Literary Center and is currently an adjunct English instructor. She believes reading and writing connect people to everything else and that words (written, read, spoken, screamed, sung, whispered, shared) make us more alive!