by Willow Rose
Ridge Manor, Beneath
Joanna's cup tipped over and spilled the tea on the floor. The wooden house creaked and cracked. The floor underneath her was shaking, several planks ripped loose, dirt and sand fell from upstairs and danced in the air above them, and the doors were clattering.
Arlene shrieked.
"What's happening?" Joanna asked. She looked to Susan for answers, but she didn't look like she had any.
"Is it another earthquake?" Joanna continued.
The shaking continued and, while Joanna tried to stand, a man came through the door.
"Hurry," he said. "You have to get out of here. The house is gonna fall."
"Bert!" Susan exclaimed. She tried to get up, but a plank ripped loose from the ceiling and fell on her.
"Susan," Bert yelled and ran to help her.
"I'm okay," she said as he removed the plank. She was bleeding from a wound the plank had left on her cheek. Bert helped her get up.
Joanna went to Arlene and grabbed her hand in hers. She pulled her up. Bert looked at all of them.
"We've got to get out of here," he said. "Fast."
"What's going on?" Joanna asked. "Is it an earthquake?"
Bert gave her a terrified look. "Oh, no, this is much worse." He looked at Susan while he said the rest. "It's the chameleons. I saw them on my way here. They're back. And there are a lot more than last time. Tens of thousands of them are emerging from the forest, marching this way, so many they're causing the ground to shake. They're coming for us, Susan."
Susan answered with a serious nod, grabbed her bow and arrows, and stood tall in front of them.
"We need to go."
Joanna stared at Susan. Not because of what she had just said, but because of what was happening to her. In the moment she spoke the words, the house cracked in two and that one part where Susan stood disappeared with Susan inside of it.
"SUSAN!" Bert yelled and ran to the edge to look.
But there was nothing but darkness beneath them as the ground had opened up and swallowed the entire side of the old house.
"Oh, dear God," Joanna said and grabbed Arlene in her arms. The house was shaking heavily still. "We should get out of here before the rest falls," she said and grabbed the girl's arm. They rushed towards the front door and the steps leading out but barely had Joanna grabbed the handle before she felt Arlene's hand slip out of hers. She gasped and turned to look just in time to see the girl fall into the blackness as more of the house crashed into the nothingness beneath. Joanna screamed and reached out her hand just in time to grab the girl's in hers and hold on. They were both screaming, but she managed to hold her still, right above the edge.
"Arlene," Joanna said, a rush of panic going through her.
"Don't let go, Joanna. Don't let go."
"I'm…I'm trying," she said, strained in exertion.
"My hand is slipping…"Arlene cried. "I can't hold on anymore. I'm slipping. Joanna, my hand is slipping."
"Hold on…hold on…"
But she couldn't. Their hands were too slippery, the girl too heavy, and soon she fell into the vast darkness, Joanna watching her face strained in fear as she fell and seconds later was gone.
"ARLENE!"
Joanna screamed and the name echoed off the walls of the deep hole beneath her; tears sprang to her eyes as she felt the heavy shaking of the house once more. Realizing it wasn't over yet, she looked behind her and caught Bert's sad eyes one last time before the house cracked once again and she herself was pulled into the darkness.
Chapter Eighty-Eight
Ridge Manor, Above
Holding the lifeless Ellie Mae in one arm, the spray bottle in the other, Wayne squirted some of the bottle's contents at one of the soldiers that was now approaching him. He wasn't really sure what was going to happen.
The liquid hit the soldier right in the face. He let out a loud shrill sound and put both his clawed hands to his face. Big blisters bubbled up on his cheeks where the liquid had hit and the skin peeled off in places. Some of it had hit him in the eyes and the soldier sank to his knees, hissing and screaming.
Wayne couldn't believe it. One after another, the soldiers came at them, and one after another fell to their knees in pain or recoiled when touched by the liquid, even by just a drop of it. Martha let out some sort of battle cry as more and more fell at her feet and soon the soldiers started to flee from them instead of attacking.
Major General Li Xiaoyan let out a strange sound, like a calling of some sort and all her soldiers started to jump inside the hole. Not one after another like before, but all at once they jumped into the hole, almost clogging it, disappearing by the hundreds, soon thousands, getting sucked into it.
Wayne watched, sweat running from his forehead, stinging his eyes, Ellie Mae still lifeless in his arms.
As he stood there, he suddenly felt like the pull from the hole grew stronger. Like a strong wind right before a thunderstorm or when a hurricane was coming closer. So many times he had felt a forceful wind like that right before hunkering down for a hurricane approaching while boarding the house up and stocking up on water to ride out the storm. But this wasn't just one quick pull or push, this was consistent and it kept getting stronger and stronger, like the earth was gulping down the soldiers, wanting, craving more, not yet being satisfied.
Soon, the pull made it hard for him to stay in place. Soldiers by the thousands were sucked inside, and Wayne's feet started to slide. He turned and looked at Martha, who was already being pushed to the ground and pulled across the yard.
"Grab something, Martha,” he yelled. "Hold on to something."
Martha dug her fingers into the soil, but it didn't hold her. She was still sliding towards the hole. Wayne fought to get to the big magnolia tree in his yard, grabbed ahold of the trunk and - holding Ellie Mae in the other arm as tight as he could - he was soon in the air, lifted sideways, legs floating, but still keeping his grip on both the girl and the tree.
"Wayne!" Martha screamed and lost her grip. She was now sliding across the grass, yelling and screaming, heading towards the hole. "It's gonna suck me in," she yelled through the howling winds.
Wayne looked into Martha's pleading eyes one last time before she passed him, then grabbed Ellie Mae and swung her sideways towards Martha.
"Grab her leg!"
Martha grabbed Ellie Mae's leg by the tips of her fingers and held on with all she had, then managed to climb up the girl's leg and soon reach for Wayne's leg and grab onto that.
They hung like that, in the air, all three of them, Martha screaming in fear. "We're all gonna die now. We're all dead!"
The winds howled, as the hole sucked each and every Chinese soldier into it, finishing with Major General Li Xiaoyan. It made a plump sound as she went inside, like a champagne bottle opening, and then suddenly, the suction stopped. The three of them fell to the ground, hard. As Wayne raised his head and looked towards the hole, he could have sworn he heard the earth burp.
Chapter Eighty-Nine
Ridge Manor, In Between
She couldn't see the slightest ray of light where she was. But she wasn't falling anymore. And the darkness surrounding her wasn't the freezing darkness she had felt while falling. This place was warm and she felt safe.
Have I died? Joanna wondered if she was floating around in the cosmos or somewhere in space. Was this what it was like to be dead? The feeling of solitude was surprising. Somehow, she had always imagined being dead you would be surrounded by your loved ones, and by light.
"Hello?"
Then she heard a small delicate voice answering her.
"Joanna?"
"Arlene? Where are you, Arlene?"
"I…I don't know. It's dark."
"Same here. I can't see any light anywhere."
"Where are we, Joanna? I'm scared."
"I think we might be caught somewhere between worlds," a third voice said.
"Susan?"
"The one and only."
"So, what are you saying?" Joanna asked. "We're stuck?"
"Something like that, yes."
"But where are we, inside the earth?"
"It's hard to say," she said.
"But…but how do we get out?" Arlene asked, her voice breaking.
None of them could answer that. Luckily, they didn't have to. Seconds later, the earth started to rumble once again, this time all around them, and soon they felt a movement.
"What is that?" Joanna asked.
"Don't know, but something is definitely going on here."
"I hear something," Arlene said. "It sounds like…like a freight train?"
"I hear it too," Susan said. "I don't think it's a train, though."
"What is it, then?"
"It's water," Susan said. "Lots and lots of it."
And just like that, they were all hit by a flood of water and forcefully pushed. Joanna felt like she was drowning, but it only lasted for a few seconds as they suddenly were flushed out and landed in a river of water. Joanna managed to get her face to the surface, coughing and spurting, while they were transported down the river and soon washed out into what appeared to be a lake.
Joanna swam to the shore and managed to pull herself out of the water, using the roots of a tall tree. She put her head on the muddy ground and rested for a few seconds, catching her breath. Soon after, Arlene followed her and came up next to her and finally, Susan did too. Joanna was exhausted but couldn't help looking up at the bright sky and enjoying the rays of sun warming up her skin.
"Where are we?" Arlene asked when she had finally caught her breath.
"We're home," Joanna whispered. "I think we're back home."
Susan laughed and kissed the root of the old tree. "Look at that clear and bright sun. Look at it. I'm back. I can't believe it. I made it back!"
Chapter Ninety
Ridge Manor, Florida
Wayne was doing mouth-to-mouth, but fighting to keep his cool. He was scared, terrified of losing this little girl the way he had lost his own.
Martha was standing next to him, folding her hands in prayer while he pressed his hands on the poor girl’s chest.
"Please, dear God, don't take her away from us," Martha muttered anxiously.
Marley had come down from the bathroom where they had left her. She had seen everything from up there, she told them, crying. She brought Bella with her, holding her in her arms.
"Is she alive?" Marley asked. "Is Ellie Mae alive?"
No one could answer. Martha stopped praying and grabbed Marley, then pulled her close.
"I don't want her to die, Grandma. I just got to know her. I don't want her to be dead."
"Neither do I," Martha said, sobbing. "I haven't even met her yet."
Sweat from Wayne's forehead was pouring onto the girl's face as he pressed and pressed, but still nothing. He felt for a pulse, but there was none. It was too late. She had been out for a very long time.
"I…I…don't think I can…"
Now, there’s a thing about miracles. They usually happen at the eleventh hour, just when hope is all lost, when we have given up. How else would it be a true and real miracle? That was exactly what happened next. The miracle they had prayed for and waited for happened. Ellie Mae suddenly moved her chest in spasms, and with a loud gasp, she took a deep breath.
"Ellie Mae!" Wayne shrieked. Martha and Marley held their breath. Wayne turned her to the side and, coughing and spurting, she soon opened her eyes.
"Hey there, Mr. Sheriff," she said, blinking like the light bothered her.
Martha and Marley approached the girl and knelt next to her. Ellie Mae sat up.
"Hi there, Ellie Mae," Martha said and reached out her hand. "I'm…I'm your grandmother."
Ellie Mae nodded. "I know."
Martha put a hand on her chest. "You know?"
"I’ve seen pictures. Of you and mom when she was my age. It's very nice to meet you."
Ellie Mae grabbed Martha's hand and shook it. Martha had tears streaming across her cheeks.
"Likewise, my child. Likewise."
Chapter Ninety-One
Ridge Manor, Florida
"Step on it."
After making it out of the swamps, they had found a truck on the side of the road, still with the keys in it. Now they were speeding across State Road 50, not a car or a face in sight. Susan was driving while Joanna was biting her nails, too worried to be able to drive. She couldn't stop thinking about Ellie Mae and wondering what had happened, if what she had seen on the TV had come true. Was she dead?
Something inside of Joanna told her that she wasn't, that there was still hope, but she didn't know if it was just because it was so hard for her to grasp the fact that she could lose both her husband and her child, that the world could be that cruel. Maybe it was nothing but wishful thinking, but still. She had to cling to that little hope, didn't she? What else was there to do? Wasn't it the pure essence of life? To have and to maintain hope through it all?
She's still alive. I just know she is.
"Wayne still lives in that old house outside of town, the one on the hill? The one he lived in with his mother?" Susan asked.
"Yes," Joanna said. "His mom died some years ago. Suicide, Wayne told me recently."
"Probably from living with that maniac. Never liked Wayne's father much. That man treated Wayne like dirt. Drunk half of the time too. Wayne would sometimes come to school with marks after being beaten by the old man's belt. Beat the crap out of his wife too. I was so happy the day Wayne told me that she had finally had the guts to leave him. They went to live with her mother in that same house. I'm glad to hear that Wayne went on to do something decent with his life and not end up like that dad of his."
Joanna tried to smile but felt too discouraged and worried to actually pull it off. "Wayne's a good guy. He really is."
Susan made a turn just before the city limit sign and drove onto the dirt road leading to Wayne's house at the top of the hill. The place looked like a mess. The fields surrounding his place that were usually so beautiful with flowers and bushes and the long grass swaying in the wind were completely trampled down. The dirt road had turned to mud.
Please, let her be alive; please, dear God. I'll do anything. Anything you ask me to. Anything.
Susan parked the car in front of the house and Joanna stormed inside the open door. Inside, the house looked even worse than the outside. Broken furniture everywhere, mud all over the floors, everything tipped over or trampled down.
"Ellie Mae?"
Nothing.
"Wayne?"
No answer. She tried again. "Wayne?"
Arlene came up behind her. "Daaad?"
"The yard," Joanna said and hurried to the porch. "I see them," she said as she went outside, startled to see that the giant hole that had once been covering most of the yard now seemed to be closed up and nothing but a small pile of dirt. There were broken trees everywhere and no leaves on any of them. It looked like a tornado had gone through it.
Arlene was right behind her.
"Dad?"
Wayne stood at the end of the yard and, at the sound of Arlene's voice, he looked up.
"Ellie Mae?" Joanna said, clasping her mouth as she saw her daughter standing on her two feet next to Marley, and…who was that she was with?
"Mom?" Joanna said.
"Arlene?" Wayne said, barely getting the name across his lips.
The three people at the end of the yard stared at Joanna and Arlene like they were ghosts, which at this point, they probably looked like, at least at first sight.
Ellie Mae was the first to start running with a loud shriek of joy.
"Mom?"
"Ellie Mae, Ellie Mae," Joanna said and rushed to her, grabbed her in her arms, and just held her, held her with the intention of never ever letting her go again. "I knew you were alive. I knew you weren't dead," Ellie Mae said, crying tears of joy.
Wayne stood like a statue, completely frozen like he didn't believe wh
at he was looking at, that it was real. Joanna couldn't blame him. After two years apart, wondering and worrying, it had to be hard to believe that she was really there.
"Arlene?" he repeated. "Is that really you?"
Arlene nodded and sobbed. "Yes, Dad. It's me. I'm back."
Wayne shook his head with disbelief, but the tears leaving his eyes told another tale. The realization was beginning to sink in, even though it was slow.
Wayne took a step closer.
"Arlene?"
"Yes, Dad."
Then another step, his face showing skepticism.
"Arlene?"
"Yes, Dad. It's me. It really is me." Arlene was biting her lip, her upper body starting to spasm by the weight of her sobs.
"Arlene?"
Wayne stopped, the look in his eyes shifted between sadness and confusion to sudden joy and bewilderment.
"I can't… I can't…"
Arlene shook her head, tears running from her eyes.
And that was when Wayne finally gave in and started to run. Arms stretched out in front of him, almost stumbling over his own feet, he stormed to the girl, picked her up in his arms, and twirled her in the air while laughing loudly.
"Ha! It really is you, it really is you, it really is you!"
Joanna hugged Ellie Mae, Wayne danced with Arlene, left out was Martha, who slowly walked towards the house and was about to disappear inside when Joanna spotted her.
"Hey!"
Martha stopped. She kept her head bent. Joanna put Ellie Mae down, then grabbed her hand and approached the woman she hadn't seen in more than ten years. The woman whom she had felt such hatred towards, such anger and unforgiveness.
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked.
Martha turned her head and looked into her daughter's eyes. Joanna's heart jumped in her chest. So many times, she had imagined standing in front of her again, so many times she had rehearsed what she was going to say, how she was going to hurt her for what she did.