by H. P. Bayne
And all the while, those fear-filled, filmy eyes looked into his, the image of terror and death reflected within a face no longer familiar.
Aiden pressed toward him, eyes nearing his, as if he intended to melt into Dez. So close now that Dez would have felt the bubbles of the boy’s exhaled breath, had there been any remaining within his death-stilled lungs.
Dez had always woken up at that point. Not now. Now the nightmare was changing, taking on a life of its own as if it had found new strength in this black water.
The child’s face pressed against his beneath the water. Had Dez held any air to expel, he would have let it out in a water-muffled scream. Instead, he pushed hard against Aiden, seeking to distance himself from the dead child, from the terror the vision had wrought.
He needed to escape, to reach shore, to run for the house, for the safety he’d find there with his parents and Sully.
Sully? He hadn’t even been around back then.
The thought gave him pause for just a moment, but the need to breathe, to flee, was stronger, had him back in this terrible reality almost as quickly as he’d left it. A solid grip prevented his breaking away, and he felt a stab of sharp pain against his cheek.
Dez squeezed his eyes shut, willing away the nightmare images around him. Again, something pressed against his face, but this time it didn’t feel like Aiden.
And then… air. God, he had air. Down here, held beneath the bubbling surface of this creek with his dead brother, and he’d just been able to breathe.
He was being pulled now, and somewhere between the lingering pain in his jaw and the relief from the breath he was now able to hold onto, the nightmare started to fall away. Moments later, his head breached the surface, and he took a shuddering breath. It tickled past water inside his throat, took some down into his airline with it, setting off a coughing fit that threatened to expel his lungs alongside the inhaled droplets.
Hands still held onto him, but they were now supporting rather than restraining.
“Breathe, Dez,” came a voice in his ear, light, soothing, calming. “Come on, man. Just breathe. You’re okay. You’re okay, D.”
Just like that, the past was gone, leaving in its place a present that was only slightly less terrifying. He managed a single word between the few remaining coughs. “Sully?”
“Yeah. I’ve got you. Just keep breathing for me, all right?”
That much Dez could do, allowing his brother to hold him up as he coughed out the rest of the water from his throat and tried to obey Sully’s commands to draw in deeper breaths. At last, the panic settled and his heartbeat slowed a little.
“You okay now?” Sully’s voice was still close, close enough Dez could feel his brother’s breath against his ear.
Dez pulled a hand from beneath the surface, lifted it to rub at his jaw. “Did you scrape me over a rock or something?”
“No, I pinched you. I had no choice. I think you were having a panic attack. I needed to get a breath into you, and you weren’t letting me.”
“Jesus,” Dez moaned. “Sorry. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Sully’s responding laugh tickled Dez’s ear. “I’m fine. I’m not the one who had the panic attack, remember?”
Dez shifted his hand, wiped water from his eyes and nostrils. There was some face-saving to do here, and he did what he could with some light ribbing. “You would have to pinch me, wouldn’t you? You never could pack a decent punch.”
Another chuckle from Sully. “Right. So you’re all good, then, tough guy?”
“All good.” Dez extricated himself from Sully’s grip to prove it, then located his brother’s head in the dark to give it an affectionate rub. “Thanks for the save, bro.”
He felt a responding pat to his chest under the water. “Anytime. Listen, I think you dropped the flashlight back there. I’m going to go grab it and be right back. Hold the bag, all right?”
Dez took the backpack Sully shrugged out of, treading water with one arm while he looped one of the bag’s straps over his opposite shoulder. As he listened to the sound of Sully swimming away, Dez took a moment to feel around in the dark.
Instantly, he regretted it. A sloping wall of rock was just feet in front of his face, and he’d traced its curve with his fingers until they once again met with water. The subsequent search revealed a ceiling just a couple feet above his head, and a wall-to-wall width of no more than four feet at its widest.
Another memory came to mind, this one far more recent. Less than three weeks old, it involved him waking up inside a buried coffin between an emaciated dead man and a satin-lined lid.
It was almost enough to launch him into a second panic attack, and it was only the sight of an approaching beam of light that kept him from sinking into the terror. Sully had saved him that night; Dez knew he’d save him now.
He blinked hard as Sully surfaced, casting the beam into Dez’s face.
“Jesus, what’s wrong now?”
“Shut up and give me a minute.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s tight in here, that’s all. I’m not a big fan of enclosed spaces anymore.”
Sully clued in without further explanation. “Coffin thing, huh?”
“You don’t have to say it out loud like that.”
“Sorry.” The light clicked off.
“Where’s the light? Turn it back on!”
Sully obeyed immediately, but the effect was negligible. Sure, there was some comfort to be had in seeing something, anything, in the darkness, but even though one of those things was Sully, the other was that encroaching rock.
It was even tighter in here than Dez had realized by feel alone.
“Okay. Turn it off.”
Once again, Sully did as asked, and Dez refocused on drawing in a series of deep and even breaths as the backpack was slid from his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Dez asked, more to search for solace in conversation than out of any real interest.
“I’m looking for the hammer. The sooner we get this key out, the quicker I can look for a way out of here for us.”
“So this is where he died, huh?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Kind of creepy, that he’s still in here.”
“Yeah, and in more ways than one.”
Cue looming panic attack Number Three. “Damn it, don’t say shit like that!”
Another laugh, this time one that would have led to a retaliatory shove had Dez not had to worry about the possibility of his brother’s head colliding with rock as a result. There would be time to get back at him later.
Or there damn well had better be.
“I’m hoping I can give us enough light down there to be able to show you where the key is,” Sully said. “Think you’re okay to try this?”
“How deep is it?”
“Not far. If you stop treading water and put your feet down, I think you’ll touch bottom.”
Dez put one boot down and came down against stone. Having connected his other foot with the floor, he glared as he accepted the hammer Sully handed him. Were Dez a crueller sort, the temptation to hit his brother with it would be great.
“You couldn’t have told me that before? What am I treading water for if I can reach bottom?”
“I hadn’t thought about it. I’m not as tall as you, so my feet can’t touch it like yours can.”
Dez located Sully in the dark and cupped the crown of the shorter man’s head beneath his hand while threatening, “Want some help?”
Sully met his brother’s laugh with one of his own, then ducked beneath the surface of his own accord. Dez rolled his eyes in the dark, took a deep breath and joined him.
A light clicked on, and Dez hoped the flashlight would hold up until he could remove the key. He kept his eyes open as he turned himself in the water, putting himself side by side with Sully—and hopefully not inadvertently alongside Carter’s ghost. Tracing the path of the beam, he spotted his brother’s fingers bru
shing against something in the wall, and it took Dez a moment of looking and feeling before he could see the key for himself. How Sully had noticed the edge of it jutting out like that was nothing short of an act of God—or, more likely, an act of ghost.
Dez forced away thoughts of spirits and crushed bodies, focusing on the task at hand. Pushing Sully’s hand back, Dez ensured he had swinging room before bringing the hammer down on the rock near the key. Were he on dry land, the task wouldn’t be that hard. Sure, it was rock, but he was strong and he knew his way around a toolbox. Down here, though, the water held a strength of its own, and it slowed his would-be swings enough to rob them of their power.
After a few fairly useless strikes, he popped back up with Sully for a breather.
“What do you think?” Sully asked.
“I think this had better be worth it. The water’s a pain in the ass to deal with, and I feel like we’re going to spend half our breath just relocating the thing each time we go back down.”
“I know. That’s why I thought I’d need your help. Think you can do it?”
“I’ll do my best.”
The other issue, he thought as he returned to the area where the key was embedded, was whether he could remove it without breaking it. It was one thing getting it out, but it would do little good if it ended up in a state where it was unusable.
Of course, there was another possibility: that the key was already destroyed. Depending how the rock had landed, it might have been snapped off, twisted or crushed to pieces, making this an exercise in futility. From what Dez thought he knew about ghosts, thanks to Sully, he doubted Carter was in any better position to know the state of that key. Maybe all three of them would come away disappointed.
He still had to try.
Opting to try short strikes this time, Dez turned until he could brace his feet, then went back to chipping away at the wall. He lost count of the number of times he and Sully moved up and down between air pocket and key but, eventually, he was able to break up a small section of rock well enough to pick some of it out.
It proved the tipping point, the removal of the small pieces of stone causing a layer of sediment to float away. When Dez returned his fingers to the area where the key had been trapped, he found it was nearly free. Just a few careful taps with the hammer’s claw had him holding the item.
Righting himself, he stood to bring his head back into the air pocket as Sully also resurfaced. Sully was breathing hard, and Dez turned to give Sully his shoulder to hold onto, saving him needing to tread water for a few minutes. Dez then took the flashlight from his brother and held that in one hand while pinching the key between the fingers of the other.
“You did it,” Sully said, relief and awe revealing themselves in his voice alongside the exhaustion. “And it’s intact.”
“Good news is it doesn’t look like a mailbox key,” Dez said. “It’s not for a vehicle or a house either. I’m thinking it fits a small box or safe. What do you think?”
“Whatever it is, that’s a problem for when we’re out.” Sully gained control of his breathing as Dez stuffed the key safely inside the small watch pocket of his jeans. “Give me a minute and I’ll see if Carter can help get us there.”
Dez clicked off the flashlight to preserve battery. “Take longer than a minute. I’d rather you’re operating at peak breathing capacity before you swim off into the unknown.”
“Any ideas how we figure out what the key fits?”
“I’m thinking we go about it the same way police handle any homicide investigation. Start with the inner circle and work our way out.”
“That could take forever if we don’t find what we need with the people closest to him.”
“The majority of homicides involve the people closest to each other. I don’t know why this one would be any different. Anyway, no way to know from down here.” Dez chuckled, the rumble of it echoing slightly in the small chamber. “No way to know much of anything from down here. I wonder how many times the judge has tried to contact me?”
“A lot.”
“My phone’s going to be dinging like a Vegas slot machine when we get out of here.” He’d made sure to say “when,” not “if.” “If” wasn’t an option.
It seemed Sully felt the same. “I think I’m good now. I’ll see if Carter can show me through here.”
Dez clicked the flashlight back on, examining Sully’s pale face in the dark as he winced against it. “You think you’re good, or you know you’re good?”
Sully batted at Dez’s hand until he’d lowered the flashlight. “I’m good.” Removing one hand from Dez’s shoulder, Sully reached into the water, his movements suggesting he was gathering up the rope still around his middle. Dez grabbed the cord from Sully, allowing his brother another minute to rest while he looped the line around his arm, ensuring it wasn’t knotted or caught anywhere.
“Take your time,” Dez said. “If you can’t find an air pocket right away, come back. If we have to, we’ll go back to the cave we started in.”
“There’s no way out that way.”
“Newsflash: there might be no way out this way, either. At least in there, we’ll be alive.”
“We won’t be for long if no one finds us.”
“Hey,” Dez said. “One thing I know for sure is Lachlan’s going to be some pissed with me if his annoying client starts calling him wondering what the hell I’m doing. Lachlan’s like a bloodhound. He’s got a nose for anything that rubs him the wrong way, and that includes me. If anyone can find us, he can.”
Sully let his breath out in a whoosh. “Okay. Maybe you’re right. But, for now, I’m going to see if I can get us out of here without any major human intervention.” He released Dez, back to treading water. Sully’s breathing was no longer laboured, which Dez took as a win, but he still didn’t sound as zen as he usually did. “One tug for good, two for bad, right?”
“Right,” Dez said. “Two means brace yourself in the fetal position because I’m hauling your ass back here like a ten-pound walleye. Got it?”
Dez was pleased to hear the light laugh from his brother. “Got it. Hang tight here.”
Dez forced a smile into his voice. “Hey, where am I going to go? Do you still see Carter?”
“Yeah. He’s there, waiting for me.”
“Well, be careful. He might know a way out but, don’t forget, he doesn’t need to breathe.”
“I know, but he seems to understand I do. I’ll be okay.”
As Dez watched his brother dive back under and swim off, he hoped Sully was right.
Time crawled with no immediate way to check the extent of its passing.
Dez had the backpack containing, among other things, the phones, but he had both hands on the line tethering his brother. No way he was letting go of that for anything.
Dez stood in the pitch black next to the collapsed tunnel of death, grateful Sully had the means to communicate using the line. Four times now, a single tug had come on the rope to let him know Sully was okay, and Dez held onto that as he waited for the next one. What he got instead was a prolonged tightening of the line and, some time later, the sound of someone swimming back up next to him.
Dez turned the flashlight back on, illuminating the chamber and Sully’s face as it emerged from the water.
“I ran out of line,” he said. “We’re going to have to move.”
“I’m fine with that,” Dez said. “Is there anything ahead as wonderfully spacious as this?”
“Uh….”
“I’ll take that as a no. What is up ahead, exactly?”
“There are air pockets, but they’re small ones. I’m basically finding them by keeping one hand up as much as possible. There’s one slightly bigger one, but it’s a little bit ahead. Think you’re good to follow my lead?”
Dez read his brother’s tone as easily as if he’d said the words out loud. “I can’t guarantee I won’t freak out again, but I think I’m doing better than I was. Let’s just get this done.
I want out of here like yesterday.”
“Okay, but take off the backpack. There are a couple tighter spots, and you’ll get stuck with that thing on.”
Dez did as suggested, opting to tuck the flashlight back inside the bag next to the hammer and their other items. He’d have his hands full enough, and he didn’t want to risk dropping it. “When you say tight, are we talking tight for you? Because keep in mind I’m like a redwood next to your willow.”
“No, you’ll fit okay. Just give me the backpack until we get to the next pocket. And I like to think I’m more oak than willow.”
“Keep working on it and you might get there someday.”
Sully slugged his shoulder, waiting until Dez sucked in a deep breath and went under before joining him. Dez grabbed hold again of the rope around his brother, swimming behind and a little to the side until Sully shifted upward. Hands bunched up in Dez’s shirt and tugged him upright, and he planted his feet beneath him to stand.
Immediately, his head collided hard with rock, despite the fact most of his face was still underwater. He shifted his head back, allowing him to draw in a few breaths in the tiny pocket between the curse words.
Sully pressed up next to him, his amused voice in his ear. “You okay?”
“You didn’t tell me the pocket was this small. Dork.”
“The next one’s a bit bigger. Ready?”
“More than.”
Dez tried to count himself lucky Sully had found them air pockets spaced this close together. Even for him, his heart back to pounding out a savage rhythm inside his ribcage, Dez found it easy enough to hold his breath between the spaces. He wasn’t as happy about some of the tighter spots they had to squeeze through, enabling him to understand why Sully had been concerned about the backpack.
Thankfully, the third pocket was a bit bigger—still not as large as the airspace next to the collapsed crawl, but sizeable enough they could both comfortably stand without needing to awkwardly angle their heads or bodies.
“How much farther?” Dez asked.
“No idea. This is as far as I got before I ran out of line.”