Kedzie snorted at this crassness, but then smiled with mock seduction, and slowly lifted up her shirt as if starting a strip tease. But when she revealed her abdomen, Vaughn stopped smiling. “What,” she asked, looking down. She was surprised to see that the skin around her navel was soaked red with blood.
Sarah noticed too, and got out of the water, first instructing Vaughn to “turn around.” She first jogged to the far wall for a towel, motioning for Kedzie to join her. Sarah wrapped a towel around her wet body, then eased Kedzie into the light.
“Does it hurt?” asked Sarah.
“No, not really,” Kedzie answered.
Sam had gotten out too and was walking toward them, cupping himself in his hands in an act of modesty. He also grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist.
“Everything okay over there?” Vaughn called from the tub.
Sarah gasped when Kedzie lifted her shirt. The small cut had stretched from a quarter-sized slit to several full inches in length. The wound was still shallow, but blood was seeping from it like an overflowing tub. Sam and Sarah both froze for a moment, then Sarah grabbed a clean towel from the shelving and pushed it against the wound. Sam grabbed a few more towels and lay them on the ground so Kedzie could lie down comfortably.
Upon hearing Sarah's gasp, Vaughn had jumped from the tub and ran over to them. He saw the cut and the blood, and knew what to do.
“Ninth floor, Apothecary,” he said.
Sam nodded. “Go.”
Vaughn raced, naked, to the elevator, closed the gate, and pressed “9.” Janet and Al looked at each other from their respective tubs.
“Well, there's something you don't see every day,” Janet remarked.
“Maybe we should get out,” Al replied. “Can someone grab us some towels?”
Sam nodded and grabbed two more towels from the shelves, jogging them over to Al and Janet, then returning to Kedzie and Sarah.
“It's not deep…I'll be fine,” Kedzie insisted.
Sarah was still frowning. “But the cut was so small. I don't understand why it's bigger now.”
“Maybe that's just something that happens to pregnant bellies,” Kedzie offered.
“But you’re not even showing.”
Kedzie shrugged.
Although Sarah was pressing on the wound with the towel, she noticed a few drops of blood had dripped onto the tile beneath them. She removed the towel again to examine the wound, but this time, she thought she noticed something else as well, perhaps something to do with Kedzie’s navel. Sarah puzzled over it for a moment, then a thought began to form, just a tickle in the back of her mind. She was experiencing a moment of déjà vu from the time she had first cleaned the smaller wound. Something was clearly bugging her on a subliminal level. But what was it?
She looked up at Kedzie for answers, and their eyes locked for a brief moment. But these eyes were unreadable to Sarah, as if they reflected a mix of contradictory and jumbled emotions. She thought she saw panic, anger, hunger, and hate, all at once, and all in a split second. It so startled Sarah that she forgot about the puzzle her subconscious was working on, and she was immediately concerned for Kedzie's well-being. Was she going into shock? Was she about to pass out?
Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but didn't get the chance, as right then, without warning or so much as a flicker, the lights went out.
Someone cried aloud. Sarah was pretty sure it was Janet. She heard Sam say “hang on, don't panic.” Sarah reached for Sam's hand and he took it, squeezing it once, but then letting go, leaving her alone in the pure, impenetrable blackness. She instinctively stood up and looked around, but it was as if her eyes were shut, and she became disoriented. She knelt back down and reached for Kedzie, but she couldn't feel her, either.
“Kedzie? Sam?” Sarah's voice cracked in panic. She felt as if she were under a blanket.
“Hang on!” Sam shouted from another direction. “I'm finding them!”
“Finding what?” asked Sarah, bewildered.
Sam didn’t answer. He was feeling along the baths and the walls, following the layout of the room as close as he remembered, in order to locate the elevator door. But it wasn't the elevator itself which interested him. Rather, Sam remembered that Vaughn was still lugging the battery powered lights from floor to floor. He only hoped that his friend had taken them out of the elevator car, as he had on the previous floors, and set them beside the elevator call buttons. If instead, in the shared awe of observing the bath level for the first time, he had left them in the elevator, then the lights were with Vaughn on the ninth floor, and would be no help to them.
“Just give me a minute,” Sam called back.
The intensity of the darkness was unrelenting, and Sarah was becoming more anxious. Above ground, true darkness was rare. It may feel as if the universe was black the second any lights went out, she realized, but once your eyes adjusted, you could regain your bearings. Perhaps the faded LED light from an alarm clock, or a streetlight filtering in through closed blinds, would light a path if you waited just a few moments. But down here, there was nothing. Sarah tried again to reach down to find Kedzie, to comfort her, but felt only the cold tile. “Kedz?” she called once more. Still no response.
Before she could try again, Sarah felt something brush against her back, like someone running behind her, but without sound. She spun in place, though she still could not see and could not even know if she had even turned around.
“What the hell was that?” Sarah cried in a panic. “Who was that?”
“Sarah?” called Sam, concerned. “What's wrong?”
“I don't know! I can't find Kedzie and someone just brushed against me!”
“Wasn't me,” called Al's voice from behind her.
“Me neither,” said Janet. “I'm staying put.”
There was no answer from Kedzie.
Sam debated abandoning the quest for the lights, and running back to where he heard Sarah's last call. But he knew he was close to the lights, if they were here, as he had just reached the wall he was aiming for, and was certain the units would be just a few more steps from his position. He didn't want Sarah to be alone and scared, but he couldn't give up now.
“Hang on,” Sam said. “I'll just be another minute! I'm trying to find Vaughn's lights!”
“Okay,” said Sarah shakily. “Kedz, if this is your idea of a joke, if you're trying to scare us, it's not very fucking funny!”
White light pierced the room. Sam panned the DJ light across the floor and across the baths, finding Al, Janet, and Sarah. No Vaughn, of course, since he was still in the Apothecary, but also no Kedzie.
“What the hell?” Sam was more confused than alarmed. “Kedzie, where are you?”
No response. Sarah ran to each tub and looked inside, certain that Kedzie would be found face-down and lifeless in one of them, but each were empty. The water was calm, as whatever electricity source had powered the lights had also powered the gentle bubbles.
“Well she couldn’t have taken the elevator,” Sam observed, “and she couldn’t have just vanished, so she must have taken the stairs.” He gestured to the single door on the far wall. Sarah walked over to it and reached for the handle, but it turned on its own. Sarah gasped and jumped back as the door opened inward into the room, then calmed as she realized it must be Kedzie. But it wasn’t. It was Vaughn, holding an ancient first aid kit in front of his genitals.
“Jesus, Vaughn, you scared me.” Sarah admitted. “Did you see Kedz?”
Vaughn gave her a confused look. “What do you mean?”
“She’s gone,” Sam explained, walking over to them with lights in each hand. “We figure she must have taken the stairs, since you had the elevator and she’s not here.” Sam motioned with the DJ light to reveal the empty room.
“I didn’t see her,” Vaughn said, finding his clothes.
“Why’d you take the stairs,” Sarah inquired. “Does that mean the elevato
r’s down?”
There was a pause as Vaughn considered this. “Yes,” he concluded, “whatever took out the lights must have also stopped the elevator. That’s why I couldn’t use it to come back.”
Sam nodded. “Okay, well, maybe this makes sense. Kedzie couldn’t have gone upstairs because you would have seen or heard her on your way down, so she must have gone downstairs to where we’ve already been.”
“She probably panicked and ran back to the maintenance room,” said Al behind them. “That’s what I might have done, to try to get the lights back on.”
“But its pitch black down here,” Sarah protested.
“I’m sure she has a cell phone light or something. A ‘flashlight app,’ as you kids call it.”
Sam was nodding. This made sense.
“Okay, so we all get dressed and go down there and find her, agreed?” Sam saw nods. “We have to try to get the power back anyway.”
“Well hang on,” Janet interjected, her right hand raised like a schoolgirl asking a question. “Even if Vaughn didn’t run into her, she may just have easily gone upstairs to try to get out. If I was scared and trapped underground, my instinct would be to go up as fast as I could, not down.”
“So we should go up?”
“We should do both,” said Janet. “We have two lights, after all. Two groups, and we each take a light.”
Sarah stiffened. “Split up? Are you kidding? Sam, she’s kidding, right?”
Sam was horrified by the idea as well, but the logic was sound. Kedzie was frightened and was now lost, and could only have run in two possible directions—up the staircase, or down the staircase. Ordinarily, they could stand to wait where they were for a while, in the hopes that Kedzie would return, but Kedzie was hurt, and bleeding. What if she were to pass out? If she wouldn’t answer their calls, she could not assist in her own rescue. She would have to be found, and if she was injured, it would have to be fast.
“Alright,” said Sam decisively, after everyone’s clothes had been thrown back on. “Kedzie’s hurt. So first, we check and see if there’s a blood trail in either direction. If there is, we follow it together. If not, Janet’s right, and we have to split up, and check up and down simultaneously. But we don’t have to be dumb about it like cheesy movie victims. Each team will have a light, and each team should keep someone in the staircase at all times so we can shout to each other, while someone else explores the floor. The team going down should try and get the lights on, too, agreed?”
The gang agreed. But upon inspecting the stairway, no droplets of blood could be seen in either direction. Sarah held onto Sam’s arm, and tried to communicate a telepathic message: “please, please, please be on my team.” Sam nodded to her, understanding.
“Okay,” he said. “How about Janet and Al go up, Vaughn, Sarah and I go down. But I’ll run back and forth to help communication too.”
“Old versus young, eh?” cracked Janet.
“I like it,” said Al in response. “She’s more likely to be downstairs anyway, which means you and I get to explore the uncharted waters while the kiddies are stuck in a rerun.” Al turned to Vaughn. “You remember how to get the lights back on, though, right?”
Vaughn nodded. “Piece of cake.”
“I bet she’s fine,” assured Sam. “Just scared.” Sam took the first aid kit from Vaughn and removed some bandages to give to Al. “Take these, just in case. Just holler if you find her. One of us will be in the stairwell at all times.”
Al took the bandages, nodded to Janet, and they began their ascent with one of Vaughn’s lights. Sam, Sarah and Vaughn headed down the stairs with the other.
Please let her be alright, Sam prayed. He squeezed Sarah’s hand. She squeezed back, and the three friends returned to the deep.
eleven
Although he was tempted to skip the two floors of single rooms and head straight for Maintenance, where power might be restored, Sam also understood that if Kedzie was lost on one of those floors, and they missed it, Kedzie might try to move to an upper area they’d already cleared, such as the baths. Sarah protested this decision at first, but Sam insisted “it will only take a few minutes per floor, and then we’ll know for sure.” Vaughn agreed to be in charge of holding and aiming the lights, and Sam volunteered to stay in the stairwell, in the dark, in case Kedzie tried to pass by, or in case Al and Janet had to shout something down to them.
“Oh shit,” said Sam. “I just realized we don’t have the keys. Janet does.”
“I don’t think we need them,” Sarah suggested.
“You don’t think we locked up any of the rooms we unlocked?”
“I don’t think so. But even if we had, Kedzie couldn’t have gotten into a locked room, so it doesn’t matter.”
“What if she locked herself in a room?”
“Why would she do that?”
“Just in case, though, maybe we should get the keys from Janet.”
“Sam, by that logic, Kedzie would be just as likely to have locked herself in a room they’re exploring. But I don’t think she would do that.”
Sam nodded. “Alright. I just hope we didn’t lock the maintenance room.”
“I don’t think so, man,” ventured Vaughn. “Who would we have been trying to keep out?”
The three had arrived at the fourth floor, which was the second floor of single rooms they had originally explored. Sam motioned to Sarah and Vaughn to go on.
“You sure you’ll be okay in here in the dark, babe?” Sarah was concerned.
“I’m fine,” said Sam, although there was a crack in his voice. He was thinking of mice and cellars. Then he remembered his cell phone. “I can get a little light with this,” he said, and turned it on. Its light was feeble compared with Vaughn’s DJ equipment, but it would do to prevent fear in the stairwell.
“Alright,” agreed Sarah. “Here we go.”
Sam watched as Sarah and Vaughn entered the floor. Sam kept the door propped open with his foot, so he could observe his friends’ progress while staying in the hallway, watch for Kedzie, and hear any shouts from Al and Janet above.
Sarah and Vaughn moved quickly, efficiently, and a little nervously. They re-entered the room with the gramophone, thankful that it was not again playing. They entered the rooms which had been empty, and all remained so. Finally, they got to the far end of the hall with the elevator. Sarah tried the elevator buttons, and as expected, nothing happened. Then, she was struck by an unpleasant thought.
“Vaughn,” she said, “should we check the elevator shaft?”
“Hmm.” Vaughn looked puzzled. The gate was in place, and would have to be opened manually to peer down into the darkness. But he cocked his head in a thoughtful gesture, told Sarah to stand back, and unlatched the gate.
Sam was observing their actions at the end of the dim hallway, but was uncertain as to what they were doing. “Guys?” he asked.
“Checking something,” replied Sarah. “Just a moment.”
Vaughn shone his light down the elevator shaft. Sarah peered in as well. At first, it appeared the LEDs weren’t powerful enough to illuminate the ground floor. But as their eyes adjusted, they could make out the shaft mechanics, and see the empty square floor where the elevator would rest in the lobby. Thankfully, there was no body. Sarah exhaled, and Vaughn restored and latched the gate. The two began walking back to Sam.
“This floor’s clear,” Vaughn reported brightly. Sarah added a hopeful smile.
“Okay,” said Sam. “On to three.”
The team traversed another flight, and followed the same procedure. Sam stayed in the stairwell with his feeble cell phone light to keep him from panic, and Sarah and Vaughn began re-entering the first series of empty rooms. One by one, the rooms were thoroughly checked, and each remained as barren as ever.
“I’m not sure if this is making me feel better or worse,” Sarah admitted as the last room was cleared. “How far could she have gotten? I’
m not even sure she had her cell phone. She could be in complete darkness.”
“No,” said Vaughn. “She must have had something. A lighter, maybe? Something. She couldn’t have gone ten feet in this blackness without some sort of light.”
Sarah felt a slow chill slithering up her spine. Everything about this was wrong. She couldn’t conceive of a reason that her friend would vanish under such circumstances. When the lights go out, you stay put. You don’t go exploring, or even attempt to escape, without telling anybody. And still, Sarah tried to commit herself into accepting that Kedzie had taken off, because she was trying very hard to suppress the alternate theory that couldn’t stop picking at her—that Kedzie did not “run away,” but was taken.
Back in college, Sarah and Kedz had a period during which they attended frat parties. In Sarah’s case, she was going “ironically,” determined to judge the other attendees, careful not to have too much genuine fun. Kedzie, of course, threw herself into any situation, and was the life of the party. And the boys loved her for it. Sarah was hit on at these parties as well, as she was quite attractive even with the “otherness” vibe. But the boys always seemed drawn to Kedzie on a different level, something more primal. When boys were talking to Sarah, she sensed their interest, and sometimes their desire for her, but never their need. With Kedzie, the boys needed her, and gazed upon her not as one would look upon a potential girlfriend, or date, or even as a sex object, but as food. Sarah couldn’t believe how brazen the frat boys would be, looking Kedzie up and down without any discretion, mouths open and panting, even licking their lips. They wanted not to talk to her, but to consume her, and became mind-numbed drooling animals in the process. For her part, Kedzie would encourage, laugh, flirt, and ask boys to get her another drink, but she didn’t take it seriously. “You know I’m going home with you, Sarah,” she would say. “Don’t be jealous.” Sarah wasn’t jealous. She was worried her friend had no idea what these hungry men were capable of, outside of the safety in numbers of well-illuminated frat house ballrooms. So for the most part, Sarah watched out for Kedzie, never taking her out of her sight, no matter who Sarah was talking to herself.
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