Your Worst Nightmare

by P. J. Night

  “Is that what scares you more than anything?” Bobby asked. “Fire?”

  Tim looked away. “Yeah. Maybe.”

  “And you’re afraid of moths, huh?” Bobby said to Olivia.

  She nodded without speaking.

  “So—and I’m totally not saying that you’re making it up—maybe being alone in the maze was just really scary, and your imaginations ran away with you,” Bobby said. “I mean, these caves are really freaky. And I was just talking all about Ravensburg Caverns’ scary history—”

  “Don’t give yourself too much credit,” Tim interrupted him. “I know what I saw.”

  “Me too,” Olivia added.

  “And so did I,” Kristi said.

  “It could even be that the air is bad down here,” Bobby pointed out. “Like, not enough oxygen. That can cause hallucinations, I think?”

  “And you’re, what, immune?” Olivia said.

  “I don’t know—maybe the air was fine in my tunnel,” Bobby said. “But I do know one thing: We have to get out of here.”

  “Well, I am not going back through that maze,” Olivia said firmly. “No way.”

  “I think the best thing to do is retrace our steps back to the Crystal Lake,” Bobby said. “There aren’t any lights here. It might be a dead end . . . or worse.”

  “Forget it,” Kristi replied, shaking her head. “I’m not going through any of those tunnels again either.”

  Bobby sighed with frustration. “We can all go through mine,” he pointed out. “I promise there’s nothing to be scared of. There was literally nothing there.”

  “You’re sure about that?” asked Tim.

  “Positive,” Bobby replied.

  “Okay,” Kristi said decidedly. “Let’s do it.”

  As she pulled herself up, Tim and Olivia did the same. They followed Bobby back to his tunnel, keeping one hand on the cave wall to guide their steps.

  “It’s just through here,” Bobby replied, glancing at them over his shoulder. “There’s really nothing to worry ab—”

  C-r-r-r-r-r-a-a-a-a-ck.

  Then a deafening smash.

  Before Kristi understood what the noises meant, she was coated in a layer of fine, powdery dust. She brushed it off her face, wondering numbly, What is this?

  “Get back!” Bobby yelled, pushing Kristi and Tim and Olivia. “Get back!”

  There was something in the air—smoke? No, it was clouds of dust that were illuminated by the thin light that streamed through the cracked ceiling. Suddenly the chamber was bright enough for Kristi to see the shower of pebbles that cascaded down from the ceiling, bright enough for her to see the massive rock that was now stuck in their way.

  “Rockslide,” Tim said, breathing heavily. “The ceiling caved in.”

  “I can’t say for sure . . . but I think my tunnel is totally blocked,” Bobby said. “We’ll have to find another way out.” He turned to Kristi. “I think we should try yours. I mean, I already went in it. There was nothing there.”

  “No,” she pleaded.

  “You’ll be safe. You’ll be with all of us,” Olivia told her. “You can even keep your eyes closed the whole time—I’ll guide you through it.”

  “Kristi,” Tim said urgently. “We’ve really gotta get out of here. What if there’s another rock slide? What if the whole ceiling collapses?”

  “Okay! Okay!” Kristi said.

  The four friends ran over to the crevice that led to Kristi’s tunnel. She took a deep breath as she tried to psych herself up. You can run, Kristi promised herself. You can run the whole way. You’ll be out in a few minutes, and this whole nightmare will be over.

  But it didn’t work out that way. This time, when the earsplitting C-r-r-r-r-r-a-a-a-a-ck came, Kristi and her friends knew exactly what it was. They jumped out of the way just as a wall of boulders fell from the ceiling.

  Kristi leaned against the wall to steady herself. Six more inches, she thought sickly. If I’d been standing six inches farther, I’d be buried alive right now.

  “The tunnels aren’t an option,” Olivia said. “We’ve got to find another way out!”

  “We will,” Bobby assured her. “I know we will.”

  It was light enough in the chamber now that Kristi could see across it to the other side. And in the very center, she noticed a dark, shadowy hole.

  “What’s that?” she asked, pointing with a trembling finger. “Wait, forget it, I don’t want to know.”

  “We have to check it out,” Tim said in a strained voice. “It’s not like we have a choice.”

  They crept toward the edge. There were no guardrails here, just a crumbling stone ledge that led to a pit of the deepest darkness that Kristi had ever seen before.

  “How . . . how deep do you think it goes?” she asked.

  “I have no idea,” Tim replied. “I wish we had a flashlight.”

  “Does anyone have a coin?” Olivia asked suddenly. “We could drop it over the side to see if we can hear it hit the bottom.”

  No one answered her.

  “You do, right, Tim?” Kristi spoke up. “From the diner this morning?”

  “Oh, yeah. Right,” Tim said. He fished a nickel out of his pocket; it glinted in the silvery light streaming through the cracked ceiling. “So . . . do I just, like, drop it?”

  “I think so,” Kristi said. “Everybody, be really quiet so we can hear it land.”

  In seconds, they heard the ping. Kristi and Tim exchanged a glance.

  “That actually didn’t sound too far away,” Tim said. “I think we could jump and try to find a way out from there.”

  “Are you crazy?” Bobby asked from the back of the group. “That sounded pretty far to me. This is a suicide mission. You can’t just jump into a pitch-black hole. There’s got to be another way out of here.”

  Kristi was about to argue when Olivia let out a shriek next to her.

  “What is that?” Olivia cried.

  Kristi leaned over the ledge and saw a pair of red, glowing orbs staring back at her. They flashed, blinked, disappeared, and reappeared—and then another pair appeared, and another—

  Whatever had been sleeping in the pit was now awake.

  “It’s the clowns,” Kristi whispered hoarsely. “Their eyes glowed like that.”

  “No, it’s the moths!” Olivia argued.

  “Are you both nuts?” Tim asked. “Look at the sparks! Those are fireballs!”

  “What sparks?” Kristi snapped.

  They might have kept arguing about it, but Kristi suddenly realized something. “Guys! I think—I think Bobby was right,” she exclaimed. “This maze is everything we fear. None of it is real. How could it be? All of it somehow perfectly tailored to our deepest, most secret fears?”

  When no one spoke, Kristi pressed on. “We have to jump,” she said. “We have to face the—the scariest thing and jump. It really is the only way out.”

  “I don’t know—” Bobby began. “What if—”

  There was an ominous rumble in the rocks overhead.

  “We have to get out of here!” Olivia shrieked, her voice high and almost hysterical.

  “I can’t!” Bobby exclaimed. “I’m not jumping into some dark pit! We can’t even see what’s down there!”

  “But we can see what’s up here,” Tim told him. “A bunch of massive rocks that are about to collapse on top of us.”

  “He’s right, Bobby,” Kristi said. “We can’t stay. We’ll be buried alive.”

  “I can’t jump!” Bobby replied, shaking his head wildly as he backed away from the pit. “I can’t do it!”

  “You can, Bobby, I know you can,” Kristi said. “Here—hold my hand. We’ll all hold hands and jump together, all of us at the same time. And whatever—whatever happens, we won’t be alone.”

  She reached for Olivia’s hand, then Bobby’s. His hand in hers was clammy and damp, but Kristi didn’t even care. Kristi squeezed Bobby and Olivia’s hands. She wanted to reassure them. She wanted to reass
ure herself.

  When Tim was holding Olivia’s other hand, Kristi said, “Ready? One . . . two . . . three . . . Jump.”

  Kristi held her breath and stepped off the ledge, into the endless dark, where the blinking red eyes stared . . . and waited.

  CHAPTER 12

  In the instant she fell, Kristi felt something even worse than the swooping somersault in the pit of her stomach: Bobby’s fingers, ripped from her grasp.

  “Bobby!” Kristi screamed, reaching for him as she plunged through the darkness. “Bobby!”

  Then: impact. She was on solid ground. It wasn’t that far of a fall, after all. And there were no clowns, no moths, and no fireballs waiting for them at the bottom.

  Olivia was sprawled on the cave floor next to her, crying softly. “We made it,” she said, over and over again. “We made it.”

  “Bobby!” Kristi yelled again as she scrambled to her feet. “Bobby, where are you?”

  Bobby’s face, as pale and white as the moon, peeked over the ledge. “I’m—I’m here. I can hardly hear you, but I’m here,” he called down to her. “Up here. I couldn’t do it, Kristi. I couldn’t jump.”

  “Don’t worry, Bobby,” Kristi called back, louder this time. “It’s not so far. Just take a deep breath and do it.”

  “You don’t understand,” Bobby said. “I can’t.”

  A groan of pain escaped from Tim as he touched his ankle.

  Kristi knelt next to Tim and put her hand on his shoulder. “Are you hurt?” she asked.

  His face was pulled tight from the pain, but Tim managed to nod a little. “I think—my ankle—it might be fully broken now,” he said through clenched teeth. “But that’s all. Everything else is fine. It’s only my ankle.”

  “Okay, it’s going to be okay,” Kristi said, her mind racing. “We’ll find a way to get you out.” Then she turned to Olivia. “Liv, can you tell me what’s around that bend? I have no idea where we are.”

  “You mean go by myself?” Olivia asked, shaking her head vehemently. “No. No way.”

  Kristi tried to control her temper. “Listen, Tim can’t even walk,” she said. “Just go look around the bend.”

  “No, you go,” Olivia shot back.

  “Fine!” Kristi exploded. “I will! Bobby, just hang on, I’ll be right back.”

  “Kristi?” he called, uncertain.

  She ran as fast as she could toward the bend in the wall, where a faint light was streaming over the rocks. What she saw as she turned the corner seemed too good to be true. Kristi stood there, blinking in shock, with her hand pressed over her heart.

  It was the entrance to the Ravensburg Caverns.

  And just beyond that, the parking lot at the motel.

  And even—Kristi could hardly believe it—two school buses, with their engines idling.

  “Thank you,” she whispered to no one in particular. “Thank you.”

  Then she ran back to her friends.

  “Guys! Guys! It’s—you won’t even believe—we’re on the other side of the entrance. I could see our buses in the parking lot. We made it, guys, we really did!” Kristi cried, overjoyed. “Everything’s going to be okay!”

  “Are you positive?” Olivia asked as she scrambled up and threw her arms around Kristi, their fight immediately forgotten. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes!” Kristi exclaimed. “We’re, like, fifty feet from the buses! Tim, can you stand? Because I think—I think if you lean on Liv and me—”

  “Yeah, absolutely,” Tim said. “I’ll crawl out of here if I have to.”

  Kristi was suddenly aware of a heavy silence.

  “Bobby?” she called. “Are you still up there?”

  “I’m here.”

  “Okay, listen to me,” Kristi said, making her voice sound as calm and optimistic as she could. “All you have to do is jump. Then we’ll leave this terrible place and never look back. That’s all you have to do.”

  “But . . . is it far?”

  “No! Not that far,” Kristi said. “Look down—see us over here? It’s seriously not far at all.”

  She waited for a moment, but Bobby didn’t respond. Finally he said, “I can’t see you. I can’t see anything down there. It’s completely black.”

  “Then . . . you’ll just have to take my word for it. On my count, okay?” Kristi continued. “One . . . two . . . three!”

  Nothing.

  “Bobby?”

  “I’m, um, I’m still up here.”

  “Dude,” Tim spoke up. “Just, like, throw yourself over the edge. Seriously. Don’t be a baby about it. You’re making it so much worse than it needs to be.”

  “Shut up, Tim,” Kristi muttered. Then, louder: “Bobby, let’s try again. No counting this time. When I say ‘jump,’ go for it. Okay?”

  “Okay. I’ll try.”

  “Jump!”

  Nothing.

  Kristi took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. “Trust me, Bobby. You can do this. I know you can do this.”

  “I can’t,” Bobby moaned. “I can’t do it.”

  It sounded like he was crying.

  Suddenly everything made sense to Kristi: Bobby’s panic over Nick’s pretend fall; the way Bobby had stood as far back from the pit as he could; how hard he had tried to convince them to go back through the tunnels. She thought about Olivia wondering why Bobby was acting so obnoxious during the trip, and suddenly Kristi realized that Bobby wasn’t excited about the caves. He was terrified of the drops in them. And he’d been trying to hide it all along.

  “This is it, huh?” Kristi asked gently. “This is what you’re afraid of. Heights.”

  “All my life,” he replied.

  “I know, Bobby,” she said. “I know what you’re feeling up there. We all do. But you have to believe me that the only way out is to face it—your fear—to look straight at it and take that leap anyway. And I promise you, Bobby—I swear to you—that you won’t fall that far; that you’ll end up down here with us, safe and sound, and we’ll all go out to the buses together.

  “And you know what else?” Kristi continued. “Your fear of heights—this is the worst it will ever be, Bobby. Because once you jump, once you feel that terror washing over your whole entire body and you do it anyway, you’ll know”—Kristi’s voice caught in her throat—“you’ll know that you can do anything.”

  “I don’t know how to do it,” Bobby replied. “I don’t know how to jump. I’m standing right here, at the edge, and I keep telling myself ‘Jump, dummy! Jump, idiot!’ and I can’t. It’s like my feet are glued to the ground.”

  “You’re not an idiot. You’re just scared,” Kristi said urgently. “But listen, Bobby. Do you trust me?”

  “Yeah. Definitely.”

  “Then make this jump. Do it for you, do it for me, do it for all of us. The buses are outside. They’re ready to go. Don’t you want to go home? I really want to go home, Bobby. Please. Just jump.”

  “Okay, Kristi,” Bobby said, and he suddenly sounded stronger and more certain. “Okay. I can do this. I’m gonna do this.”

  “Yes!” she exclaimed. “You can!”

  “Right now,” Bobby said. “One. Two. Three.”

  Nothing.

  Suddenly Kristi turned to Olivia. “Did you hear that?” she asked in a strangled whisper.

  “Bobby?” asked Olivia.

  Kristi shook her head. “No. Listen.”

  At first both girls heard only Bobby’s quiet sniffles. Then, as if carried on a far-off wind, came a low wail that was soon joined by several other voices. Children’s voices.

  Kristi looked at Olivia with wide eyes. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s the sound we heard last night.”

  “Oh, Kris. I think . . . I think you were right,” Olivia said. “It is the kids. The lost ones . . . the ones who disappeared so long ago.”

  The ones who were never found, Kristi thought, but she couldn’t bear to say it. The ones who were too afraid to face their fears.

  Kristi
stared up at the ledge, but she couldn’t see Bobby’s face anymore. “Bobby,” she ordered. “Jump. Right now. Do it.”

  “I feel funny.” Bobby’s voice sounded hollow and far away. “I don’t feel—something’s not—I can’t—I can’t see my hands—”

  “You can’t see what?” Kristi yelled.

  There was no answer.

  “Bobby!” Kristi cried. “Are you there?”

  “Don’t . . . leave. Don’t . . . leave me here.” His voice floated down to her. “Don’t . . .”

  The moaning grew into a cacophony of howls that made Kristi want to cover her ears and cry. “Bobby!” she yelled. “Please jump! You have to jump right now or I don’t know what will happen to you! Please, Bobby, jump!

  “Bobby? Are you still there?

  “Bobby?”

  Beads of sweat dotted Kristi’s forehead; she gritted her teeth with determination. “I’m not going to leave you, Bobby,” she promised. But even as she spoke the words, doubt swelled in her heart. How could she possibly find him?

  “Bobby!” Kristi screamed. “I’m coming! Just hang on!”

  Still there was no answer.

  Would there ever be again?

  “I’m so, so, so, so sorry!”

  Gabby Carter had just jumped out of her seat to hand her meal tray to the flight attendant, and she figured she would hand in her neighbor’s tray as well. But leaning over made her tray table bounce into the air. Which had caused her drink to bounce into the air as well. Cranberry juice rained down the tray, dripping onto the floor and Gabby’s armrest and the cover of the magazine that the woman in the seat next to her had been reading before she fell asleep.

  “Sheesh. I just wanted to help without waking you up,” Gabby said miserably.

  “Well, you didn’t,” snapped the woman, who was all tucked in for the flight. She had taken off her shoes and replaced them with woolen booties. She also had a sleep mask pushed up onto her head and a neck pillow resting on her collar. In other words, she didn’t seem to care how crazy she looked. “I’m perfectly capable of turning in my meal tray by myself. And anyway, I wasn’t sleeping.”

  “You were too sleeping!” Gabby protested. “I heard you sno—breathing deeply.”