The Secret of the Dark (17 page)

“Unfortunately, the way the tourists can come into the big cave is on Granny's property. She doesn't need it, but my daddy does.”

“Your daddy came in the cabin that first day I was here. He tried to get Granny to sign over the property.”

“You caused us a lot of trouble coming here, Valerie. Granny was about ready to sell her place to us.”

“For a lot less than it was worth, I'll bet.”

“What does she need money for?”

“No money is worth what you're doing, Rick.” I tried to reason with him.

He laughed again. “You're just like Gallagher. You've always had everything you ever wanted so it doesn't matter to you.”

“What do you want that you haven't had, Rick?” I thought if I kept him talking I'd think of something. Like Granny's fair-haired ghost, Rick's mind seemed twisted — not by love, however, but by money.

“I want you to hush up. I'm tired of you now, Val. I liked it better when you were afraid.”

“Look at me, Rick. I'm afraid. I'm just not letting you see it. I'm afraid but I'm coming across the ledge. I'm crossing the pit.”

He shined the light back onto me. Its beam cut across the top of the rock and in that split second I made my decision.

I started across the traverse that sloped over the drop-off.

He saw my intention and swung the light away, leaving me in the total blackness of underground. Still I would have made it if I'd have been wearing different shoes.

My sandals, slick on the bottom, were not made for climbing or for walking cave walls like a fly. I slipped, fell, and slid, clutching desperately at the smooth rock, slanting into the bottomless pit.

CHAPTER

18

F
OR
a moment I clung to the rock. The flowstone had looked perfectly smooth, but now I felt the wrinkles in it. Then, as my fingers ached with the effort of curling them over a bulge, I realized I couldn't hang on. I had to move, to try to work my way to one side or the other of the drop-off. And even then my fingers wouldn't be enough security.

Slowly I raised one foot, slid the sole of one sandal down my leg and pushed off the other. They had always fit loosely and weren't fit for walking far, but I hadn't intended to go any distance. The sandals were pretty. I had thought only of how I would look when meeting Neal.

The sandal fell and without meaning to, I waited those interminable seconds till it thumped the bottom. Then I hooked my big toe over the left sandal strap and pushed it off, waited till it hit. Now I could use my feet for leverage on the rock. But by then my fingers ached all the more.

I pressed my feet to the cold rock, glad it wasn't wet, and relieved the weight on my hands slightly, one at a time. Then I sprawled out like a crab, took a deep breath, and edged inches to the right. I had tried to visualize the distance each way and decided the right shelf was closer.

Funny how every scrap of information you've ever heard or read comes to you when you really need it. Somehow I knew a climber keeps three contacts with the rock at all times. Inch by inch, I crept toward safety. At one point I felt my hand slide from the hold I had above me. I cursed the smooth rock. One crack, just one, would have given me the security to rest.

My arms screamed as they again took my whole body weight. Quickly I jammed my feet into the cold slope of flowstone.

Finally I did clutch on to one knob, and I realized that without knowing it I had progressed up as well as over. I was able to get a handhold over the top of the rock. That was all I needed to drag my body up slightly and swing my leg over the rough ledge, which meant I had reached safety.

Even then I did not turn loose, but clung to the rock until I was sure I had solid, flat rock under me. I rolled over and up against the cave wall.

I cried then, sobbed out the fear I had felt but held in until I was safe. And only when I was calm did I allow myself to think. I shuddered to realize that what I had done was almost impossible. I don't know how I managed it, but desperation, strong arms and legs, and a will to live had come to my aid.

I slept or passed out from exhaustion and leftover terror. When I came to, I almost panicked. I felt as if I didn't know which was right or left, up or down. My whole body went rigid, afraid to move.

When my senses returned, I thought,
Silly, down is where you are lying. At least you know that
. I sat up, felt all around for my pack. My hand hit the smooth metal of the tape recorder and it gave off a tiny hiss that told me it was at the end of the tape. I felt for the stop button and clicked it. Then when I found the rough fabric of my pack, I pulled it to me, tucked the recorder safely inside, and zipped it back up. If I ever got out I'd need that tape.

Rick. How could he do this to me? Had he pretended all along that he cared for me? Or was he so afraid of his father that he wouldn't disobey him for any reason? The money. He did want the money a big cave would bring him.

The pure helplessness of my situation depressed me. I could do nothing. Maybe I could move down the shelf to the big cave, and I might feel more secure there, but I couldn't get out. Would someone finally hunt for me? Would Neal wonder where I had gone? He would have no idea where to look for me.

How long would it take me to die, sitting here? Days, I knew. I'd go mad from the darkness and the waiting. Would I hallucinate when I became desperately hungry and thirsty? Or just grow weak and lie there helpless?

Suddenly I had to do something. And I had to know I wouldn't get crazy and walk off the ledge into the pit. I felt around until I determined the pit was to my right as I leaned on the cave wall. Then I tried to remember the path down to the floor.

Flattening myself to the cold, rough wall, I moved carefully downward. For a time that worked, but then I lost my sense of direction. For all I knew I could be walking toward an even bigger hole. Or into a tunnel off the main path where no one would find me even if the cave were searched.

I
was
lower down. So I settled for that and sat again. I was now very thirsty and my stomach started to growl. How long had I been here? Not overnight or I would have been even more hungry. I had on a watch but it had no luminous dial or light I could press, so it was useless.

A squeaking, whirring noise was familiar. The bats. I rolled into a knot and sheltered my face, remembering. But not one came close. They were leaving. It was dark outside.
If
people were searching, they would give up for the night.

“Don't stop!” I screamed out. “Keep looking!” I felt foolish. Who could hear me?

Time had no meaning. But I had never felt such hunger and the thirst was worse. Why had I carried nothing in my pack? Because I had not planned such an outing.

Desperately I dug in the pack again. Nothing in the big compartment. I unzipped the pocket and the noise seemed deafening in the silence. I ran my fingers over every item in the pocket. My pen was still there. I could find something to write on. Leave a note that Rick and his father were responsible. Then I forgot the note. My fingers brushed the smooth, round shape of a mint, a starlight peppermint. I must have tossed in a few when Granny opened the little bag of mints she liked.

Carefully I lifted it. Savored the crackling noise the paper made when I untwisted the cellophane. Never had anything tasted better, and the sticky saliva soothed my parched throat. Should I suck only part of it? Save some for later? I knew I should. But I didn't. I sat with it melting, thinking only of the minty flavor. The joy of it.

I slept again and when I woke, I thought I was dreaming. In my dream someone called my name. It was not a dream! I sat up quickly and screamed out. “Here, I'm here!” My voice was hoarse. I tried again. Over and over I called. They must find me!

The light was blinding. I squeezed my eyes shut but raised my arms. “Who is it? Help me.”

“Valerie. Dear God, I thought I'd never find you. Are you all right?” Neal took me in his arms and I kept saying over and over to myself,
Yes, yes, I'm all right now
.

“Neal, oh, Neal. You came. I hoped you'd come.”

“However did you get here?”

“Rick. Rick and his father.” I started to tell Neal the story, but found I could hardly talk.

“Wait. I brought some water and food.”

I clutched the plastic bottle, but Neal held on to it. “Easy. Just drink slowly.”

I have never known water to taste so good. Before I was satisfied, Neal took it away, but gave me an orange cut in sections. The sweet juice trickled down my chin, but I didn't care. When I had eaten and satisfied my thirst, I leaned on Neal's warm body and started to shake. Just the idea of being warm made me realize how cold my entire body was.

Neal took a sweatshirt from his pack, pulled it over my head and held me close again. I curled my legs close to my body. Finally I could talk and told Neal what had happened and as much as I knew of why.

“Granny. Is Granny okay? How did you know to look in the cave?” Suddenly my mind was full of questions.

“Granny is fine. Fleecy has stayed with her all this time. Valerie, I couldn't come. I tried to call, but that party line of yours is so infuriating. I couldn't get through until after I'd gone to Harrison. We had an emergency call, and Dad wanted him in the hospital right away. When I called at five-thirty, Fleecy said you weren't there and they were worried. In fact, Granny kept mumbling on and on, and was so distressed that Fleecy was ready to call the doctor if I hadn't called.”

“Poor Granny.” All this time I had worried only about myself. I had never worried about Granny.

“We found your note. I hurried to the rock where you said you'd wait, but of course, you weren't there. I'd have had no clue that there had been a scuffle if your notebook hadn't been lying open, the pages all dirty and torn.”

“How? When I struggled? I must have sat on the notebook after I dropped it, grinding it into the path. They didn't see it.”

“Even then I hadn't a clue of where to look for you, but all the things you told me came back. Valerie, can you ever forgive me? I cursed myself over and over for thinking you were foolish. That your imagination and the loneliness of the mountain had gotten the best of you. I really thought those things that had happened were pranks, or something you'd built up in your mind. We have almost no crime here. It seemed too farfetched.”

“It did to me too, but I knew it was real. I don't blame you for not believing me. And you've come now. But how did you know to look in the cave?”

“Granny told me.”

“Granny told you? How? She couldn't know.”

“I think she did. Somehow she did. But at first I didn't understand. Over and over she kept saying, ‘The dark, the dark, beware of the dark.' Not until she said, ‘The dark, she's in the dark, the child is in the dark, and she's afraid,' did it all click. I took time to get supplies, the pack, my lamp, better shoes. I got ready as fast as I could. Since it was almost dark, the other searchers had stopped. Mom and Dad were in Harrison with a cousin of Mom's. I left word with Granny and Fleecy to send help if I wasn't back by morning. Fleecy was going to try to get Granny to sleep.”

“How did Granny know?” Then I remembered she'd said that to me before. I'd thought she meant the root cellar, that she was remembering being in the root cellar.

Was it possible that my fear, the strong emotions, had sent some signal to her? I didn't have time to speculate more about Granny's knowledge.

There were voices in the cave. And as they got closer we knew they were not the voices of other searchers, a rescue party. I didn't know the voice of his dad, but Rick's voice sent splinters of terror through me, reminding me of the ordeal I had just gone through because of him.

“It's Rick. They mustn't find us, Neal. They left me here to die. If they could do that, they'll kill us both.”

CHAPTER

19

I
T
was fortunate that I had stopped my attempt to get down to the cave floor. Losing my sense of direction I had turned in to a corridor, but now, our being off the main trail kept Rick and his dad from seeing Neal's light.

We slung on our packs, searched to see that we left no clue, and Neal helped me up. I was wobbly, but the food and water had helped. Bare feet were going to be my biggest problem. My feet were tender. I wasn't used to walking outside.

Rock, gravel underfoot, bit into my feet. I winced but knew I had to walk. Neal led the way and hung on to my hand as if he'd never let me go. It was a secure feeling even though we were in trouble. I knew Mr. Biddleman would never let us out of the cave if he had a choice. Now that he'd gone this far, he'd stop at nothing. If they could leave me here to die, why not Neal too? Now Fleecy knew where Neal had gone, but if they never found a body, how could anyone prove what had happened to us?

We hadn't gone far when we reached a breakdown, a pile of dirt and rocks that signaled an end to the passageway. All we could do was huddle into a recess of the cave wall, turn off the light, and hope Rick and Mr. Biddleman didn't come this way.

Perhaps they stopped at the mouth of the corridor. Perhaps voices carried because of the cave. We could hear them plainly when they stopped to talk.

“Are you sure that it was Gallagher and that he came in here?”

“I know it was, Daddy. I heard him go in. I was coming back to lock up.”

“You're a fool, Rick. Why didn't you lock up immediately after we brought that girl here? If you've spoiled this for me, I'll —”

The voices trailed off so we didn't hear what Cy Biddleman threatened to do. But I could hear Rick was afraid of his dad.

“If they went on we might be able to slip behind them,” Neal whispered.

The one thing I could do was move quietly. Neal relied on his memory to guide us back to the mouth of the passageway. We couldn't risk the Biddlemans' seeing our light until we were ahead of them.