Eleven, Twelve ... Dig and delve (Rebekka Franck Book 6)

  “Well, Facebook makes it a lot easier,” I said, and found my phone in my pocket. I looked at it. I had forgotten to charge it. Only twenty percent left.

  Damn it! Well, I can charge it on the train.

  It was my plan to get some work done on my way back. I had an article that was due the next day for my newspaper The Zeeland Times and I hadn’t been able to write a word all weekend. My head was hurting slightly from all the red wine we drank while talking about her miserable marriage, but I had to ignore it.

  I called Sune.

  “Hey, babe.”

  “I’m in the taxi now, going to the station. If all goes well, I’ll be in Karrebaeksminde around one o’clock. Could you pick me up?”

  “Sure,” he said. He worked as a photographer at the same newspaper as me. He had taken the day off and was now cleaning the house, he told me, after a weekend of fun and kids. Sune didn’t look much like a family-man with his Mohawk and black make-up on his eyes, but he was. He was one of the best dads you could find. He had been amazing with William when we first had him. Changed every diaper he could, and enjoyed every moment of it. He had even taken a ‘daddy-leave’ for six weeks while I went back to work after my year of maternity leave was over.

  My dad was feeling better. I believed having a new grandson had a lot to do with it. He had taken care of William when Sune went back to work, just for a couple of months, until I found the right daycare for William.

  I enjoyed immensely getting back to work. I wasn’t really much of a stay-at-home-mom. I got restless. A year was a long time. I had, of course, written a couple of articles for the paper here and there. They had ended up giving me a column where I wrote about anything I liked, mostly about baby stuff and so on. Once I got back, I lucked out and landed a great story about the famous writer Emma Frost, who was looking for her daughter who had disappeared near Karrebaeksminde after running a stolen car into someone and leaving him in a coma. It had turned out to be an amazing story. That was nearly six months ago. The summer had been slow on stories, so I needed something good soon.

  “So, how’s Lone?” Sune asked. I could hear William babbling in the background, and held the phone closer to my ear. I hated being away from him.

  “She’ll be fine. How’s William?”

  “Everything’s fine here. The big ones are driving me nuts, though. So glad to be able to send them off to school in a few minutes. I’ll take William to his daycare later.”

  I chuckled. I knew Julie and Tobias, our children from earlier marriages, could be a little much. They loved each other, but ever since we had all moved in together, Julie and Tobias had started fighting over things. It had been a little hard on Julie with all the changes in her life. She was used to being alone with me, and suddenly she had to share me with not only Sune, but also William, and even Tobias. Tobias enjoyed having a mother figure in his life for the first time, and I tried hard to be one, with the result that Julie became really jealous of him and asked if I loved him more than her. I would have to spend some time with her alone once I got back, I thought to myself, while Sune explained this morning’s fight.

  “I mean, Julie hasn’t been acting very nice towards me lately either,” he continued, while the taxi slowed down.

  “She’s doing her best, Sune,” I said, annoyed. I hated when he blamed her. After all, we grownups were subjecting her to all these changes. It wasn’t easy for a child. “It’ll get better. We knew there would be some sort of reaction from the kids.”

  The taxi came to a complete stop. “Why are we stopping?” I asked the driver.

  “But Tobias isn’t reacting nearly as badly as she is,” Sune continued. I hardly listened. I was busy looking out the window to see why the driver had stopped in the middle of the street.

  “He’s no saint either,” I said.

  There seemed to be some people gathered in the street. Two cars were blocking the road.

  “I can’t get past them,” the driver said with a shrug.

  “I have a train to catch!” I said. “I can’t be late.”

  One car was in the hedge, while another was parked across the street, blocking everything. The taxi driver got out.

  “That might be, but he certainly isn’t acting as bad as Julie,” Sune continued. “She has been really bad. The things she says to me. You have to talk to her when you get back…I won’t…”

  “Hold on, sweetie,” I said. “Listen. I have a situation to deal with here. We can’t get past some cars that have been in an accident, I guess. I only have fifteen percent left on my phone. I’ll charge it on the train, then call you, alright?”

  I didn’t wait for his answer before I hung up, put the phone in my pocket, and got out.

  “Hey! Could you please move your cars? I have a train to catch,” I said.

  The two women turned just in time to look at me before the earth underneath us grumbled and, in a matter of seconds, collapsed.

  9

  OH, MY GOD, I’m sinking!!

  I was. I was sinking and sliding into the giant hole that had split open underneath me. There wasn’t anything I could do. There was nothing to hold on to. I was literally being sucked into the ground. It was like a big giant mouth had opened up and swallowed me. It was like Pinocchio being sucked into the whale’s mouth…or like Dorothy inside the tornado. There was no fighting it. The force pulling me down was way too strong.

  It happened so quickly, I don’t believe I even had time to scream or panic. I tried desperately to grab out, to hold onto something, to do anything, but the ground around me was sliding. Everything was sliding…the cars, the dirt, the asphalt that was broken to pieces and being sucked down along with me. There was no place to put my feet, nothing to hold on to. The ground underneath kept sliding, and I kept thinking: This is it. I’m going to die. I’m sliding into the ground and will never come back up again.

  There were things everywhere. And people. Arms tried to grab me and hold onto me, but were pulled away again. At one point, I saw the taxi falling, sliding down beside me. I saw people in the ground with me and, at one point, something hit me, twirled right at me, and I realized it was the tax driver’s arm. I recognized the sleeve. The further I slid down, the more stuff was in the ground with me. Pieces of wood, bricks, tiles, and I realized it wasn’t just me being sucked down. It was the entire neighborhood.

  Get up. Try to get up. Grab onto something!

  I kept my face pointing upwards, but soon lost the sense of up and down. The light disappeared quickly, and then there was nothing but darkness. I found a branch from what I believed was a tree and held onto it, but it was sliding right down with me.

  Help! Oh, God, please help me!

  A hand grabbed me and held onto me. I had no idea who it belonged to, since all light was gone, and I couldn’t see. I could hardly breathe either. My mouth was soon filled with dirt, and I gasped for air, feeling how the ground was closing in on me as we slid downwards. In the darkness that was closing in on me, I held onto the little hand that had grabbed me the best I could.

  Oh, God. Where will we land?

  10

  WHEN THE SLIDING finally did stop, I didn’t dare to move. Underneath my feet was mud. It felt soft and wet, and I couldn’t stop wondering if I would fall further down if I moved. It didn’t seem stable. I was still holding the little hand in mine, but had no idea who was at the other end. Carefully I felt it until I reached an arm. It was sticking out of the mud wall next to me.

  Someone is stuck in the mud. You have to help. Do something!

  But I was scared. Afraid that moving would make the hole deeper or make the ground cave underneath me. I was in a pocket of some sort. There was air in there. I couldn’t see the top, but I could breathe.

  I felt the hand in mine. The fingers moved.

  That’s it. Someone is alive in there and you have to do something. Someone might be suffocating. Even if it’s the last thing you do…

  “Oh, hell,” I exclaimed, and then
started digging in the thick dirt. In the darkness, I managed to dig out the arm and then pull it towards me. The dirt moved dangerously and some fell onto my head, causing me to gasp and panic slightly.

  Then I pulled the arm again, while moving the dirt surrounding the body. Soon, I felt a head and some shoulders. I gasped for air, and then dug again, even though the ground underneath my feet was starting to shake. I heard a thud and stopped for a few seconds, then continued.

  “Even if it’s the last thing I do…”

  I felt the body’s shoulders and realized it had to belong to a child. That made me dig even more frantically till I finally managed to pull the entire body out and it landed on top of me. As it did, the ground underneath my feet caved again. With the small body on top of me I started sliding further down. I screamed, then landed on something. I opened my eyes in the darkness.

  I’m not dead. I’m not dead yet.

  There was air where I was. Muffled sounds came from underneath me, and I realized I was on top of somebody. The child was still on top of me. I couldn’t move.

  Another thud followed and the ground collapsed again. The three of us slid downwards.

  Not again! When will this stop? Where will we end up? Will they ever find us down here?

  A big crash, a thumb, dirt in my mouth, eyes and nose. We landed on something harder this time. There was no one on top of me anymore. The child was next to me. Where were we? It seemed bigger? Like there was more room. I coughed and moved. I spat out dirt.

  “Stay still,” a voice said next to me. I guessed it belonged to the body I landed on. It was a male voice. “We don’t know if the ground is safe here either,” he continued.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about the small hand I had held in mine and the small body I had pulled out from the dirt. Was the child alive? I leaned over and touched the body. It was lying next to me. I found the face and leaned over to hear if there was breathing. Everything was so terribly quiet for what felt like an eternity until suddenly I felt a small warm wind hit my face.

  The child was alive!

  I grabbed the small body in my arms and held it tight. It seemed to be about the size of Julie. Maybe a little smaller.

  “I’ll take care of you,” I whispered. “If it’s the last thing I do.”

  “Keep still,” the male voice said again. “Please. Don’t move.”

  I sat still without moving for a little while.

  My phone!

  I reached into my pocket with a pounding heart, wondering if it might have fallen out during the fall. It hadn’t. It was still there. I pulled it out and pressed a button. The light from the display lit up around us, and I realized we were in a small cave somewhere, a pocket under the ground. And there was no way out. Thick walls of dirt surrounded us on all sides.

  11

  “YOU THINK IT STOPPED?”

  I shone the light on the man’s face. He looked at me, then shrugged. “I have no idea. But let’s stay still till we know more.”

  He was smeared in dirt and mud, but I could tell he was handsome. I had seen him somewhere before. I just couldn’t recall where.

  I lit up the face of the child I was holding. It was a little boy. He looked like he was asleep, but I guessed he was unconscious.

  “Better save your battery,” the man said. “We don’t know how long we’re going to be in here.”

  “I only have eight percent left. I guess you’re right,” I said, looking at the display. As I suspected, there was no reception. I looked at the dirt ceiling that had closed above us and wondered if it was going to fall on us anytime soon and suffocate us, or if it would stay. Then I wondered how deep down we had fallen and, finally, if anyone would ever be able to dig us out again.

  Did they even know we were down here, alive?

  I shut off the phone and put it back in my pocket.

  “I’m Rebekka, by the way,” I said.

  “David,” the man answered.

  “David Busck, right?” I said, remembering all of a sudden where I had seen him before.

  The man answered with a deep sigh.

  “Can’t even catch a break deep under ground, huh?” I said, remembering all the articles and many angry open letters to the papers stating that it was the guy’s own fault that he had been kidnapped, because he went as a freelancer, because he had no idea what he had gotten himself into. I, for one, understood him completely. He had been onto a great story. I would have done the same. Probably.

  “I guess not,” he said.

  “So, what do you suggest we do now?” I asked.

  “There’s nothing we can do. We have to wait till they start digging for us.”

  “But that could take hours. The hole might even cave again and we could sink in deeper!”

  I felt the panic spread throughout my body. The idea that we were trapped underground like this made me claustrophobic. The catastrophic feeling of death closing in on you.

  “We’ll run out of air,” I said.

  “Probably,” David answered.

  “Can’t we just try and dig our way back up?” I asked.

  “Probably not a very good idea,” David said. “The ceiling above might crash in and we’ll get smashed by the many tons of dirt and debris on top of us.”

  “But how will they dig us out if we can’t dig our way up?”

  David didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. I knew. There was no chance in hell they would be able to dig us out.

  But I wasn’t ready to give up that easily. I had a family to get home to. And home I was going, no matter how. There had to be a way.

  With my right hand, I started digging into the side of the cave, while holding onto the boy with my left. I had promised myself to not let go of him again, so I wasn’t going to.

  I scratched the dirt away little by little, using my fingernails. After having dug for a few minutes, I suddenly felt David crawl up next to me, and soon he dug his fingers into the dirt as well.

  Even if it led to nowhere, at least it gave us something to do.

  12

  THOMAS SOE HAD no idea where he was. It was dark and he couldn’t see anything. His entire body was hurting and he couldn’t move.

  What happened? I remember falling. I remember sliding down. I remember dirt everywhere.

  Thomas coughed and spat out some dirt. His mouth felt so dry. He was very thirsty. Where was he? Was this just another of his daydreams?

  Carefully, he reached into his pocket and found his Zippo-lighter that used to belong to his dad, inside his package of cigarettes. He lit it and looked around.

  What was this place? Some sort of cave?

  He looked up and saw where he had fallen through the dirt ceiling. The hole had closed and shut off one end of the tunnel that he was in. At least it looked like a tunnel. He wasn’t sure.

  Suddenly, he remembered. The girl! Had she been another dream?

  Thomas heard someone moan and turned his head. It wasn’t her. It was a young boy. He was stuck under what used to be a garden fountain in Mrs. Bjerrehus’s front yard in number six. A monstrous baby angel in solid marble had landed on his leg, and it was bleeding. Thomas stared, paralyzed, at the boy.

  “Help me,” the boy moaned.

  Thomas had no idea what to do. All he could think of was the girl. He had to find her. If she was real, she could tell. If she told on him, she could ruin everything. The boy groaned in pain.

  “Please, Mr.?”

  “I …” Thomas paused. He had to keep focus. When had he seen the girl last? In the kitchen. She had hurt her head. And then it happened. He was pulled into the ground and he didn’t remember anything else but waking up in this strange cave that was just tall enough for him to stand up. What on earth had happened?

  It’s just a dream. You’re losing touch with reality again, Thomas.

  “Please Mr., please help?” the boy pleaded.

  Thomas looked at him while biting his lip. The lighter was getting warm in his hand. Was the boy eve
n real?

  “Please? My foot is stuck.”

  Thomas knew the boy. Afrim was his name. He had heard his mother yell at him so often. They were Muslims. No one in the street ever talked to them much. They were never invited to the block parties. His mother wore one of those scarfs to cover up her hair. Thomas had never talked to them; he never really talked to anyone in the neighborhood. He liked to keep to himself. But he had seen the boy often. He lived across the street from Thomas in number four and rode his bike to school every morning, even though the school was his next-door neighbor.

  Maybe the boy knew where the girl was? Maybe he had seen her?

  Thomas kneeled next to Afrim. His face was smeared in dirt. So were his clothes.

  “It’s heavy,” the boy said. “I can’t get it off me.”

  Thomas put the lighter on the ground, then grabbed the marble angel and lifted it off the boy’s leg. The boy pulled out and rolled away. Thomas dropped the heavy statue back to the ground with a loud thud. It felt real.

  He looked at the boy. His leg was badly hurt. It was bleeding. Was that a piece of the bone sticking out through his jeans?

  “Thank you,” the boy said.

  “You’re bleeding,” Thomas answered. “It will get infected with all this dirt in it. It needs to be washed.” Thomas picked up the Zippo-lighter again and held it in the air to provide more light.

  The boy whimpered. It annoyed Thomas. He couldn’t stand children and all their whimpering.

  “Wh…where are we?” the boy asked.

  Thomas shrugged. “A cave underground, I guess. Listen, I’m looking for a girl. Have you seen her?”

  “Nnn…no,” the boy said.

  “It’s very important that I find her.”

  The boy nodded. “I’m looking for my dog. Buster. I lost him somehow sliding down…”

  “We need to find a way out of here,” Thomas said. “Fast.”

  The frustration lingered in Thomas. What if the girl was running around up there somewhere telling everybody what he had done and who he really was? Thomas growled angrily while clenching his fist so hard it hurt. He had to get rid of the girl somehow. He just had to. He had to get back up there.