“I’m just saying it,” the big guy Brian Jansen from number five said. “We should think about it.”
The tall skinny guy that Afrim knew lived across the street from him, but he hardly ever saw, nodded. Afrim could tell he agreed. Brian lowered his voice, but Afrim could still hear him.
“I tell you, if we keep pulling these people out of that mud, we’ll end up getting cramped in here. There simply isn’t enough room for all of them. And definitely not enough air. We hardly have enough as it is. We might have to spend many hours down here before they’ll manage to dig us out. We need to think about our own survival. In a situation like this, we can’t afford to…”
That was when Afrim saw something he had given up hope of ever seeing again. “Mom!”
“What was that?” Brian said.
Afrim pointed and searched for the words. “Mmmm…Mom!”
“What’s wrong, kid?” Thomas said. “Did the dog die?”
He looked like he hoped that was the case.
“No…no, look there…over there, it’s my mother’s fingers sticking out. Look at the ring. It’s her ring!”
Brian shook his head. “She’s dead, kid. Forget about her.”
“No. No. She’s moving. I just saw her move a finger. I swear to you. It’s her and she’s alive.”
Thomas looked at Brian. “I’m just saying. There isn’t room or air for all of them and us. We have to choose at some point.”
Thomas nodded. Brian went to Afrim and kneeled next to him. Afrim growled in pain when he tried to move closer to his mother’s fingers. Buster lifted his head.
“Listen, kid,” Brian said. “Forget her. Forget you ever saw that finger or that ring. That’s my best advice to you.”
“No!” Afrim yelled and startled Buster. “You have to save her. You have to dig her out. Please!”
Brian shook his head. Then he slapped Afrim across the face and grabbed his shirt. He pulled his face close to his. “I’m not going to say this again. Your mother is dead, you hear me? She’s gone.”
“But…?”
Another slap burned across his face. He tried hard to hold back his tears.
“No buts here. It’s over. Learn to live with it, kid. Grow up. Or, I swear, I’ll kill you as well. Make more room for the rest of us.”
Afrim felt the warm tears roll across his face as Brian let go of him. He stared at the three fingers sticking out of the dirt. If only he could. If only he hadn’t been hurt, he would dig her out himself.
Afrim felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the lady sitting next to him with the bent leg. “Let it go,” she whispered. “Please. They’ll kill us.”
Afrim became silent. He was biting his lip to hold back the tears, when suddenly he heard something. A new sound. A scraping coming from the wall behind him. It was coming closer. Afrim held his breath.
18
WE CRASHED THROUGH the wall of dirt and landed in a cave of some sort. David and I had frantically dug our way through in desperation, refusing to accept that this could be the end of the road.
Five sets of eyes were looking at us. One of them belonged to a dog. I put the boy in my arms carefully to the ground.
“What the…?” a big guy said, as he turned his head and looked at us.
“Who are you?” the boy with the dog asked.
“I know who you are,” the big guy said and pointed at David. “You’re my neighbor Martin’s brother. You’ve been staying with him for some weeks now, after that calamity in Syria. I’m Brian Jansen. Where did you guys come from?”
“We were caught in a pocket further down, but dug our way out,” I said. “We found a tunnel and followed it here.”
The big guy’s eyes lit up. “A tunnel, huh? So maybe there is a way out?” He walked closer to us and stuck his head out in the tunnel we had come through.
“You think we can get out that way, Brian?” the tall guy said. I recognized him now as the acclaimed poet Thomas Soe, who, a couple of years ago, had written some horrifying poems about killing his ex-girlfriend. I never liked the poems much, but the critics did, and the praise was never-ending. He always seemed a little fishy to me…even now.
“We believe we’ve landed in the limestone mines somehow,” David said.
As he spoke, I took a good look around. There was a woman I recognized as the one who had been in the street arguing with another woman when my taxi had stopped right before I was pulled into the ground. She looked bad. Her leg was bent the wrong way and she was in a lot of pain. She wasn’t even looking at us. A boy sitting next to her with his dog on his lap had tears in his eyes.
“Is everyone alright in here?” I asked. Something seemed a little off. The boy was sobbing.
“Well, apart from us being stuck hundreds of meters underground, we’re all peachy!” the big guy said.
I didn’t listen to him. I kneeled next to the boy instead. “Are you hurt?”
“Only my leg,” he said.
“What’s your name?”
“Afrim. This is Buster.” The dog didn’t look too well. Still, it wagged its broken tail.
Afrim looked at me like he wanted something from me, like there was a need only I could fulfill. “Please,” he whispered.
“Please what?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
He was still whispering. “Please help…my mother.”
“Your mother? Is that your mother?” I asked and pointed at the woman next to him.
He shook his head. Then he lifted his hand and pointed. I turned and gasped as I spotted three fingers sticking out of the dirt wall.
Oh, my God!
“David!” I said, my voice cracking. “We’ve got to help her. There’s a woman trapped in there!”
I pointed at the fingers. They weren’t moving. Immediately, David started digging with his knife and fingers. Soon, we managed to get her arm free.
“It’s difficult,” David said. “She’s stuck pretty far in. If we dig any further, we risk causing the wall to crash.”
“Don’t do it. You risk killing all of us,” Brian said. “If that wall of dirt comes down on us, we’re done. She’s probably dead anyway. They all are. There’s no way they can survive in there, buried in the dirt.”
His words made me rise to my feet. I looked around in the dim light from a small Zippolighter placed on the ground and, little by little, I realized she wasn’t the only one stuck.
David gasped when he saw it as well.
“We believe they’re all dead,” Brian said. “We should focus on how we will survive, instead of on rescuing the dead.”
My head was spinning. The many body parts stuck in the dirt looked like they’d been taken from some horror movie. I couldn’t stop wondering…what if they were alive? How could anyone be so cynical and not at least do something?
“If no one else will, I’ll save them all myself,” I said, and kneeled next to Afrim’s mother’s arm and started digging. Seconds later, David kneeled down next to me.
19
IT WAS HARDER to dig the woman out than I had expected. I was sweating, even though it was very cold underground. David was working hard as well. He was growling while his hands moved agitatedly. I could tell he was as anxious as me. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving this woman in the dirt. I kept thinking of poor Afrim sitting on the ground behind me and the desperation he must have gone through.
It was devastating.
“You’re wasting your time and strength,” Brian growled. “I say we use our energy on trying to get out of here instead. And you’re using up all the air. Our air.”
I couldn’t believe they could be that cynical. Lucky for us, we had the only knife down here, in case they tried to stop us. I was so happy to have David on my side.
“I think I see her head,” David said. “I might be able to grab onto her shoulders if I reach deep inside.”
I looked at Afrim. He followed our every move with anxious eyes.
Please let her be alive, ple
ase, dear God, don’t do this to the boy.
“There’s no chance she survived in there,” Brian continued with a sigh. “If you pull her out, you risk all of our lives. All that dirt on top of her will come down on us. I, for one, am waiting in the tunnel.”
Brian and Thomas left the cave and went into the tunnel, taking the lighter with them, leaving very little light for us to see. They watched as David reached inside the hole, grabbed onto the woman’s shoulders and started pulling. “It’s really hard,” he moaned. “She’s still stuck.”
“All that trouble for a dead body. You’ll get yourself killed. I’m just saying,” Brian yelled.
Afrim whimpered. I could have killed Brian on the spot.
David tried to pull again, some dirt came loose and ended up in a pile next to my feet. My heart started racing. Was Brian right? Would the entire wall come down on us?
“Is she moving at all?” I asked David, and looked inside the hole we had dug.
He shook his head.
“Any sign that she is alive?”
He shook his head again. I took in a deep breath and felt lightheaded. We didn’t have much air for all of us.
“Let’s both of us try.” I reached inside the hole and grabbed the woman’s lifeless arm and shoulder.
“On three,” David said. “One…two…three!”
We pulled with all of our strength.
It’s moving! The body is moving!
Suddenly, it gave in. The body came loose, and so did the dirt surrounding it. A huge pile of dirt crashed on top of us. For a second, I thought I was about to die. I kicked and pushed the dirt away, but it didn’t move. Not until David started removing it from the outside and I could breathe again. The body of Afrim’s mother was on top of me. I pushed the dirt away and David dragged her out.
“Mom!” Afrim screamed, and tried to drag his body closer to her. Buster followed him closely.
“Oh, great, you made the cave smaller,” I heard Brian say. “And for what? A corpse that will start to smell soon?”
“Is she alive?” I asked, ignoring his remarks.
“I…I…” David had turned her around and was looking at her. He wiped dirt away from her face. “She…”
I froze. She didn’t look to be alive. Her eyes were closed, she was very pale, and had dirt inside of her mouth.
“We have to clear her breathing passage,” I said, and stuck my fingers in her mouth. I dug out all the dirt I could.
“She’s not breathing, Rebekka,” David said.
“Mom?!” Afrim said, and crept closer. He put his head on her chest. “Talk to me. Say something. Please, Mom. Please, be alive!”
It broke my heart. Thomas and Brian were staring at us. They kept quiet.
“I’m sorry, Afrim. We tried. She’s been in there a long time,” I said, my voice breaking.
“But I saw her fingers move. I did. I swear it’s true. It was right before you came through the wall. I saw her move her middle finger,” Afrim said. “She did. She is alive. She has to be!”
The desperation in his eyes was painful. I felt myself tear up. I couldn’t bear this. It was just too much.
“I’m sorry, kid,” David said. “She’s gone.”
20
THE SILENCE WAS DEVASTATING. No one wanted to speak. Afrim was crying and crawling on top of his mother’s body, pulling himself up on his arms. I looked around and my eyes met Brian’s. They had that told-you-so look in them. I hated to admit it, but he was right. It was no use. The people had been buried for too long underground. Many of them had probably died while sliding down, getting hit by debris. Others had suffocated from lack of air. Not all had been as lucky as us to land in pockets with air.
“Moms don’t die!” Afrim yelled, while punching her chest. “Moms are supposed to be forever, remember?”
I kneeled next to him and put my hand on his shoulder. It hurt like crazy to see the little kid like this, and I kept wondering about Julie, William and Tobias. Did they know what had happened? Did they assume I was dead? Was Julie crying like Afrim, screaming her sadness out while Sune tried to comfort her? I wished there was some way I could tell them I was still alive.
What if you never make it out? Who will take care of her? You’re hundreds of meters underground. They’ll never be able to dig you out. You’ll die from lack of oxygen or thirst.
“Afrim…I…”
“Sh,” he said. “I heard something.” He pressed his ear closer to his mother’s chest. Then he looked at me. “Her heart is beating.”
I placed my ear to her chest as well. The boy was right. There was something. A small distant beating.
Could it be? Was this real?
I smiled. “I hear it too!”
Afrim wiped his tears away, then chuckled lightly with relief. “I told you she was alive.”
“I think you’re right!” I said, startled. I had been so sure she was dead. I couldn’t believe this.
David looked like he didn’t believe us. He came closer and kneeled next to us. He felt the pulse on her throat. His eyes grew big and wide.
“Oh, my God. You’re right. It’s weak, but it’s there.” He laughed. “There’s a pulse. I feel it.”
We had to move fast now. I began chest compressions. I pushed down in the center of her chest thirty times, then tilted her head back, held her nose and blew in her mouth. I continued over and over until she started coughing. Then, I turned her to the side to let her cough up what was blocking her breathing. Dirt and blood came out of her mouth and was spat onto the ground.
“Mom!” Afrim said. I could hear fear in his voice.
She coughed again, and more blood came out of her. I could tell it frightened Afrim. Finally, she opened her eyes and mumbled something. Afrim crept close to her. “Mom, you’re going to be alright. I know you will. They all thought you were dead, but I didn’t believe them.”
She spoke to him in Albanian. Afrim laughed and hugged her.
“Mom, Mom. Buster is here too,” he yelled.
Hearing its name, the dog tried to wag its tail. I could tell it hurt. I looked at David, who was tearing up as well. He was trying to hide it, but his blinking eyes gave him away. Brian and Thomas stared at Afrim’s mother, looking baffled and alarmed. I was ecstatic to have proven them wrong. They almost made me lose hope. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. I stared at the wall. My eyes locked with David’s. I could tell he thought the same thing as I. If Afrim’s mother was alive in there, then who else might be?
21
THEY STARTED DIGGING AGAIN. It made Thomas Soe nervous. He was scared; no that was putting it too mildly…he was terrified that they were going to pull out the girl and save her like they had done the mother. He was hoping she had been killed in the fall. Or maybe that she had been nothing but a mirage. But, if she wasn’t, then he hoped she would die in the ground along with all the others.
Soon, they seemed to be pulling out one body after another. Most were dead, but some were still alive. Brian was getting more and more upset and started talking about the two of them getting out of there and finding an escape route.
“This place is going to be filled with injured people, along with dead bodies that’ll start to stink in a short while,” he said. “We’ll all get sick if we don’t suffocate from the lack of oxygen first. What do you say the two of us try and find a way out, instead of waiting for death to catch up with us?”
“Where would you go?” Thomas asked, while watching them pull out a body. Thomas stared anxiously until he realized it was a man. He breathed with relief, while Brian babbled on about them leaving. Thomas really didn’t want to leave until he was certain they weren’t going to find that girl anytime soon. He looked at Brian again and imagined himself licking the blood off of his forehead. Thomas shook his head. He had to try and stay focused.
“I don’t know,” Brian said. “Anywhere but here. There must be some way out of this hellhole. The way I see it, the two of them came through thi
s tunnel. It’s pretty solid. I say we follow it till we find some way out.”
“But they came from this direction,” Thomas said. “It’s a dead end, they told us, remember? Let’s stay here.”
The woman named Rebekka Franck blew air into the man’s mouth. She was in distress. He could tell by the frantic movements. It fascinated Thomas. He liked to watch her. He liked the look in her eyes when she was panicking. The man they had saved started coughing. Rebekka smiled in relief. Thomas lost interest in her. He looked at the handsome man named David Busck. He was pulling another person out by the arm. More of the dirt wall came down and landed on them.
“Oh, great,” Brian growled. “They just keep making the cave smaller and putting more people in it. I tell you. They’re going to be the death of us!”
Thomas wasn’t listening any longer. His heartbeat was drowning out everything else as he watched the handsome man pull out the next body and perform CPR. He felt lightheaded. And it was not from the lack of oxygen.
“I say we split. Are you coming?” Brian asked.
Thomas was breathing heavily. He could hardly hear anything anymore. He stared at the girl with the big bruise on her forehead, who the handsome man was trying to revive.
Please be dead. Please don’t start breathing. Please be dead.
“If you’re not coming, I’ll go on my own,” Brian said. “I’m not staying here and dying with all these losers. That’s for sure.”
Thomas held his breath while David pushed on the girl’s chest. She didn’t move. Thomas felt relieved. Maybe she was dead, after all? David blew air into her mouth. Thomas remembered trying to kiss those lips just a few hours ago, forcing her to kiss him. She had expected him to rape her, but he hadn’t. That’s not what he wanted from her. He wanted her to show him affection; he wanted her to love him. He wanted her to tell him she loved him. Then he would kill her.