Lost in the Darkness

I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the surrounding darkness. I knew they wouldn’t. For a moment, the urge to scream welled up inside me- it was hopeless- we never should have tried at all…



***



I shouted out, waiting for a reply, but not expecting one. It seemed like forever since I had seen the light of day. It had been 5 minutes since I had seen any light. Jaydon finally finished changing the batteries of his torch, and putting batteries in the spare torches, and we could see.

Tally was shivering; her father had been keeping her jacket in his bag so she didn’t have to carry it. The temperature had dropped since then, and Tally’s lips were slowly turning blue.

Jaydon suggested we continue in one direction, so I agreed. He was 14; the oldest of us all, so we listened to him. We were a small group, but at least we were together. A group of three was better than being alone. Tally didn’t agree with Jaydon.

“What if we’re going the wrong way? What if we end up lost- even more lost. I don’t want to die in here!” she burst into tears, probably thinking of her large bedroom with a pink doona cover on her Double bed. But she was only twelve, so I suppose we should have been kinder.

“If you’re not coming, we’ll leave you here! Staying won’t give us any chance of escape. Come on!” I cried, fed up with the wet, dark, cold surroundings.

“Lacey! Getting angry won’t help anything either. But Tally, we need to go. I don’t want to leave you behind. Please come…” Jaydon said, looking sharply at me. I blushed, turning away before he saw.

Tally tearfully obeyed Jaydon, and we headed along what we thought was the path back to the light. We wandered in silence- almost scared to stir the blanketing quiet. It stayed this way for several minutes, when we came to a steep, slippery slope.

A petrified scream rang throughout the caverns, and we watched helplessly as Tally slid down the steep section, her torch sending flailing lights into the far reaches, highlighting distant stalactites. I froze, afraid that we’d lost her, as Jaydon carefully but swiftly went down the slope.

She was lying there, wailing, a little twisted. Jaydon caught his breath when he saw her left ankle. It was bent into an unnatural position, and was turning purple already. When I had made my way down the slope, I went and untwisted the sobbing girl, carefully not moving her ankle. Jaydon began tearing his shirt. I watched him uncertainly; he could become hypothermic in this temperature. But he wrapped the cloth tightly around Tally’s broken ankle, trying to support the broken bone as much as he could without hurting her. She cried and cried, telling us she couldn’t go on, especially not now, but we would never leave her, so we stood beside her as she used us like crutches.

“Jaydon…” I asked slowly. He looked around at me. “Why aren’t our parents coming? Why aren’t they answering us when we call?” He slowly looked away, afraid like me that they had fallen in the darkness; they were helpless, dying like us…

We huddled for warmth as Tally hopped along, still leaning on us. Her tears were mingled with dirt, and they carved tracks down her cheek. Jaydon wiped them from her cheek; she needed to be strong, or we could never make it carrying her.

Tally’s foot caught on a rock when I stumbled over a different one. She fell forward, and sprawled out on the limestone. She slowly lifted her front end, and gingerly pulled out her sunglasses, which she had been wearing on the way. The lenses were smashed, and the rims were bent. Jaydon took her hand gently, and pulled a small piece of glass from it, then helped her upright.

“Try not to trip on rocks like that Lacey. We need to be stable for her.” He said, and then we kept walking.

I started calling out again, praying that our parents were safe, and that Brendan was with them, not stranded like us. He was only six; he’d never make it out of these caves alone.

“Dad!” I screamed. “Where ARE you? Mr. Hannigan! ANYONE?” Tears raced down my cheeks, and a headache began to thump madly inside my head. Tally winced as her ankle started throbbing worse, and begged to sit awhile. Jaydon agreed, and I climbed a ladder before us, to call out again.

“DADDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYY!” I screamed, desperately afraid. I gave up, and came down the ladder, crying quietly.

Tally was ready to go again, and she clung to Jaydon’s back as he climbed the ladder, and waited for me. I had climbed this ladder just minutes ago- it wasn’t that hard, but as I gripped the cold steel, I knew something bad was going to happen, but I ignored that feeling, and pulled myself upwards.

Halfway up the ladder, my boot slipped; it was wet from a puddle I’d stepped in coming back from calling out. I almost caught myself, but I found myself falling. The world seemed to turn to slow motion, and I watched Tally’s face turn to horror as she saw me falling backwards.

Time sped up as I thudded down, jarring my ankle, then collapsing into a heap, suddenly too exhausted and defeated to go onwards. Jaydon sat Tally down, and quickly came to me, somewhat relieved when he saw that my ankle was in better condition that Tally’s was. He pulled me gently to my feet, to test my ankle. I slowly put weight on it, and gasped as a fire of pain rose up. It was agonising, but I could still move on it. Jaydon needed to help Tally anyway.

Jaydon was about to help me up the ladder, when he turned.

“Where’s your torch?” he asked quickly. I suddenly realised I didn’t have it. He walked to a small clump, and picked up the mangled torch. He bit his lip, took out the batteries in case the other torches ran out, and then threw the torch away.

He helped me onto the ladder, climbing close beneath me in case I needed help. We got to the top without too much trouble, and then Jaydon gave his torch to me, saying we needed to watch our feet more than he did.

We came to a narrow hole, and Jaydon went first, so he could guide us through one at a time. He took my torch, so Tally and I huddled together in our circle of light while he made his way slowly through. We heard him cry out, and looked slowly through the hole, to see him cradling his arm at the bottom of a steep slope. He told us to go through, and then worry about him.

He guided us both to the other side, and then I looked at his arm. He had done first aid, and told me it was likely broken, so I tore my shirt like he had for Tally, and bound it.

We continued miserably in this fashion for hours, moving very slowly, even on the flat stretches, so we wouldn’t get hurt any worse. I had given up calling out long ago, and my hope of survival was growing dim. I looked upwards, and my eyes widened.

Jaydon followed my gaze. A stream of light was flooding into the cavern. I breathed in, and I was breathing fresh air, not the stale limestoney air I had been breathing for who knows how long. We didn’t speed up- we were in no condition to do so, we simply continued at our snail pace until we reached the exit. There was a note on a rock by the exit.

‘Gone for help- we don’t know where you are. If you find this, call-’ I read the number, and pulled out my phone, somehow unharmed. I called the number, and grinned as my father’s voice came through the speaker. He instructed me to stay where I was, and wait.

So there we were; dirty, injured, cold, and a little afraid, waiting in the dark for someone to save us. But I wasn’t as afraid as the others, because I knew my daddy would come, I knew we would be safe tomorrow. Jaydon looked at me, full of admiration, and I smiled back.



I knew we would survive.