by Emlyn Rees
He stared at her in horror, into her eyes, trying to find the same girl he’d grown up with, the same girl who’d kissed him for the first time yesterday, the same girl he’d fallen so hard for that it had felt like dropping off a cliff. But he couldn’t find her. She was no longer there.
In that moment, everything he’d ever felt for her died.
‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘well, that’s the fucking problem, isn’t it? Were not all here, are we?’
Taylor turned and kicked the final cupboard door shut. ‘No,’ she conceded, ‘the little shit must be somewhere else . . .’
Then it hit him.
‘Oh, my God,’ he said.
‘What?’
‘That’s where he is. He’s gone there. To the mine. He’s gone to let her out.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. Look at what it’s like out there. He’s only a little kid. He wouldn’t dare. He knows he’s not allowed out.’
But Michael’s mind was already reeling backwards. To the mine. To the cave they’d found the day before. What was it Simon had said? About his brother Paul? About how all he’d wanted to do was save him . . . about how all he’d wanted to do was save his life and make it all better . . .
He hadn’t been able to do that for Paul, but what if he’d decided to do it for Kellie instead?
‘The key,’ Michael said. ‘The key to the padlock. Where is it?’
‘If you think I’m going to tell you –’ But then he saw it in her eyes, too, that flicker of doubt, that flash of fear. She was frightened he was right.
‘Just tell me,’ he shouted, ‘or I’ll go down there and tell them everything. I swear to God I will. Now where –’
‘In my coat pocket. In my coat, hanging by the front door . . .’
Michael pushed past her and ran for the door. She called something after him, but he didn’t hear what it was and he no longer cared. He thundered down the first flight of stairs, nearly knocking Isabelle over, before racing down the next flight and on into the hall. He rifled through the coats on the stand by the door until he found Taylor’s. He turned out the pockets and, instantly, he knew that he’d been right.
Taylor caught up with him.
‘It’s gone,’ he said. ‘Now what about the torches? Where were they?’
‘In that bag,’ she said, pointing at the Peter Jones bag by his feet.
He picked it up. It was empty.
‘I’m going,’ he said.
‘No.’ She grabbed him by the shoulders. ‘You can’t.’
‘Get your fucking hands off me!’ he shouted, shoving her away from him, as hard as he could. She fell back on to the floor, just as Isabelle rounded the corner.
‘What’s going on?’ she demanded.
‘I’m leaving,’ Michael said.
‘Not in this you’re not.’ Isabelle lunged for him ‘Not until you tell me –’
‘Let go of me,’ Michael tried to shake himself free. ‘Now.’
But she wouldn’t let go. ‘Don’t you dare speak to me like that,’ she snapped, ‘and how dare you push my daughter, you little thug?’
Elliot came running down the corridor towards them now.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Taylor was back up on her feet. ‘Let him go,’ she told her mother.
‘No, not until –’
‘Let him go!’ Taylor screamed.
More footsteps rushed towards them. The shouting was acting like smoke drawing people to a fire. Suddenly, everyone was there, jamming up the hallway like a school corridor after the last bell had been rung. Faces flooded Michael’s vision. Elliot and Isabelle, Ben and David, and now Stephanie and old Mr Thorne. It was Stephanie’s voice that finally rose above the rest. She pushed Isabelle aside and stared into Michael’s eyes.
‘You know where he is, don’t you? You know where Simon is.’
No sooner did Michael open his mouth, than Taylor screamed: ‘Shut up! Shut up, you fucking traitor!’ Spittle flew from her mouth and landed on his cheek.
Stephanie rounded on her. ‘You shut up.’
‘Taylor?’ Elliot asked.
‘Fuck off! I hate you,’ she told him, starting to sob. ‘I hate you, you fucking shit.’
As Isabelle wrapped her arms around her daughter, Elliot turned to Michael with a look of sudden fear, but it was Stephanie whose desperate, hungry eyes Michael was staring into now.
‘Tell me,’ she begged. ‘Tell me where he is.’
Chapter 31
‘He’s gone to the mine,’ Michael said.
Stephanie gripped him by the shoulders. He looked straight at her. He was terrified.
‘What have you done?’
‘Simon’s gone to the mine,’ he repeated.
‘How do you know?’
‘Because the padlock’s gone, and the torches.’
Stephanie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘But he can’t have gone out in this? Why would he do that? Why would he go there? Are you sure?’
‘He wants to make everything better,’ Michael said. He was starting to cry.
‘Better?’
‘He wants to save a life. Because of Paul.’
David was suddenly by Stephanie’s side. She recoiled from Michael, covering her mouth with her hands. She felt David’s hand on her shoulder.
‘Michael,’ he said, ‘what’s going on?’
Taylor shrieked something behind them.
‘Shut up!’ Stephanie shouted at her. ‘Let him speak.’
‘Michael. What have you done?’ David demanded.
‘We locked Kellie in the mine.’
‘You did what?’ Ben said.
‘We only meant to frighten her, and then the storm started.’
‘You stupid little shit,’ Elliot said suddenly, lurching towards Michael. ‘This is all your fault –’
‘But why?’ Ben asked, cutting Elliot off, holding out his arm to stop him advancing any further.
Taylor turned and ran, pushing through her family. Her footsteps echoed down the hall and thundered up the stairs. Michael looked wretchedly at the floor. ‘Because Elliot and Kellie have been having an affair,’ he said. ‘We saw them together. We heard them making plans.’
Suddenly Elliot was lunging towards Michael again, but Isabelle got in the way just in time and slapped him so hard that he staggered backwards.
‘How could you?’ she shouted.
Elliot held his cheek. He looked horrified. ‘Darling. I never meant this to happen. The kids have got it all wrong. Kellie and I are over. It’s you I love.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ Isabelle screamed, storming past him. ‘I knew it was her!’
Elliot stumbled after her, shouting.
Stephanie was no longer listening. A red roar had risen inside her ears. She didn’t give a fuck about her brother or his sordid affair.
David must have been thinking the same, because he already had their coats in his hands. Without speaking, she took hers from him and quickly pulled it on. Ben silently followed suit as Elliot and Isabelle continued to shout behind them.
‘You’re coming with us,’ David told Michael. ‘To show us where.’
Michael said nothing, but reached for his coat.
‘What torches have you got, Gerald?’ David asked. ‘And rope. Get them now.’
Outside it was freezing. The snow was easing off, but the wind was still strong.
‘This way,’ Michael said. They leant forward into the wind and marched in single file, first Michael, then Ben, then David, then Stephanie, up the driveway to the road.
Had Simon come this way too? How long ago? How could he have made it by himself?
They followed the road for a hundred yards, then stopped for a moment as Michael and Ben shouted with David over the shrieking of the wind. David took the lead and in that very instant, in that tiny movement of his, from third place to first, Stephanie remembered his strength.
He would get her there. He would get her to their son.
David led them eastwards, upwards, over the brow of Solace Hill. It was the short cut to the cliffs overlooking Hell Bay, and to the mine. Her feet grew heavy with snow. Her muscles hurt, but she wouldn’t stop. She’d never stop.
When Ben had grilled Michael outside the door, Michael had told them it shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes. Twenty minutes? In this? How the hell was her little boy meant to have managed that?
But he would have managed it. Stephanie willed it to be so. He would have made it through the snow. Just as they now would find him. Hope. She held it inside her like a flame. She would protect it from the wind no matter what. She would not allow it to die.
But still Michael’s words resonated in her head. He wants to save a life. Because of Paul.
As she stumbled in the snow, the horrible truth hit her. This was her fault. It wasn’t David’s fault. It wasn’t Simon’s fault. It was all her fault, because Simon must have felt the weight of her blaming everyone else fall on his shoulders.
How could she let her little boy feel that he needed to be a hero? He couldn’t bring back Paul. Nobody could. She saw that now. All this time she’d been so wrapped up in the past, but now she was suddenly terrified about the future. Because if anything happened to her family . . .
Oh God. What had she done?
She felt sick with fear. Her son had gone to save Kellie, because Taylor had left Kellie in the mine alone. Stephanie couldn’t believe what Taylor had done or why. Kellie and Elliot. It all seemed impossibly ridiculous. All the lies. Affairs. Revenge. Anger. None of it meant a thing when compared to life. Her little boy’s precious, precious life.
Stephanie stumbled on in the dark. It seemed like a nightmare, as if she were in space, the snowflakes zooming towards her like meteors. She thought about her father’s paintings of Hell Bay. She tried to imagine where she was going. She tried to push the thoughts of sink holes out of her mind.
Could Simon really have made this journey on his own? she asked herself again. And if she was this scared, how must he be feeling?
They came to a halt.
‘How far now?’ David shouted back.
‘It’s just up ahead,’ Michael said, and took the lead again.
Stephanie walked over to David and slid her hand into his. He squeezed it. They would face this together. Whatever was ahead.
‘We’re here,’ Michael shouted, a few moments later, pushing branches aside.
David looked at her and they both raced up to him.
‘Simon,’ she shouted. ‘Simon?’ But her voice got lost on the wind.
Then they were by some metal gates. What was this place? How the hell had the kids ever found it? She thought they’d just been playing outside. How had they discovered this? It was terrifying.
‘Oh my God, where are they?’ Stephanie asked, as Ben pulled at the gate and it swung open.
David and Ben ran through, shouting out for Simon and Kellie, sweeping the tunnel entrance with the flashlight. The wind howled all around.
Stephanie started to panic.
‘He should be here,’ Michael said. ‘They both should be.’
‘Keep calm,’ Ben told him. ‘It’ll be OK.’
Then Stephanie heard a weak voice, coming from the darkness. ‘Mummy?’
‘David! He’s here,’ she shouted, as she ran towards the sound of the voice.
Then she was on her knees, scooping Simon up from where he was huddled in the dark. He was so small and fragile. He felt tiny in her arms.
She sobbed as she held him. He was crying, clinging on to her. He was shivering violently.
‘You’re safe, you’re safe,’ she said, kissing his face and his hair. ‘We’re here now.’
Then David was running towards them both and they hugged Simon between them.
‘My darling, darling boy,’ Stephanie said, pulling back to stroke Simon’s face.
‘Kellie’s not here, and I was too frightened to go any further. We shouldn’t have left her. I told Taylor –’
‘Shh,’ Stephanie said, trying to soothe his fright away. ‘We’re here now. Everything is going to be OK.’
‘But Kellie? What if something’s happened to her?’ Simon sobbed.
Stephanie squeezed him tight. David stroked the back of his head.
‘It’s thanks to you that we’re here at all,’ David said. ‘You’ve been very brave.’ He looked over Simon’s head into Stephanie’s eyes, and she felt something hard shift inside her.
‘I’m going on,’ Ben said, hurrying into the tunnel.
‘Don’t forget what I told you about the hole. You have to go along the ledge. Do you want me to come?’ Michael called after him.
‘Stay where you are,’ Ben shouted back.
‘Are we in trouble?’ Simon asked, after Ben had gone.
‘No, darling, no,’ Stephanie said, holding him to her.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Simon cried. ‘I’m so sorry about everything. I wanted to save Kellie. I wanted to make everything better –’
‘Shh,’ David said.
‘Oh Simon, it’s all my fault,’ Stephanie said. ‘All that matters is that you’re safe. All that matters is this.’
Then she held him tight and reached her arm out to David and held him tight too. She never wanted to let them go. David’s eyes seemed bright with tears as they locked with hers, and Stephanie realised what she hadn’t considered possible for so long: that she loved him. That it was David who was her rock, and nobody else. That she didn’t want to lose him. That she couldn’t lose him. That if he’d only let her back in, then she’d do whatever it took to make them all happy.
‘Are we going home together?’ Simon asked. ‘All of us?’
He looked up between Stephanie and David. They were still staring at each other.
‘Can we?’ she asked.
Chapter 32
Kellie was all out of courage. It was as if she was in a computer game where, at each level, everything became more of a nightmare.
She’d never imagined that going through the tunnel would involve such a gruelling journey. Retrospectively, it was almost more terrifying than it had been at the time. When she’d hung on, on the ledge, looking down into that black, black hole, behind her, knowing that one false move and she’d be dead, she’d forced her feet to move inch by inch. Forced herself not to be paralysed with fear. She’d kept repeating in her head, over and over again, that she would find a way out. She’d forced herself to believe that the tunnel had to have an end.
And it did.
And here it was.
Except that it wasn’t an exit. It was a cruel joke. She was in the mouth of the cave, high up in the cliffs, that she’d seen with Ben when they’d pulled the boat ashore only two days ago. And it was hundreds of feet up. And there was no way down.
The snow had stopped and a waning moon had broken through the clouds, illuminating the cave and the water far below. It looked black and terrifying, the swell making waves crash over the rocks. Had Ben made it back in the boat? Was he safe?
As she leant over the edge, Kellie could pick out the fisherman’s hut where she’d been with Ben. The boat was gone.
If she hadn’t spent an hour trying to break open the padlock, then she could have got here in time to see Ben leaving with Jack. Then maybe they’d have seen her, and maybe she’d be out of here by now.
Instead she was trapped.
She hurried back, out of the wind, and sank down against the wall of the cave. On the wall opposite her torch picked out SIMON AND TAYLOR AND MIKEL 4 EVER. Whichever one of them had written it couldn’t even spell Michael’s name. She’d been fooled by a bunch of stupid kids. She put out the torch.
But now she realised, if they’d got in here, they’d also got back out. The moon disappeared behind the clouds again and she switched on the torch once more. It flickered for a moment and then went out. Her fingers trembled so violently that the torch fell and clattered away over the floor of the cave. And to think
that only a few hours ago she’d thought she’d been safe, away from the tangle of the Thornes, about to leave the island for good.
Instead, she was trapped here, in a place that must be as close to hell as she could possibly imagine. Was she being punished by some malevolent God for her heathen ways? Was this all because she didn’t believe in Christmas? Or was this happening to her because of Elliot bloody Thorne? Deceitful, arrogant, faithless, lying cheating bastard that he was.
She ripped the necklace Elliot had given her from around her neck and hurled it out into the night. She didn’t hear it land, and she didn’t care. She never wanted to so much as set eyes on Elliot ever again. She couldn’t be responsible for what she might do to him. Then, as an afterthought, she pulled out her purse and felt for the photo of Elliot she kept there. She remembered Ben casting his photo of Marie to the wind and she did the same now, but instead of flying away, she saw the photo flutter to her feet. Growling with anger and frustration, she stamped her heel on it repeatedly until it disintegrated.
Kellie reached forward and retrieved the torch. Feeling in the dark, she opened it up and licked the end of the batteries, then put them back inside. Wasn’t that supposed to elongate their lives? She wished now she’d paid more attention to watching survival programmes on the television. She felt ridiculously under-equipped with knowledge for the predicament she was in. It was no good. The torch was definitely dead.
She pulled the hood of her coat right over her head and crouched in the darkness out of the wind. She didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t go back through the mine again. She couldn’t go back to the yawning hole in the ground that had nearly swallowed her. If she tried to negotiate the ledge in the dark, without a torch, she would almost certainly die.
So, she would have to wait until morning, and hope that enough light would filter into the tunnel to allow her to get back to the entrance.
But what if she got so cold in the night she died? What if she fell asleep and didn’t wake up?
