Hell's Hollow

by Summer Stone

  No one spoke for a few minutes. Luke broke the silence. “How do we get her out of here? I can’t exactly toss her over the wall.”

  “I have a plan,” I said, trying to ignore the echo of John Rocklin’s warning that kept sounding in my head. I kind of wished I hadn’t told Luke what happened to the chipmunk.

  They all looked at me, surprised.

  “We go back into the lobby. Then, Luke, you’re going to have to flirt with Martha, I know, it’s gross, sorry. But it’ll work. You have to get her away from her desk. Then Gran will buzz the front door. MK and I will go out. I’ll leave my purse in the door to keep it from closing. Gran, you’ll need to hurry back to your room at that point. We’ll need you to cover for MK, say she’s visiting with one of the other patients. I’ll get MK into the jeep. MK, you’ll need to lie low so you can’t be seen through the window. Then I’ll come back in and call Luke and say we better get going. Martha will buzz us out. And we go.”

  “Won’t she wonder where Gran and MK are?” Luke asked.

  “Not if you do your job right,” I said. “She’ll think I walked them back to their room. For it to work, we’ll need her away from the desk and with her back to their hallway. Think your charm can handle it?”

  “Hey, don’t question the charm,” he said.

  “Everyone know what they have to do?” I asked, as MK’s arms did that weird twitchy thing again. I pulled her out of the wheelchair so we could leave it behind.

  “We’d better hurry. Johnny Rocket is thinking I’m next for therapy,” Gran said.

  Luke and I looked at each other. Was she really hearing John Rocklin’s thoughts, or was she just crazy? It didn’t matter. We needed to move. Time was ticking by much faster than I wanted.

  Luke knocked on the door and Martha buzzed us in from the garden to the lobby. We lingered by the desk while Luke laid on the charm. He had her blushing and giggling in no time.

  “I was wondering who the artist is of that gorgeous painting down the hall,” Luke said.

  “Which one, doll?” Martha asked.

  “Oh, you know, that one with the blue and green.” He pointed down the hall we hadn’t been in, one he had no way of knowing what artwork it might hold. “Haven’t you seen it? Oh, you really have to see it.”

  She looked back at the desk as she took a step away.

  “I’ll watch the door and phones for you,” I said.

  “It’ll only take a minute,” Luke added.

  “All right then,” Martha said.

  They stepped down the hallway.

  “Where was that one?” I heard Luke say.

  Gran was just about to buzz us out when John Rocklin appeared. I turned MK around so it wouldn’t look like we were trying to leave.

  “He wasn’t thinking any thoughts!” Gran yelled. “I heard nothing! That noggin was as empty as a pie hole!”

  “It’s okay,” I whispered.

  “Time to go, Maggie,” he said.

  “Not now. How now.” Gran was getting flustered.

  I realized we could make it work without her. We just had to get John Rocklin out of there. I hugged Gran, whispered in her ear. “It’s okay. It’ll work this way. I’ll buzz her out. Just get Johnny Rocket out of here.”

  “Lead the way, man!” she shouted.

  He looked at MK.

  “I’ll take her back,” I said.

  And then they were gone.

  “I’ll buzz you out,” I said to MK. “Can you get in the back seat of that jeep right outside and lie down? I’ll be out in two minutes.”

  “Your mother is not going to like this,” she mumbled.

  “By the time she finds out, it’ll all be fixed,” I said.

  She inched toward the door, as if her limbs were weighed down. I could hear Luke and Martha walking back down the hall.

  “I could’ve sworn it was on that hallway,” Luke was saying. “I get so turned around in this place.”

  Hurry, MK!

  I rushed up the hall to meet them, hoping to give her a couple of extra minutes. “I think that painting was in the hall to Gran’s room, wasn’t it, Luke?”

  He questioned me with his eyes. I tried to reply that we needed more time. But it was hard to say all that with my eyes.

  “You’re supposed to be watching the desk for me,” Martha said.

  “Oh, right, um, there was a phone call,” I lied. “I tried to put them on hold, but I think I might have hung up on them.”

  “Oh dear.” She hurried back to the desk, but as I’d hoped, she focused all her attention on the phone.

  MK seemed to be having trouble opening the door. Had door handles changed that much in twenty years? She looked back through Meadowland’s glass front door at me and shrugged. While Luke continued to distract Martha, I motioned to MK how to pull the door handle toward her to get it to open. In what seemed to me to be slow motion, she turned back to the door and opened it. Then she faced me and smiled. Get in! I made a sign to go. And finally she got in the car and disappeared.

  “I guess we’d better head out,” I said.

  “Oh, wait just a minute more,” Martha said. “I’m so curious now about that picture Luke was going to show me.”

  “I really have to run,” Luke said. “I’ll find it next time.”

  “Oh, well, if you have to…” And she buzzed us out.

  As we pulled out of the parking lot, I said, “You must have some strong magic in that charm. I’ve never seen her so interested in anything.”

  Luke smiled, then turned around to check on MK, who was grinning like a madman.

  By the time we got home it was almost five. We were cutting it close, but we still had a chance to finish before Mom got home. We just had to get MK down there quickly.

  “Now what, boss?” Luke asked, looking a little mad himself.

  I kept thinking I heard a car coming up the road. “Now we get MK down to The Hollow.” It wouldn’t be easy. She was heavily drugged and terribly out of shape.

  MK hadn’t said a word the whole ride. Now she put a hand on my arm. Her tug made me woozy this close to The Hollow. Thick and black with a sense of rot inside, it gnawed at me. For a minute my vision must have gone blurry, because it looked as though her skin were melting off her face. I strengthened my shield.

  “Are you sure?” was all she said.

  Our eyes held each other. I couldn’t bear to tell her about the chipmunk, about the fact that what I was about to do might harm her. But I knew she couldn’t go on like this. As for me, I knew there was a chance I’d pass out again before I was done, the way I had with Zach. But I was pretty sure if I did a better job of keeping up my shield I’d be okay. And as far as taking her place, it didn’t worry me. I was sure Mom had been lying about that. This was my chance to give MK back her life. I nodded.

  “Do you even know what to do?” Luke asked, as we took MK’s arms and guided her down the path.

  “When I was five, I healed my friend’s finger at school,” I said, realizing how dumb it sounded as soon as it was out of my mouth.

  Luke stopped. “You used to fix our skinned knees, too. But this is a bit bigger than that.”

  “I know.” I pulled MK along. “I’ve been practicing.” I still couldn’t tell him about Zach, but thinking of Zach made me wonder again how he was doing, if I’d helped him at all, if he was okay. I was getting worried. And also, I missed him.

  “And…?” Luke asked, nudging me back to the situation at hand.

  “And, I’m not sure, but I think I know what to do. Look, we’ve gone this far, we might as well go all the way.”

  And then no one spoke as we trudged down the hillside, around the boulders, through the woods, and into the The Hollow, stopping every so often for MK to catch her breath. We sat her down beside the giant sequoia tree. I tried to ignore the little rock-covered grave.

  “What should I do?” Luke asked.

  “Stand guard,” I said. “Watch for Mom coming down the hill. And keep an
eye on us. Stop me only if you think she’s in trouble.”

  “In trouble? What do you mean by ‘in trouble’?”

  I took a deep breath. “Like if she stops breathing or gets super hyper or … anything.”

  “Oh, Jesus,” Luke said. But he took a few steps away from us, so he could see anyone coming from the direction of the house.

  I sat by MK. “Don’t be afraid,” I said.

  Her eyes rolled around as if it was hard for her to keep them still.

  I backed up against the tree so I could draw on its strength. I let The Hollow spill into me, used it to reinforce my shield. And then I took MK’s hands.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Please, I prayed, don’t let me hurt her. An image of the chipmunk racing around The Hollow popped into my mind, and then its little face just before it died. Don’t think about that! I didn’t kill Zach. Taking deep breaths, I cleared my mind.

  Slowly, cautiously, I let down part of my shield so that I could feel around inside of MK. She twitched. Her thinking felt heavy and slow. A layer of fear and anxiety lay below that. I let myself go deeper. Random images of disasters shot through my brain — a four-car pile-up, a twin-engine plane crash, a drowning child. My breathing quickened. It was uncomfortable inside MK’s head. Pulling the healing force of The Hollow with me, I went deeper into a place of darkness, a place that felt like a dungeon — cold and scary and lonely. Thoughts skittered around with no purpose or connection. Heaviness weighed on my heart. I opened myself to The Hollow, let it rush through me, striking at the darkness with its golden light. It felt as though the dark places were being consumed.

  And then in a still darkened corner of MK’s mind, I saw an image of her — tiny and weak and locked in a little cave that was barred with bones. An image of me ran to her. The MK in the cage looked young, about my age. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, rocking, tears trickling down her face.

  “Mary Kate,” I said to her. “It’s time to come home.” And then I directed The Hollow into her cave. The energy raced at the bars, smashing them into a million pieces, each one reflecting the light of the healing energy like a mirror. Little MK stood up, stunned. The Hollow coursed into her. It was too much. She was too fragile. Like the chipmunk. I pulled back, calling The Hollow away from her.

  The ground rumbled beneath us. I wasn’t sure if it was real or not.

  “Sera?” Luke’s voice yanked me back to reality.

  MK’s hands were twitching wildly in my own. I tried to slam the energy out of her body, out of my own, back into the ground. But it filled me up, wouldn’t be pushed back. I wrapped my shield tightly around myself to separate The Hollow from MK. The world seemed to erupt into light and then there was nothing.

  Prickly sequoia needles scratched my face, my body felt cold and worn. I heard dogs barking, birds scattering. Something was squashing my arm. A voice said, “I can’t get any of the equipment to work. The dial on the BP cuff is spinning out of control and the O2 sat monitor isn’t working either. Her pulse feels normal, though.”

  Mom was yelling at someone in a hushed tone. “I trusted you. How could you let me down like this? I told you her behavior was concerning me, that she was trying things that were dangerous. How could you let this happen?”

  The puzzle pieces clicked into place. I was in The Hollow. She was yelling at Luke. Why were there dogs? Where was MK? Who else was there?

  I opened my eyes without moving my body. Two EMTs sat beside me, checking my pulse. Policemen searched the woods. Luke looked shamed. Mom kept trying to use her cell phone, which of course didn’t work in The Hollow.

  My head pounded. I felt like I might puke. I closed my eyes, let The Hollow slip back inside me, calm my aches, and soothe my stomach. With my shield partly lowered, I searched for MK’s dark tug. I didn’t sense her anywhere nearby. Where could she have gone? What could have happened? Unless she was… No, she couldn’t be dead. If she was dead they wouldn’t be searching the woods for her.

  I sat up. “Luke?” I needed water.

  Mom handed me a bottled water from the bakery, as if somehow she’d known I would need it.

  Luke kneeled down beside me. “MK’s okay,” he whispered. “At least I think she is.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  He looked to Mom, whose lips tightened. Her shoulders shrugged ever so slightly — permission for him to tell me.

  The EMTs stood up to talk to Mom. “She seems fine. Everything looks normal except that rash. We can take her in for observation if you want.”

  I turned my attention to Luke. “At first it seemed like not much was happening,” he said. “Then her twitching got worse. That’s when the ground felt all weird and rumbly and I called your name. Then, just as you were passing out, she got up and made this weird sound — kinda between a squeal and a scream. She didn’t even seem to notice us. Next thing I knew, she was tearing off her clothes and running into the woods. And then, um, Mom got home a little earlier than expected.”

  Oh God. ‘Running into the woods’ — just like the chipmunk racing around. That Johnny Rocket guy said she was at risk of a heart attack. What if she’s out there somewhere needing help? What if … “Find her,” I said. “Fast.”

  Mom and Luke looked at each other. My lips trembling too much to speak, I pointed at the little grave. Mom gasped. Luke covered his face with his hand.

  My mind kept picturing an MK-sized grave. Please don’t let her be dead. The image in my mind switched to MK looking just like the chipmunk before it died — like it was surprised, like I’d tricked it.

  The dogs barked wildly.

  “We’ve got her!” one of the policemen yelled.

  “Thank God,” another one said. “Let’s get the hell out of this place. It gives me the creeps.”

  I took a minute to say a prayer of thanks of my own, so relieved that she wasn’t dead.

  MK came through the woods completely naked. A policeman threw a rough gray blanket around her shoulders. Her face seemed lit up. She was still grinning like a madman. Freeing herself from her police escort, she ran to me, swept me up in her arms and spun me around. “I’m free!” she screamed. “How can I ever thank you?” She hugged Mom and Luke. “I’m free!” she kept yelling.

  Something like elation bubbled up inside me.

  “All right, MK,” Mom said. “It’s been an exciting afternoon.”

  “Look,” MK said, “no more twitching.” She held out her arms. “And my thoughts! I can think! All the scary pictures are gone — gone! The … the… the crazy… it’s…” She put her fists together than opened her hands out like an explosion. “Gone!”

  Mom tightened the blanket around MK’s nakedness. “Let’s get back over to Meadowland. Ma is probably worried sick about you.”

  “Meadowland?” MK looked to Luke and me. “You can’t let her take me back to Meadowland! I’m fine! I’m free! I’m sane.”

  “I’m sure it feels wonderful to be out and about. And maybe you don’t need to go back to stay. But we should at least have the doctors take a look.”

  She shook her head, backing away. “You can’t make me,” she said. “Can she make me?” she asked the police officer.

  I recognized him. Robby Linden, a high school friend of Mom’s. “I think your sister is just concerned for your health and safety. There’s no harm in getting checked out by the doctors, is there?”

  “Any doctor you want,” MK said. “Just not at Meadowland.”

  An image of MK being handcuffed and forced into a police car came into my mind. Mom crying. MK screaming. That guy Gran called Dr. Death was strapping MK into some kind of electroshock machine. “It’s where you belong,” Mom was saying in a heinous evil voice.

  “She does not!” I yelled out loud. “She doesn’t belong there anymore. Let Dr. Gates come check her out at home.” I clawed at Mom’s arms. “Please! Don’t send her back!”

  Mom wrapped her arms around me. It probably looked like a hug to th
ose standing around, but it felt like restraint. “Please,” I murmured.

  “Okay,” Mom said. “We’ll call Dr. Gates. But if she says MK needs to go back to Meadowland, that is the final word.”

  I nodded, sobbing like a little kid. My head felt heavy. I needed sleep.

  “There’s the matter of them kidnapping her from the facility,” Robby Linden said, looking at his little notepad like he didn’t know what to write. “And can one of you kids please explain what exactly happened here that caused one to faint and the other to go streaking?”

  “I hardly think taking their aunt on an outing can be called kidnapping. It’s a family matter,” Mom said. “They were only trying to give her a little break from the routine. We’ll take care of it from here.”

  “Seems to me if a woman is running naked around the forest she ought to be back where she came from,” Robby said.

  “Oh, Robby, so sensible,” Mom said. “You’re right. We’ll let the doctor check her out and decide what to do from there.”

  Robby scratched his head. “I guess that’s okay, unless Meadowland decides to press charges.”

  Mom’s eyebrows scrunched up the way they do when she’s tired of telling me to put my laundry away. “You’ve been a great help. Thank you for getting here so quickly.” Then she put her arm around MK and led her to the path toward our house.

  Luke scooped up MK’s clothes and took my hand. I noticed how the policemen all seemed to be avoiding the actual Hollow, as if they and The Hollow were magnet ends that couldn’t stand to get close. While they stood around talking and taking notes, the four of us went home.

  Halfway up the hill I ran out of steam. I felt like I couldn’t take another step. “Let me just rest here a minute,” I said, knowing that it would take a lot longer than a minute for me to find the energy to get up the hill.

  Luke squatted down and offered me a piggyback ride. He carried me the rest of the way home, past the police cars and ambulance in the driveway, straight to the couch in the living room where he plopped me down.

  Mom got my heart quilt and covered me up with it, then set a couple of bars of dark chocolate on the table. She handed MK a towel. “How would you like to take a long, hot soak in the old claw foot tub?”