The Other Side of Nowhere (21 page)

‘We’ll manage,’ said Nick passing her the torch. ‘Just don’t be too long, okay? If it’s too far, turn back. Don’t be a hero.’

‘You’d know all about being a hero,’ she said to Nick, winking. Then she smiled at both of us. I must have looked like a sad mute.

Then she waded into the middle of the pool and, with a quick thumbs-up, took a gulp of air and ducked under. She disappeared in a trail of glistening bubbles. By the time the first ripple of water lapped over the edge of the rock pool, she and the torchlight were gone. Nick and I were plunged into a disorienting darkness.

We stood shoulder to shoulder, holding the rope. He was feeding it out in short lengths as I kept time in my head, calling out every five counts.

‘Five seconds …’

‘Ten seconds …’

After an agonisingly long thirty seconds, Nick’s arm brushed against mine as he pulled sharply on the rope.

‘What is it?’

‘Rope’s gone slack … Can’t feel anything.’

I kept counting. ‘Forty seconds …’

‘Did you hear me? I said the rope’s –’

‘I heard you,’ I said sharply. ‘Just hold it. She’s all right.’

He tugged the rope again. ‘C’mon George … what are you doing?’

I held my breath and realised I’d lost count. ‘Sixty seconds …’
One minute. What’s one minute? Nothing. She’s okay. I know it
–
she’s okay.

But then one minute became two. Nick was shuffling his feet. Though I couldn’t see him, I sensed he was starting to pull the rope back in.

‘Don’t!’ I yelled, reaching out for his arm. ‘Leave it … ’

‘Johnno, she can’t …’

‘She can,’ I barked angrily, the words echoing around and around the cave.

‘Johnno …’

‘Shut up, Nick! Just leave the rope alone,’ Lashing out in the dark, I tried to snatch the rope from him and felt the back of my hand strike the side of his face.

‘What the –?’ he cried out in surprise. ‘Watch out.’

Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my side. It was Nick’s elbow, digging in hard as he tried to nudge me out of the way. That one dig was all it took for all the fear, pain and anger that had been simmering inside me to explode with the fury of a dormant volcano. I lunged wildly in the dark, throwing my arms around Nick’s body in a crunching tackle.

He gasped in surprise and the cave echoed the dull thud as we hit the ground. He groaned in pain, but I didn’t care. Straddling his chest, I threw a dozen wild punches that mostly missed him, but a couple thumped into his face and around his head. No matter how hard I hit him he didn’t cry out or fight back, and it was only when I stopped to wipe away the tears streaming down my cheeks that I heard his shallow breathing and even knew that he was alive.

When my fury was spent, I sat there on his chest in the darkness. There was a splash, followed by a spluttering cough and then, out of the gloom, a dull light appeared. It traversed the cave like a searchlight before settling on the two of us.

A breathless, faceless voice came from beyond the glare of the light. ‘Johnno, what are you doing?’

George waded out of the pool and knelt before Nick, studying the marks on his face. She was shivering so violently her whole body was vibrating like a jackhammer. As she reached out to wipe a trickle of blood from above his left eye, her fingers trembled uncontrollably.

She turned to me, scowling, and I had to look down. There was no way to explain what I had done. But she didn’t tell me off, just stepped close and slid her arms around my waist.

‘Give me a hug, will you? I am seriously beyond freezing.’

I wrapped my arms around her quivering body, feeling her racing heart pulsing like a stampede of horses as she pressed against me.

‘I’m sorry, Johnno, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just had a bit of a look around on the other side that’s all,’ she stuttered through hammering teeth, ‘It’s not that far. But you have to go deep to get under the rock.’

‘Then what? Can we get out the other side?’ asked Nick, sitting up and testing out his nose with his fingers. I’d never broken anyone’s nose before, wouldn’t have thought I could. But part of me hoped that this time I had.

‘That I don’t know,’ she said, almost apologetically. ‘I was freezing so bad I had to come back. But the cave does look like it gets bigger again.’

She pulled away and took hold of my hand. ‘I think we’re close to getting out, Johnno, I really do. Close to Matt.’ She gave my hand a firm encouraging squeeze then stepped back. ‘So, what’s going on with you two? Got it all out of your system now?’

I couldn’t bring myself to look at Nick, but out of the corner of my eye I saw him shrug. ‘Sure, no drama.’

George raised her eyebrows, giving us both a doubtful look. ‘Well, I guess there’s no point hanging around here. Let’s go. I’ll go in front with the torch. Just dive down and feel your way along the rock. It can’t be more than ten metres all up. Stay close.’

She jumped back in and I dropped in after her, shivering as the icy cold water rose up above my waist. It almost felt like it was burning me, it was so cold. There was no way I could stay in here for long. Nick dropped in next to me.

‘Ready steady spaghetti?’ asked George, glancing over her shoulder.

‘Yep,’ Nick and I said together.

George gave us both an encouraging wink, then inhaled a deep breath and ducked under. I took a nervous breath, which didn’t feel like anywhere near enough, so I took another, bigger gulp and clamped my mouth shut to keep the air in my bulging cheeks. The sight of the torchlight fading as she swam away jolted me into action and I dived after her. The cold hit my face like a thousand needles, puncturing my mouthful of air in an instant. A line of bubbles snuck from my mouth, tickling along my face. It felt like they were the last pockets of air bailing out, leaving in their place a bone crushing weight on my chest.

Suddenly I couldn’t see a thing. My back scraped against a rock above me. Had I taken a wrong turn? Or gone too deep, or not deep enough? I couldn’t remember a thing George had said. Fighting panic, my eyes searched wildly for her torch’s light, but it was pitch black. I reached all around, searching with my fingers. But my hand had gone past the end of the rock and there was nothing solid to touch. With an urgent, flailing stroke I grabbed at the water as if climbing a liquid ladder. Pulling myself upwards and kicking like a maniac without so much as a whisper of air left in my lungs, I burst through the surface.

George grabbed my arm, steadying me as I flapped about, gasping for breath. ‘Nothing to it, eh?’ she said through chattering teeth. Seconds later Nick appeared behind me, sucking in gobs full of air.

‘Everyone okay?’ George said. ‘C’mon, it’s just a bit further.’

We dogpaddled through the water until the rocky ceiling began to rise. Soon we saw a ledge on the wall, with enough headroom for us to stand up. Shivering fiercely, we sat huddled together on the ledge in an attempt to thaw out.

Slowly my breathing settled and warmth began to return to my fingers and toes. As soon as I could think straight my mind turned to Matt. I figured we had to be close now.

‘I’m going to take a look around. Mind if I take the torch?’

‘Sure,’ said George between shivers. ‘I’ll be right there with you when I get the feeling in my toes back.’

‘Okay. Won’t be long.’ I headed along the rock ledge, following the curve in the stream. After maybe a hundred steps, the torchlight started bouncing back. My heart sank, fearing another dead-end. As I got closer, though, I realised it was just a sharp turn where both the stream and the ledge tucked back around a bend. As I followed the ledge around I felt sure the darkness had become lighter, a dark grey rather than pitch black.

I flicked off the torch and waited for my eyes to adjust. Even though it was only shapes, I could make out the floor, the walls and even the ceiling well above my head. It
was
brighter! Feeling my heartbeat quicken, I turned the torch back on again and edged forward, excited but wary. Ahead, the stream curved around another bend. As I approached the bend, I switched off the torch again. It was even lighter now.

Cautiously, I went around the corner. The cave opened up into a large chamber and at its end, no more than about twenty metres ahead, was a wide shaft of light beaming through what could only be an exit to the outside world. The stream flowed through the centre of the cave and out into the light.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. We’d made it. We’d actually made it!

Fighting a ferocious urge to jump up and run towards the light, I dropped to my stomach and slid out just far enough to be able to see around the corner and into the cave. The first thing I noticed was a cluster of rocks sprouting out of the sandy floor. I started into the cave, figuring I could take cover behind one of them. Then one of the rocks moved.

I froze, stunned. As I watched, I realised the other rocks were moving too. Shuffling from side to side, standing up, stretching.

Not rocks – people.

I shifted silently forward and hid behind a boulder. I tried to count the people. It was hard because many of them were in the shadows on the far side of the cave, but there had to be at least forty of them. They were all dressed in dark clothes, greys and browns and blacks, many of them covered from head to toe.

Then my heart skipped a beat. Matt! He was sitting with his back to me. But I’d know the back of his head anywhere. He was sitting near the stream in the middle of the cave and appeared to be patting a small bundle of rags in his lap. I felt such an urge to just run to him. But I didn’t dare to – not now, not yet. Instead, I crawled as far as I dared and cupped my hands to my mouth. Then I thought better of it. I fossicked in the sand and picked up a couple of small rocks. Choosing a round, heavy one, I lobbed it near him and watched it roll to a halt next to his leg.

He looked down at it then turned around. His puzzled expression turning to wide-eyed recognition at the sight of my huge grin. He started to speak but I put my finger to my lips. He nodded, looking furtively towards the cave entrance. From where he was he could probably see out to the beach.

‘It’s safe,’ he mouthed to me.

‘Are you okay?’ I whispered.

‘Yeah.’

Suddenly the bundle of rags shifted in his lap and a small pixie face framed by dark curls turned to look at me. I could hear the little girl’s voice, but couldn’t make out what she’d said.

Matt tried to get her to hush, urgently whispering in her ear.

She nodded. But then she wiggled out of his lap and stood up.

In a clear voice, the little girl called out. ‘Baba, look.’