Radium Halos (2 page)

Brent grabbed
Heidi and Rylee’s arms. “Come on. We can hang out in the mine until
the storm blows over. It’s closer than our cars.” He let go of the
girls, shrugged his guitar case over his shoulder and took off
running towards the mine.

I flinched. The
idea of going into the spooky, old, abandoned mine didn’t sound
like the best plan. I stood by the sizzling fire, getting
drenched.

I could feel my
hair curling against my neck. “Might as well join him. You all
handed your cell phones into the pot for the game student council
planned later on. I’m probably the only one who didn’t.” I held my
hand above my eyes to shield some of the rain.

Rylee giggled.
“This should be interesting.” She grabbed Heidi’s sleeve and they
took off running. I followed slightly behind.

The rain came
in torrents and the long grass became slippery. Despite the
wetness, I upped my pace--which only made me stumble.

Lightning
ripped through the sky again, illuminating the mine opening. The
entrance seemed to transform into a gruesome face made of earth,
ready to swallow us up. Even the trees surrounding the mine looked
like hands trying to grasp and pull the doorway under. I hesitated,
even though I knew it was just the shadows and light playing with
my mind.

I walked the
last twenty yards along the old, half-buried rail tracks and came
to a halt behind Rylee and Heidi. Brent must have pried off a large
slab of wood, which had boarded up the entrance to the abandoned
mine.
He’s desperate. He’s always careful with his hands.
The missing board created a crawl space just large enough for us to
get inside.

Rylee
disappeared though the hole, and I caught Heidi hesitating. I
looked towards where my car should be parked.
Completely hidden
by the rain.
Noah’s ark could float by and we’d never see
it.

“Go on. I’m
right behind you,” I said.

She clipped
though and vanished into its darkness. Dropping down, I crept
through the sinister hole.

Another crackle
of thunder rattled the wooden boards and echoed down into the mine.
It was darker than dark inside, except for the light cast by the
small opening. Through the broken gap, the last remains of the
bonfire disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“Holy crap!
Where the heck did
that
come from?” Brent’s voice sounded
further down the tunnel, and lower, as if he was on his knees.

“This place
reeks like rotten eggs,” I complained. “Can’t see a thing.”

A small beam of
light appeared on a nearby wall and found its way to Brent’s face.
“Hey, cut that out.” He blinked and held an arm up. “Who’s doing
that?”

“Me.” Rylee
giggled. “My key chain’s got one of those tiny flashlights you use
to find your ignition in the dark.” She flashed the light onto her
scrunched-up face and made a spooky ghost sound, “Oooooooo.”

“You’re not
scary.” Brent laughed. “You sound like a little kid. Maybe someone
a little more mature should be holding it.”

Rylee shifted
the yellow light to Heidi’s face. “It’s not much, but at least we
can shine it on any bats that try to bite us. Or maybe there’re
spiders and other creepy crawly things.” She moved the light around
the dirt walls, zigzagging and making circles.

“Bats?
Spiders?” Heidi squealed. “I’m not moving from this spot and keep
those vermin away from me.” You couldn’t miss the shudder in her
voice. Rylee flashed the light in Heidi’s direction again. We stood
on a slope, with Brent at the lowest end.

“We’ll be
fine.” Brent wrapped his arm around Heidi. “This thing’s going to
blow over in a bit. Wind and rain that fast and heavy can’t last
long.”

We followed
Rylee’s little light as she made patterns on the dirt covered
wall.

I kept quiet
and shifted my weight from foot to foot. My sneakers were soaked
from the wet grass, making loud sucking sounds as I moved around.
My friends grumbled as they moved.
Dirt walls, dirt floor and
musty stinkin’ dirt roof.
I scowled as cold wet filled my shoe
and ran over top of it. “Great. If you guys haven’t noticed, this
downpour’s created a small mud current running over my shoes. I
don’t exactly fancy swimming in a river of mud down through this
godforsaken mine.”
Definitely not a good idea.

As if the
weather mocked our predicament, another bolt of lightning lit the
opening and a howl of wind blew more rain inside. The contrast
after the shock of brilliant light made the mine opening even
blacker. Thunder threatened to shake the dirt ceiling. An
iridescent beam flashed across my eyes and then bounced off the
frightened faces of my friends and slowly traced down a crack on
the side wall. Four pairs of eyes followed Rylee’s little
flashlight.

A blast of cold
air followed by a stream of water coursed into the opening. It
pushed against my calves. “Shit!” escaped from my lips before I
could stop it.
Freakin’ freezing!
As my footing started to
slip, I grabbed for whoever was close enough to help keep me from
landing on my butt. My fingers found cotton and some kind of strong
material. I clenched tightly, then realized I’d managed to grab the
top of their jeans and my fingers now pressed against warm, taut
abdominal muscles.

Strong hands
gripped my arms and helped me upright. “You okay?” Brent’s hot
breath brushed against my ear.

“Yup…
Th-Thanks.” I swallowed. “You’re lucky I didn’t pull your pants
down.”

Brent chuckled.
“We’re going to have to move further in.” His hand stayed on my
forearm. “Zoe’s about to go water skiing and she’ll take anyone
down who’s in front of her.”

“I’m not
stepping any further into this pit of darkness!” Heidi screeched.
“There is NO way we’re getting lost inside this tomb. What if some
rabid animal bites us?”

Lightning
erupted again, followed by a loud, thick and deep shattering crack
that sounded nothing like thunder. A massive crash shook the ground
which made me jump. From the splashing sounds around me, I wasn’t
the only one. I pivoted around towards the entrance of the mine.
Rylee sloshed her way past me and flashed her little light on the
dark opening.

You’ve got to
be jokin’!

Instead of a
small gap, where we’d crawled through, a humungous fallen tree
trunk covered it. Rylee shone the light around the gap again. She
paused at the bottom. Water gushed into the mine, creating more of
a mud slide around our feet and legs. It ran down the slope leading
further into the darkness.

Brent muttered,
“Ah, shit.”

Heidi
whimpered, but didn’t cry out.

“We’re
trapped,” I said, my heart slamming against my ribcage. “W-What the
heck are we gonna do?”

A strange howl
erupted further inside the mine and echoed off the walls. Rylee
dropped her flashlight. Dark turned to pitch black.

Chapter
2

“What the hell
was that?” Brent asked.

“Dammit!” Rylee
swore, followed by splashing water.

“What’re you
doing?” I hated being in the pitch black.
I knew coming in here
would be a mistake.

“Trying to find
my stupid keys. That flashlight better still work.” More splashing
and sloshing sounds echoed through the cave. “Got ‘em!” Metal
jingling together sounded like a little musical bell.

Thank goodness
the key light came back on – dim but still beauty to my eyes. We
moved closer together.

“Awwwweeeeeeehhheee!” The strange noise from before sounded
again--closer this time. Ringing inside my head intensified as my
heart thundered against my ribcage.

“I-Is it s-some
kinda animal?” Heidi pressed closer, pulling us all into a tighter
circle.

Rylee released
a nervous laugh. “Probably some old miner’s ghost stuck in the
mine. It’s ticked we’re in here.”

“Gimme a
break.” I snapped, not meaning to. “Sorry. I don’t want to be
here.”

“Awwwee—ow!”

What the—?

Brent
straightened and stepped back toward a dirt wall. “No,” his head
shook as he spoke, “I’m gonna freakin’ kill him.” He took a step
into the sloping mine. “Seth! Get your ass up here NOW!”

There was a
moment of silence followed by booming laughter. Rylee turned the
light further into the mine.

Seth appeared
around the darkened corner two minutes later looking like Mr. Clean
in his white short-sleeve tee shirt, faded blue jeans and short
cropped hair.
At least the top half’s Mr. Clean.
His jeans
and sneakers were covered in mud.

I skipped over
him to the tall, lean, dark-haired guy walking beside him. The
complete opposite in dark jeans and black shirt ‘The Beatles’
emblazed with a Union jack design on his chest. Even with Rylee’s
small light his eyes matched his hair, their reflection dark
against the dim light. His hands were stuffed into his back pockets
and as he chuckled at something Seth muttered. I heard my own
breath catch.

I couldn’t stop
staring.
Cute, very cute.
My heart sped up a few erratic
beats as I wondered how his voice sounded. Then I remembered they’d
just scared the crap out of us. “Seth, you’re such a dill-weed.
Poor Heidi’s nearly pee-ed her pants.”

“Sorry,” Seth
said, his baritone echoing off the nearby walls. “We broke in here
when the storm started. I hope I didn’t scare you. We were just
messing.”

“It wasn’t
funny. At all,” Heidi said.

“Sorry. We were
just around the corner when we heard you guys crawl in.” Seth
craned his neck, trying to look behind us. “No one else?”

Brent stepped
forward. “They all ran for their cars. Did you break the board at
the entrance?”

“Yup.” Seth
grinned, flexing a massive arm muscle. “By the way, this is Kieran.
He moved in down the street from me a couple of days ago.”

“G’d ev’nin’.”
Kieran’s low voice carried a thick accent.
English?
Australian?

Rylee sloshed
over and hugged Seth and then Kieran. “I’m Rylee.”

“Nice to meet
you.” Kieran politely stepped back.

Heidi waved a
little hand, then reached for hair to play with out of habit. Not
finding any with the new hairdo, she scratched her neck instead
“I’m Heidi. Are you from England?”

“Och.” He
smiled and shook his head. “Not hardly. I’m from Inverness, a wee
town in Scotland.”

Brent nodded
and held his hand out. Seth slapped the front, then back. The shake
was their Boy Club greeting they’d made up in third grade and,
sadly, still used it. “’Eh, Kieran. I’m Brent, the music man.” He
patted the guitar case on his back that I’d completely forgotten
about. He hummed a few chords of “Auld Lang Syne.”

Kieran
grinned.

I stepped
forward and inhaled trying to think of something witty to say. The
deep breath killed all thought processing and instead gave me the
opportunity to breathe in Kieran scent.
Probably some aftershave
mixed with the Highland waters of Scotland.
Trying to appear
cool I crossed my right ankle over my left and nearly fell into the
running water. Thank goodness for the dimness. “Hu-hello,” I said,
groaning inwardly at the rust in my husky voice. “I’m Zoe. Fancy
meeting you in such a…a… memorable place.”

“Speaking of
which,” Brent said. “Do you know a way outta here? Zoe seems to
think we’re trapped.”

“We’re not
trapped.” Seth pushed passed us to the opening of the mine. Rylee
shone her little light at the jammed entrance and we all moved
closer to Seth. He spread his feet and squatted down to push
against the tree trunk. Brent and Kieran joined him, their arms
flexed with exertion against the pale flashlight.

“The tree’s
not… going to… budge.” Seth grunted as he pushed harder. He lost
his footing and crashed to his knees in the rushing water. “Crap.”
He grabbed Brent’s outstretched hand and vaulted up, soaked to the
waist. “There’s a run off rain spout by the mine opening, the tree
must’ve took it down as it fell. That’s why there’s all this water
running in here.”

My teeth were
nearly rattling out my head. I blinked in surprise, not realizing
how cold I’d become.
Or maybe it’s just the mine.
Or the
fact that we were stuck here! I hated this place, but wasn’t about
to admit it out loud. Wringing my hands, I pressed my lips together
to stop their trembling. Images of being forced into the deep, dark
pits of the mine, and never being found, galloped through my
head.

Seth reached
toward Rylee. “Give me the light. We had one but it died after two
minutes. We’ve already been a ways and didn’t find anything in the
dark. I’ll go further to see if there’s a dryer place we can wait
the storm out.”

“I’m not moving
from this spot.” Heidi clutched my arm and pulled me tight against
her. My shoe, half sucked into the bed, made me almost fall
face-first into the cold water.
Great, mud-caked hair.

“Seth’s right,”
Kieran said. “We can’t stay here. We’ll be sliding down the mine on
our arses.” He splashed past to stand by Seth. “I’ll come with
you.”

“Don’t go,”
pleaded Heidi.

“I’ll stay.”
Brent gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he stepped between
me and Heidi.

Rylee slipped
by and stood on the other side of Heidi. “They have to look. If
we’re gonna be here all night, we can’t stay here waiting to be
rescued. Nobody even knows we came this way. They were all running
for the cars.”

“We should’ve
done the same thing.”
My gut was right before.

In the
semi-darkness, I watched Heidi collapse in tears against Rylee.
Then two boys, and our only little light, disappeared into the
darkness. Tears welled but, breathing deep, I fought them back
down. We didn’t need any more waterworks at the moment. It was
dark, cold and silent. My heart hammered and fear gnawed inside
me.