Ransom (15 page)

 
But it had.
 

Just like that, all that I had held dear had been snatched away, now all I could do was pick up the pieces, if there were any left to gather.

10. RANSOM

“Gabriel,” I hollered over and over, until my throat went hoarse.
 

I was still in shock that just minutes before, Gabriel had been doing what he had done since he had been seven-years-old, yet now he was buried beneath mounds of rubble. I eased down into the hole that had opened up at the side of the stage, scared that I might inadvertently hurt him if the boards and debris shifted when I landed.

That was if he was still alive.

As soon as the unbidden thought entered my mind I chased it away. I couldn’t entertain those kinds of notions because if I did, it would mean that I was giving up on the idea that Gabriel had survived the collapse. Even as I moved the wreckage away all I could think was why couldn’t it have been Pa standing there on the stage, or even me. We should have been the ones buried beneath the rotting boards and rusty nails, dying, not Gabriel, never Gabriel.

“God takes the good ones back to Heaven sooner.”

 
Her voice came as clear as if she had been standing next to me. I shook my head, clearing everything away. I needed absolute focus, I needed to find Gabriel. Nothing else mattered. My heart was thudding in my ears and my breathing was ragged. My throat was raw from shouting as I pulled at the boards that concealed Gabriel. But when every piece of wood only revealed the same below, all hope that he had somehow managed to survive began to fade. He was ninety pounds soaking wet and with his arthritis that made his bones brittle, there was no way that his body could have withstood the sheer force and weight of the debris. The stage released another ear-splitting squawk. I wondered if it would completely cave in soon, burying us. In my mind it seemed better that we would die together, rather than have to go on without him.

Not knowing how much time I had left, I moved as fast as my body would go. My knuckles were bloody, splinters dug beneath my fingernails, but I kept digging. As I tossed the fractured wood aside I heard other voices. None of what they were saying registered in my mind, as if they were speaking a foreign language. The microphone, buried with Gabriel, crackled with static. It was a constant reminder that he was trapped and I couldn’t get to him fast enough. Tears welled in my eyes, I blinked them away.

“I need you Gab. You can’t die on me. I won’t let you,” I pleaded.

 
As if in answer to my vow, the next board I tugged away, revealed a tiny pale hand. Every instinct in me wanted to tear away the rest of the rubble right then, but the logical part of me knew that I had to be careful. The remains of the structure that surrounded us was teetering on the edge. If I was too hasty there was no telling if I might accidentally remove the only beam supporting the remains of the structure. If I did that, then it might cause an avalanche of debris to rebury him.
 

Carefully, I removed a few more boards. With every piece of wood that I cleared, more of Gabriel became visible. Part of his arm, the fabric of his white shirt, now stained with blood, then his white blond hair. When his face appeared it was nothing like I had predicted. In my mind I had imagined his blank eyes, staring through me in a death gaze, definitely not the grin that was painted on his face. Despite having too many cuts and bruises marring his marble white skin to count, he seemed to be in good spirits.

“I knew you’d come,” he said in a voice so low I could barely hear his words. “I saw it right after the collapse.”

A few of my tears dripped on his blood smeared face. I hastily wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. Gabriel was the one hurt and he was dry-eyed while I was acting like a wimp. His strength never failed to amaze me. I guessed his years of coping with chronic pain from his arthritis, allowed
 
him to smile in the face of what he had just been through.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, knowing it was the stupidest question I could have asked. Of course he was hurt how could he not be, but just how badly, I had no idea.

“I’m going to be fine,” he said.
 

The characteristic twinkle that always sparkled in his eyes was there.
 
I wanted to believe his words more than I had ever wanted anything else in life.
 

“They’ll get us out soon,” Gabriel said then coughed. He shot me a smile that was all too familiar, one that said he knew exactly what he was talking about. A bubble of blood formed on his lips. Seeing it made my already tense body lock a little tighter.

“I know,” I said.
 

I tugged off my shirt then lifted his head, so I could tuck it beneath him.

“Ransom. Are you down there?” I instinctively clenched at the sound of Pa’s
 
voice, made gruff by years of chain smoking.

“I’m here,” I yelled back.

I stared up through the hole that I had come through. As far as I could see there was no way I could ever get back up through it, especially not with Gabriel injured. Shards of panic pierced my guts. I was helpless, and had no idea how I was going to fix everything.
 

Before I could put much more thought into our predicament, I heard the buzzing sound of a power saw revving up. I was surprised that someone just happened to have a chain saw when we were in the middle of nowhere. All I could think was country bumpkins were smarter than I had given them credit for being.

“Is Gabriel alive?” Pa said.

 
I hated how blunt his question had been, as though he was asking what the weather was going to be like for the next day. I ground my teeth together, trying to maintain my cool. It was baffling how even in the midst of total devastation, Pa still managed to get under my skin.
 

“Ransom, answer me,” he thundered, long before I had a chance to reply. This time there was tension with a touch of panic in his tone. I knew where the anxiety came from. Gab was Pa’s cash cow, one, gauging by the frantic tone of his voice, he was scared of losing. There was no doubting that if Gabriel had been an
ordinary
boy, not the boy wonder healing medium, Pa wouldn’t have given two shits about what happened to him.
 

“I don’t know how badly he’s hurt, but he’s alive,” I shouted into the dust filled air. I had no idea where Pa was, but one thing was certain, wherever he was, he was safe.

“They’re going to cut through to get you guys out. You need to watch for them,” he responded.
 

I wondered if there was an ambulance already waiting for Gabriel or if it was on its way. I cursed the back woods location that we were in. I had no idea how far away the hospital was. I hoped it wasn’t a bandaid station like so many of the tiny hospitals in small towns. I wasn’t a doctor, but I knew that Gabriel’s injuries were much worse than could be fixed in a clinic.
 

“Okay,” I yelled back.
 

The sound of the saw grew closer now, seeming to be just a few feet away from us. Though I was happy that we would have help soon, I was terrified that cutting through the remaining platform might actually cause the rest of it to collapse. Trying to calm my negative visions of everything going to hell, I glanced down at Gabriel. He was still, but his expression was bizarrely peaceful, as if we weren’t in a dire situation.
 

As if in response to my thoughts, the structure yawned and shifted, leaving no doubt that we didn’t have much time left. Moments later, parts of the stage rained down around us. I threw my body across Gabriel. Miraculously the area where we were was spared, but only a fool would believe that our luck wouldn’t run out soon.
 

The buzzing whir of the power saw grew louder until it seemed to blot out all other sounds. A thin strip of light a several feet to our right, cracked the gloom of our prison. I locked on the tip of the saw, pushing in and out rhythmically as it cut through the thick boards. Sawdust sprayed in the air around the opening, that was gradually forming. After a few more pieces of wood fell away, our rescuer’s arms became visible, the muscles and tendons tight from wielding the power saw. Soon his face came into view.
 

Bits of wood and sawdust, gathered in his thick black beard, making him look a bit like a dark Santa Claus. His eyes were squinted, deepening the wrinkles at the corners, as even more dust kicked back in his face. I locked on his camouflage ball cap that bore the logo of what must have been a local Sport and Game store called Jacks. Seconds later there was a hole big enough for us to slip through. Instead of crawling inside, the man who was to be our salvation stepped back. Another man who looked to be in his early fifties with a clean-shaven face and dark eyes, leaned in. He shone a flashlight around the space until it came to rest on us.
 

I knew I should have said something, moved, done anything other than look at him blankly, but I was almost too scared to breathe with the unnerving noises that were coming from all around us. A total collapse wasn’t a possibility, it was inevitable. I only hoped that we were on the other side of the hole when that happened.

“You guys okay in there?” the man said to me, not bothering to identify himself.
 

“Yeah,” I said. My voice was raspy from crud. I coughed a few times, trying to clear my lungs .

“Good. Now I need you to help me here Ransom… it’s Ransom right?” he said. His voice was calm and reassuring. I clung to it with every bit of my being.

“Yeah, it’s Ransom and this is Gabriel,” I said as if the man had no idea who we were. I knew I sounded stupid, but I was doing everything I could to stay cool, even though I felt like a guillotine was balanced by a thread above our heads.

I stared down at Gab. He had closed his eyes, and from what I could see had lost consciousness. If it was even possible, my heart beat faster. We were running out of time. If Gab didn’t get help soon he wasn’t going to make it.

“Ransom, I’m Ted, I’m a paramedic and I’m going to help your brother but it’s too hard for me to get in there so I’m going to have to depend on you to get your brother to this opening. Do you think you can do that?” he asked.
 

I nodded ascent.

“Yeah,” I said, realizing he probably couldn’t see me well enough to know that I had agreed. Ted’s face was grim, yet determined. It gave me the molecule of hope I needed to snap into action.

“What do you want me to do?” I said.
 

“Okay we’re going to push a backboard through the hole. I’m going to need you to put Gabriel onto the board, then strap him in. There’s a rope attached to the end so you won’t have to do much work, just guide it as we slowly pull it out.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” I said.

Moments later a wooden backboard cleared the hole and edged closer to me. Since it wasn’t far enough in, I was forced to release my hold on Gab to retrieve it. Letting go of Gabriel, even for a few seconds felt like the toughest thing I ever had to do. A few feet later my hand made purchase with the cut out at the top of the board. I tugged it toward me. The space was cramped and it was difficult to pull the backboard through the debris, but I managed to get it next to Gab. I released a relieved sigh, satisfied that I seemed to have gotten it right.

“Hang on Gabriel, it won’t be long now,” I said.
 

He didn’t respond and was so still, that for a moment I was unable to move. Another loud groan from the stage and a cloud of dust, dumped pure adrenalin into my blood and shoved me back into action.
 

I gazed down at Gabriel. I had carried him more times than I could count, but right then I was terrified to touch him. A million reasons why I shouldn’t move him formed in my mind. What if his leg was broken, or maybe even his spine? What if moving him left him paralyzed?
 

The platform gave another shudder, silencing all my concerns. Whether I liked it or not I didn’t have a choice. I either moved him or waited for everything to fall in around us. I shook my head derisively. The tight space drew in even closer. Panic niggled at the back of my brain then a voice reminded me that I hadn’t been able to save Ma. Now history was going to repeat itself.

 
I positioned Gabriel’s arms across his chest, I hated how limp they were, and how even when I had adjusted him he showed no signs of life.

“Fuck,” I breathed. “I’m going to move you now Gabriel,” I said.

His blue eyes popped wide suddenly. I drew in a stilted breath of relief. I swallowed a few times, ignoring the wave of emotions that threatened to unhinge me. The absolute trust in Gabriel’s gaze was all I needed to continue; I prayed I didn’t mess him up forever.
 

“It’s okay Ransom,” he said in a soft whisper.

I pulled my eyes away from his, just long enough to unbuckle the black cloth straps that secured two grey woolen blankets to the backboard. I tucked one around Gab and used the other to line the backboard, then draped the straps to the sides.
 

“You’re going to want to keep his spine as straight as possible then roll him like a log toward you. Make sure his head is facing this way,” Ted piped in.
 

His voice startled me because I had been so focused on the task at hand that I had all but forgotten him. He locked me in the beams of light from the flashlight.

As gently as I could, I slipped my hands under Gabriel’s head and torso, I lifted him, tilting him as straight as possible toward my chest. I supported his neck as much as I could, then reached for the backboard that was just within my grasp. Gabriel groaned ever so slightly, a sound that would have meant little if it had come from anyone other than him. He’d had more than his share of pain and suffering over the years so a whimper for him was equivalent to a scream from a regular person.
 

Sweat trailed down my forehead and temples, and every muscle in my body felt like it was stretched taut, like the over-tightened strings of a guitar. Still crouched, I slowly rotated his body until his head was facing the exit. Now more than ever I was thankful that Gabriel was such a lightweight. Positioned as Ted had instructed, I eased Gab’s back against the hard surface. He winced when his form came to rest on it, yet he didn’t utter a syllable of complaint; his quiet acceptance hurt me more than if he had cried out.