Your Worst Nightmare (6 page)

“Feel free to tell us whenever you're ready,” Bobby
whispered sarcastically to Kristi. She grinned at him and tried not to laugh.

“A
troglobite
is an animal that has
adapted
over thousands of years to live in a light-free place,” Mrs. Hallett said loudly and slowly. “Because they spend their entire lives in the dark, most troglobites are blind. In fact, many don't even have eyes. They're also usually white or translucent in color, having lost the pigment in their skin. You see, they don't need it to protect them from the sun's rays, since they're never exposed to a light source. In fact, if you tried to take a troglobite out of the caverns . . . it would
die
.”

Mrs. Hallett paused dramatically. “We have a room over here where part of the lake is partitioned off so that you can see an actual troglobite for yourself! The room is very small, so you must come in groups of two or three, and very dark, so I'll use my flashlight to show you the troglobite.”

Standing at the back of the group, Kristi assumed that she would be among the last to see the troglobite. But Mrs. Hallett pushed her way through the crowd and walked over to a small opening in the cave wall just a few feet from Kristi. It was hardly more than a crevice.

Mrs. Hallett's eyes focused on Kristi. “Red Sweater, since you're so interested in troglobites, would you like to go first?” she asked.

“Um, sure, I guess,” Kristi replied as she glanced at Olivia.

The two girls squeezed after Mrs. Hallett into the tiny rock chamber. It was so dark that Kristi couldn't see anything, but she felt her legs brush against a metal chain near the edge.

“That's far enough,” Mrs. Hallett said, somewhere in the darkness.

Then she switched on an industrial flashlight and pointed it at a shallow pool near their feet.

Kristi and Olivia leaned forward at the same time to take a closer look. It was just a fish swimming in tight circles around a too-small basin of water, but there was something so
wrong
about it—

With skin stretched tight over the sockets where its eyes should have been—

With translucent skin that seemed as fragile as a butterfly's wing—

And the narrow veins under the skin, where the pink blood streamed—

The chunk of muscle in its chest, its very heart, twitching, thumping, pumping—

The fish flinched as if the light pained it, and Kristi wasn't sure but she thought—she
thought
—it tried to swim away from the bright beam. And yet there was nowhere for it to go.

“Oh, don't hurt it!” Kristi cried out before she could stop herself.

Mrs. Hallett gave her a look. “It's just a fish,” she said as she switched off her flashlight.

Kristi stumbled backward out of the narrow room, with Olivia right behind her.

“That was horrible,” Olivia said.

“Seriously,” Kristi agreed, nodding vigorously. “Why is this stupid field trip not over yet? I can't believe we were excited to come here. Now I can't wait to leave.”

The girls crossed to the other side of the massive chamber, where more thin metal chains served as guardrails. Looking over the side, Kristi realized that this side of the chamber was bordered by a steep precipice.

“That must be one of those big drops Mrs. Hallett told us about,” Olivia said. “I wish I had a rock or
something. I would throw it down there to see if we could hear it fall.”

“Ugh, at this point I don't even care how deep it is,” Kristi said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

Olivia gave her a sympathetic look. “Don't worry, I'm sure it will be over soon,” she said. “Remember, Ms. Pierce said our buses will leave no later than two o'clock. That's only a few hours from now.”

“Hey,” Bobby said as he and Tim joined them. “I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I'll ever eat fish sticks again.”

Kristi smiled weakly at him. She tried to ignore the gleeful shrieks of surprise that echoed across the cave from kids who were seeing the trapped troglobite for the first time. It was taking a while for the entire seventh-grade class to see the fish; though Ms. Pierce and Mr. Tanaka tried to keep everyone quiet, the kids started talking louder and louder. Some of the boys were even messing around.

“Hoooo! Look at me!” shouted Nick Vincenzo. “I'm falling to my
doooooom
!”

Kristi spun around to see Nick standing right next to the thin metal chain that looped around the chasm.
“Nick, don't be stupid,” she said. “Get away from the edge.”

Nick gave her a sly look. “Ooooh, I guess I'm stupid. I guess I should be
so scared
of this
hundred-foot
drop,” he said, mocking the worry in Kristi's voice. Then he stepped over the guardrail and balanced on one foot.

“Help! Help!” Nick cried in a whiny, high-pitched voice as he wobbled back and forth.

Everyone laughed, and Kristi knew that Nick was just goofing around. But the icy fist of fear grabbed her stomach and squeezed. She could see exactly how it would unfold: There would be a sudden
crack
, and a crumbling of rock beneath Nick's foot. Panic would careen across his face. His hands would flail, grasping at the rusty chain as, in one fast and terrible motion, he fell. His feet—his legs—dangling into the pit, his waist hovering on the edge. The weight of his very own body would drag him toward certain death as gravity worked against him.

“Nick,” Kristi said hoarsely. “Please.”

He ignored her—or maybe he didn't even hear her. Either way, she seemed to be the only one who noticed the cloud of dust rising as ominously as smoke beneath
his poorly balanced foot, or the clattering of pebbles as they plunged into the abyss.

And yet Kristi couldn't do a thing for him. As the fear rose into her heart, she could no longer speak; she couldn't even move. Just like all those years ago in the fun house, her feet were frozen. They would not do what she needed them to do. The horror of bearing witness to something so terrible, the
pointlessness
of it, the nightmare thought shrieking through her skull:

This is what it looks like when someone is going to die.

A blur of red hair, a stocky body knocking into her, pushing her useless self out of the way, and everyone stared, open-mouthed, as Bobby hauled Nick back from the edge. Bobby clung to the other boy, breathing hard, his hands squeezing Nick's wrist. “You okay?” he said. “You okay? You okay? You okay?” He sounded like a parrot, or a broken toy, croaking out the only words he could seem to remember.

When Kristi looked at Bobby, she didn't see the ashen color of his face or the wetness on his cheeks or the sick twitch around his mouth when he swallowed. She only saw him for what he was in that moment: a hero. Bobby had saved Nick's life; she was sure of it.
Those pebbles
had
crumbled away beneath Nick's foot. Kristi knew that Bobby had risked himself for another while she had stood by, frozen and silent. Some faraway part of her brain thought with relief that, at last, Bobby would be treated with kindness. With respect.

At least, until Nick shoved Bobby away. He even kicked at him a little. “Get
off
,” he spat. “You are such a freak. Are you
crying
? What is
wrong
with you?”

The echoes of the caverns made all the laughter seem louder than it really was.

Bobby furiously wiped at his face, but Kristi could still see the tear streaks.
Bobby was really scared,
she thought suddenly.
Really,
really
scared.

Finally unfrozen, Kristi moved toward Bobby. She reached out a hand to help him up, but he shrugged away from her and pushed himself off the earthen floor of the cave.

“Bobby,” she said in a low, urgent voice. “Forget Nick. That was brave.
You
were brave. It was amazing.”

“Whatever,” Bobby said with a loud sniff. He dragged his sleeve across his face, but he still wouldn't look at Kristi. “Nick is right—
I'm
the one who's stupid. He wasn't in any danger of falling.”

“I think he was,” Kristi argued. But Bobby had already started to walk away from her, staring at one of the tunnels like it was deeply fascinating. She was about to follow him when Olivia pulled her back.

“Kris, the tour is moving on,” Olivia said. “I think we should get back to the group.”

“Hey, there's some writing over here,” Bobby said, sounding normal again. “It looks like . . . a sign, maybe? It's bolted to this giant rock.”

“A sign?” Kristi repeated.

“Yeah,” Bobby said as he stepped over the guardrail. “I'm going to see what it says.”

“Whoa—wait a second. You're not supposed to cross the guardrail,” Kristi said right away.

“I'm just going to read the sign,” Bobby said. “I'll be right back. Promise.”

Kristi, Olivia, and Tim waited in silence for a moment while Bobby squinted at the rusty sign. Its faded writing was hard to read. Suddenly Bobby called out, “It's a maze!” His voice was a little higher than usual. “This tunnel leads to a maze! Come on, let's check it out!”

“Seriously?” Olivia asked in disbelief. “No way,
Bobby. We shouldn't leave the group. It isn't safe. Mrs. Hallett said—”

“But look,” Bobby interrupted her, pointing up. “There are lights all through here. She said that we can't go where there aren't any lights. The guardrails are just to keep us from falling into the pits and stuff. But there aren't any pits here. Just”—Bobby took a few steps forward—“just more tunnels.”

Already his voice was sounding fainter and farther away. Something about the thinness of the sound, combined with the way her heart was still pounding, pushed Kristi to follow him. “Bobby, wait up,” she said. “I'm coming with you.”

He turned around to face her, about fifteen feet into the tunnel, with a look of delight on his face. “Really?” he asked, not even trying to conceal his surprise. “Awesome!”

“Yeah, me too,” Tim suddenly said. “This tour is boring. A maze sounds a lot better.”

“Hang on,” Olivia spoke up. “What are you guys
doing
? Don't you think we should stay with the group?”

Tim shrugged. “Why would they turn on all those lights if nobody was allowed to go there? It's a maze.
Mazes are for kids, right? I'm sure it's safe. Maybe they just closed it for today since our whole class is here. But I bet it's fine for the four of us to explore it.”

Just before she stepped over the guardrail, Kristi glanced behind her. She couldn't see the rest of her classmates; even the teachers and chaperones had moved on. Kristi turned to Olivia. “You coming?” she asked.

Olivia's eyes darted back and forth between the maze and the official tour route. Kristi had never seen her look so uncertain. “You said there are lights?” Olivia finally asked.

Kristi nodded. “Yeah. A bunch of them. As far as I can see,” she replied.

“Okay,” Olivia said. She stepped over the guardrail at the same time as Kristi, and the two girls walked quickly to catch up to Bobby and Tim.

Somehow none of them noticed the rusty old sign swinging from one post of the guardrail.

It read, simply,
KEEP OUT
.

“Do you think we're going to get in trouble?” Olivia asked nervously. “What if Ms. Pierce or Mr. Tanaka notices that we left the tour?”

“So what?” Tim said, flashing a smile at her. “We'll
just say we got separated and mixed up, and then we couldn't find the group. They probably won't even notice that we're gone. I bet this maze ends at the same place as the tour. That's how it usually works.”

“What are you, some kind of maze expert?” Kristi joked.

“Yeah, practically,” Tim said with a laugh. “I visit my aunt and uncle in the country every October, and they grow this sick maze out of cornstalks every year. Kids come from miles around to go through it. Now
that
is an awesome maze. I have a really good sense of direction. That's why I never get lost.”

“Oh, then I guess we'd better stick with you if we ever find ourselves trapped in a cornfield,” cracked Olivia.

Soon they had walked far enough that they could no longer hear the echoes of their classmates' voices.

“Are we sure this maze even goes anywhere?” Olivia asked doubtfully. “Maybe we're just walking . . . for no reason.”

“You guys want to wait here a second?” Bobby asked. “I can go ahead and see. If it's just one long tunnel, we turn back now.”

“If you don't mind . . . ,” Kristi began.

“No way, it's cool,” replied Bobby. Then he hurried down the tunnel, disappearing around the bend.

“I wonder how long he'll be gone,” Olivia said, just to fill the silence. When no one replied, she grew quiet too.