Imminent
Written by: Machel
“I can’t breathe!!!…I..I can’t breathe!!” she gasped.
Drew groped around in the smothering darkness patting along the wet walls of the cave until he felt his sister’s body balled up in the small, dusty space. Grabbing the neck of her t-shirt, he pulled it up to cover her mouth and nose then laid his body over hers until the shower of rocks stopped pelting his back.
Once the sound of sliding earth quieted, the only noise left in the little tomb was Kellie’s muffled sobs.
“Shhhhhh…I can’t find the lantern, let me find the lantern, be quiet,” he whispered.
Pulling the shirt away from her face, Kellie inhaled a quick breath of dust and burst into a barking cough. “I CAN’T BREATHE!!!”
“Please, please just calm down Kellie! Try to be calm. I need to find the lantern!!”
She continued to cough until Drew heard her vomit onto the gravel floor. Taking her in his arms again, he laid his head on her back and let his tears escape quietly. He couldn’t let her hear him break. He had to get them out but he had no idea where they had taken the wrong turn. The tumble of rocks that had covered Tim and blocked the opening to the small tunnel had continued its shower of pebbles for what seemed like hours. He needed to think.
“Kellie, please don’t panic. We have some food and water, I just need to find the lantern. We will find a way out.” He said, hoping to sound sure of himself.
He began feeling along the bottom of the cave again. Looking for something, anything. But, found only more rocks and dirt. And a shoe. A shoe that was not connected to either his or his sister’s leg. A shoe that was still on the foot of their friend, Tim. Drew followed the leg up to mid-calf until he felt the base of a bolder pinning the boys body to the floor.
“Drew? My head hurts and I have to pee.” Kellie sobbed weakly from her corner of the cave. “Something keeps dripping me and I can’t breathe.”
“Just give me a minute Kellie, please. Please let me find the lantern…..”
“But Drew, Tim had the lantern…and the pack,” she whispered.
Tim had the pack. Tim had the damn pack. Tim left the pack back in the main cave because the hole they pushed through had been too tight. No pack, no lantern, no food.
“Something keeps dripping on me!,” Kellie sobbed. “I… I just peed, Drew, I’m sorry……I’m sorry….I…”
“It’s ok Kellie..it’s ok. Don’t worry. I have some matches. Hold on. It’s ok.” Drew soothed.
He stuck his hand into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the matchbook. Opening the cover, he ran his fingers over the unused matches inside. Two. Only two. He pulled off the first and struck it. Instantly, the sputtering flame rose. The smell of sulfur strong enough to cut through the dusty air. The space was small. Only the size of Drew’s closet at home. Close. So close. The limited air in the tiny coffin brown with silt. The opening to the cave was completely sealed with a mound of rubble. Tim’s lifeless legs sticking out of the heap, one cocked sideways at an odd angle.
“Drew?” his sister whispered.
He turned his eyes to her. A pale look of horror on her face as she gazed at her blood covered hands.
“Wh…what…wh…,” he stammered.
She turned her head to the side and Drew saw the gash that parted her hair and exposed white skull.
“My head hurts,” she whispered again.
The match sputtered out.
She coughed until she retched again in the darkness. Drew pulled the last match from the pack.
“No….save it,” Kellie whispered.
Drew quickly struck the last match and looked at his sister. She had leaned back against the cave wall. The front of her shirt covered with the gritty blood that had spewed from her mouth.
“Who knows we are here Drew?” she whispered so faintly that if they had not been in total silence, she would have been inaudible.
“No one.” He whispered back.
A shower of sand fell on them again and the match sputtered out.