74

Knock Out

Nick entered the cramped passage on his belly. It was a squeeze at first. The gritty stone caught and scraped at every movement. At this rate, Nick thought, they'd come out the other end looking like grated cheese. But after about twenty feet of claustrophobic squirming, the passage opened up a bit, and they were able to move along on all fours. It was still uncomfortable, but much preferable to crawling.

The farther in, though, the hotter and more oppressive the air became. A sulfurous smell began to bother Nick. He speeded up his pace, wanting to get to the other side of the passage, and became careless of sharp rocks jutting from the top of the passage. Suddenly, with a grunt, he fell flat. His flashlight went out.

The darkness was complete.

Lottica bit back a shriek. Panic trembled her limbs. "Nick! Nick! Are you okay?" she called as she scrambled forward groping for him in the blackness.

He didn't respond, but her hand found his ankle. She shook his leg, but he didn’t move. The panic grew in her. If Nick were badly hurt, she it’d be almost impossible drag him back out, and none of the adults could get in to help.

A tsunami of helplessness welled up and threatened to swamp her. She was all alone. Trapped deep in the earth in a strange land with the lives of her family at stake.

No fair! No fair!

Despair came close to drowning Lottica in sorrow and self-pity.

But, it did not.

Instead, her sense of powerlessness was quashed by a strange and sudden moment of déjà vu. Total darkness. A hot, claustrophobic tunnel.

She had been here before. Alone in a passage between hope and fear, decision and indecision, life and death. Not in her dreams, not in real life, but she had been here.

Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel, Gretel, Heidi, Dorothy, Harry, Luke.

Dead-parent stories.

This is what they were all about. Moving forward. Facing the harsh realities of life on your own. Whether it was cleaning the ashes out of the fireplace, herding sheep, staying on the yellow brick road, facing Death Eaters, or attacking a Death Star.

The lesson was clear. Get through the here and now, and let the future take care of itself, somehow.

Lottica breathed deep. She collected her thoughts. First, she dug the flashlight from her pocket and switched it on. There was just enough clearance in the tunnel for her to huddle over Nick's prone body and shine the light on his head. He had a gash near his temple bleeding freely. Placing her fingers on his neck, she searched for a pulse. She felt nothing at first, but she remained calm. Slowly she repositioned her fingers and finally registered a faint beat.

She gave his shoulders a gentle shake. "Nick, Nick. Come on, Nick," she urged. His body trembled slightly, and she scooted back a bit. She shook him again. "That's it,” she encouraged. “You're coming around."

And he did. His eyes opened. He breathed out heavily. Lottica thought he might try to sit up, so she put on a hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy, Nick. You hit your head."

"Man, did I ever. That was a big-time smack down."

"You're bleeding too."

He put his hand to his head. "Yeah, I can feel it. Is it bad?”

Lottica rummaged in her pocket and pulled out some tissues. “Here put this on it.”

Nick put the tissues against the wound and winced. He held it there for a minute. “Thanks. That’s helping with the bleeding. Let’s get to the other side of this tunnel and then we can take care of it."

"Can you find your flashlight?" Lottica asked.

"Let me see." He slowly raised himself to all fours. "It's right here.” He tried to switch it on but nothing happened. “I think the bulb is cracked."

"Here, take mine." She handed him her flashlight.

Nick took it and then, much more cautiously, crawled forward. Soon, he could see a glow up ahead. He glanced back at Lottica. "We're almost there."

Suddenly from far behind, they heard their father’s voice boom through the passage. "Nick! Lottica! Are you okay?"

“We’re almost there!” Lottica shouted back. And with that she felt she could finally look ahead.