Page 98 of Little Girls Sleeping
Chad stopped and leaned against a large tree trunk, one of his rare breaks, and retrieved his water bottle. He drank four full gulps and poured some out for Cisco.
Inside his backpack there were various small hand tools for anything he might encounter or run into. He pulled out a pick and flung it across the trail, where it stuck into a tree. His frustration had become his nemesis, and it began to berate him and tell him to turn back, because finding Katie was impossible.
“No!” he yelled. His voice rang through a valley area and slowly disappeared. The eerie echo melted away through the trees and around the hills. “You can’t take her!” he said. It made him feel better as he retrieved the pick.
He pushed away any negative thoughts and began to make his way back to the Jeep. He would drive further into the dense area and hike another grid. This time it might be different.
With every step, Chad felt his energy and optimism begin to fade. It was out of character for him to give up when something became tough, so he pushed onward. He thought of Katie’s precise notes and how hard she had searched, refusing to admit defeat on finding the missing girl. Following her lead, he would not abandon the search until there were no areas left to explore.
For the past half-hour, he had thought he heard some low rumbling noises, but he couldn’t be certain. The last one had sounded like an earthquake, but the ground hadn’t moved.
He grabbed his radio. “Ferguson, section four, anyone copy?”
“Section one copy, McGaven here, go ahead.”
Chad was relieved to hear a familiar voice. “Strange noises,” he continued. “Sounds like an earthquake. Did you hear or see anything unusual? Over.”
“No, nothing unusual. Over.”
Chad was disappointed, but felt better that he had contacted one of the other teams. “Ten-four, over and out.”
Suddenly a loud rumbling followed by a boom interrupted the silence. Cisco began barking, then whining, and continued to rapid-bark.
Chad looked around to see if he could spot anything unusual. A cluster of trees in the distance appeared to move, and a fine dust rose in the air.
“What the hell?”
Explosion?
Unusual earth movement?
He moved to Cisco to try and calm the dog with gentle pats. “It’s okay, boy.” Then he sat down on a nearby boulder and waited.
More than fifteen minutes passed without any more noises or earth movements. His first thought was that maybe the military were testing some type of bomb; it had happened before, but this was strangely different.
Looking up at the sky, he knew that it had something to do with Katie. But what?
He waited for another couple of minutes before continuing his search.
Fifty-Six
Charles Rey had fallen into the unknown depths below the surface of the earth. One moment he had been staring at Katie with the intent to kill her, and the next he had vanished like a magic trick. There was no sign left of him. She couldn’t hear his voice yelling for help or any sound at all. After the shifting and booming from beneath the surface stopped, it became completely quiet.
Katie had managed to grab hold of heavy tree roots to stop her own plunge, but she didn’t know how much longer she could hold on in her precarious twisted, bent-over position. She pulled herself higher and craned her neck to look up. She estimated she was about six feet below the surface. Dirt kept pouring down, and it was only a matter of time before the entire area would cave in completely.
“Charles!” she yelled, and listened as her voice echoed and bounced around for what seemed like miles. Her mouth tasted of dirt. The utter darkness below her triggered momentary vertigo; she was unable to verify if she was upside down or the right way up as she stared down into the abyss.
When she looked up, she could see parts of the sky, but daylight was dwindling. She had no way of knowing if anyone was searching for her, or what would happen when darkness fell. Her face and body were covered in moldy-smelling dirt. It was in her hair and trickling down her back, combining with her perspiration. Her arms and legs trembled from exertion. Fear had woven its way into her mind, but it was something she needed to push away.
With all the strength she had, she slowly climbed upward and began to claw her way out. At first, the loose dirt was impossible to grip and she couldn’t find any hand- or footholds.
An image came into her mind of the picnic she’d had with Chad: the laughter, sharing life stories, and being comfortable together. Those moments were difficult to recreate, and when they happened, it was magical. She had begun building her life again—working cases, meeting new colleagues, and settling in at home.
Home.
She knew her uncle would take care of Cisco if anything happened to her. That thought pulled at her heartstrings.
The sinkhole reminded her of the stories from the early settlers in the mountain area who claimed that during the 1870s, towns completely disappeared, with not a trace remaining of buildings, homes, or livestock. No one knew what had happened to them. Could this have been the answer?
