Page 62 of Seeds of Christmas
“Rhi—my research partner—she fell.” I’m moving back to the edge of the hole as I talk, needing to see her, needing to know she’s still conscious. “Through snow cover into some kind of cave or hole or something. She’s maybe eight or ten feet down. I can see her, but I can’t reach her. She’s hurt—” I talk quietly so Rhi can’t hear the panic in my voice.
I can see her down there, a small figure in the darkness, her face turned up toward the light. There’s blood on her cheek from where she scraped against the rock.
“She’s panicking, Dad. She’s really panicking and I don’t know if I should call rescue but we’re so remote and the signal is shit and I only have one bar and?—”
Dominic wouldn’t be panicking. Dominic would have already figured this out. Dominic would have prevented this from happening in the first place because he would have stopped her from going off trail, would have been paying better attention, would have?—
“Carter. Breathe.”
Dad’s voice cuts through the spiral, anchoring me.
“You did the right thing calling me. We’re going to figure this out together. Are you safe where you are?”
I look around. The ground under my feet is solid rock, covered in a thinner layer of snow. The hole Rhi fell through is maybe three feet across, the edges unstable but not actively collapsing.
“Yeah, I’m—yeah.”
“Good. And she’s conscious? Talking to you? Did she hit her head?”
“Rhi! Did you hit your head?”
“No, I just scraped it,” she calls up.
“Yeah, she’s conscious. No hit to the head but, dad, she’s scared. Really scared.” I can hear her breathing from down there, too fast, too shallow. She’s hyperventilating. “She’s having a panic attack or something, I think?—”
“That’s normal. You’re going to help her. You hear me? You’re going to get her out.”
But I don’t know how. I’m going to fuck this up, I’m going to?—
“Alright.” He exhales. “Good. That’s good. Now, listen to me carefully, Carter, because this is important. First rule of rescue?—”
“—we never make a second victim,” I finish automatically. He drilled that into us when we were kids.
“Exactly. You don’t go in after her. You stay topside where it’s stable.”
“But Dad—” The urge to move, to do something, is clawing at me. “She’s hurt. What if?—”
“Carter.” His voice sharpens just enough to cut through the panic. “You are more help up there than down a hole. You understand me? You go down, that snow shifts, and now I’ve got two people trapped instead of one.”
I press a hand to my forehead. He’s right. He’s always right.
I can still see Rhi’s face tilted toward the light, small and scared and trying to be brave.
“I’m going to walk you through this, step by step. You’re not alone, son. I’m right here with you.”
The phone crackles, and I watch in horror as the signal bar flickers.
“Shit. Dad, can you hear?—”
“I’m still here. Carter, listen to me. First thing, you need to assess the space. Can you see the bottom? Is there standing water? Any obvious hazards?”
I lean over the edge, trying to see more clearly. The opening is irregular, and the cave below is dim, but I can make out details.
“Dry, I think. Rock walls, looks like it might be an old mining shaft that collapsed. Rhi’s sitting in the middle, her leg is—something’s wrong with her leg. She’s holding it.”
“My ankle,” Rhi calls up weakly. “I think I twisted it. Or broke it. I don’t know.”
“Okay. She’s lucid, that’s good. Any other trauma? She scraped her head, anything else?”
