19
In the Dark
Bryony woke; or at least she thought she did. It was difficult to tell because she was surrounded by darkness. A thick, impenetrable darkness that seemed to choke her…
Then she realised she was being choked. Someone had an arm around her neck, and was squeezing tighter and tighter.
“Get off,” she gasped, dispatching an elbow into her attacker’s midriff.
There was a high-pitched squeal, and the arm withdrew. Then the sobbing started. It was a familiar sobbing she’d heard the night before.
“Edwin?” It was so dark that she couldn’t see her stepbrother, even though he must only have been a few inches from her. “Is that you?”
“We’re gonna die,” came the mewled response. “We’re gonna be stuck down here forever and die a slow, painful death.”
“Yours will be a quick one of you don’t shut up,” growled Bryony. “So what happened?”
There was more snivelling before Edwin replied. “Don’t you remember? We got shrunk by Katya, and fell down a crack in the floor. You must have fainted. I thought you were dead at first.”
“No such luck,” muttered Bryony.
Edwin’s sobbing stopped. “Don’t say that. Don’t ever say things like that.”
“You were the one who started talking about dying. Anyway, I’d rather be dead than stuck in a hole with you.”
Edwin started crying again. “What’s going to happen to us?”
“You’re going to get a clump on the nose if you don’t stop crying like a baby. I’m going to look for a way out.” Bryony clambered to her feet and felt around her. It seemed as though they were in some kind of narrow passage. She groped her way along the walls, but managed only a few steps before a pair of bony arms wrapped around her legs.
“Don’t leave me,” begged Edwin, clinging to her as though his life depended on it. “Please don’t leave me alone down here.”
“I’m going to find a way out. You’ll slow me down.”
“But I didn’t leave you. I came back to help, remember?”
As much as she’d rather not, Bryony did remember.
“Yeah, well… I’ll come back for you later.”
“What if you can’t find me? I’ll die down here.”
“Don’t be so pathetic. There’s nothing down here but the dark. And the dark can’t hurt you.”
“It hurt my dad.”
“What has your dad got to do with this?”
Edwin gurgled and sobbed for a while, before finding his voice again.
“There was a power cut. A fuse blew, or something. Dad went down to the cellar to check it out, but tripped on the stairs. And that’s how it happened. That’s how Dad left us. He didn’t get a divorce. He didn’t run off with someone else. He died.”
Bryony didn’t know what to say. She had never for one moment thought…
Edwin gasped for breath, and Bryony wondered if he was having some sort of seizure.
“Calm down,” she whispered. “Take deep breaths.”
Edwin’s breathing slowed a little. Encouraged, Bryony continued to soothe him as best she could.
“I’m sorry about your dad. When did this happen?”
“Four years ago. I was six, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Mum was out at the time. I heard Dad cry out, but was too afraid to go down and look for him. So I just waited. Alone in the dark.”
“That must have been terrible.” Bryony suddenly felt very guilty. “If I’d known…”
“What difference would it make?” bawled Edwin, spraying Bryony’s face with snot and tears. “You still hate me. So go on. Leave me here to die on my own.”
Bryony wiped her face without complaining. “I won’t leave you. We’ll look for a way out together.”
She set off into the darkness again; but again only managed a couple of strides before her progress was halted, this time by a scream.
“You’re going too fast,” cried Edwin. “I can’t see you.”
Bryony turned round and reached out. After a few seconds fumbling, she found Edwin’s hand. It felt horrible to the touch: all moist and sticky. She tried not to think of how many times he had wiped his nose with it.
“OK?” she asked, trying to hide her revulsion as their fingers locked together.
Edwin snivelled what sounded like an agreement.
“Good. Let’s get going.”
Progress was slow, the narrowness of the passage and the blanketing darkness limiting their combined pace to an awkward shuffle. Bryony soon lost track of time; it was too dark to see the hands on her wristwatch, and though it felt like they’d been walking for hours it could only have been a few minutes.
But at least Edwin had stopped crying. In fact, he’d become rather chatty.
“My mum won’t believe me when I tell her about all this. Getting shrunk, chased by a cat that’s also a woman, and then falling through a crack in the floor. It’s incredible! But who do you think they are, Katya and Dawes? People who turn into animals, or animals that turn into people?”
“Can’t say I’ve given it much thought,” confessed Bryony. “The point is they wanted to kill us.”
“Yeah, but why?”
“Must be something to do with Wychetts. I think they…” Bryony’s voice trailed off as her probing fingers felt something ahead of her.
“What is it?” asked Edwin, uncertainty returning to his voice.
“A wall.” Bryony burst into tears. “After all this time we’ve come to a dead end.”
Now it was Edwin’s turn to do the comforting.
“Don’t give up,” he whispered, patting her shoulder. “We’ll just have to turn around and head back. There must be another way…”
“I’m too tired to go back. I can’t take another step.” Bryony sank to her knees, holding her head in her hands. “I’ll never get out of here, and I’ll never get to see Mum again.”
“You must miss her a lot,” said Edwin. “But don’t worry. We’ll get out of here. I’ll think of something.”
“That’ll be the day.”
“Don’t be like that. I’m only trying to help.”
“The only way you could help is by getting run over by a steamroller.”
“I’d say the same for you,” replied Edwin. “Only it would have to be a much wider steamroller.”
“Are you saying I’m fat?” snarled Bryony.
“Not technically fat. Just very wide for your height.”
Bryony would have punched Edwin if she could actually see his face.
“I hate you,” she seethed. “I hate you more than I’ve ever hated anyone else in the whole world.”
“I hate you even more,” retorted Edwin. “You’re vain, selfish, rude and ignorant. And they’re just your good points.”
“You’re pathetic, silly and ugly. Just like your Mum.”
“At least I’ve got a mum.”
That was it. Bryony couldn’t take anymore.
She closed her eyes, threw her head back and screamed.
“I… hate… yooooouuuuuu!”
The shrill noise echoed down the tunnel. Then the walls started shaking, and small chips of stone came falling down on them.
“Now you’ve done it,” groaned Edwin. “You’ve made the tunnel cave in.”
More debris rained down, and Bryony choked as the passage filled with dust. There was a mighty crashing sound, before something heavy landed right on top of her…