July 1998
Thirty minutes before…
Neve had run so hard from the mine that by the time she reached the hut, she was sure she would throw up. She was the first one back, the first one to crawl through the hatch. Despite it only being an hour since she’d been in that space with all of her friends, drinking and laughing and daring each other on, it felt a lot longer. Still reeling from what happened, all she could hope was that everyone was all right. She took a moment to try to calm her breathing, rationalise her mind. Her body was soaked and cold, her muscles aching. She couldn’t get over how dark it was down there. The field she ran across had been permanently lit, and that light shrouded the whole village, giving a sense that the place didn’t really have a night, just two variations of day. One artificial, one real. But the lights had been out for nearly a year, and the night was catching up on lost time. On her run, she couldn’t see the ground beneath her feet, and on several occasions, she fell in the wet mud.
As the minutes ticked by, Neve began to fear the worst. It was supposed to be a bit of fun, a final hurrah before they all went in their different directions. For a moment she feared something terrible had happened. The scream that came from Chloe’s mouth when she saw him down there was enough to make anyone’s blood run cold. But she pushed it back; Chloe was just panicking, like they all were. Her scream would be something they would laugh at in time to come.
As if on cue, Neve heard the sound of a body slamming into the wall beside their entrance, and then she saw the shape of Baz slip through the gap. As he rose to his knees, Neve could see blood on the side of his head.
‘Shit, Baz, are you OK?’
‘Yeah, I’m fine.’
‘What happened?’
‘I fell over an old wheelbarrow or something. It’s so bloody dark down there I couldn’t see.’
‘Me neither.’
‘Are you hurt?’
‘No, a bit shaken up, but fine.’
‘Is no one else back yet?’
‘Not yet, just you and me.’
‘I’m sure everyone is OK,’ he said quietly, and Neve could tell it was a question more than a statement. The panic began to rise again, and it felt like if she didn’t talk it would take over.
‘I can’t believe he was down there.’
‘Me neither. Fucking weirdo.’
‘You think he’ll call the police?’
‘And say what, he was trespassing like us? No, he was just as wrong to be there.’
‘Do you think…’
Before Neve could finish her sentence, Georgia crawled through the hatch and joined them, her mascara streaked down her face from sobbing. She was trying to say something, each word snagging on a breath she couldn’t draw. Reaching over, Baz took her firmly in his grasp and told her to take deep, measured breaths. Neve fell silent as she witnessed a side to Baz she’d not seen before. The class clown had a tenderness, a kindness. As Baz calmed Georgia, bringing her back from the brink of a panic attack, Neve crept to the hole in the wall. She knew she wouldn’t be able to see anyone running towards her, but she looked anyway, desperate for the rest of them to arrive. After a few minutes – or an hour, she wasn’t sure – Jamie and Michael crawled into the hut. Michael was pale and quiet. As soon as he cleared the entrance he slumped up against a wall, his head in his hands. Neve barely gave him a glance, her attention focused solely on Jamie. He was covered in dirt, out of breath, but otherwise unharmed.
‘You OK, Neve?’ he asked calmly.
‘Yes, are you?’
‘Yes,’ Jamie said as he gave Neve a kiss on the lips. ‘Baz, Georgia, are you all right?’
Baz said he was fine, and Georgia nodded, calmer but still unable to form words.
‘Where are Chloe and Holly?’ he asked, looking around at their group of five that should have been seven.
‘We don’t know,’ Baz said, his attention still on Georgia.
‘Shit. We have to go back,’ Jamie said.
‘I don’t want to go back down there,’ Georgia said, her words still catching on shallow breaths.
‘You can stay here, we don’t all need to go.’
‘I can’t either,’ said Michael, unable to lift his head from his hands, prompting Baz to walk over and rub his shoulder, reassuring his friend it was all right to not want to go either. ‘Jamie, are you coming?’
‘Yes.’
‘Neve.’
‘Yes.’
‘Neve, no.’
‘Jamie, yes.’
‘Neve, I don’t want you to. I don’t want anything to happen to you.’
‘Jamie, I’m going. Chloe might be stuck, Holly too. I want to help.’
‘Baz, please, talk sense to her.’
‘Jamie, if she wants to go, she wants to go.’
‘But…’
‘I get you want to protect me,’ interrupted Neve. ‘It’s sweet, but I am capable, and I don’t need your protection.’
‘She’s right, mate. Come on, we’re wasting time.’
Neve held Jamie’s eye, not prepared to blink first. He nodded, defeated, and moved towards the hole to crawl back out into the field. She followed and Baz brought up the rear. Georgia and Michael exchanged looks; they didn’t want to go back. But they knew they had to, so they joined their friends. Quietly, they made their way towards the barbed wire fence, hoping at any moment both Chloe and Holly would dash towards them. With each step, Neve panicked, praying that she wouldn’t have to go back down the mine again.