In dim light and shivering uncontrollably, Jessica peered towards the black hole, her only escape from the chamber. The water level had dropped quite a bit in the past few hours and she felt calm.
So calm.
Way beyond terrified.
She called out. But nothing came back except the echo of a rasping voice that no longer sounded like her own. ‘Hello, are you there? Are you there? You there? There?’
Who was he? And what the fuck had he meant? Blame your father. Blame your father for what? She’d been blaming her father since she was a little girl. Now she’d do anything – anything, to see him one more time. A chance to tell him she forgave him. For everything. He wouldn’t survive another loss, not after Mum. Losing Mum had turned him into a heartless monster she hardly recognized from before – if ‘before’ even existed outside of her imagination.
She felt drowsy again, began talking to Robert about their hopes and dreams for the future, the only way she’d been able to stay awake. Sleep now would signal the end. But she was tired, so very, ve-ry tired.
Drifting . . .
Floating away . . .
Sucked into a warm tunnel that took the pain away . . .
Jessica woke with a start as a draught of air, barely noticeable, kissed her face. Was she dreaming? Hallucinating?
No.
There it was again.
She wept hysterically as hope bubbled up inside her, choking her to the point of exhaustion. Either the wind outside had changed direction and she wasn’t far from the entrance to the mine, or there was a ventilation shaft nearby.
Either way she might be heard.
Please God, let it be true.