Chapter Twenty-Two

Walkers Corner, May 1999

The girl reached as far under the rock ledge as she could, then wiggled her shoulder to stretch farther. The sound of water flowing was louder here. There was a hint of sweet fresh air. That meant there was an opening to outside. A way out of this cave. She had to find help before those horrible people got back. Mama needed help.

She lay her face on the ground close to the opening, searching for anything that wasn’t darkness. Nothing. There was rock above and around her. Her hands hurt. Her whole body hurt. Don’t think about spiders and bugs and weird animals. The air smelled a little better. Go. Sharp rocks scraped her small body as she squeezed under the ledge. What if she couldn’t find her way back? Don’t think. Good, now there’s more room. Just keep going. Go to the air. Find help for Mama.

Now there was enough room to crawl. Do snakes live in caves? Last year, in sixth grade, they’d learned about bats. There might be bats here. Bats lived in caves but flew out every night to hunt for bugs. Maybe there were bats above her. Maybe she could find where they flew out to hunt. Oh, please, please God, please help us.