The Tunnels Below by Nadine Wild-Palmer (best short novels of all time .TXT) 📕

and read aloud. Cecilia hugged her rucksack tight to her like a cushion.

“You’d better put that rucksack on,” said Kuffi.

Cecilia sat forward and put her arms through the loops, then settled back into her spot.

“Wilma-Rose says to travel back through the tunnels, simply pop your ears.”

Kuffi leant forward in his chair.

“Are you ready, little thing?” he asked.

“I’m going to miss you…” she replied.

“Yes. The feeling is a shared one.”

Cecilia put her thumb and forefinger on her nose, closed her eyes and swallowed hard, and her ears went pop!

30Hanging in the Balance

Cecilia’s eyes were firmly stuck together. She could feel a gentle rocking motion wobbling her from side to side. But she didn’t dare to open her eyes right away; she liked the dark these days. One good thing she had learnt was that the darkness didn’t frighten her any more. It wasn’t suffocating or empty. Living among the dwellers had taught her that the darkness wasn’t always lonely or dangerous either. Although it was full of uncertainty, it was also full of promise and excitement. She knew at that moment that she would always carry a bit of darkness around with her.

Cecilia smiled to herself and when she felt ready, she opened her eyes and found she was standing in the same empty train carriage that had left her in the tunnels. It was moving along steadily. For a moment it was hard for Cecilia to believe that she was back where she started after such a sensational journey. Yes, it had been treacherous at times, but having been through it she knew it was something she would never forget. She checked herself over and found she was still wearing the deepsuit the Divers had given her. She could feel the weight of the rucksack they had bought with their winnings from Mrs Hoots’ Haberdashery strapped to her back. She shoved her hands in her buttonless coat, feeling around inside her pocket, and there along with the sticky Cherry Drop wrappers was the badge Doltha had gifted her and… there was something else. It was the whistle that had saved her life! How did that get there, she wondered.

“OK,” she said aloud to herself. “Mum, Dad and Hester will be worried sick.” With that the train paused. Not again, she thought. It just sat there in the tunnel like it had done the last time. She walked up to the door between the carriages, the ones you hardly ever see anyone go through. She went through one, then she ran through the carriage and passed through the next and the next and the next until she was standing in front of the train driver’s door.

Cecilia knocked three times. Three knocks were returned and the door swung open.

“What are you doing here?” said a jolly voice. “Get stuck in the loop, did you?” He chuckled to himself. “Don’t worry, it happens every now and then. People forget to get off, or they’re too slow getting their bits together, or they fall asleep and miss their chance. We have to turn the train around, you see, so we take it round a big, deep loop.”

“Cool,” Cecilia said slowly.

“I’m Tarquin,” said the train driver, holding out his hand. “Come and sit up front. We will be back at Kennington in just a minute.”

“Thanks, Tarquin. I’m Cecilia,” she said softly.

“Wait a second. Cecilia Hudson-Gray? I got a call on the radio about an hour ago to keep an eye out for you! And here you were all along, turning around in the tunnels!” He slapped his leg. “Well, I’ll be darned. I’ll let them know I’ve found you and we are bringing you in.”

Looking out of the front window, Cecilia watched a crescent of light grow into a wide open mouth, revealing the tiny figures of people standing on the platform. The train stopped and Tarquin wished her the best of luck as the station manager held the train to talk to him and told Cecilia to take a seat.

Cecilia jumped off the train and sat quietly on the wooden bench, watching passers-by until the station manager was ready to take her back to the ticket hall.

“Right then, miss, let’s get you back where you belong.”

They waited in the office for her family and the police to arrive but she didn’t have to wait long. Cecilia saw them outside the glass, jumped up and rushed out of the door and into the arms of her family as first her mum burst into tears, then Hester and finally her dad.

“Where have you been?” Hester shouted. “You just vanished!”

“Apparently you got stuck on a train they were turning around in the loop,” her dad informed her.

“We’ve been waiting for you for hours. Obviously, we’ve been worried stupid…”

“How long have I been gone?” Cecilia asked.

Her mum pulled up her sleeve and looked at her watch. “Gosh, just coming up to twelve hours. It’s almost ten o’clock!”

“An hour for every year of your life!” Hester mused. “Can we go home now?”

“We can go when the police say so. We’re just waiting for them to give us the go ahead,” said her mum. Cecilia’s dad kept patting her on the head.

“Yeah! The police are here and everything!” said Hester. “They thought you’d been abducted by aliens,” she said creepily but Cecilia could tell she’d been crying a lot. She grabbed Hester and gave her a hug.

“Missed you. Wish I’d had you with me, I think you’d have had a good time, funnily enough!”

Hester hugged her back tightly.

“It’s not the same without you either, really boring,” Hester said as she pulled away.

“Well, it’s good to know you weren’t abducted by aliens,” said Cecilia’s mum. “We knew you were on the train. Because we all saw you get whisked away on it. But they worried you’d got off somewhere or something. Because you were gone an abnormally long time.”

“They thought you might have got off randomly, thinking you were at a station or something, but they were a