Traveler by L.E. DeLano (book suggestions .txt) 📕

shining first on me, then around. It’s reflecting off the dust, but it’s enough light for me to see that it’s Ben’s hand I’m holding. The flashlight is in his other hand.

And I can’t see Finn.

I call his name once, then again, coughing to clear my lungs so I can call him louder.

Ben’s hand tightens on mine.

“Jessa,” he coughs.

I wave my other hand, trying to clear some more of the dust, and I look around wildly.

“Finn!” I call out again. “Finn!”

I pull my hand from Ben’s so I can feel my way along the wall and back the way we came, but he moves to get in front of me.

“Don’t go back there,” he says grimly. “Stay here—I’ll look.”

“No! Finn!”

I push past him and I am running, stumbling, falling to a pile of rock and debris so monstrously wide and tall, it’s impassable. I skid to a stop, tearing up my knees as I scream Finn’s name. I’m grabbing rocks and throwing them, determined to dig my way through.

“Stop!” Ben’s voice is urgent behind me. “You might bring more of it down! Stop!”

But I’ve found him. I’ve found his arm and it’s ominously still. Ben shines the flashlight down, and he reaches across me, putting his fingers to the wrist to feel for a pulse. He pulls his hand away, and something breaks inside me as he silently shakes his head.

“No! No! No, please! Finn!” I squeeze his hand, willing life back into it. “Finn. Finn.”

I begin throwing rocks like a madwoman; my fingernails break off and blood pours from my knuckles. I can feel the pile shifting and sliding, sending rocks down that bounce and strike me.

“Jessa! We have to get out of here!”

I can hear Ben’s voice, but I’ve got to get to Finn. It can’t be too late. It can’t be.

“Jessa,” Ben says urgently, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me back. “Come on! We need to get out of here. It’s still not safe!”

“I didn’t get to say good-bye.” I can hear my voice echo off the walls, high-pitched and shrieking. “We didn’t even say good-bye!”

The rocks shift again, sliding fast and covering Finn’s body completely as Ben drags me, kicking and fighting, through the tunnel. The mountain groans and shudders around us, but I can barely hear it over my own screams.

We emerge into the bright light of day, and I fall to my knees, so full of anguish I’m sure I’m going to die of it. I stuff my fist against my mouth to keep from screaming again. I know if I let myself start, I’ll never be able to stop.

Ben drops to his knees next to me.

“Are you okay, St. Clair?” His hand comes up to gently smooth back my hair. “Jessa?”

I can’t answer him. I hear him let out a huge breath as he pushes to his feet and digs out his phone.

“We have to call the police,” he says, pacing. “But I … I mean … how do I explain about Eversor? I don’t even…”

My head snaps up. “You can’t do that.”

“We have to tell them about Finn,” he says quietly. “His family will be looking for him.”

“He doesn’t have a family,” I say, and the pain washes over me again. “He didn’t have a family. He was alone.”

“What are you saying?” he splutters. “We can’t just—”

“He didn’t belong here!” I shout. “He shouldn’t have been here! He only came here to save me and now he’s gone!”

I cross my arms to my chest, and my forehead meets the ground again. “He’s gone.” I say it again, as I rock and rock, fighting with everything I have to keep it all in and failing as the tears pour from my eyes. I feel Ben’s hand on my back, and I cry for a very, very long time. Finally, I can’t cry anymore.

“You need to tell me what’s going on,” I hear Ben say softly. “All of it.”

“You’ll never believe me,” I answer, not even bothering to look up. “None of it will make any sense to you.”

“None of it makes any sense now,” he retorts. “A crazy teacher threatened your family, tried to murder us all, and disappeared before my eyes! What the hell!”

“My family!” I reach out, gripping his hand. “Ben, my family! Please—take me to my mom—and Danny. Please! I’ll tell you everything—just … later, okay? I need to know they’re safe.”

He pulls me to my feet, and we run for the truck. As we drive away, my eyes linger on the mine, and the coldness inside me spreads, leaving me hollow.

45

Aftermath

It’s a five-minute drive to the retirement home, and to my relief, my mom and Danny are fine. Mom is a little shaken when she gets a look at us—filthy, scratched, and bleeding. My numbed mind can’t even come up with anything, so Ben does it for me.

He tells her I was researching another ghost story, and he’d agreed to drive me to a spot in the foothills on our lunch break. We’d taken a tumble down a slope, so he brought me straight to her.

She bought it, but she’s pretty pissed at me for my carelessness, considering my arm still isn’t entirely better. I can’t stop shaking, and while she calls me out of school and goes to collect Danny, Ben makes me drink a cup of coffee from the vending machine. He watches over me like a mother hen as I drink every bit of it.

We follow Mom and Danny home, and we both sit quietly as she fusses over our scrapes and cleans and bandages all our scratches. Once we’ve both washed up, we stand staring at each other in the living room, and I have no idea what to say.

The last thing I want to do is talk. A curious numbness has set in. I can hear Danny starting up a game of Mario Kart in the other room, and I’m absurdly grateful for the background noise. I’m too empty to be surrounded by