Searching for Anna by Jenifer Carll-Tong (best classic books of all time .txt) 📕

running toward, but whatever it was, she knew it would lead to Will.

The ground leveled off and Phoebe could see an officer grab the rope from Jack and yell at him to get back.

"I want to help," he yelled back. "They are my friends!"

Phoebe's stomach lurched. His friends – Will and Wendell.

"You can help by keeping those women back," the officer replied, running toward the group of officers. Jack turned around to see who the officer was referring to. When he saw Phoebe, he ran to her.

"Jack!" she said, her voice cracking. "What's going on? Where are they?"

Jack's face looked so grave, she thought she was going to be sick. She had asked the question but was afraid for the answer. She felt the ground spinning again. Jack grabbed her by the shoulders.

"It's a cave-in. A sinkhole over an old mine shaft. This is an old tunnel, not used anymore, so no one noticed the decay."

She was absorbing the information, but the real question still had not been answered.

"But what about Wendell and – and Will…" her voiced cracked.

Jack seemed unable to answer. With one swift motion, Phoebe pushed herself away from him and ran in the direction of the State Troopers. She tried busting through the line of men, but one of them caught her and held her in place. He wasn't a very tall man and Phoebe was able to see over his shoulder. Several yards past the men, lying face down, was Will. The lower part of his body was spread eagle, not moving. She couldn't see most of his upper body. He lay so still.

"Is he – is Will – oh please no, please tell me he's not…" she begged the officer.

Just then, Will moved enough for his head to poke above the surface of the ground.

"GET ME THAT ROPE NOW!" he yelled frantically.

Phoebe's heart soared at the sound of his voice. Relief flooded her body, but the sensation did not last long.

"What's going on? Why doesn't someone give him a rope?"

"Calm down, Pastor. We are trying to figure out a way to do just that, ma'am."

She didn't understand. Why didn't someone just walk it over to him…

Just then, she heard Will grunt and watched in horror as the ground around him moved. It was collapsing slowly.

"Will!" she screamed.

"Phoebe?" he yelled back. "Keep her back! Don't let her near here!"

She was shaking uncontrollably. Never in her entire life had she been so frightened.

She watched as they tried throwing the rope to Will, but they couldn't get it close enough for him to grab it. They tried tying the end into a lasso, but still it fell several feet short.

"I can't get it there," the officer throwing the rope hollered back. "And if I try getting any closer, my weight's gonna cause it to collapse more."

As he spoke, small pieces of turf surrounding Will's prostrate body continued to break away.

The men near Phoebe discussed options, but none of which were feasible. They were running out of ideas.

"Let me do it." The words were out before they had even formed in her mind. "Let me get the rope closer to him."

The entire group of men looked at her incredulously.

"It's the only option you have," she argued. "I weigh far less than any of you. I'm the only reasonable choice."

"I'm sorry, Miss Albright," an older officer answered her, "but we can't risk your life. Besides, if it worked and we saved Caffey's life, he'd kill each one of us for putting you in danger."

The ground heaved again. "HURRY!" Will screamed.

"There isn't any time to argue with me!" Phoebe cried as she threw off her coat. "Tie one rope around my waist and give me another one for Will and Wendell. When I get close enough, I'll throw it to him. If the ground caves beneath me, you can pull me up."

Another officer grabbed a rope. "We haven't a choice, men. Little – come secure this around the pastor's waist."

Frank Little ran to Phoebe and expertly tied a knot unlike any she had ever seen. As she watched him test it - even in the midst of this turmoil - she still wondered at the vast talents of the Michigan State Troopers. Another officer handed her the end of a long rope. She looked at it and handed it to Officer Little.

"Tie a knot at the end – a good one. It will make it easier for them to grip."

The young officer nodded in agreement and secured a sturdy knot at the end of the rope. Phoebe turned toward the hole and prayed.

'Lord, please help me. Help me to save them.'

She walked toward Will slowly, testing each step before placing her entire weight on the foot. She had moved several feet before one of her steps seemed unsteady. She felt the ground move slightly but was still too far to throw the rope to him.

"Please, God, please!" she begged, closing her eyes. "Please help me!"

"Naw, Pheebs, like this," Will said, dropping to the ground on his belly. "Ya gotta keep your whole body flat and crawl with your arms and legs."

Phoebe rolled her eyes as she dropped to the ground. The last thing she wanted to do was get her dress dirty, but mama had said to play with Will outside, so she guessed she had no choice.

"Why do we have to do it like this?"

"Cuz, that's how they do it in the army. Keeps you safe from bullets."

"There ain't no bullets in my momma's garden."

"Maybe not now, but you never know. Besides, you don't know what dangers you'll face out there in the world. Someday you'll be glad I taught ya this," young Will said with a wink.

Her eyes flew open. Phoebe slowly dropped to the ground and lay on her belly. If her weight was distributed evenly across a greater surface area, not concentrated over her feet, maybe she would disturb the ground less and be able to get much closer.

She began moving forward, army crawl style, toward the hole. To her great relief, it appeared to work. Slowly and methodically, she crept across the ground, inch by inch, until she was nearly close enough to reach Will with the rope. She could hear him speaking into the sinkhole.

"Stop talking like that," Will was saying. She couldn't hear Wendell's response. "We are going to get out of this, you just have to trust me."

She was nearly close enough when she felt the sickening feeling of the ground giving way. Everything was sinking around them.

"No, Wendell, no!" Will was begging. "NOOOO!" he screamed one last time.

Phoebe looked up and could see that everything was caving, beginning around the hole and moving outward. Within seconds, Will would be swallowed. Frantically, she said one last prayer and swung the rope, praying it would reach him. The last thing she saw was the rope hit Will in the back, and then she was being jerked back out of the sinking hole by her waist, crushing her breath away. She felt herself being lifted, she saw Jack's face, and then everything went black.