Route 262

~16~

We step inside. 

The cave is bigger than it looks from the outside; I hug my jacket closer to me. "Turn on your flashlight," Sydney whispers, as if the cave could hear us, as if it were a living, terrifying creature. The tiny LED lights from our phones go on; they create tiny circles of light, which make up our entire understanding of the cave. She places her hand on my forearm, covered by jacket; it's not gripping it, but it just rests there.

We look into the cave, and there's a river of ice which descends from the rocks, frozen into place by the cold temperatures. Inside the cave, it somehow feels even colder than outside, and maybe it's the claustrophobic black that encompasses us, or the fact that we feel so small.

His tracks stop about ten feet into the cave - that's as far as the snow goes. There's only one way to go - down - so that's where we descend to.

"James!" Sydney calls, her voice echoing off the walls. Her voice sounds suddenly, and I jump. "James!"

We keep walking along rocks deeper and deeper into the cave, shining our flashlights for guidance.

"Hey - James!" I call, finally, and my voice sounds so much weirder in this high cave. It's somehow thinner, sounding less sure of myself.

"What if we don't find him?" Sydney says. "What if he's gotten really hurt in here - or -"

She breaks off, looking at the high walls and rocky ceiling. 

"Do you think he's in here?" she finally says, and it's not really a question at this point, as much as a plea for reassurance. 

And as much as I wish I could give it to her, the only thing that I can say is "This is the only shot we've got at looking for him." She nods, not looking brave so much as like she's trying really hard to be.

A couple minutes in, we come to a split in the cave - a thing we explore with the two beams of our phone flashlights. There's a tunnel going straight, and a smaller tunnel leading off to the right.

"Which one do you think we should take?" I ask Sydney.

She presses her lips together. "Let's split up," she finally says. "It'll be way faster. We'll go for fifteen minutes and turn around and then come back to meet."

"Are you kidding?" I say. "Do you know how wicked dangerous that is? To go off alone?"

"Dangerous?" and her voice sounds like it's rising. "You think it's dangerous to go off alone? Because I do too - and I think that every minute that James is heading off in here alone is a minute that he's more likely to - to -"

Her voice breaks off, and there's a hint of it again, her worry, the pain she's feeling.

I nod in the darkness, before realizing she can't see me with the hazy flashlights. "I - okay. Which one do you want to take?"

"That one," she says, pointing to the main one. "You take the right one," and the smaller one that branches off looms in front of me.

"Okay."

"Hey - Dante -" she says, pulling on my arm before I set off into the right one. "Just - thank you."

"For what?"

"For - being you. For helping me so much with this. For sticking with me. It's -" and she blows out a breath into the cave air, "it's not what I'm used to. Stability I mean. It's nice."

I shrug, unsure of what to say; she's staring off into darkness.

At last, she gives herself a little shake. "Well - I'll see you back here in half an hour. Turn around in 15 minutes, okay?"

I nod, and before she can say anything else, I duck into the right branch of the cave, feeling a pit in my stomach like it's the end of the world. 

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A/N

Just another quick shoutout to everyone still reading - you're absolutely amazing and I love you. The story's starting to wrap up!