Oasis in Ohio

Chapter Seventeen

After a few minutes I was so glad that Mom and Dad had grabbed flashlights and batteries from emergency boxes that every building had now, for Mom's watch flashlight lasted all of 5 minutes. It was more than I thought it would but it was waaaaaay less than we needed.

Bella happily skipped along between our parents, carefully holding her arm to her body, while they talked in anxious, hushed, whispers above her.

From time to time I could hear a word or two of what they said but nothing that really belonged in a sentence together if you ask me.

 "Bears, whisper whisper, rock climbing, whisper whisper, Neosporin, whisper whisper, Magician Plague."

Their last words is what really confused me. Magician Plague? What, was there kid's party magicians plaguing the world? Honestly, I would take that over the current pandemic we were in.

I caught what I could when their heads turned as they scanned the walls with the flashlight and between the booming thunder outside.

I turned back to look at the tunnel opening, lighting striking down at a perfect moment to brighten everything, making it appear 2D.

That's when I heard it.

Sending shivers down my spine, I heard a chuckle. First soft and almost light before it sounded like a goblen. At that point it had started to echo through the tunnel, reaching Bella and my parents.

Instinctively I run to Bella and stood in front of her, facing down whatever was heading towards us. Looking over our shoulders for a quick second I saw the darkness. Beckoning and hungry. It wanted us. Wanted us to blindly run into it's gaping jaws and trust that we wouldn't trip over dead bodies of traps or anything.

I felt my heart rate rise as the echoes grew closer and louder. Adrenaline pumping it's way to every part of my body, from head to toe. My body obviously in fight or flight mode, it was hard to fight my instincts to do the latter and run off with Bella.

Just as I was about to turn, Bella wrapped her small arms around my stomach. I looked down at her arms encircling my body, one broken and in a make shift cast, the other perfectly fine.

As I looked down it felt as if a wave came and washed over me, dragging me into the ocean. I didn't resist as I knew it was pulling my fear away. Bella had already got hurt once because I ran, and I wasn't letting it happen again.

Placing a hand on her bad arm I scanned my surroundings for a weapon, not even noticing that the chuckling had grow to include more than just a single deep voice. Together it and two more voices, one higher, one deeper, cackled like witches.

Anxious thoughts started to bounce around in my head again, panic seeping into my bones, I finally landed in a weapon.

There, on the wall to our right was a broken piece of pipe. My swing wouldn't be as good as before sense I now had a nasty rat bite in my arm but I was sure with that metal pipe, I could do some damage.

Acting like I was fixing a shoelace I didn't have (using an old trick we read about in history class even though now it's be useless), I told Bella to go behind Mom.

With a resisting shake of her head she complied and ran to her back as I made my way to the pipe. In that moment I felt like I was back at home, when we were younger and I was sneaking through the house at 12 in the morning, snatching candy. 

Suddenly a distant memory seeped into my mind, crowding my thoughts. I was 7, it was just after Halloween and I had what felt like the haul of the century when we got home. Sneaking out of my room in my superhero pajamas I made my way to the kitchen, craving a Snickers bar. Waiting outside my door while my eyes adjusted to the light, I listened, feeling like James Bond. Nothing made it's way to my ears so I started my special mission. Weeks before I had learned how to avoid any floorboard creaks, planning my route so much I could've done it in my sleep, knowing that any noise would be ten times as loud than it actually was at night. As I followed the path with soft footfalls I had perfected I strained my ears trying to pick up the slightest bit of noise so I could tell if I needed to run back to my room.

Finally, after agonizingly long minutes I made it to the kitchen. Spying the locked candy cabinet in the corner of the kitchen I carefully made my way over. My blood was pounding in my ears as I pulled open the lock, opening the cabinet and finding my treasure. Just then I heard my parents' door opening, the loud groan pulling my mind away from the candy trove in front of me and the the ever rising fear I had.

Thinking quick I drove as silent as I could into the cabinet, bending my body in uncomfortable ways. Closing the door silently behind me I pushed myself into the back of the cabinet, hoping I was part of the cabinets dark shadows.

The steady and load thumps outside in the halls told me it was my Dad who was out there. We weren't religious of any kind but I prayed like any kid would. Chanting in my head over and over, "Please don't find me. Please don't find me."

Of course my Dad walked towards me, hiding in the corner candy cabinet of our kitchen. Suddenly dim light filled the tiny space, making me pull myself into the shadows even more. Holding my breath I watched as his hand slid into the bowl, pulling out a Mikly Way bar. As he slightly hummed fiery started to burn within me. They were eating my candy?! How could they!

Pushing my anger down I stayed silent as he closed the door, the lock sliding into place. Panic seized me in every way it could. I obviously couldn't knock now, I would be in more trouble for being up at 12 in the morning than in the candy cabinet.

So I ended spending the night in that cabinet, having my Snicker bar just 'cause I could now, before wrapping my arms around my legs, laying my head on my pulled in knees, and passing out.

From my Mom's retelling of the next morning, they only found me because when my Mom was making breakfast the next morning she walked near the cabinet and heard my soft snores. She wasn't even mad even when she saw the Snickers wrapper sense everything else about it was adorable.

As I quickly relived the memory, the same soft footsteps I used years ago that night came back as easily as breathing then. The dirt under my feet barely made a noise as I made it to the pipe. Grabbing the cold steel pipe in my hands, I made my way back to my original spot.

Just as I steadied my panicking self, a voice as clear as day and familiar as family rang out. "We've found you, you fucking mutts." 

 No fucking way. It was Sylvia, Kevin, and the other dude.

Bella seemed to have realized this too as she yelped out in shock, fear, and surprise.

"Are ya babies scared? We didn't settle this last time so let's settle it now." Kevin called out.

"Don't you dare come any closer or I'll knock your brains out." Dad's voice rang clear and sure through the tunnel.

We all paused as we waited for someone to make the next move.

"Sylvia, they got themselves parents to protect them. Just means we got more people to punch." Said the other dude, clearly cocky.

"Just what I was thinking Michael." Sylvia responded with an audible smirk.

"Cocky motherfuckers.." My dad whispered, clearly pissed off.

It was clear to me what would be happening next, even though I didn't want it to. The four of us, looking at the three of them.

Taking a few more calming breaths I ran swiftly and silent towards Michael, pipe raised.

This was now our own mini war. We had to fight, and I wasn't sure if all of us would survive.

For Bella, was my final though as I started the fight with a strong, angry, blow.