Reunion

Darkness. Complete darkness enveloped me and I didn't know why. I'd opened my eyes only to find I could not see anything. I was cold. The surface underneath me felt rough and uneven. Carefully, I felt around, shifted small amounts of dry soil with my fingers. I rubbed some of the dirt between my fingers and smelled it. No discernable smell that would tell me where I was.

The darkness was unsettling; never before had I experienced anything like it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't pick up even the faintest glimmer of light. Panic began to creep up and I closed my eyes. "Breathe," I thought, "Breathe slowly. In. Out. In. Out." Where was I? I tried to recall how I'd gotten here, but nothing surfaced. What did I remember? Sunshine! Trees and green grass all around. The ocean and the sound of waves crashing on the shore. Gulls screeching overhead as they searched for food. When was that? And then it struck me. Not only was there no light, I couldn't hear a sound except for the small noises I made when shifting position.

I began to tremble and my breathing increased. I wrapped my arms around my legs, resting my head on my knees. "Breathe," I reminded myself, "Breathe slowly." I kept my eyes closed. Total darkness and no sounds to comfort me. Nervous jerks shook my body, then shivering. I felt chilled to the bone and needed to move. Slowly, I lifted my head and dropped my hands to the ground. I reassured myself that the ground beneath me was dirt. No gravel, no roots as far as I could reach without moving, no wall either. Did I dare stand up? I opted to go on all fours. Carefully, I felt my surroundings as I inched my way forward. After what felt like an eternity, I felt something soft. I shrank back and forced myself to slow my breathing. Opening my eyes was a mistake. I was still in total darkness and it did nothing to subdue my panic.

"Hello?" I called out, "Anyone here?" My voice echoed strangely. No reply. I crawled forward and felt again something soft. This time I did not pull my fingers back, but instead grabbed what was on the ground. It didn't take me long to figure out it was a blanket. I wrapped it around my shoulders and back and pulled it tight. Maybe it would help alleviate the coldness I was feeling. What else was here? I held my breath and listened intently for any sound, but could hear nothing. I didn't dare and open my eyes again. It was more comforting to explore my surroundings without trying to penetrate the darkness in search for a glimmer of light.

Slowly, I continued my search, lifting one hand to gently feel around while stabilizing my weight with the other. I don't know how long I'd been exploring my surroundings when my fingers touched wetness. Carefully I probed further and my fingers were covered in a cold fluid. Water! I quenched my thirst. Where was the water coming from? I stuck my finger into the water and after a while I detected a slight current. I followed it upstream on all fours. My path was blocked after crawling only a few feet. I had found a wall. It felt rough and cool to touch. I rested my cheek against the rock. After a few moments, I probed for an opening, but all I found were tiny holes, not even enough wide to insert my finger. Water was seeping through these holes and gently gliding down the wall to the ground. I couldn't hear it, but now I could smell it. I felt upward on the wall and for the first time since I found myself in my current predicament, I stood up. Even standing I couldn't reach a ceiling. Carefully probing the ground before I set my foot down, I moved along the wall, one hand in constant contact with its rough surface.

I didn't know how long I'd been moving along the wall, carefully setting one foot in front of the other, when I stepped into a puddle. More water? Had I been going full circle? I needed to find out. I took the blanket off my shoulders, folded it, and set it on the ground, then, after turning around, I retraced my path, again keeping one hand against the wall. I walked faster this time; I hadn't encountered any obstacles on the way so far. When I returned to the water, I dropped on my knees and began searching around the edges of the pool of water. I didn't take long until I found the folded blanket. I was trapped!

Where was I? In a well? No, there'd be more water and it would be open to the sky. I opened my eyes and looked up. Nothing but total darkness enveloped me. Not a glimmer of light. I couldn't tolerate the lightlessness and closed my eyes again. I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and sat on the ground. Was I in a cave? Likely. There was dirt on the ground, but the walls were rough all around, yet not rough enough to allow me to climb and search for an opening higher up.

How had I gotten in here? I couldn't remember. Had I fallen? I felt along my arms and legs, checked my body and head for bumps and bruises, but everything felt fine.

"I need to find a way out," I said and then screamed, "Can anyone hear me?" Again, my voice echoed eerily, but I got no response.

"Help! Isn't there anyone who can help me?" I screamed until my voice gave out and my throat hurt. I crawled to the pool of water and drank. The cold liquid felt good running down my throat. I went back to the wall and hand by hand felt the wall from the ground up until I couldn't reach any higher, then I moved a step over and repeated the process. When I got thirsty, I dropped the blanket where I'd left off and returned to the water. When I got tired, I wrapped the blanket around my shoulder and slept with my back against the wall. I had nothing to eat and my stomach told me that water wasn't enough. I dug in the dirt, but there wasn't a single root I could pry loose, not a rodent I could catch, not even a bug.

At some point, I returned to the water, having finished feeling along the wall for any signs of a tunnel to escape in. There was nothing within my reach that would let me escape my prison. I didn't have my satchel with my flint stones, didn't have my knife, or anything that would give me comfort. How long had I been trapped? I didn't know. Without the sun to give me the time of day and the rotation of sun and moon to indicate the days, I had no way of telling. I still couldn't remember how I'd gotten into my current predicament, couldn't remember my own name.

I cried, I screamed until my throat hurt, I continued my search for a way out. And then the water was gone. Little by little the trickle down the wall had ceased without me noticing. When I woke up, what had been a pool of water was only wet dirt. I sucked out what liquid the dirt would relinquish, but it wasn't much. I had difficulties moving around so I curled up in my blankets, one hand where the water had been, hoping it would return. My stomach had long given up complaining about the lack of food. I dreamed of being out in the sun, feeling a light breeze caress my body, smelling the salt in the air.

And then there was sunshine! I could feel the rays warming my body. I could hear the waves crashing on the shore. I got up and ran. I was free!

"Damn, Ronin -- that's too much dynamite! I want to clear the rocks, not blow up the entire mountain."

"Trust me, sis, I've done that before."

I sighed. There was no convincing my brother, but I have to admit, he had experience. I sat back and waited for him to give the signal before blasting. Afterwards, we'd spend the rest of the day clearing debris. I was on a mission and enlisted my brother for help. My great-grandfather had told us about a cave system in these mountains that had been buried under a rockslide when he was just a little boy. My brother and I had listened to his stories when we were little, many we could barely piece together thirty years later, but the one about the cave system stuck in our minds and had set our imaginations going.

"What if you set off another rockslide?"

"I won't, Sarah. Now quit worrying. I'm nearly ready."

I watched him as he slowly walked backwards, unrolling what he would ignite in a few minutes. I was certain that Ronin was as anxious as I was to find out if great-grandpa's stories held any truth. I had searched the newspaper archives and learned that a rockslide had indeed gone down this mountain and killed eight people, but the article didn't say whether it obliterated the entrance to a cave system. Ronin and I had spent the last five summers searching for the caves. It was a long shot, but we were compelled to keep looking. And there was the promise we had given our great-grandfather.

This side of the mountain had been in our family's possession for generations. A herd of goats, sheep, and cows was sent up each spring. Ronin and I took care of the animals until their return in the fall. The summers were mostly ours since we had hired help to take care of the animals and the farm.

"I'm ready to blast," Ronin informed me and I sought cover. Minutes later the detonation of the dynamite crumbled the rocks and sent dirt up in the air.

"I told you it was too much!" I yelled at my brother while shaking dirt out of my hair.

"Was not," he replied calmly. "Come and see."

I followed him to the blast site after the dust had settled, and had to admit he was right. We would be able to clear much of the debris ourselves. Ronin handed me a shovel and together we began our task.

Three days later, we had cleared most of the debris. What we saw though didn't make sense. A large slab of rock stood upright in front of us.

"Looks like a door," I said, breaking the silence. I used my sleeve to wipe sweat of my forehead.

"Should have used more dynamite to break through this," Ronin replied and then, after careful inspection of the slab, added, "We might be able to just pry it away from the mountain once we clear everything around it."

"How?"

"With some rope. If it doesn't work, we can always use more dynamite."

Together we cleared the dirt and rocks around the slab and by late afternoon we had a rope tied around it. My brother had been right, but we weren't strong enough to move the rock.

"We'll come back tomorrow and bring some help," I suggested. I was tired, hungry, and in need of a shower.

"Yeah. Bill, Cody, Tom, and Jim should be enough. I'll call them tonight and see if they're free to give us a hand."

The next morning, at the break of dawn, my brother and I met up with our friends and together we hiked back to our blasting site. I had been surprised to see the guys actually join us. I hadn't been hopeful; none of them liked to get up early.

"What did Ronin tell you to make you get up so early?" I asked Cody.

"Not much, only that he probably found the entrance to the cave system and he needed help moving a piece of rock." Cody laughed. "Sounded like fun."

"And that was enough to encourage you to get up at four in the morning?"

"Not really, but just like Ronin and you, Bill, Tom, and I spent many summers looking for the cave system. Every now and then Jim joined us and we imagined ourselves important explorers. Did you know that Jim's great-grandfather, and an uncle of my mother's was killed in the rockslide?"

"I didn't know that. I only know that of the eight people killed, the only one not found was my great-grandfather's older sister. She had been tending the animals and probably hid in the caves when the rockslide happened."

"I always thought she ran off with someone," Jim said quietly.

"It's a possibility, but no one in my family believed that." I said. "My great-grandfather always said his sister was somewhere in the mountain. He spent many years searching for his sister. He made us promise to search for her and if we found her remains, to bury them next to him."

"And you think you found her?" Cody asked.

"Not sure what we found. A huge slab seems to be blocking something. Maybe it's an entrance, maybe it's nothing. We put some rope around it, but didn't have the strength to pull it away."

"How much further is it?"

"About twenty minutes or so." We walked the rest of the way in silence.

The site was just as we'd left it the afternoon before. We dug a small trench in front of the slab, tied a second piece of rope to the one already around the slab, and then Bill, Cody, and Ronin pulled on one rope, while Jim, Tom, and I pulled on the other.

It seemed like forever, but finally the slab budged and then fell. Dust was everywhere and I got a lungful of it. I was coughing so hard that I sank to the ground. Ronin rushed to my side.

"You okay?" he asked when my coughing eased. I nodded.

"Then come and see what we found," he said holding out a hand to help me up. I took his hand and he pulled me up. Together we approached the site where the slab been. A gaping hole was in its place.

"Whoa," I whispered in awe. "Did you look to see what's in there?"

"No, not yet. I thought we'll give you first dibs for finding this site in the first place." I smiled at my brother and pulled a flashlight out of my belt. Carefully I approached the edge and shone my light in. "Looks like it goes down almost immediately," I said after a few moments. I sank on my knees and then lay on my stomach to get a better look down into the hole. I moved my flashlight around to illuminate different areas of the cave. And then I saw it; felt the color drain out of my face. About thirty feet down lay a skeleton. I took in a deep breath and sat up.

"Sarah?" Ronin had a concerned look on his face. "What's down there?"

"See for yourself," I answered and handed him my flashlight. One after another the guys took a look.

"Do you think it's her?" Bill asked finally.

"I have no doubt, it is." I said.

"But?" Tom said.

"But what?" I looked at him.

"Sounds like you have doubts after all." Tom elaborated.

"No doubts, but we have to call the coroner. He'll take the skeleton to the morgue and then some expert will be called. We'll have to wait for the final answer before we can bury her."

"Yeah, Cody is on his way down right now," Ronin said. "But I agree with Sarah, it's her. Can't remember anyone else missing on this mountain in the last few decades."

Three weeks later we laid her to rest next to our great-grandfather. In his journal I'd found her name and understood why the search for her had been so important to him. I smiled as I looked at the inscription on the tombstone; it was fitting. My brother had picked it. In golden letters it read "Siblings Reunited" and underneath that, their names: Sarah and Ronin. ◊

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Rena Deutsch lives in California and has been writing for the online fantasy magazine DargonZine for almost a decade now. Some of her interests are traveling, reading, taking walks on the beach, and relaxing in front of the Outer Bay exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she volunteers some of her time each week.