Empire Island, Exile the First

Chapter 25

"You're alive," I said, my throat tightening as my previously suppressed grief rose up from the pit of my stomach. "Phee, you're alive!"

I took her hands in mine, I felt the frail bones rolling together and I feared I might break them if I pulled too hard. I helped her up and she crawled out of the well at last. I was going to help her to her feet, but she gave herself one final push and landed in my arms, her legs shaking and her body twitching with overstimulation.

"What happened?" she asked, holding one trembling hand to her throat. "How did I get here? How did you get here?"

I held her in my arms and couldn't find the words to explain everything I'd just been through. I didn't even know how to tell her what she'd been through, I didn't know exactly what she'd just survived for fuck's sake. I wasn't prepared for this kind of thing, I hadn't thought farther than her rescue.

"I came back to save you," I told her and petted her hair, soothing her like she was a little dog. I'd always thought of her like that in some way, like she was something that belonged to me, a little puppy following me around and worshiping everything about me. "I came back for you. I love you, Phee, and I couldn't lose you."

"It was so dark," she said, twisting in my arms to look up at me. "I can't describe what it was like. It wasn't even a place, it was just...the dark."

Her eyes were huge and her pupils were so black they bled into the dark brown of her irises. I hadn't expected her to jump out and be completely okay, but her breaths came in irregular gasps and her chest was almost concave, she was so thin now. I held her closer and let her gather her wits.

Behind her, I heard dry scuffling sounds mixed with whispers and moans. I watched as other hands found the edge and other girls began to struggle and drag themselves out of the well source.

"Phee, I have to help them," I said, releasing her from my tight hold. The cave was suddenly too big and hollow, our voices echoed back and forth across the space, mixing with the moans and cries from the well. "Phee, let go."

I had to pry her fingers from my upper arm, it took more effort than I'd expected. She was surprisingly strong despite her frail state. "Come on, Phee," I said and she didn't move, her fingers dug deeper the harder I pulled.

And then at once it was like she snapped out of it, like something inside her switched on and she looked up at me. Her eyes were normal again, she was Phee again. I saw her behind them, looking out at me. She was truly back this time.

"Kaykay," she said, merging the names together in a breathless stream of words. "Where am I?"

"We'll talk, but I have to help those other girls," I said, prying her fingers off me at last. She took a step back, staggering and then found her footing. She looked around and nodded vigorously.

"Yes, let them out," she said with a husky, low voice. The trauma of her experience clung to her words, changing the way she sounded. "They've been there with me. They must come out."

Rippling sunlight filtered through the cave's entrance, giving the whole place a strange underwater feel. Seeing girls struggling to get out of the well added to it, like creatures rising up from the unknown depths of the ocean.

I took hold of them one by one, pulling their bony, frail hands until ten more of them stood before me, trembling and seemingly unaware of their surroundings. They huddled together, staring at me with great black eyes, wide and glossy. They all wore the same expression, that of a heartbreaking dementia patient hitting the fog of uncertainty. The same look I'd seen on my elderly neighbor before she'd finally had to be put into full-time care. It had been tough watching her slowly slip away into a gray zone of half-life that seemed worse than death to me.