Chapter Three
Mikael awoke to find himself lying on the hard, moist floor of an unfamiliar ocean cave. His head no longer throbbed, and, to his surprise, when he felt for his wound, it was gone. He no longer felt weak, so he perched himself up with ease. The entire cave’s ceiling and walls gleamed with reflected colours of blue and turquoise from the water that flowed through it. There was a strange glow of light coming from the depth of the ocean, and without it the cave would have been dark and gloomy. The cave was like a tunnel, with an entrance at each end of it. The sun shone brightly through one of them. It was so blinding to look at that he couldn’t see where it led to, but it created a mesmerising star-like glistening over the water. The other entrance was just beyond where Mikael sat, and led to the ocean. The sky was the bluest he had ever seen it, and the temperature was so warm that he realised that he couldn’t be in Finland any more.
* * *
Lori failed at hunting for breakfast in the forest. Not that she tried for very long. She had the weapons from the rucksack Mikael had made up for her, but they were useless and probably would have broken anyway. Instead, she snuck to the shops to buy some food to bring back to her tent. It was easy to do because everybody in Järves was either at work already or in the safety of their home, taking their prescribed week off work until their fear settled. Fear lingered in the air for weeks after the girls’ disappearances, and Lori couldn’t stand it. In all honesty, she would have preferred that Mikael were there with her, but she knew that he would either have not come and tried to persuade her to go home, or he would have joined her but been a pain the whole time.
When she reached the lake, there was something dark on the ice. When she got closer, she realised it was Mikael’s rucksack. But there was no sign of him around. Her heart pounded with panic and she scrambled onto the ice and ran to the bag. She saw his blood, and her stomach fell heavy with dread. She could think of no other explanation but the lake taking him. Her eyes filled with tears and she pleaded to the lake to bring him back. She banged profusely on the ice, almost to the point of cracking it and falling in herself. She cried and called his name again and again until her throat ached and she could do nothing but sob as she lay there on the ice.
* * *
Everything about the cave excited Mikael. There were all kinds of fish swimming through the water––kinds he’d never seen before and didn’t even know existed. But what began to interest him was the other end of the cave. He had been there for more than two hours, but the light was still so blinding, that he wondered whether it was the sun at all. It wasn’t in his nature to be curious, but he felt an overwhelming desire to find out what lay beyond the light. It wasn’t like him to take risks, either, but he dove straight into the water, without testing it first. He swam, or, rather, was carried through the water and towards the light.
He was halfway to it when he heard somebody calling his name. All of a sudden there were several loud pounding noises. The cave shook momentarily with each bang. The voice called him again. Lori! It came from the other entrance to the cave. He tried to turn around but the current prompted him forward. For that moment, as he desperately tried to swim against it, all he could do was think about Lori. But then her calling stopped, and his attention quickly diverted back to the light, as if by some kind of spell. He forgot about Lori as his curiosity urged him forward. He relaxed his body and let the current pull him towards the light.
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About the Author
Lindsey Macqueen is an Arts student and Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. She is studying a double major in English and Writing. She enjoys reading and writing literary, thriller and young adult novels. She aspires to work as an editor and write during her spare time.
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