16. Angel
Chapter sixteen
Angel
It takes a moment for me to register my surroundings: a darkened cave with only Daisy’s headlamp focused on a pile of rocks, me with my back against a wall, my pack at my feet, and an ache in my head that only eight aspirin can help. Anything less would be a tease.
Reaching up to touch the tender spot, I feel a bandage rather than anything wet or sticky. “What happened? What are you doing?”
Daisy turns around quickly, surprise registering on her face. “You’re awake!”
“How long was I out?” I wince when my fingers touch the back of my head and find a knot the size of a walnut.
She walks over and kneels beside me, her light blinding me for a moment while she inspects the dressing.
“I can’t say for certain because the battery in my phone crapped out hours ago, but my best guess is around thirty-six hours.
If it weren’t for the steady rise and fall of your chest, I would have thought you were dead. ”
Lowering her voice, she adds, “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“Being trapped is scary, but we’ll be rescued.”
Her hand finds mine, the light moving across my chest from side to side as she shakes her head.
“Not of being trapped, Angel. I was scared of losing you. I know that I said friendship is all we can have for now, but the mere thought of not having the chance for something more than that terrified me.”
For Daisy to say that losing me was scarier than her time in the wilderness, my sister being kidnapped six months ago, and the possibility that she’ll never catch the man who abducted her speaks volumes. As loud as the proclamation is, I still need clarity. “What are you saying, Daisy?”
She dims her headlamp to the lowest setting, allowing the world around us to darken until it’s just the two of us in a bubble.
Her hand finds my cheek as her eyes find mine.
“I’m saying that time is a fickle beast, and we aren’t promised tomorrow.
I’m saying that I’d like to be more than friends, if you’re still interested in going down that road with me. It’ll be a rocky one, I’m sure, but….”
“One worth traveling. The best views always come after traversing the toughest trails.”
Daisy brushes her lips against mine, so softly I can barely feel them.
It’s a step in the right direction, but what I really want to do is set her in my lap and kiss her like it might be our last while praying at the same time that it won’t be.
Instead, she lifts my arm and cradles herself in the crook.
I’ll take it, because holding Daisy is almost as wonderful as kissing her. It’s a very close second.
“Are you going to tell me what you were doing when I woke up? The last thing I remember is seeing a timer and running toward you.”
Brightening her headlamp, she scans the room.
At each entrance is a pile of rocks blocking our exit.
“The explosions were rigged in every tunnel. The piles of stone and earth are deep enough that if someone is on the other side, I can’t hear them.
You caught me trying to clear away the rubble so we don’t die in here. ”
I’m not a mathematician by any means, but looking around and seeing that we’re in a relatively airtight space, I conclude that our situation is dire.
The cavern is large enough that oxygen won’t be the problem.
It’s the CO2 buildup from our breathing that will be our downfall.
With nowhere for it to go, we’ll become hypoxic and suffer symptoms like cyanosis, disorientation, fatigue, and a laundry list of other side effects.
In that condition, it could lead to death if help doesn’t arrive in time.
That’s what happened with the three hikers when the earthquake hit and they were trapped on both sides.
“I should help you. Even though Vinny, Scott, and Owen know where we’re at, it could be another day or two, possibly even three, before they get to us.”
Daisy inhales deeply before letting out a long sigh.
“They knew what tunnel we entered, so that’s where they’ll start.
But from the looks of it, that’s where the largest explosion occurred.
I’ve already moved most of the little ones I could reach while you were playing ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ While I certainly could use your muscles, you need to rest. That bump on your noggin is pretty bad. You might have a concussion.”
“Still.”
Looking up at me with tenderness in her gaze and a look that isn’t quite love but is more than friendship, she says, “Physical labor will only increase our breathing rate. The heavier we breathe, the more CO2 there will be taking up space. As much as it pains me to say this, the best thing we can do to increase our chances of survival is to do nothing at all.”
She’s not wrong, and I’m a little surprised she knows about the dangers of hypoxia.
I didn’t until I had to go to an altitude chamber for jump training.
And the only reason for that training was because there were times my team and I had to jump from a plane at high altitudes to evade detection before hiking to our target location.
I pull her closer and clasp my hands to keep her firmly tucked against me. “I guess the bright side to being stuck in a cave is that this time you aren’t alone.”
As Daisy’s eyes close, her breathing slows, and exhaustion takes hold, she whispers, “I wasn’t alone the first time either.”
It could be half an hour or half a day later when Daisy wakes up. Though time passes slowly when there’s no frame of reference, I wasn’t counting the seconds or minutes. I was relishing them, hoping time would slow down even further.
The entire time I watched her sleep, occasionally dozing myself, I kept wondering what she meant when she said she wasn’t alone. Was she referring to her captor? Was there another girl there with her who was never mentioned? Everything in her thin file indicated it was just her.
When she sits up and stretches, she turns on the headlamp that I’d switched off when she fell asleep.
Daisy plants her hands at her sides to stand, but I gently tug on her shirt to keep her rooted in place.
The air in the cavern has already changed enough that breathing is becoming more difficult and my vision is becoming blurry.
“Stay.” I mean it more as a request, but my parched throat makes it sound like a demand. Daisy seems to know the difference because she doesn’t fight me. If she thought it was a command, no doubt she would have done the complete opposite.
I reach over to my pack and grab the tube that gives me access to the water bladder tucked inside. After offering it to Daisy first and then taking several large gulps of water, I say, “What did you mean when you said you weren’t alone?”
She shakes her head as if it’s not a story she wants to share. Then she must decide differently because she draws her knees up to her chest and rocks back and forth. “You’re going to think I sound nuts.”
“Doubtful. A little unhinged maybe, but not full-on bonkers.”
My joke does what I intended, eliciting a quick chuckle before Daisy relaxes her shoulders just a fraction of an inch.
Gathering her courage, she admits, “I heard a voice in my head. Not my voice, Angel. A voice that resonated so deeply that I had no choice but to listen. At first, I thought it was my subconscious, and at times I thought I was truly going mad. But that voice gave me instructions, specific instructions that aided me in my escape.”
“Do you believe that God was talking to you?”
Daisy spears me with a look that warns me to tread lightly. “Don’t say it like that. God talks to people all the time. Maybe not directly, but in a way that someone would understand and know that it’s Him.”
I pull her back into my embrace, hoping to diffuse her ire. “I didn’t mean to sound judgmental. I was trying to validate what you were saying.”
She stays quiet for a long while, and for a brief second, I think I’m hearing voices. Unlike Daisy, these aren’t in my head. I listen intently, only to be met with more silence. The CO2 buildup must be worse than I thought.
“Do you believe in angels?” Daisy asks, almost too quiet to hear. In a cavern that echoes, that’s quite a feat.
“It would be hard not to, considering that’s what my mom named me. But yes, I wholeheartedly believe that angels exist.”
“I’ll be more specific. Do you believe in guardian angels, or that they can take human form?”
Oh, I see where she’s going with this. I don’t have to tread lightly to answer this one. “Absolutely. Positively. Without a doubt.”
“Thank you, Mr. Thesaurus,” she jokes.
I kiss the top of her head before resting my cheek against it. “In Exodus, God sent an angel ahead of the Israelites to guard them and guide them. If that’s not a guardian angel, I don’t know what is. Then there’s the angel who closed the lion’s mouth and spared Daniel.”
Contemplative, Daisy nods but says nothing for a very long time. It’s enough that I once again start to doze off, fatigue getting the better of me. It’s either the air making me tired or simply needing sleep to heal. Her voice startles me awake.
“When I ask about human form, I’m referring to a physical manifestation. Like an angel carrying someone to safety. Not just an intervention.”
“My favorite angel story in the Bible is just that. The story is in the book of Acts, and it describes an angel of the Lord rescuing Peter from prison. On the day Peter was to be executed, an angel struck Peter on his side and said, ‘Quick, get up!’ Then the angel gave Peter very explicit directions. He told him to put on his clothes and sandals, then wrap a cloak over his body and follow. Peter did as instructed, but the entire time he thought he was hallucinating.”