AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My foot hit something slippery. Time slowed down. It was as if I was watching myself from a distance, yet I couldn’t do anything about it. I fell backwards, the weight of the rucksack pulling me down, and then I was tumbling, rolling down a slope I hadn’t even known was there. Bone hit stone. Snow exploded into the air around me. And then a rock hit the back of my head and everything dissolved into darkness darker than the night.
Chapter Two
Waking up was like dredging through a sea of sludge, swimming my way to consciousness.
The first thing I noticed was that I didn’t feel cold. I remembered slipping, then falling, then hurting. Nothing after that. My back ached a little, but somehow, I felt like there should be more pain. Had the others found me and taken me back down the mountain? Was I in hospital? Had they located the missing man?
“She is waking up.” A deep, unfamiliar voice.
“Get away from her. You shouldn’t be here.”
Another man I didn’t recognise. Nurses? Doctors?
I reached deep to find the energy to open my eyes. Everything was blurry. Where were my glasses?
“Gently, take your time. You might have a concussion.”
I ignored the voice and pushed myself up into a vaguely sitting position to look around.
I wasn’t in a hospital. I wasn’t even in a building. Even with my blurry, shortsighted vision, I could see that I was in a cave. A fire burned to my left, which explained why I wasn’t cold anymore. The flickering flames made the ceiling glitter strangely. Quartz, maybe, or stalactites, but without my glasses, I couldn’t tell. I should have taken the time to put in my contacts before heading to HQ. Without my specs, I was lost.
The cave was surprisingly large. I hadn’t even known there were caves on Ben Macdui. The side opposite the happily crackling fire was decked in shadows, too dark to tell if there was an exit or a further extension of the cave.
But strangest of all – there were no men. I rubbed my eyes. I’d clearly heard their voices. They’d sounded like they’d been right next to me. But there hadn’t been footsteps moving away from me since. They should be here. Yet I seemed to be alone.
“Is this some kind of joke?” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else. I knew nobody in the mountain rescue team would play such a dangerous practical joke on me. We all respected the mountains and didn’t fool around while on a job.
“She can’t see us,” the first voice said sadly. “She’s not the one.”
Again, I could have sworn he was right next to me, so close that I should have been able to touch him.
“Maybe we got it wrong.” The second voice sounded like he was grieving someone. So much sadness and despair. It was dripping off every word.
Instinctively, I reached out towards the voice – and my hand touched something warm and hard. I blinked. Impossible. I looked at my hand, extended into nothing but air. Even with my blurry vision, I could see that there was nothing between me and the craggy cave wall a few yards away.
Cool fingers wrapped around my hand and I shrieked, trying to pull back, but the grip only tightened. Another invisible hand slid beneath mine, this one warm to the touch.
Okay, I was most definitely concussed. I was hallucinating. I should lie down again and wait to be rescued. Surely, my teammates were looking for me already. Hopefully, they’d found the missing man by now. I didn’t want my foolishness to interfere with his rescue.
“She can touch us. How?”
“I don’t know. This has never happened before.”
“Maybe it’s too early. What time is it?”
“The sun is still rising. Do you think touch comes first, then sight?” He sounded hopeful.
Even though the voices were clearly just in my head, I didn’t like that they were ignoring me. If they were my imagination, shouldn’t they be a little more self-centred?
Warm fingers caressed my wrist, gently exploring my skin. There was a certain hesitancy to the touch, whereas the cooler hands were wrapped firmly around my hand, keeping me in place. A thumb pressed against my palm, stroking in circling motions. A warm shiver ran down my back. This felt way too good. I fought against the craving of wanting more of these invisible touches.
“It’s all in my head,” I whispered. “I am concussed. I’m hallucinating.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but you’re not,” the deeper voice said close to my right ear. For a second, I imagined feeling hot breath against my cheek, but it must have been just the warmth of the fire. Even though that was on the other side of me.
“We are as real as you are, lovely human.” The other voice chuckled. “Maybe even more real. It depends on your definition of reality.”
“This is not the time for philosophy, Ben. She is clearly confused. We should enlighten her before she convinces herself that she’s unwell. Human minds are powerful. Imagined illness can become real if they believe in it too much.”
