Both men stand in silence, holding their breaths. ‘You’re right. I hear it too,’ says Graham. ‘Someone’s down here with us …’
That short sentence is enough to make Stephen’s stomach perform a flip. It certainly sounds like footsteps; a dull thud, thud, thud, but it isn’t coming from behind them. It’s ahead of them.
Creeping forwards, Stephen keeps the beam directed at the ground, so he doesn’t blind anyone or make it obvious he’s approaching. The light is bouncing off the dark walls, casting eerie shadows.
As he rounds the next corner, he walks straight into a blockade of iron bars.
‘Bloody hell,’ he mutters. ‘What is this?’
Graham joins him at his side. ‘An underground prison by the looks of it.’
Stephen can’t fault his guess. It’s exactly what it looks like. He grabs the bars and shakes them, feeling for any loose ones, but they are solid iron.
‘Hello?’ he calls out into the darkness beyond the bars.
The sound of approaching footsteps make him gulp back another lump in his throat, one that causes his eyes to water as he attempts to take a breath.
‘Who’s there?’ comes a small, female voice.
Stephen raises his phone light as a young woman steps into view. Her clothes are stained with dirt, shabby and hanging off her. As the light illuminates her face, she shrieks and raises both her hands to cover her eyes.
Stephen lowers his phone, quickly putting his hand over it. ‘My apologies,’ he says to the woman. ‘My name is Stephen Mallow and this is Graham Williams.’ He pauses. ‘You must be Sophia Hammel.’
The woman coughs and lowers her hand from her eyes. ‘Y-Yes. Oh my God. Are you here to rescue me?’
‘I suppose we are.’
Sophia shuffles forwards and stops when she reaches the bars. Stephen keeps the beam off her face, but even the residual light is enough to make out her features. The poor girl is skin and bone, her face pale, gaunt, but still holds the delicacy of youth. He’s sure that underneath the layers of grime and dirt is a beautiful young woman, by now in her mid-twenties.
She’s been down here all this time. No wonder the torch light hurts her eyes.
‘How long have I been down here?’ she asks.
‘Ten years,’ answers Graham.
Sophia shakes her head. ‘That’s impossible.’
‘I’m afraid it’s true. You disappeared ten years ago, almost to the day. Your father has been keeping you locked down here.’
Sophia’s head nods. ‘Yes. He did it to protect us.’
Stephen tilts his head to the side, like a listening dog. ‘Did you sayus?’
‘Yes, my mother’s down here too.’
Chapter 49
STEPHEN
‘Your mother has been trapped down here too?’ asks Graham, stepping forwards.
‘Yes, I had no idea. My dad told me she left us after my brother died, but it wasn’t true. He kept her down here to save her.’
Stephen scratches the back of his neck. There’s a strange, tickling sensation which is sending his internal radar humming, like someone has just brushed his skin with a feather. Not only that, but the walls of this underground bunker, or cave, whatever the hell it is, feel as if they are getting closer and closer. Are the walls moving? He’s seeing stars, twinkling stars.
While Graham asks Sophia a few more questions, Stephen takes the opportunity to look around the area, but there’s not a lot to see other than the dancing stars. Sophia has walked up to the bars from a different room further into the tunnel. This is merely the outside barrier, blocking the path, ensuring she doesn’t escape any further. Frank must have spent a long time building this cave for his wife and daughter. To protect them. Trap them. Because, whether he did it out of love or not, he’s still kept them locked up against their will, but Sophia doesn’t appear angry with him. She’sgrateful. Stephen thinks of Stockholm Syndrome; a very real possibility in this scenario.
Stephen refocuses his attention on Sophia, who is still talking.
