Page 434 of Coal Hearts

My torch stopped working in the fourth hour.

Four fucking hours and I still hadn’t found her.

I trembled with a deep-seated chill, and my ancient Casio hinted the morning had well and truly bled into afternoon.

I’d heard nothing.

Seen no one.

Just me in this ancient tomb, slowly dying in the dark.

Every crevice led to a blacker cave.

Every alley spat me out into emptiness.

I was lost and turned around and—

Pinpricks of light.

I stopped moving and peered at the cold ceiling above.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the claustrophobic blackness, aching with the need to see.

And...bit by bit, glow by glow...I did.

Raising my arm, I touched the forever-wet rock and stroked the faint luminescence.

A rustle of legs. A wriggle of insects. The light glowed brighter, then vanished as the critter scrambled behind a crag.

More light blinked on around me—like bluish stars falling from the heavens.

For the first time in my miserable existence, I stood in awe as more and more dots began to glow, following the contours of the cave, lighting up the space with cool teal radiance.

It felt as if I’d stepped into another dimension.

Found a portal and fallen through.

Glow worms.

The name popped into my head, followed by a stabbing memory of sitting on the rug in my childhood lounge and watching David Attenborough. He’d bewitched me with his iconic voice, filling my young mind with facts about all sorts of animals. His documentaries were the highlight of my weekends, all while my mother stayed locked in her room.

I’d been lonely and lost and living without any kind of guidance.

I was raised by the TV and consoled by the radio.

Enough!

Shaking my head, I pressed my fingers to the lump on my temple from the blowhole sucker-punching me.

I had to have a concussion.

No way would such a pointless, ridiculous memory dare trespass otherwise.

No way would the pathetic little boy inside me dare, fucking dare, make himself known.

Hefting the axe, I tossed away the useless torch and followed the path of glow worms.

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