Shadows of the Night | BOOK 2 DRAFT

15

15.

I'm halfway through scrubbing the mud from my body when the screaming begins. It echoes through the cave like a haunting ghost, shrill and agonisingly loud. I try to ignore it, I try to focus on removing the caked mud from my skin and hair. But it rattles through my body and I can't take it anymore. I dry myself off in the tub and pull on the clothes Malik gave me before venturing back into the tunnel.

Back underground in the hollower village, my footfalls echoed through the tunnels. It was a man made structure, metal walls and steel pipes that leaked water. The cave is different, natural, winding tunnels as hallways carved from stone, compacted dirt across the walls. But down here, in the depths of the earth, my footfalls don't echo. Water doesn't leak from the ceiling. I can't hear the sounds of laughter wafting towards me. All I hear are the screams, rattling the cave walls. I still haven't seen anyone since we got here, aside from the man on the beach.

Malik said this was an elder village—does that mean it's only the elder's that live here? Is it much of a village at all?

I follow the lanterns through the hall till I reach the entrance of the cave and sit on the shore, my ankles dangling off the edge of a rock that was once submerged in the tide, toes embracing the water. The water has calmed since we arrived, small waves lapping now exposed sand. But even out here, with the hollow sound in the wind and rippling of the water, I hear the screams, sailing through the tunnel as an echo. My chest feels hollow but I try to block it out, try not to imagine the excruciating pain Elias must be in, try not to remember the vacant look in his eyes when he first woke up.

What if he doesn't remember me when he wakes up for real? What if something is wrong with him?

I dig my toes into the sand and rest my chin against my knees, staring at the water. I never thought I'd see the ocean, but I dreamt of it sometimes. When we were kids, Charles would read us stories of children swimming, of warm weather, of sunshine. But I never imagined it to be wide, stretching far beyond the eye can see. And in the midst of all this chaos, it makes my problems feel so much smaller.

"Milena?"

I turn to face Malik coming towards me, hands shoved in his pockets, and relax. "Hi, Malik."

"Eric know you're out here?"

"Eric doesn't get to dictate what I do."

The left side of his mouth tilts up and he sits beside me, resting on his arms as he leans back and stares at the ocean. The setting sun softens his sharp eyes, but his midnight hair and angled face are a stark contrast.

"How long will it take?" I ask when another scream echoes around us.

He exhales slowly, turns to look down at me. "I thought they'd be finished by now."

I swallow the lump in my throat. It's been hours since I left that room, but the screams haven't subsided.

"Eric's with him, and Cassia's waiting outside. He's not alone," he says softly. And yet the screams sound so lonely.

Part of me thinks I should be there to hold his hand. Be there for when he wakes up, to comfort him. Because it's been three months since I've seen him, and that yearning in my chest hasn't gone away. But fear keeps me on the beach. Fear that he won't wake up. Fear that he won't recognise me. Fear of change. Because no matter what happens, I know things can never be the same again.

I turn to face Malik, trying to push Elias from my mind. "This is an elder's village, right?"

He nods. "The elders used to reside in the mountains, but as you know, when I was six they relocated here. Ana was the only one who stayed."