Dipping Into Together

Ch 14

I shifted slightly, my eyes fluttering open. Jonah’s arms were still around me, and I was leaning on his chest. We must’ve just fallen asleep after talking momentarily. Hm. I was falling asleep at the drop of a hat.

I took a second to study my surroundings a little more. There was a tiny whole above me, and a sliver of light was coming through. Actually, there were lots of tiny holes, right above my head. Was there some sort of door above me? The holes were letting in just enough light to see around a bit. It was still dark, but now I could see Jonah’s face and see that we were in some kind of hole. It looked to be about three feet wide, but I didn’t know how long. It must be quite long, because if I looked far enough in front of me, the ground kept going on until it became pitch black. So I had no way of knowing how long it went on for.

I shifted again to get a better look at Jonah’s face. He had a fresh bruise on his cheek, and there was a bit of blood on his neck. Dirt was smeared across his face, giving him somewhat of a hobo-esque effect, but he was still amazing-looking. Hell, he was always amazing-looking. Just then his eye lids fluttered, and then opened, taking a second to adjust. He looked at me, then smiled slightly.

“Hey,” he said, his voice still thick with sleep.

“Hey sleeping beauty,” I said back.

He moved, then groaned slightly, “My arms are asleep.”

“Oh! Sorry,” I said. He lifted his arms up and I squirmed away from him, leaning back up against the dirt wall. He groaned again as he stretched out as much as the ropes would let him. I stretched out a bit too. Just then, I heard a loud groan coming from somewhere over my head, freezing, I locked eyes with Jonah.

“C’mere,” he whispered. I squirmed back over to him, leaning up against him as we both stared above us with wide eyes. “I think,” Jonah whispered close to my ear, startling me, “that he’s going to open the door.”

“There’s a door?”

“Shh, I’ll explain later, just pretend like you’re asleep. Here, I’m going to scoot away so he gets the impression that we’re mad at each other. It’s safer if he thinks we don’t like each other.” I nodded, and the heat that had been pressing up against my back disappeared as he backed away. I shifted, pressing my cheek against the ground, and closed my eyes, turning my head to the right.

Seconds later, there was a loud squeal and light poured over me. I waited, my eyes closed, my heart beating fast. Straining to hear anything, I made sure to keep still. After a few long moments, I opened my eyes a slit to see if I could see anything.

“Ah, girlie, you’re awake,” I heard Uncle’s scratchy voice above me. I had no choice now, he knew I was awake. I opened my eyes fully, looking up into his face. There was, indeed, a door in the ceiling of the hole, made out of wood. The slabs of wood looked thick and sturdy, so I didn’t think we’d have much chance pushing our way out. Behind him looked like some kind wall. Was he standing inside a building? Were we below the basement? Was this even in his house still? What if we had been taken somewhere else? Who would find us?

And then I thought of my mother.

I was supposed to have called her. She would be calling me now, wondering where I was. She had been gone, what? Three days? Depending on what day it was, that is. She would be worried sick. Oh no. Getting out, though, was my main priority.

So I made sure to study behind him. The walls that were behind him were also made of wood. It seemed to be a bit dark wherever he was, so maybe it was evening, or maybe there were just no windows. Glancing back at his face, I noticed that he was just watching me calmly with a sort of twisted look of happiness.