Out of a wardrobe

by cathy.bulfin

A Chalet School/Narnia crossover. I wrote this between 2003 and 2005 and recently found my old files, so re-posted it here. This story was first published on the CBB. Some day I may re-write bits of it, but having read it all through again the last few days, I'm still reasonably happy with it. Probably all I'd do is maybe add a bit at the end. We'll see.

28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Lucy was not hurt at all; in fact she was enjoying the delightful sensation of flying on a cushion of air. She had been terrified when she had been dragged into the hole with Jo, she had screamed loudly, in fact. For a few minutes she had felt herself falling helplessly and felt sure that she would be killed. Then all at once, she felt a warmth and a strange softness all around and beneath her and her fall seemed to slow. Everything seemed to slow down.

I wonder if this is how it seemed to Alice, when she fell down the hole the White Rabbit went into, thought Lucy and gave a giggle to herself. It seemed ridiculous to be thinking such things when she had just fallen down the deepest hole she had ever seen in her life, with no idea how she was to get out again. Somewhere nearby she could hear loud sobbing. After a while she realised that it must be Jo, although she could still see nothing.

Lucy thought that perhaps she should call out, but she felt strangely drowsy and the words would not come. To her great surprise she felt her eyelids drooping and she fell asleep almost before she had time to think anymore.

Jo was terrified. She had forgotten that Lucy had fallen down the hole with her, in fact, from the moment that she had felt herself falling, she had not really been aware of anything around her. She could not see anything; it was pitch black and the darkness felt oppressive. She began to sob, frightened, alone and cold, aware that there was no-one to hear her or to help.

No-one will care if I die down here, she thought miserably. I've made them all hate me. This was not true, of course, but fear and loneliness do not make for rational thought. Her mind was flooded with images: Stacie, lying flat and still in a bed, while Jo chattered and chattered, not noticing the tears falling down her friend's cheeks, Lucy's face the first time Jo had snubbed her, various Middles who had been on the receiving end of her bad moods at St Clare's and finally Marie's face, pale and set, as Jo had flung their friendship back in her face.

Jo's rapid fall suddenly slowed down, and an invisible presence seemed to be there, holding her up and cushioning her fall. But unlike Lucy, Jo could not take comfort in it. The darkness was so oppressive and so cold that she simply did not notice that she did not seem to be falling anymore. To her, it was if she was plummeting down to a deep, dark, lonely hole, on a descent that seemed to take forever.

"Help me!" she sobbed. "Please, someone …"

A warm breath seemed to tickle her cheek and then Jo felt, rather than heard, a slow deep whisper all around her. The darkness seemed to lighten, just a little.

"Sleep."

Jo sighed and her eyelids became heavy. The terrible fear left her and she fell into a deep sleep. There was no sound, as the two girls continued on their journey into the darkness.