Chapter 3

Scott lay on the white sands of his beloved home island; the sky glowed bright in the burning sun. The sea was cool and as satisfying breeze drifted across the still water, he sighed with great delight as the heat temporally subsided from his body. He turned his head slowly, as the sounds of giggling trembled in his ear drums; he saw with amazement a child playing in the sand with a bucket as red as his hair and a spade as blue as Scott's eyes. He stood quickly through shock as he saw four other children run from the jungle to the boy; pushing and shoving each other towards the sea. He saw what looked like the eldest of the boys pick up the youngest with his hair as yellow as the sun and run with him into the water, keeping his head carefully above the water. A platinum blonde boy teased the red head to a race to the sea and he started the sprint without an answer. One boy was left with dark brown hair moving the sand into a picture. Scott smiled to himself as visions of his childhood manipulated themselves into his current surroundings; however as the sounds grew he found them hard to bare. The screams of himself and his younger sibling's youth grew and grew to the point where he pressed his hands hard against his skull, in attempt to block out the noise but it increased in volume. The screams merged into one as the scene around him melted away into darkness. The screeching was now no longer recognisable and buried deep into the deepest memories of his mind. Ones he locked away. His surroundings where damp and claustrophobic; he could feel a hard hat tight on his head and he bashed franticly on the torch in his hand to encourage it to illuminate his surroundings. The light flicked twice to tease him with images of jagged rocks and running streams of water flowing down the side of the cavern. He gave the torch a final thump and it woke with a brightness to light the room in front of him. He pointed the light wherever his pupils wondered and looked downwards to his feet; he noticed the rising water level gradually getting higher by the second. He shouted down into his watch with a force from the pit of his stomach.

"There's nothing here Virg! It's a dead end! There is no one down here! Are you sure your stats were correct?"

He waited for his brother's reply but grew aggravated by the second.

"Virgil! Will you answer me for Christ Sake!"

"Calm down Scott! My stats are correct; the trapped girl should be directly in front of you. How are the water levels looking down there?"

Scott looked up to the top of the cavern and could make out the route of which he paraglide down. He sighed with frustration at the situation and continued to respond to his brother.

"There is nothing in front of me but a solid stone wall Virgil! The water is rising fast and I think it would be about 4 minutes before this place is full to the brim!"

Scott was now shouting over the sound of the water as it crashed down the sides of the cavern.

"That's impossible Scott; she should be down there with you. Remember at neck level to put on your breathing apparatuses!"

"I'm not an idiot Virgil! And she is not down here!"

Scott's skin crawled at the sound of a little girl's cry that moved through thin air.

He looked around his small space quickly and frantically pointing the light in every direction available before he came across the sight of a small hand poking through the side of rocks.

"Hello! Don't panic! I'm from international rescue! Are you injured?"

He waded through water that was now to his thighs towards the hand and removed his own glove to hold it tight.

"No, please get me out!"

Scott's heart tightened and twisted at her plea.

"We are going to do the best we can to get you out sweetie! Don't you worry about that! What's your name honey?"

"Wendy"

"Okay Wendy, can you tell me what happened?"

"I was playing and all the walls went bang around me!"

Her quivering voice grew as she gave into a loud sob.

"Okay just hang on one moment my darling! VIRGIL! We have a girl called Wendy, she was playing in the caverns and the walls collapsed all around her, meaning there must be another way round her to get some equipment to move the rocks!"

"I'm detecting the section you're talking about Scott, it's sealed off tight! This will be another hour's job-"

"We don't have an hour Virgil! We have two minutes tops! Can you send down an oxygen mask and tank?"

"We can try, Scott but it might be too late by then."

"Don't you dare start talking like that Virgil!" Scott felt the water slapping around his waist. "Get on it quickly then, she's a child Virg!"

Scott returned his focus to the girls hand in front of him.

"How long do I have Mister?"

"What? No sweetie, don't say that, everything is going to be fine! IR is sending down some oxygen for you and once that's all set up then we can focus on getting you out okay?"

"Do you promise?"

The girl let go of Scott's hand and clenched it into a fist, leaving only her pinkie out. Scott's eyes dripped with tears as he copied the same action and linked his finger with hers.

"Scott we are sending the oxygen down now but there's no guarantee of it being there before the cavern is full!"

"Then reel it down as fast as you can!"

Scott took out his own breathing apparatus and tried to push it through the small gap that the girls hand had squeezed through. It was no use. He kicked the wall hard in anger and jumped back as a rock dislodged and crumbled to the floor of the cavern, increasing the flow of water. He stumbled towards the child's out reaching hand as she screamed with the sudden increase of water. The levels rose from his chest, to his chin in less than 30 seconds.

"We can't save her." He said out loud with a tremble of terror in his voice.

He clenched her hand tight.

"I'm sorry, I am so sorry!"

Scott's upper body sprung forward at the horror of his nightmare and was shocked at the site of water surrounding him. He rose in panic to see that the tide was coming in quickly and in large waves. He stood for a moment and caught his breath. It was just a nightmare. A nightmare of exaggerated events. He had to remind himself of the true events. They had rescued the girl. But she now laid in a coma, that doctors insisted, she would never come out of.

Sorry it has taken me so long to write this but i couldnt get the feel i was looking for! I now this chapter is a bit dark but its just to show the burden Scott is feeling. Thank you for reading! Next Chapter coming soon! - LeahMB95