Chapter 17! I can't believe this story is almost finished. Only a few more chapters, I believe. Now I'm sad… :(
Well, go ahead, read, please. :)
-OoOoOoO-
Kathleen
Everyone stared out at the gleaming city in awe, taking in the breath-taking sight. It was really amazing to see it in person, so much bigger than anyone would imagine. Ben started shouting to his parents, snapping me out of my trance. Then I hear another voice, this time shouting to me.
"Kathleen!"
I looked up to see Nicole heading towards me, grinning. I nearly slipped in my haste to go meet her.
"Nicole!" I grabbed her by the hand, trying not to slip and kill myself on the wet gold. I grinned at her. "Pretty amazing, isn't?"
"You're not kidding, this thing is huge," She grinned back. "The City of Gold, huh?"
"The City of Gold," I nodded. She continued grinning, then skipped past me and over to Ben. She gave him a brief hug, asking him if he was OK. At that moment, an arm snaked around my waist, pulling me into a kiss. I smiled, throwing my arms around his neck, my fingers knotting in his hair. When he released me, I smiled.
"What was that for?"
"My treasure."
I laughed, kissing his nose. Then I paused, looking around.
"Maybe we should move… somewhere else," I suggested.
"Why?" He looked confused. Then there was a loud knocking sound, which he obviously heard. "What was that?"
"Well, uh…"
Before I could answer, there was an explosion that rocked the cave, and a torrent of water came rushing down, nearly knocking us both off the edge.
"WHOA!"
I fell to my hands and knees, trying to crawl across to a golden staircase
"Riley, come on!" I wasn't sure he even heard me. I jumped up onto the stairs, pretty much holding on for my life. As I began my descent, I saw Riley climb on beside me, soaked to the bone. I figured I probably looked even worse. My hair was quite an enemy of mine when it was wet. Of course, at that moment, I was hardly thinking about my hair. I realized the stairs ended a few feet above the bottom, so I had to jump down, splashing into the pool of water that had already formed. The water made harder to move quickly, but I did the best I could, following the other 5 and hoping Riley was behind me and unharmed. We all piled into the tiny room, Ben and Mitch pushing the huge lever open as Nicole and Abigail peered under the door.
"It's a tunnel! It fills up when you open the door!" Nicole shouted over the water. "We have to get on the other side and close it!"
"Patrick, Emily, go!" Riley urged. But Mitch released the lever, letting the door slam down. Riley spun around, furious. "Mitch, we've gotta be on the other side of that door!"
"Nobody leaves unless I say so!" Mitch ordered. "That door's not gonna stay open by itself. We all know what has to happen here."
"One of us stays behind." Ben said, glaring at Mitch. There was a short pause.
"I vote Mitch." Riley piped up.
"This isn't a democracy." With these words Mitch delivered a blow to Ben, then Riley, and then grabbed the nearest female. Me. He put the knife in his hand to my neck, so close that I could feel the edge of it on my skin. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping…
"I'll do it, I'm staying, just let her go!" The voice that spoke up was full of fury. And didn't belong to Ben.
'No!' My eyes snapped open as Mitch released me, pushing me away like I was one fire. I looked up, searching his face. I struggled through the water, towards the center of the room where he was leaning against the lever, looking exhausted.
"No, damn it, you promised!" I climbed up to meet him, livid. "You promised me you wouldn't! You told me that you wouldn't do this again!"
"I have to." There was a quiet determination in his wavering voice. "You have to understand -"
"No I don't! I don't have to understand why you always…" I trailed off, fighting tears. "Why do you have to keep saving me? I'm tired of you trying to play superhero for me when you don't need to."
"I'm staying." He said fiercely, and I realized that it would be pointless to argue with. I stared down at the stone he was standing on, trying to keep from totally collapsing. "Kathleen?" My head snapped back up. "Take care of yourself, OK? For me? And our baby?" He turned his head to the side, grinning. I couldn't believe it; he was about to die and he was still making jokes. How typical of him.
My lips couldn't form any coherent words. So instead I give him one short kiss, one that had a sharp bite of finality to it. Like I would never see him again.
"I love you." I whispered tearfully, my hand lingering on his cheek for a minute. I looked him deep into the eyes before I stepped back and he pushed with all his might, opening the door. I was sucked under the rushing water, and soon I was under the door and on the other side with Nicole and Abigail. I resurfaced, gasping for air. I glared venomously at the stone door, continuing to sit in the water that slowly went down. I could hardly distinguish the tears on my cheeks from the other water. I glanced up at Nicole, who was looking at me sorrowfully.
The door opened again, this time sweeping in Patrick and Emily. I waited anxiously, closing my eyes as I prayed silently.
'Please don't let him die. Please, God, don't let Riley die.'
I realized I was being incredibly selfish, but I hardly cared then. It was all I could think about. The door opened a third time, and my eyes opened hopefully. Ben's head was the only to resurface and I swam over to him in an instant.
"Riley…" My voice sounded so weak and pleading. He cast a look to the big stone door, looking unsure.
"I don't know." He said quietly, answering the question I hadn't been able to voice. "Maybe." I knew Ben was just as desperate as I was to save him, whatever we had to do to do it.
There was a long, tension-filled minute, and the chamber was deadly silent except for the sound of the water beating against the door. Then the door finally went up, and a person floated beneath, and Ben went under to retrieve whoever it was. I closed my eyes, choking back sobs as Nicole tried to comfort me. The door closed with a final thud and I counted a few seconds in my head, clinging to my final hope.
"Kathleen." Nicole finally spoke, squeezing my hand. "Open your eyes." I did it, and gasped loudly, my hand flying to my mouth.
Ben held a limp Riley in his arms, trying to figure out what to do next. There was a gash on Riley's forehead that was bleeding profusely, and everything remained silent.
Finally I moved forward, my eyes searching Ben's face. "He's not…"
But Riley gave a little cough, then coughed again, spitting water out of his mouth, gasping for air. He took a few more deep breaths, and then his blue eyes fluttered open. Ben set him down gently on the stone, and I gave him a few seconds to recover. Then I fell forward, pulling him to me.
"God damn it, Riley, if you ever pull anything like that again, I'll kill you myself!" I cried into his shoulder. "You are such an idiot!"
"Right." He replied weakly. "Never again." I laughed, and everyone started talking at once, trying to make sure he was OK, concerned about the cut on his forehead, wondering what happened to Wilkinson. But I didn't even notice. I looked up at him and smiled, burying my face in the crook of his neck.
"Kathleen?" He murmured, and I looked up.
"Yes?"
"I…I love you too."
And I laughed again, kissing his cheek. "Thank you."
-OoOoOoO-
We emerged from the cave into the bright South Dakota sunlight, soaked, but relatively unharmed. Except for Riley and his forehead. Ben went off on his own to call Sadusky and see if he could send anyone to help us.
"You're bleeding." I whispered, squeezing Riley's hand.
He lifted his hand to his forehead absently. "I am? I-It doesn't hurt at all."
"Really?" I raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
"It doesn't hurt." He insisted, shaking his head weakly.
"Well, what happened?" I coaxed.
"After I had Wilkinson make Ben leave, a rock fell into the tunnel and knocked me off the lever. I'm guessing I hit my head on something, which probably caused this." He pointed to his forehead. "Then Wilkinson took over the live. I tried to tell him we could all get out, but he just decided to let me go instead. I guess he wanted to die more than he wanted me to die."
"Wait, why'd he let you go?" I was confused, and Riley shrugged.
"I couldn't tell you." He sighed, staring off in the distance.
"What's the matter?"
"I almost feel kind of guilty, you know?" He spoke quietly, not looking at me anymore. "Like maybe if I'd done something differently then Mitch wouldn't have had to die and we could've… I don't know, we would've figured something else out if we had to. It just doesn't seem very fair. He probably had someone who loved him too. He might not have been a very good person at times, but he was still a person like me or anyone else."
I stayed, silent, reflecting on what he'd just said. "Riley…" I spoke soothingly. "Even if you hadn't been the one to stay, the outcome would've been the same. There was nothing you could do, love."
The guilt was still evident in his eyes, but I decided not to press it any further. Besides, at that moment our rescue trucks were pulling up. I placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, helping him to his feet.
"Come on, love, let's get you cleaned up."
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Now I'm doubly sad. Writing that made me sad.
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