Chapter two

Daniel took one look at Adam and instinctively he knew that somebody was in trouble. He searched his mind quickly trying to remember if he himself had done anything recently to piss off his eldest brother. Feeling fairly confident that he was in the clear, he closed the front door behind him and stepped into the living room, intending to head to the staircase, unobserved.

"You seen Guth anywhere?" Adam asked Daniel, getting up from the couch.

"I saw him get off the bus earlier. I think he's around somewhere." Daniel answered carefully with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't want to be the one to get his baby brother into trouble. Besides, he was telling the truth. He just didn't bother to share the fact that he saw Guthrie take off with a couple of his buddies right after he got off the bus.

"I'll go find him for you." Daniel continued, as he backed toward's the door.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. Tell him to come see me. He hasn't checked in with me all afternoon and he know's he is supposed to do that." Adam replied grumpily.

"Okay, I'll tell him." Daniel replied and hurried out the door to search for Guthrie.

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"This is so cool!" Alex exclaimed.

"I know, right? I told you so." Billy added, looking around the dark walls of the cave. He wasn't about to admit that Guthrie was right. There wasn't anything special inside the mine. It was too dark to really see anything, but Alex seemed sufficiently impressed, so Billy figured he'd go along.

"It's no big deal. I've seen it dozens of times." Guthrie replied, looking over his shoulder. He had already turned from his friends and was heading toward the opening of the mine. If he was being honest with himself, he would have to admit that his anxiety had been building with every step he had taken since entering that mine. He was worried that someone in his family would find out he had been there. On top of that, just being underground in this dark, cold shaft was bringing back some terrible memories. These friends of his didn't know what it felt like to be trapped underground. They had no idea how horrible it felt to struggle to breathe because you are running out of air, or to be hungry and thirsty and not be able to do a thing about it. Guthrie found himself shivering from the memory. The guilt was continuing to build until Guthrie felt it was going to completely consume him. He knew how disappointed his family would be to find out he had pulled this stupid stunt...and for what? To impress a couple of classmates? Adam would ground him for life. He didn't even want to think about what Daniel would think of him.

"Hey Guthrie. Wait up!" Billy shouted from behind him. Guthrie heard the footsteps of his buddies running to catch up to him. He knew his own behavior had effected them, even though he knew they'd never admit it. They were so determined to show everybody at school how big and bad they were. In that moment, Guthrie realized something he hadn't considered before now.

"Hey, if you guys plan on telling everybody that you came in here, do me a favor and leave my name out of it." Guthrie said, stopping at the entrance to look back at his friends.

"Whatever, McFadden. Nothin' happened worth tellin' anyhow." Alex replied.

"Look Guthrie, nobody's gonna find out you were in here, so just chill out, okay?" Billy said, shaking his head.

"Good." Guthrie replied.

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Daniel had checked almost run out of ideas on where to look for his youngest brother. The kid had lots of adventure spots and most of them he had learned from Ford, who had learned of them by tagging along behind Daniel and Evan. The only places left to look for Guthrie was down by the creek bed and the old Dixon mine. Daniel was hoping the boys had decided to go wading...maybe catch some tadpoles or minnows. He was about halfway down the path leading to the mine when he heard voices coming towards him from the direction of the creek.

"Is that you Guth?" Daniel shouted.

Guthrie's heart leaped into his throat. "That's Daniel. Don't you guys dare say a word about the mine, you got it?"

"We won't." Alex replied. Billy shook his head to indicate that he wasn't gonna talk.

"Daniel, It's me. I'm comin' up!" Guthrie shouted back and took off in a sprint to put more distance between himself and the mine entrance.

"Hey kid!" Daniel replied with a smile. "Dad's lookin' for ya." He continued with a silly giggle.

"Oh gosh, I guess I lost track of time. I guess he's mad about my chores?" Guthrie asked.

"He's mad 'cause you didn't check in with him. What'chall been doin' down here?" Daniel inquired.

"Uh, we were...we were exploring by the creek." Alex offered.

"Well, this is a first. Guthrie can't go anywhere near the water without gettin' wet." Daniel said with a grin.

"I tried hard not to get wet, so Adam wouldn't know I've been off loafing." Guthrie said, looking at his feet. He always had a hard time lying to any of his family.

"Well, I think he's figured you out. Evan and me did your chores, so you might wanna thank him when we get home. Oh, and Adam doesn't know we did 'em so don't give it away." Daniel said, eying his youngest sibling.

"Okay, thanks Daniel." Guthrie offered.

"No biggie. You weren't foolin' around in the mine were ya?" Daniel asked, suspecting that he wasn't getting the truth out of the boys. They were all acting like they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Nah, I know better Daniel." Guthrie lied again, feeling horrible about himself.

"Guthrie, don't lie to me, you understand?" Daniel asked, putting his hand underneath Guthrie's chin and forcing the boy to look him in the eye.

"No, I'm not." Guthrie said coolly, wearing his most innocent face. He hated lying to his brother, but he hated Daniel minding his business even more. Guthrie could feel the resentment building within him.

"Okay. Well, I guess we'd better be gettin' home. You'll have to go talk to Adam. Maybe if we make it back before supper, he'll go easy on ya." Daniel said smiling as he ruffled Guthrie's hair, hoping the boy was being straight up with him.

"Stop messing with my hair Daniel. I'm not a little kid anymore." Guthrie complained.

"I know. You're worse than that. You're a teenager!" Daniel said rolling his eyes as he turned to walk back up the path.

"So are you." Guthrie groaned.

"True, but I'm on my way outta my teens and you're just gettin' into yours. If you start makin' bad choices, your teenage years are gonna go by real, real slow...like mine has." Daniel said with a smirk. "You boy's better head home too." Daniel said to Billy and Alex.

"Tell Joey I said hey when you see him." Daniel yelled after Billy.

"Okay, I will. See ya at school Guthrie!" Billy said with a wave of his hand.

"See ya." Guthrie answered.