CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

Inside a large cavern where very little light shone through, there was a madman. He rustled around in turmoil, holding onto a bitter anger because it was the only thing he believed kept him going. Since he had already torn his clothes in previous fits of madness, he instead hit his hands against the walls of the cavern near the opening where Bowen had just been. So many times before had he torn at himself and tried to break his bones and die against the caverns.

“No,” he said to himself in a moment of clarity, “it's no use continuing.” Then he sat down, using his bloody hands to hold his head up while he wept. He absentmindedly wiped the blood on his thighs.

He sobbed, softly whimpering. “Oh my darling, how—” he stopped mid-sentence, and his eyes slowly widened as he looked at his hand. Then he whirled himself up to hold his hand into the light leaking through the cracked stone.

“Blood,” he remarked quietly, then bellowed, “Blood!”

Others in the cavern heard his cry. Accustomed to his fits, they usually ignored him, but his words drew them in, and they thawed into living beings once more, aware of their surroundings. The bleeding man ran some distance to the original opening of the cave. It had been blocked last he checked. When he arrived, the space was reopened. He simply stood there taking in the scene, his eyes sparkling with fire. He felt a sense of adventure. At last, he would get Bowen, and be at peace. Others who had followed him to the opening stood behind him, reveling in amazement. Their eyes squinted at the sudden burst of light, turning away from the sun as they laughed with long-awaited relief.

In an ancient Gaelic language long dead, “Freedom,” was uttered in hushed and awed tones.

***

A few days passed, and Catherine's foot healed decently. She didn't limp anymore, though it was tender with bruising. She sat calmly at the edge of her bed staring out her bedroom door, watching the dancing lights from the window on the stair banister. Catherine wondered when she would see Bowen again, wanting to know more about what he said. Was she really endangering herself, her family, and even everyone in Ireland? Just by being here? And from what?

The front door slammed, and Kathleen stomped up the stairs. “I met a guy,” she said happily.

“A guy?” Catherine's eyes were wide with surprise.

“Yes, I was on my way to meet Bella at her new apartment.”

“They're called flats here, you know. What happened?”

She grinned and plopped herself down on the other side of Catherine's bed. “I dropped my phone accidentally, and when I bent down he ran right into me. We both fell. Oh, it was perfect,” Kathleen said dreamily. Catherine laughed. “We helped each other up and went for coffee. He’s amazing, and I never say that about anything or anybody, Catherine.” Kathleen leaned forward and touched her hand for reassurance.

“That's great, Kathleen! Did you forget about Bella?”

“Oh, no. I texted her. We talked about lots of things. Catherine, I think I'm in love, I really think so, it was one of those at-first-sight things.”

“You're talking too fast, calm d—”

“He seemed really interested in me, too. We have a lot in common. I wish I'd taken a picture of him to show you.” Kathleen brushed off Catherine's hand and ran out of the room.

Catherine shook her head and smiled. She got up and went to her dresser to change, looking through her jewelry to find a pair of antique pearl dangling earrings, but could only find one of them. Then she remembered Kathleen had helped her take them out the day they saw Bowen on the walk. “Kathleen,” she yelled out the door.

“I'm on the phone!”

Catherine stood still, irritated. The earrings belonged to her grandmother. She couldn't bear to lose one.

Kathleen appeared in the doorway with the phone at her side. “Yes?”

“When you took my earrings out did you put both right here?” Catherine said, pointing to her jewelry box.

“No, you only had one in,” Kathleen said.

“What? I was missing one of grandmother's earrings, and you didn't say anything?”

“I was preoccupied getting bandages for your bleeding foot.”

“That was three days ago, Kathleen. It's probably gone forever!”

“I saw you had both of them when we went for a walk. Maybe you lost it when you hurt yourself? I didn't notice until we were home.”

Catherine growled under her breath. “I can't believe this.”

Kathleen walked back out of the room with the phone to her ear again.

Catherine fell back on the bed. She’d received the earrings for graduation. They had been a gift from her deceased grandfather to her grandmother before they were married. Sad that she had lost such a treasure, she lay there longer than intended and drifted off. A few hours later she woke to Danny's face as he yelled her name.

“What, oh my God, what?” she whined.

“The car is gone, and I need to get to work. I can't be late my first day,” he said.

"You have a job?" Catherine rolled onto her side.

"Yeah, I told you I did. I'll be in the sorting room at the post office." He gestured in the building's direction out the window.

"Then why don't you just walk?"

Danny sighed. "I can't, I'm training somewhere else." He pulled the pillow from underneath her. "The car!"

Realization struck. “The car is gone?” Catherine pushed herself up and rubbed her face.

“Look for yourself.” Danny waved toward the window facing the empty driveway.

Catherine reached and grabbed her phone.

“What are you doing?” he asked, exasperated.

“I'm going to call the Gardaí, Danny, what else would you have me do? Go hunt the thief down myself?”

“Maybe,” Danny said sarcastically, a little hurt.

Catherine looked at her phone, unmoving.

Danny was impatient. “Well?”

She got up and put her phone in her pocket, a text message flashing off the screen. “Kathleen has the car. She went to look for my earring.”

“That's a relief, but I'm still gonna be late for work. I have to tell her to bring back the car.”

“You can't. She said her phone was dying, and she forgot her charger. And stop yelling at me.” She threw him a warning glare.

Danny ran a hand through his hair as he tried to control his frustration.

“I'm really more concerned about Kathleen. She shouldn't be out there alone. She doesn't know the area well enough for that, she could get lost, and now being unreachable . . . this is so stupid.”

“What? Nah, she won't get lost, she'll be fine,” said Danny.

“She said so herself. Plus, it'll be getting dark before too long. I don't like this.” Catherine put on a jacket hanging from her desk chair, and then took her wallet from her purse before putting it in the jacket's inside zipper pocket.

“Where are you going?”

“To go get her, of course,” Catherine said.

“Without a car?”

“I'll borrow Bella's,” she said, as she left for Bella's place. Catherine didn't have a good feeling about this, and couldn't think clearly having been roused awake in alarm.

While driving, she thought maybe she should have brought Danny with her, but shrugged it off as she tried to remember which spot Kathleen might think the earring would be. Catherine hoped she guessed right and would look where she ran her foot into the rock. That was the most logical spot, but Kathleen was not often logical.

At the hill, she parked and walked down to the spot more carefully this time. Kathleen was nowhere to be seen. As Catherine searched, she noticed some footprints in the mud close by. There were other markings in the ground, but Catherine couldn't read them. There were a few others that all seemed different from each other. Catherine's heart went into her throat, and that bad feeling increased rapidly. Kathleen was missing, and wherever she was, there were several other people involved. Possibly very bad people. Catherine tried to shrug it off. Maybe it was some friends she ran into who were hiking, or maybe Kathleen brought her friends with her. Catherine took some deep breaths to calm herself and began following the prints.

It was quiet. Catherine hadn’t noticed how quiet it really was last time. Kathleen was missing. Her twin sister, the only other girl in the world who knew her completely. She gulped as she thought of her sister possibly not being alive anymore, then shook her head to vanquish the thought. Having a twin was a connection so unique from any other relationship, at least for Catherine. She felt something was wrong, deep down, in that twin place. She could just tell. The uneasy feeling wouldn't go away. Catherine thought again of Kathleen being materialistic and superficial, and how much that annoyed her. Of course, she knew that wasn't the real Kathleen. Her Kathleen. Where is my sister?

Catherine walked a good distance away in the other direction from the rock and past the bubbling creek that had cooled her wounds the other day. She feared continuing as darkness fell. Catherine again regretted not bringing Danny as she zipped up her jacket and pushed on. Kathleen, she thought. She stopped. When she saw the edge of the wooded area ahead she felt a pinch of relief, but the panic filtered in. Would she be able to find her way back? Was Kathleen out there?

She was just about to take a step when she heard voices nearby. She froze and listened. They were male voices, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. She didn't know why, but instinctively—as quick as a cat—she hid behind some bushes. It was just in time. The men walked by right after. Catherine's breathing came quick, but she covered her nose and mouth with her jacket to silence the noise.

She could tell now that there were two men as they walked closer. Their features were apparent. Both wore what looked like simple cloth wrapped around their torsos that hung loosely, then openly at their ankles. The cloth was dark and looked very grungy and ragged hanging off of them. One of them had a belt fastened around his middle that looked to be made of fine rope entwined with some sort of metal loops. The other had a basic sash, which, though speckled with holes, was tied at the bottom atop his hips. Their faces seemed gruff, and their wet hair soaked their clothes around the neckline.

At knee level, she followed their movements mostly by eying their feet, which were either laced in sandals or covered in a crude-looking boot. One of them snapped twigs in his hands as they walked. The men had a look about them that made one think their bones were heavy inside of them, for they hunched over strangely. They looked strong and sturdy. Catherine wondered why the strange men were here and hoped desperately she could escape without them noticing her. Her legs began to throb. Very slowly, she managed to stretch them without a sound. She knew she needed to be ready to run at any minute, and could not afford to have her legs give out beneath her.