Radium Halos Read online

  Seth splashed his way across the muddy floor towards the doors. He grunted as he pushed, throwing his shoulder into it. “Door’s stuck.” He pulled the handle really hard and the thing ripped right off the door. He tossed it on the ground and tried pushing against the door and then moved to the other door, but to no avail. Brent and Kieran hurried over, trying to help. Panic filled my chest.

  Punch the steel, Brent groaned. “Looks like we’ll be waiting here ‘til someone answers one of Zoe’s texts.” He crossed his arms and shrugged.

  “You’re jokin’!” I shook my head. “We’re trapped, again?”

  “Just slightly detained,” Seth glared at the door and then threw his hands in the air. “It’s no big deal. The storm’s over now.”

  “We’re probably in its eye.” Let’s go, guys. Come on!

  “You girls wanna do some wrestling? We’ll watch.” Brent clapped his hands and rubbed them together. He gave a good-natured leer. “Now that the skies are clear, it looks like your standing in a mud ring with white on the outside. Just need the ropes.”

  I stifled a groan. Music-man needed to shut his vocal chords. However, he was right about the white-thing. Still standing in the middle of the round room, I swung around and stared. Freaky. Really freaky. “It does seem kinda bright in here.” Even without the lightening or key flashlight. What’s going on?

  “Like someone’s switched the lights on,” Seth said.

  “But at a low wattage. ’Pears like the walls are ablaze,” added Kieran.

  “Ablaze?” Seth laughed. “That a British term or something?”

  Kieran smiled, but his lips stayed tight together. I felt his frustration and wished Seth stood within reach so I could swat the back of his head.

  Aside from the large puddle of mud in the middle, everything seemed white in color, like a coloring page that hadn’t been filled in yet. The walls were stark and pale. Staring at them, I followed the pattern the cracked lines between the bricks made. They seemed unusually bright, almost like they, too, glowed in the dark. I checked the cement slabs we’d been standing on. Even with mud splattered on them, they were white instead of grey. Of fallen particles that had showered down on us, the nuts, bolts and other metal bits were white.

  Heidi shivered. “This room’s weird. Actually the whole place’s creepy. Zoe’s always moaning about how she hates this place. Now I totally get it.” She hugged herself. “Sorry to be the perpetual wimp, but I’d prefer to get out of here than spend the night. Zoe, can you try your cell again?” Like her hands, her voice trembled slightly.

  “Sure.” I don’t plan on sleeping here either. Flipping my cell phone open, I saw there had been two replies to my SOS, and both thought I’d been joking. “I’m not sure it’ll work, but I’ll try again.” I dialled dad’s number.

  “Hu-llo?” His voice came across the line low and tired.

  “Dad? It’s me. We’re stranded in the mine. Help!” Shoot! He’s so gonna freak. I lowered my voice to a normal level and checked my watch. Just after two am. “Sorry. Were you sleeping?”

  “What’s wrong?” He sounded instantly awake. “Where are you? Did you say the mine?”

  His bed creaked in the background and I knew he’d sat up, probably already shoving his feet into the Crocs he kept by the bed. Having a doctor for a father, worries tended to get blown out of proportion. One of the reasons he and Mom split.

  “I’m not hurt. Relax.” I exhaled a slow breath and fought to control my voice. “But we’re in a bit of a bind. The gang all went to the high school kick-off tonight and a storm blew in. We went for cover in the old uranium mine and we’re… kinda stuck.” He may be the calmest doctor on the continent, but when it came to his only daughter, he turned into the biggest worrywart. I was at mom’s this weekend so he would assume I’d be home sleeping in my bed. He was probably having a coronary right now.

  “I’m on my way. Have you called nine-one-one?” My pause had him talking again. “Have you tried anyone else?”

  I knew what was coming.

  “Come on, Zoezey.”

  I sighed. “No, I haven’t called Mom. I’m sleeping at Rylee’s tonight.” I could hear him getting dressed and imagined him holding the phone with his chin against his shoulder, throwing on jeans and a sweatshirt. He was probably leaning over to grab his doctor’s bag, dark hair falling in his face. “My cell just started working.”

  “I’ll call Jim.” Seth’s dad, Jim, was a fireman with a huge, muscular body. He could probably remove the fallen tree with his bare hands and then tear down the mine doors with his pinkie finger.

  “You’d better call Brent’s dad and the rest of the gangs. I’m not sure my phone will keep working. I don’t even know if the storm’s going to start up again. It’s all…all…” I swallowed trying not to cry. My throat tightened and burned.

  “I’m coming, sweetie,” he said, car keys jingling in the background. “I’ll call nine one one and everyone I need to. Keep your cell close.”

  “Please hurry.” I shut the phone and waved it at my friends, not sure I could speak. “Help’s on the way.”

  “Hopefully Seth’s dad’s driving the ladder truck over here to rescue us right now,” Heidi said.

  “I’m sure he’s on his way.” Seth came and put his arm around Heidi.

  “We’re all okay and going to get outta here very soon.” Brent came and stood by me.

  The scepticism of the past few hours eased. Exhaustion seeped into my core. I dropped onto one of the concrete slabs. The others followed my lead. There we sat, and waited. And waited. Bored we needed someone to talk about something…anything to keep our minds off the fact we were still trapped. Small talk. “Kieran, where’s your new place?”

  He ran a hand through his thick, brown hair. “Me granddad owned the wooden cabin thingy near the round about -- sorry, I mean the four way stop. He left it to me dad in ’is will.”

  Rylee, sitting near him, rested a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry to hear you lost your grandfather.”

  “It was like three years ago. Guess me dad ’n him were not thar close. Plus, he was a miserable ol’ bugger.” Kieran laughed, and all three females turned toward the husky sound. He didn’t seem to notice. “Me dad decided to up ’n come here for the year. I wasn’t too keen, but he tends to not give a toss to what I think.” He shrugged and shot a glance in my direction.

  I couldn’t read his face. His accent was sexy, even when he sounded ticked off at his dad. With his Sean Connery voice, I had to listen closely to what he said. It might be fun having a new guy in the group. Senior year just got a lot more interesting.

  “What’d your mom think about having to come to Canada?” Rylee asked.

  “Me mum passed away a few years back. It’s just me dad now.”

  Rylee’s hands flew to her face and her eyes grew big. She patted his arm. “Sorry. I sometimes open my mouth when I shouldn’t.”

  Seth smirked. “Sometimes? I think you like puttin’ your foot in your mouth.”

  “Shut up!” Rylee laughed and gave Seth, who sat on her other side, a shove. “At least my mother doesn’t bake cookies in the shape of NHL teams for me.”

  “Hey! I like Seth’s mom’s cookies,” Heidi suddenly piped up. “I’m hoping she sent some with you tonight and you left them in the truck.” Poor Heidi, skinny as a toothpick and always hungry.

  “Speaking of food, I’m starving!” Seth grabbed his stomach.

  I groaned, trying to swallow against dryness in my mouth. “I’m kinda thirsty.”

  “Me too.” Heidi said. “Hungry, thirsty, and soaking.”

  “Hopefully someone arrives soon,” Brent said. “I’m wiped.” Everyone must’ve felt the same as we all grew quiet and waited.

  Dad sent a text to let us know the firefighters were working on removing the large fallen tree at the entrance to the mine. We could hear muffled noise from the dome. He sent another text fort minutes later asking where we were.

  It took alm
ost an hour for the search and rescue team to find us.

  When voices on the other side of the locked door greeted us, we hollered. The room had grown darker as the moon shifted.

  The saw cutters and drills had me covering my ears from the screeching noise. The loud banging from some heavy metal thing slamming against the door seemed to last forever. It broke my heart when I heard one of the firefights say they’d have to try the other door.

  “Anyone ’ver watch Fireman Sam?” Kieran asked loudly, trying to be heard about the noise. “Tom Thomas could fly his little helicopter and lift us out of here with a rope. Seems yer firefighters could use ol’Sam.”

  “Huh?” Seth chuckled. “That was my favourite show when I was a kid. My dad had an uncle from England send DVD’s over.” He laughed harder. Kieran joined in.

  “You guys are messed up!” I tried frowning but couldn’t stop the smile. Could this night get any crazier?

  The firefighters finally broke down the other door. Their flashlights were so bright, they had all of us holding our hands out to covering our eyes.

  Rylee stood closest to the door and yelped when the light hit her eyes. “Turn that thing off, please!” She staggered like she’d been hit. Seth grabbed her arm to steady her.

  One fireman swept his torch over the walls. I nudged Kieran and pointed. “They’re black.” I kept my voice low.

  “Wha’?” he said.

  “The walls, they’re black now. Weren’t they sorta glowing in the dark before?” I continued to whisper.

  He blinked, and scratched his left temple. “Yeah, ‘tis weird. Maybe it was the moon.”

  Four more firefighters filed through the door, one of them Seth’s dad. Jim’s boisterous voice shouted commands and had us walking out single file, holding onto a rope with a fireman between each of us. We laughed at the bright yellow rope but Jim insisted we use the buddy system so no one would be left behind.

  Ten minutes later we stood on the wet grass, among flashing cop cars, fire trucks, and the local TV crew. Only in a small town, the freakin’ media’s got nothing more exciting to cover? I found my dad a split second before he noticed me. He stood, hands in his back pockets of his jeans, doctor bag hanging over his shoulder and his right foot tapping.

  He ran over and squeezed me tight. “Everyone okay?” He motioned to Jim and walked to get his medical bag where he’d dropped it when he’d dashed over. “Let’s get all of you to the ambulance. Check and see if you’re all okay.”

  A policeman stepped forward. “Your folks have been notified,” he paused when he reached Kieran, “except yours, young man. We didn’t realize there were six of you.” He handed Kieran the cell from his chest pocket. “Here. Call your folks”

  Kieran pushed the phone back at the officer. “Thanks, but I’ll let me Dad know in the morning. No sense in waking ’im if everything’s alright.”

  Poor guy. He’s embarrassed by the officer’s concern. I inhaled a deep breath, about to say something. The air smelled of wet earth. It felt like mud clogged in my throat. I gagged and began coughing.

  Dad rushed back to my side and pounded my back. “You okay?”

  Holy smokes. You don’t need to shout, Dad. I bent forward and raised a hand. “I’m… okay…” I tried to clear my air passage. “A bug must’ve been… trying to… suffocate me.” I swallowed and took shallow breaths. “Honest, I’m fine.” Please don’t embarrass me.

  “I’ll get you home soon, kiddo.” Dad put his arm around my shoulder when I straightened. “Let me just check the others and we’ll go. My car’s parked beside the first ambulance.”

  I rested my head on his chest, suddenly exhausted. “The Bug’s parked somewhere in the field.”

  “We’ll get it in the morning.”

  Seth spoke from behind. “I’ll take it back to my place. Kieran can drive my truck.”

  “Thanks.” I lifted my head. It felt so heavy.

  Rylee’s folks had come and, to my surprise, Heidi’s mom was here on her own. It made me wish Mom were here, but the feeling quickly evaporated.

  I tried to focus on my friends, but my eyes rolled from sudden exhaustion. I tried blinking several times to refocus but gave up. Tapping Dad’s shoulder, I asked, “Is it okay if I wait in your car?”

  He bent down to grab something out of his medical bag. “Let me check you once more –”

  “Dad! I’m fine.” I winced at the harshness in my tone, and lowered my voice. “Nothing happened in the mine. We just got stuck in that stupid room.” I didn’t want to be here another minute. The ambulances’ flashing red lights bounced off the front of the mine. The entrance looked like a face laughing at us with horrible beady red eyes. I shuddered and mumbled, “So…tired…Just gonna lie down…in the car.” I walked to his Beamer, grabbing a blanket and bottle of water from the back of the ambulance as I passed. I crawled into the back seat and took a swig from the bottle. The refreshing liquid never tasted so delicious. My body collapsed across the seats, my arms pulling the blanket over my head. Everything sounded so loud outside.

  I woke groggy sometime later. It took me a moment to remember what happened. Uugh! What a lousy night. The cut-off of the engine told me we were in Dad’s driveway. He cleared his throat and I heard him move to reach over to the passenger seat, probably grabbing his bag. When he opened the door, the irritating beeping sounded to remind him to take the keys from the ignition.

  Reaching for the handle, I pulled myself up and crept outside. The cool air made me shiver. I hugged myself and groggily made my way to Dad’s front door. A figure stood silhouetted in the light on the porch. I groaned, wishing I had the ability to disappear, or better yet, some supernatural power to make my mom disappear.

  Mom began shouting at Dad, oblivious to the late hour. “You bastard! Why didn’t you call me sooner?” She stamped her foot. “She could’ve been seriously hurt.”

  Dad said nothing. He put his arm around my shoulders and helped me inside the house, and whispered to me, “She’s just worried about you.” Once we were through the front door, he turned back to corral my unbelievably loud mother. She wouldn’t shut up.

  “She could’ve drowned, or been hit by lightening or --”

  “Bev,” Dad said, using his doctor-talking-to-the-patient voice, “why not come inside and I’ll make you a cup of coffee. You must be cold from waiting.” Good ol’ Dad, making her think it was in her best interest to come in.

  They came inside, Dad holding the door for my stomping mother. She paused in front of me and began touching and patting me everywhere.

  “Are you hurt?” Pat, pat, pat.

  “No, Mom. Stop. Nothing’s broken. Dad’s already checked me out. I’m fine.”

  “We should take you to the hospital. Who knows what rodents are living in that mine.”

  I stepped out of her reach. “I’m alright.” I glanced at Dad for help.

  He smiled and shrugged, as if saying “what can you do?” He squeezed my shoulder. “Let’s talk over a cup of coffee, Bev.”

  Mom glared at him. “You’re right we’re going to talk.” She stormed into the kitchen.

  Dad gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’ll calm her down. Why don’t you go on and clean up.” He pulled at a strand of my hair, dried dirt feel to the floor.

  That’s why I loved him. He got me without having to explain things sometimes. “Thanks. I’m gonna jump in the shower. I stink.”

  “--and I think there’s more mud on you than most pigs.” He hugged me tight, pulling away when my mother called out she couldn’t work the coffee machine. I smiled. Dad had one of those automatic coffee makers. It made lattes, hot chocolates, the works. Actually, a drink sounded really good.

  He must have seen my face. “I’ll make something hot and soothing for you to drink, and put it in your room.” He kissed my forehead. “Good night, sweetie. I’ll see you in morning.” He headed down the hall to the kitchen.

  I shook my head when Mom started in on Dad. She always did
that. Whenever she couldn’t handle a situation, she blamed it on him. She didn’t mean to but it was her way of dealing with crap. Plus tonight she talked so bloomin’ loud, it grated on my ears. She just didn’t know how to handle intense situations. If she’d just leaned on Dad instead of blaming him, maybe… I forced the thought out of my head. I loved my mom and she was great. She just had a tendency to over-react. Usually it wasn’t a big deal but tonight, I just couldn’t handle it.

  I headed to the room Dad had set up for me five years ago when he’d bought the house shortly after their separation. I lived with Mom but slept here as much as I could. I grabbed a pair of cotton pj bottoms with a tank top and headed downstairs. Dad had this awesome huge double shower installed down there.

  Turning both jets on high, I stripped down and stepped in. The hot water pounded on my back and top of my head. It felt awesome. The power of the jets drowned out my parents’ voices. A headache began creeping up the back of my neck and spreading like a vice around my head. I washed my mud-caked legs and scrubbed the dirt out of my hair. If my head didn’t hurt so badly, I’d have enjoyed the shower longer. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and vanish for the next hundred hours. I never got migraines and this felt debilitating.

  I dressed and paused at the kitchen entrance. Dad had calmed Mom down. They each sat on a bar stool, having a glass of wine. Mom was laughing at something Dad said, her slender fingers resting on his bicep.

  She stood when she saw me and came over to give me a hug. “Glad you’re okay.” She kissed my forehead. “Ready to go?”

  “I-I…uh…” I stood there in pjs and she wanted to take me home? Some people were actually getting up at this time to go to work!

  “Bev.” Dad rested his hand on her shoulder. “Why not let Zoezey sleep here. It’s almost morning, and she’s exhausted.”

  Her brows creased together and she opened her mouth.

  “Mom,” I interrupted, stopping any chance of her speaking. “My head’s killin’. I’m gonna lie down. You finish your wine. If I’m still awake when you’re done, I’ll come back with you.”