Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Then I go back to the trapdoor, unlock it, open it up, and peer back down. “Come up. You can eat up here.”
It’s still dark down there and none of the light from up here is penetrating that darkness, so I don’t see her until she’s right underneath me, looking up. “You’re gonna let me out?”
“To eat, Clover.”
I know she wants to argue here. I can feel her anger.
But I also know she’s hungry.
She will die of thirst before she dies of hunger, but starvation is a very unpleasant thing. I’ve known hunger pangs. I missed a lot of meals while I was drilling tunnels in the dark.
She holds her tongue and climbs up the stairs.
I wave her forward in front of me, expecting her to make some stupid break for it. But she doesn’t. She goes to the kitchen, assuming that’s where the food is, I guess, and takes a seat at the shitty dinette table.
I sit in the chair to her right.
She doesn’t even look at me. Her eyes are on the bags of takeout food.
“Go ahead, eat as much as you want.”
Clover opens the first bag, takes out all the contents, and greedily peels back the wrapper on the burger, shoving it into her mouth. She holds it with two hands as she chews, head bowed and eyes cast down.
Times ticks off—whole minutes of it—but she never raises her head up. Just keeps taking bites and slowly chewing her food as she looks down at the table.
I let out a long breath, stretching my feet out. “It’s not my fault, you know.”
Clover’s eyes flit up and meet mine. They’re an intense shade of blue. Not bright and disarming, like some blue eyes can be, but more like the color of a dark summer sky. “Excuse me?”
“This whole thing here. It’s not my fault.”
Her eyebrows go up and then she scoffs. “Are you implying that it’s my fault? Because… well, let’s review the facts here, shall we? I came home. That’s what I did. That’s all I did. I came home. And you were here. Uninvited and unwelcome. So if it’s not my fault and it’s not your fault, then who should get the blame when I die a slow, painful death in my own fucking basement?” She stares at me for a moment, daring me to say she’s wrong.
But she’s not wrong and after a few seconds, she reverts back to chewing and staring down at the table.
“It’s just…” I don’t know what to say.
“Save it. I don’t care. And I don’t want to listen as you make up excuses.”
“I just…”
She looks up again. “I get it. You feel terrible. But unless you’re gonna do something about this sudden flash of guilt, shut up, OK? I’m not interested.”
Again, we stare at each other. And then, again, she looks back down and takes her final bite of burger.
“There might be a way,” I say.
“A way to what?”
“To not leave you here.”
She looks up. Then narrows her eyes. “How?”
“I could… take you with me.”
Her head tips back as the guffaw comes out. Then she shakes her head and directs her gaze to me. “I’m not going anywhere with you. How is that even a solution? What a stupid choice. I can stay here and die or I can become your prisoner?”
“Ya know, you’re kinda stuck up. Not to mention ungrateful.”
“What?” She scoffs.
“I’m offering to save your life, Clover. At great risk to myself.”
“By making me your pet, or something? No, thank you.” She starts eating her fries, staring off in the distance this time.
“It wouldn’t be forever. I’d set you free.”
“It wouldn’t be forever?” Another scoff. “That doesn’t sound promising.”
“I’m not a killer.”
“I think you are.”
“For fuck’s sake, Clover! Why are you arguing with me? Just say yes! Yes, you’ll happily come with me and endure whatever slight discomfort there is in order to save yourself. It’s a simple fucking ‘yes!’ That’s it! That’s all you have to say. Just yes.”
There is nothing but silence after this little outburst of mine. So I just keep going. “If I thought you were coming home, I would not have been here. It’s not my fault, Clover. I’m just… I cannot fuck this job up. I can’t.”
Her expression softens slightly. “Because of the darkness?”
It takes me a moment to decide to answer her. But there’s no point in denying it. I slipped up. Somewhere along the way, I said too much. She’s smart and picked up on it. It’s a weakness and she knows this. The longer I insist there’s nothing there to find, the harder she will look and the more power over me she’ll have.
The only way to neutralize this is to spill the secret.
“I don’t know how much you know about what’s under the ground, but that’s where I come from.”