Strange Shores

24

His mother returns from the moor in a state of utter exhaustion. The blizzard has intensified again, bringing a complete whiteout, and so much snow has fallen that it is impossible for the searchers to continue. They gather at Bakkasel to wait out the worst of the storm.

The sedative the doctor gave him has worn off but he is quieter now and stays in bed in the room he shares with Bergur. He is still assailed by fits of shivering, as if coming down with the flu. The doctor looks in on him, takes his hand, examines his frostbite and feels his forehead. Then nods, apparently satisfied, and says he will soon be himself again.

His mother enters and sits down on the edge of the bed, her waterproof trousers, thick jumper and lace-up boots still caked with snow and ice. Water drips from her clothes onto the floor. She is ready to head back into the mountains the instant the weather lets up and can’t relax. She has only come to pay him a brief visit before making a meal for the rescue party. She wants to share her knowledge of the land above Bakkasel with the leaders.

‘How are you, dear?’ she asks. She radiates energy, decisiveness and dogged determination, but tries to appear calm so as to avoid making him agitated again.

‘How’s it going?’ he asks in return.

‘Well so far, but we need a rest,’ she answers quickly. ‘Then we’ll be able to carry on with twice the strength. Have you spoken to your father?’

He nods. He spent some time in his father’s room but they barely exchanged a word. He has picked up on the fact that his parents are not speaking. His mother has made little effort to rouse his father from the crushing depression that has him in its grip.

‘You will find Beggi, won’t you?’

‘Yes, we’ll find him,’ his mother reassures him. ‘It’s only a matter of time. We’ll find him, you can rely on that.’

‘He must be cold.’

‘Now, we mustn’t think like that,’ says his mother. ‘I know we’ve asked you a hundred times already but can you remember anything that might help us? Could you see any landmarks? Do you have any idea what direction you were going in?’

He shakes his head. ‘I never saw a thing after we lost Dad. Just snow. I could hardly open my eyes. I don’t know if I was walking uphill or down. Sometimes I had to crawl. I didn’t see any landmarks. I didn’t see anything at all.’

‘They say the position they found you in suggests you might have been heading away from home, driven by the wind. The storm seems to have blown you further than we would have dreamed possible. You were so high up it was sheer luck we found you. Since then we’ve been searching even higher. Do you think Beggi could have gone that way?’

‘He was supposed to stick with me. I was holding his hand all the time but suddenly he wasn’t there any more. I kept shouting and calling his name but I couldn’t even hear my own voice.’

He is struggling to suppress his tears.

‘I know that, dear,’ says his mother. ‘I know. Thank God we found you, my darling.’ She hugs him tight.

‘Beggi took his little car with him,’ he says.

‘What car?’

‘The one Dad gave him.’

‘The little red one?’

‘Yes.’

‘The one you wanted?’

‘I didn’t want it,’ he says quickly.

‘But you two quarrelled over it.’

‘I only asked him to swap it. For some soldiers.’

‘But he didn’t want to?’

‘No.’

‘And he had it with him when you left home?’

‘Yes.’

He is on the verge of telling her what he said to his father before they set out on the fateful journey. He only mentioned the car because he wants to unburden himself, but he can’t bring himself to. He doesn’t know why. Perhaps because there is still hope that all will turn out well. That Beggi will be found and then it won’t matter any more.

‘We’ll find him,’ repeats his mother. ‘Don’t worry. As soon as the storm dies down. They say it’s bound to blow itself out soon. When it does, we’ll be ready and we’ll find Beggi. There are more people coming to help and we’ll be able to organise ourselves better. We’ll find him, you can count on that.’

He nods.

‘Now, try to get some rest, dear. Try to sleep as much as you can. You need it.’

Then she is gone and he is left alone with his thoughts, the roaring of the wind still echoing in his ears. It batters the house as if it wanted to rip it up from its foundations and blow it to kingdom come. He tosses and turns for an eternity, then falls into an indeterminate state between sleep and waking, before fatigue finally overwhelms him and plunges him into evil dreams.

He is alone in the house, unprotected against the elements. He might as well be lying outside on the ground. The doors swing loosely on their hinges, the windows are broken and all life has vanished from within; all furniture, light and colour. Inside it is dark, dreary and dead. Water trickles down the bare, clammy walls as if they were weeping.

Glancing down, he catches sight of a man lying on the floor in a sleeping bag with a blanket over him. He stoops and is about to prod him when the man suddenly turns over and stares right through him. He gets a terrible shock. He has never seen the man before and his heart is filled with fear.

He is woken by the sound of his own screaming. He screams for all he is worth, till his lungs are ready to burst, till his face is scarlet and swollen. Screams and screams as if his life depended on it, until his mother comes in with the doctor and they manage to give him another shot of sedative.