Due Or Die

CHAPTER 22

BRIAR CREEK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

“That can’t be,” Beth said. She handed Lindsey her cocoa and tried the door herself.

Lindsey watched her struggle, popping out some rather salty language for a children’s librarian before she gave up and slumped against the door.

“This cannot be happening,” Carrie said. “I don’t like enclosed spaces. I don’t even use the elevator at work when I can avoid it.”

“Maybe if we all try it together, we can open it,” Lindsey said.

Lindsey put down Beth’s cocoa and the three of them shuffled around the boxes until they each found a spot against the door.

“On three,” Lindsey said. “One, two, three!”

With an ear-jarring clang, they all rammed the door at once. It didn’t budge.

“Again,” Carrie said. She counted off and they did it again.

“I think I felt it move,” Beth said. “Come on, one more time.”

They tried several more times. In the end, they created quite a racket, but the door remained shut and locked.

Exhausted but warmer from the exertion, they each found a stack of boxes to lean against. To Lindsey, the flashlight beam seemed to be getting dimmer.

“I think we’re going to need to conserve that light,” she said.

Carrie looked stricken, but she nodded. Lindsey switched off the light and the shed went dark.

“So, any idea how we ended up locked in?” Beth asked.

Her voice had a disembodied quality, probably because Lindsey couldn’t see her, that made it creepy coming out of nowhere. Lindsey kept waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, allowing her to make out shapes but, no, it was just relentlessly black.

“I’d blame it on Batty Bilson, but she wasn’t here tonight,” Lindsey said.

“Unless, she arrived late,” Carrie said. “Maybe she was watching from somewhere else and came when everyone else had left.”

“Maybe,” Lindsey said. She remembered the message on her phone this morning. Batty had said she’d be watching her. Lindsey shivered and not just from the cold. Although, now that she wasn’t moving, she could feel the cold closing in on her extremities. Her nose, her fingers and her toes were beginning to stiffen and prickle with pain.

“So, who has a cell phone?” Beth asked brightly. “Mine is in the car.”

“Mine, too,” Lindsey said.

“Same for me,” Carrie said.

Beth sighed.

Lindsey pulled down her glove and pulled up her sleeve. She felt her wrist. Yes, she was wearing her sports watch and it had an indigo light.

“I have a light on my watch,” she said. “Hang on.”

She had to remove her glove to press the button. When she did, a faint blue glow lit up the storage area.

“It’s just after eight o’clock,” she said. “It’s not too late for someone to come by.”

She could see hope flare in both Carrie and Beth’s faces. She hoped she wasn’t wrong.

A scratching noise sounded at the door and they all jumped. Someone was out there.

“Hello?” Lindsey shouted. “Is anyone out there?”

Beth went to cry out, but Lindsey held up her hand. They were all silent, straining to hear a voice or a footstep or anything that verified that someone had come to their rescue.

Then very softly, Lindsey heard a whimper, followed by a scratching sound, the sort made by claws against metal. Heathcliff!

“Heathcliff, is that you?” she cried.

The whimper turned into a yowl, and his puppy feet pounded frantically against the door.

“Turn on the light!” Lindsey said.

Beth reached over and flicked on the flashlight. Lindsey ran her hands along the bottom edge of the door. Maybe there was a way to pry it or jimmy it open. There was nothing.

She felt a burst of panic at the thought of Heathcliff out there in the cold. He was just a puppy. He couldn’t handle being out there indefinitely. He would freeze to death! Lindsey couldn’t bear it. Why had she brought him? What had she been thinking?

He continued to whimper and scratch against the door.

It was heartbreaking. Lindsey laid her hand flat against the metal, wishing she could reach through and pick up her boy.

“We have to scare him away,” Carrie said. “For his own good.”

Lindsey nodded, knowing she was right but not sure if she could do it. She didn’t know the puppy’s life story, but she suspected it wasn’t one full of love and affection.

She felt sick to her stomach as she put on her tough voice. “Heathcliff, go home!”

The scratching stopped but the whimpering continued. Lindsey turned to face the other two women.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered.

“You have to,” Beth said with a bolstering arm about her shoulders. “He might stay out there all night unless you scare him away. It’s bad enough we might freeze to death, but he’s out there. He stands a good chance of being found.”

“It’s the right thing,” Carrie whispered.

“Heathcliff, go!” Lindsey yelled. “Go home, now. Get!”

The whimpering stopped and all was silent. Lindsey held her breath. The lump in her throat burned like a hot coal, but she knew if she cried, Heathcliff would never leave, and she just couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to him.

She stared at her watch; after five minutes, there was still no sound from outside. She hoped he had run away even as it broke her heart to send him.

Beth opened her arms and pulled Lindsey close. She held her tight, and Lindsey choked back the sobs that threatened to overwhelm her. After a moment, she reached out and pulled Carrie into the huddle as well.

The three of them stayed like that for a long time, not speaking. Finally, when the beam started to dim again, Beth shut off the flashlight.

“He’ll be all right,” Beth said.

Lindsey nodded, but then realizing that Beth couldn’t see her in the dark, she said, “I hope so.”

“How are you two feeling?” Carrie asked. “Do you have any numbness?”

“No,” Lindsey said.

“My feet hurt,” Beth said. “I think they are on their way to numb.”

“That’s not good,” Carrie said. “Hypothermia is a sneaky bugger. We’re dry and out of the wind, at least, but if either of you start to feel numb or tired, let me know.”

“Okay,” Lindsey and Beth agreed.

“Let’s stay huddled up,” Carrie said. “It’ll help to combine our heat. Also, be sure to listen to each other speak; slurred speech is another indicator that hypothermia has set in.”

“So we need to keep talking?” Beth asked.

“Yes,” Carrie said.

They were all silent.

“I have nothing to say,” Lindsey said. “Probably I would but now I feel pressured.”

Carrie chuckled. “Isn’t that always the way?”

They were silent again.

“I can teach you some of my story time finger plays,” Beth offered. “How about Ten Fat Sausages?”

“That’s going to make me hungry,” Lindsey said.

“Yeah, maybe one without food,” Carrie agreed.

“So, One Potato, Two Potato and Five Fat Peas are out,” Beth said. “Okay, let’s try Here Is a Beehive. Now make a fist but put your thumb inside.”

It was dark, so she could have faked it, but Lindsey did as she was told, hoping it would take her mind off Heathcliff and the cold at least for a moment.

“Now repeat after me,” Beth said. “Here is a beehive, but where are the bees?”

Lindsey and Carrie dutifully repeated the words.

“Hiding away where nobody sees,” Beth continued and they repeated.

“Watch and you’ll see them come out of the hive,” Beth said. “Now as you count, release a finger until only your thumb is left.”

“One, two, three, four, five…buzzzzz!”

Lindsey felt a thumb jab her in the cheek. “Hey, quit that.”

“Sorry,” Beth said, but Lindsey could hear her laughing. “I usually wear a little bee puppet on my thumb and it always flies into the kids and tickles them.”

“Uh-huh.” Lindsey grunted. She wasn’t positive, but she thought she could hear Carrie laughing, too.

“Come on, let’s do it again,” Beth said.

So they did. Five more times to be exact. Then Beth got them moving a bit more with Ten Puppies in the Bed and Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree.

Lindsey had a feeling that Beth had enough finger plays, poems and rhymes in her repertoire to keep them going all night. And she would have bet dollars to donuts that Beth hadn’t considered this a life-saving skill back in library school.

Donuts. Why had she thought of donuts? Her stomach grumbled and she had to shake her head to clear it of the image of a ginormous raspberry jelly covered in powdered sugar. She felt a little drool pool in the corner of her mouth and wiped it away with her glove.

“How is everyone doing?” Carrie asked as they took a break. “Any numbness, nausea or disorientation?”

“I’m okay on the first two,” Lindsey said, “But given that it’s pitch-black in here, my internal compass is a bit wonky.”

“Good point,” Carrie said. “We’ll let that one go unless you start to fall over.”

“So, who wants to learn Five Enormous Dinosaurs?” Beth asked. “We get to roar,” she added as if this was a huge selling point.

“I love you, Beth,” Lindsey said with a chuckle. She told herself she wasn’t saying it because this night in the shed might turn out really badly, but rather because it occurred to her that she didn’t say it enough to her loved ones.

“I love you, too,” Beth said. She took a deep breath and began the chant with Lindsey and Carrie repeating her.

They performed it three times, and Lindsey figured if they ever got out of here, she would be officially certified to perform story times.

“Well, what next?” Beth asked as they paused to catch their breath.

“We could-” Carrie began but Lindsey hushed her.

“Shh, I hear something,” she said.

There it was, the distinct sound of a man’s voice and a dog’s bark.

“There’s someone out there!” Beth cried.

As one, they bolted for the door and began to bang on it with their fists. “Help!”

“We’re in here!”

“Let us out! Please!”

There was no answer.