14

“Eilla?”

   I’m in that warm fuzzy place between being awake and being asleep. So relaxed, so happy.

   “I think she’s awake!”

   Oh, please be quiet, sweetly excited voice. I want to go back to sleep.

   “Eilla, wake up!”

   “Wah yoo wan?” I mumble sleepily.

   “Eilla!”

   “Excuse me Mrs Smythe. I need to check her over.”

   Someone shakes me gently.

   “Go way.”

   “Please open your eyes, Miss Smythe.”

   I force them open reluctantly. Definitely not a good idea! That’s blinding, that is!

   I don’t know where I am but it’s very, very white. It hurts my eyes.

   “Eilla, Eilla baby, you’re back!”

   Wait a minute…

   That’s my mum!

   “Mummy!” I squeal, sitting up. “Oh Mum, you found me!”

   “Yes, he called us…”

   ‘He’ must be Adam.

   “It was so scary down there, I was starving, me and Mally were half dead and there were those voices and…”

   “Eilla, sweetie, what are you talking about?” asks Mum gently, sounding really worried.

   “Chislehurst Caves. Everyone left us down there, there was me, Mally and Adam. I guess it was Adam who called you, right? But I was by the pool – in it, actually – so how did you know where to go?”

   Mum exchanges a worried look with a nurse. “Eilla, what are you talking about, darling? You never went to Chislehurst Caves. There was an accident, a car hit you…”

   I laugh lightly. “No, Mum, it wasn’t an accident, the car missed. And if you mean in the caves, the class left us on purpose, 3 of us. You can ask Mally.”

   “Miss Smythe, you’ve been asleep for 5 days. You were hit by a car on the way to school. The class did go to the caves as planned, but you were brought to hospital with a broken arm and in a coma. Of course, it’s only natural to have strange dreams when you’ve been injured, but you have to wake up now.”

   “But I had 3 days to leave, or I’d…be trapped…forever.”

   I get it. I was asleep. I had to get out of the dream, wake up, or I’d stay in a coma forever.

   Die.