Chapter 12

I stumbled after Farah, glancing around, but by now she’d taken us away from the lit path, so I barely saw anything.

“Where are we going?”, I ventured hesitantly.

I didn’t know what she wanted to show us, but I suspected it must be against the rules, and being caught by Madam Faber was the last thing I needed right now.

“There”

She paused and pointed to the dark silhouette of a building in the distance. I hesitated, peering at its looming outline. It was the old building she’d told me to stay away from. I glanced at her, remembering her words from the morning.

This place is not what you think it is. You can see it if you know where to look…

Would she… Would she tell us what was happening? She continued walking before I had time to ask, and I glanced back at Xiaolian as I followed. She was dragging behind us, gazing at the surroundings with her empty eyes. No, not empty anymore, something had changed in them. I couldn’t recognise what in the darkness, but I felt it whenever her gaze fell on me, rekindling the strange longing I’d felt before.

I shivered. What did I long for? My mind went blank whenever I tried to remember what had happened on that hill. The veil of light splitting open, and then watching my body as if someone else… And then… I shivered. Why had I talked just like Xiaolian…? I hadn’t realised it then, and it was only now that I remembered her uttering the same words to Farah in our room. I shook my head. My recollection of what had passed was blurry and chaotic, but the feeling that I’d lost something important gnawed at me, and my chest felt cold and empty.

Farah paused when we reached the building, then walked over to the broken window and lifted the tape that ran in front of it to keep trespassers out. It was so still that I could hear my heart pounding in my chest.

“Come”

She gestured for us. I glanced at Xiaolian, but her face was devoid of emotion, so I didn’t know what she thought about all of this. We shouldn’t be here, and if Madam Faber found us, we would be in trouble. But I did want to know what was happening…

Farah gave us one last glance before slipping under the tape without a word and climbing through the window. I hesitantly shuffled over and peered inside. It was pitch black.

“Get in, quickly,” she hissed from the darkness.

I glanced behind me. It was too late to turn back now.

“Do you need help?”, I whispered to Xiaolian, my heart pumping in my chest.

She nodded, put her hands on the window frame, and I gave her a push as she clambered inside. I peered into the darkness, barely distinguishing their silhouettes, and then took hold of the frame and climbed through.

The air inside felt even more damp than outside, and the loose gravel shifted under my shoes. It was so dark that I could barely see anything, and I flinched when Farah suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the window.

I glanced around, suddenly remembering the growing sense of being watched when we had stood at the top of the hill. Instinctively, I squeezed her hand in mine, and only her mutual reaction made me realise what I had done, filling me with embarrassment. Breathing became difficult, and the darkness began closing in on me, threatening to consume me.

“It’s okay, relax," Farah murmured and gently squeezed my hand again.

I glanced at Xiaolian, standing on the other side of her.

"Why... why did you bring us here?”, I dared to ask, even if, by now, I knew the answer.

“I will show you something, but you need to be quiet. We will get in trouble if someone finds us.”

She slowly inched herself deeper into the building, and I was forced to follow, not daring to let go of her hand. She suddenly halted, and I whined as she let go of me.

“It’s okay, hold on…”, she whispered.

Moments later, the beam of a torch light shot across the room, and I instinctively closed my eyes. When I dared to open them again, I could discern a bare room and a dusty floor covered with rubble and broken bricks.

Farah shone the light on a rusty slab of metal embedded in the floor. I glanced at Xiaolian. She stood next to her, but she didn’t pay any attention to the room and only stood staring at her feet, rocking back and forth.

“It’s okay."

Farah reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Can you hold it?”

She pressed her torch into her hand without waiting for an answer and then crouched down.

“Can you help me move it?”

She looked at me.

"W-why..."

I hesitantly glanced around, expecting Madame Faber to burst in at any time.

“You will see...”

I was sure she frowned, even if I couldn’t see her face. I crouched down on the opposite side of the slab, digging my fingers underneath it. Farah nodded, and we lifted it and moved it aside. It was heavier than I’d thought. I peered down the round hole in the floor and saw an old metal ladder disappearing into the darkness.

“W-what’s there?”, I startled, shivering as my mind began to imagine crawling into that dark, claustrophobic space.

She sighed and looked at me.

“I need to show you something before you will believe me…”

“But what is there?”, Xiaolian insisted quietly, moving closer to us and shining the torch into the hole, revealing more of the rusty ladder.

“An old bunker…”

“How do you know?”, I asked, but she ignored my question and instead lowered herself into the hole.

I could hear her shoes stepping on the metal rungs of the ladder as she climbed down. To my horror, Xiaolian followed her down, and I didn’t dare to stay alone in the darkness, fearing that without any light, I would never find my way out. I climbed down after her as a growing sense of uneasiness grew in my chest with every step I took into the abyss.