12 – The echo

The Venture takes a nosedive and the abyss stretches hundreds of meters down covered in mist. They are falling faster and faster and yell terrified while the mist engulfs them and the acceleration pins them in their seats. Then a tremendous bump follows and Lyle closes his eyes and fends with his arms as the windows burst and shards of glass cut his face and hands. Then all hell seems to break loose as the wreck is pummeled continuously. The Venture bumps into the rock face from time to time and their descent is slowed down while metal is torn. They are thrown to and fro like rag dolls and the injuries to Lyle's arms and legs are painful. The seatbelt nearly takes out his wind and his collar bone, breast and ribs burn like fire as it safeguards and prevents him from flying out of the vehicle. Then he realizes that the Venture has stopped and that he hangs on the seatbelt. Dazed Lyle opens his eyes and looks down hundreds of meters through the opening that was the front window. Dizzily he looks down into the depths still covered in mist. They are hanging over the perilous abyss. He is surprised that he is still breathing and slowly becomes aware of terrible pains all over his body. He feels warm blood as it runs down his face but desperately looks whether his mother is still there. Zoey is hanging unconscious while a string of blood and mucus drips out of her nose and drops into the depths. "Ma ...!" The cliffs in a distance answer with strange echoes: "Ma...aa...a..." Lyle tries to wriggle in his seatbelt and tries to reach out to Zoey in spite of the pain but his heart misses a beat when he hears a strange noise and the Venture slides down a few meters. He anticipates that whatever holds them will lose its grip and they will tumble downwards, but then the wreck stops and he listens attentively. What was that noise? It sounds like something that wants to pull loose. Lyle turns his head and tries to discover what is holding them and he realizes that it is trees that stopped them because he sees a part of a solid branch at the left side of the wreck. That sounds like roots tearing loose from the ground and he shivers. Each movement they make could be their last as the roots may pull loose and they will then tumble down into the abyss. Lyle's ribs are in such excruciating pain that each breath is torture. They are hanging in their seatbelts above the endless abyss. Any movement now is dangerous and life-threatening and he doesn't know whether Zoey is still alive. He doesn't dare to make a move. Will anyone stop at the place they went through the wall and investigate? He is unsure. Motorists might see the broken wall but they would probably think it had been like that. Then Lyle becomes aware of a cold mountain breeze that caresses him and he wonders how long they are going to hang here helpless. It's going to get icy cold tonight against the cliff. What if the weather turns bad? This tree that temporarily saved them only delayed their certain death and is only prolonging their suffering! ~*~*~ Chloe is only a few kilometers from the beginning of the pass when her car phone rings. She pushes the button: "Hello, Chloe here." "Hello, am I speaking to Chloe Eastwood?" "Yes, I am Chloe. I'm driving but we can talk over my hand free system while I still have a signal." "Ms Eastwood, I am Richard Jordaan, headmaster of the Mountain Valley boarding school. I first want to convey my deepest sympathy with the loss of your father; therefore I'm sorry to disturb you in these sad times. We are worried about Lyle because his mother promised us that they would have arrived yesterday afternoon. We couldn't make contact with either her or his dad and you are the only emergency number. Are you perhaps aware of a change in their plans?" Concern gnaws with new urgency in her heart: "Richard, I am so worried; they left yesterday afternoon about one-o'-clock and should have been there at round about seven. Zoey promised to phone me when she had dropped Lyle, but she never did and she also hadn't returned and I now presume that they perhaps are stranded somewhere along the route with a broken vehicle or that they were in an accident. I'm driving at this moment along the route to see if I can find them. I'm near the pass so I will probably lose signal." Tears run over her cheeks when Richard answers worriedly: "Chloe, you have my number now. Please promise me that you will phone me as soon as you find anything and need my help." "I will do so, Richard, and thanks so much for your availability and concern ...." "I hope everything will be okay, Chloe. Don't hesitate to call me, hear?" "Thanks again, Richard. I'll push your button if I need you." Deep in her heart Chloe hopes to find them with a broken Venture but there is no sign of them before she starts with the mountain pass. She can only hope that they did not have an accident and went over into the abyss. Nothing will survive it. There's no one at the picnic spot and she climbs up the steep bending road to the peak. She slowly takes the sharp bend at the peak and starts the descent. To her horror, she sees dark brake marks on the tarmac as if a vehicle has been dragged all the way until the marks disappear as they go over the edge. Chloe gets a cold feeling and wonders what happened there. She hopes this had taken place a long time ago and that this is not brake marks of the Venture and that it was not her family that went over the edge. She stops and looks into her back mirror. She puts on her emergency lights. Hopefully, there is enough space from the bend above if someone comes along. She listens but hears no oncoming traffic. She gets out. A deadly silence greets her. She walks up to the hole in the wall and puts her hands next to the opening on the wall. She tries to look down but becomes dizzy and it feels if the abyss wants to swallow her. It is breathtakingly high and she sees the mist like a blanket down in the endless depth. Lame despair engulfs her? What if they went over here? Nothing will survive something like this. She inhales the clear, cold mountain air deeply and against all logical odds, she yells desperately. She yells on top of her voice in absolute desperation and hardheadedness against the unavoidable. "Zoey!" The cliffs opposite her answer her eerily with an echo of her voice from the mist: "Zoey... oey...ey." "Lyle!" "Lyle... yle... le..." Tears now run freely across her cheeks as she looks despondently into the mist. She must drive on and, hopefully, they will be found along the way and these aren't the Venture's tracks. She tries to comfort herself: maybe they are stranded past the pass somewhere. "Chloe... hloe... oe..."