Eleven, Twelve ... Dig and delve (Rebekka Franck Book 6) (22 page)

“David?” the guy said.

David let go of me and we turned away from each other like children caught kissing in the schoolyard.

“Martin?” David said. “Is that really you?” Then he laughed joyfully.

It was so hard to believe that it was anything but an illusion caused by too much time spent underground. I blinked my eyes, thinking I might have finally lost touch with reality and started seeing things that weren’t there.

“Rebekka. It’s me,” Sune said, and came towards me.

I still needed time to digest this and make sure he was real.

“But…what? What…how did you…where did you come from all of a sudden?” I asked. I realized I could ask questions later, then rushed towards him to feel if he was actually real. I threw myself in his arms. Yup. He was real. He grabbed me and hugged me.

“My God. Thank God you’re alive. I thought I had lost you, Rebekka. I thought you were gone.”

“Me too. I thought I was about to die. How did you find us?”

“We walked through the mines. It took three days,” Sune said.

“And a lot of luck,” the guy David was hugging said. “Hi, I’m David’s brother Martin.”

I shook his hand, still holding onto Sune’s arm with the other. I wasn’t going to let go of him again.

“Heard a lot about you,” I said. “I’m Rebekka.”

“I know,” Martin said. He had tears in his eyes. We all had. Mine rolled across my cheeks.

“The kids, how are the kids?” I asked.

“They’re with your dad,” Sune said.

“My dad? But, is he well enough to take care of them?”

“If you ask him, he is. I told him I thought you might have fallen into the mines and could be alive down here, but that everyone else didn’t believe us, so we had to go in alone. He never hesitated once. Never told me it was impossible or tried to talk me out of it. All he said was he would take care of the kids for as long as it took.”

“Sounds like him,” I said. I looked into Sune’s eyes. He looked so tired. I could only imagine how bad I had to look after this long underground.

“We’ve got food,” I said, and showed him the bundle of food that had been lowered to us. “They finally broke through the ceiling three days ago, but they say it’ll take a month to dig us out.”

“Well, now they don’t need to,” Martin said. “We mapped the entire way here. We can get you back in three days.”

“Less than three days,” Sune said. “We took a couple of wrong turns on the way and ended up in dead ends. A lot of the tunnels have crashed and are blocked. But it’s all on the map now.” Sune kissed me on the lips. How I had longed to feel him this close again. It felt incredible.

“We have sick people that need help,” I said. “We’ll have to get them out of here as soon as possible. And we need to carry them. Three of them can’t walk on their own; they’re too sick.”

Sune nodded and looked at them. “Let’s get to it, then,” he said. “Let’s wake everyone up and begin the hike. The sooner we leave, the better. It’s almost morning anyway.”

Day 19

October 24
^th
2014

G
OING HOME

69

I
T TOOK EXACTLY
two and a half day for us to get to the surface. It was a terrible hike. We took turns carrying Malene, Frederic, Afrim, and Buster, but it takes a lot of strength to carry another human being, especially when you are as weak and feeble as we were. We had to take many breaks to make sure everyone would make it. I was scared all the way for Afrim, whose fever was getting so bad he lost consciousness just before we reached the entrance to the mine. Never in my life had I been happier to see sunlight and the bright blue sky than in the first seconds I stepped outside. Even the clouds were beautiful and oh…oh the trees. Their orange and brown colors were astonishing. And the fresh air…oh, the fresh air. It felt like the best thing in the world to be able to breathe in fresh air. I guess it is true. You only know how to fully appreciate it when you’ve been deprived of it.

As soon as we had reception, Sune managed to call for assistance, and soon the entrance to the mine was crowded with paramedics and police.

We were all taken away in ambulances and admitted to the hospital in Viborg for observation. Just to sleep in a real bed again was amazing. It’s hard to explain how little things suddenly meant the world to me.

The next day, Sune brought the kids to see me. I had never been happier than when I finally held my babies in my arms again. I cried and kissed them, then cried some more. It went on for hours.

“You’re so skinny, Mom,” Julie said. “I hardly recognized you.”

“Well then, I guess you and I should eat a lot of cake in the coming days; what do you think?”

But she wasn’t in the mood for jokes.

“I thought we’d lost you, Mommy,” she said seriously.

“I know. I thought so too,” I said, and pulled her close. I looked into her beautiful eyes. She was so strong and not so little anymore.

William didn’t understand much. He was glad to see me and hugged and kissed me, but didn’t seem to understand much else. Julie, on the other hand, was devastated.

Tobias was quiet for a long time. He hid behind Sune. I signaled for him to come closer then gave him a warm hug.

“I was so scared down there. Scared of never getting to see you again,” I said.

“I knew you’d make it,” Tobias said. “I told Dad you never give up.”

“Well, I’m glad he didn’t give up either,” I said, while I leaned over and kissed him.

Later that afternoon my friend Lone paid me a visit. We cried a lot and she told me she had been so afraid to never see me again.

"Next time you'll visit me in Karrebaeksminde instead. How about that?" I said and hugged her.

When she had left I went to see Afrim and Buster in their hospital room. They had managed to kill the infection and put his leg in a cast. He was going to keep his leg, the doctor told me, even though it had been close. He had responded well to the antibiotic and could already sit up in his bed. Afrim’s father was sitting next to him, holding his hand, when I entered. Afrim smiled and Buster wagged his tail when they saw me. Afrim’s father got up and greeted me.

“Thank you so much, Rebekka,” he said. “Afrim told me all you did for him and how you helped him and protected him.”

“Well, he did most of it himself,” I said, and winked at him. “He and Buster make quite the team.”

I hugged Afrim. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“You’re welcome, kid,” I said.

I petted Buster on the head. I couldn’t believe he had survived. He was one tough cookie.

“I bet you can’t wait to get back to Karrebaeksminde?” Afrim’s father said.

I smiled and shook my head. “Well, yes and no. I’m leaving a part of my heart behind. An experience like this is not something you ever forget. Neither are the people you shared it with.”

“Come and visit us soon,” Afrim yelled after me as I left.

I was discharged later that day and walked past Frederic’s room, just to check on him. I saw his dad, Ole Sigumfeldt and his two brothers sitting by his bed, while Frederic was sitting up in the bed. I didn’t go inside. It looked like more of a family moment. Just to see that he was all right was enough for me.

“Ready to go home?” Sune asked. I nodded. I had seen the two boys were all right, and I knew Malene would be too. Benjamin had come by my room earlier that day and told me she was much better, and that he finally had the courage to ask her out on a date. I knew Mrs. Jansen was in the hands of the police, so she was someone else’s headache now. All the people who had lost their homes would be relocated into barracks outside of town, for the time being, they were told. I felt bad for all of them. They had survived being underground, but their trouble hadn't ended yet.

I looked at Sune and my wonderful children. I looked down the hall and wondered about David. He had left the hospital that same morning without saying goodbye to any of us, I had been told. I wondered if I would ever see him again.

Then I turned and looked at my family. All were smiling faces.

“I’ve never been more ready.”

THE END

Dear Reader,

T
HANK YOU FOR
purchasing
Eleven, Twelve…Dig and Delve
. After reading this book, you might be wondering whether these sort of limestone mines are real. I can tell you, they are. In Denmark, we have a few of them. Monsted Kalkgruber is, in fact, the world’s biggest limestone mine, and most of what I tell about them in this book is true, including the fact that they ripen cheese inside of them. You can see their web-page and see pictures from inside the mines here:
http://www.monsted-kalkgruber.dk/da
.

Rebekka and Sune are going home to Karrebaeksminde now, but I am far from done with them yet. There will be more books about them and their adventures in the future. Until then, don’t forget to check out my other books by following the links below. And don’t forget to leave a review of this book if you can. It means the world to me.

Take care,

Willow

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B
OOKS BY THE AUTHOR

M
YSTERY/
H
ORROR
N
OVELS:

O
NE,
T
WO ...
H
E IS COMING FOR YOU
(Rebekka Frank #1) -
http://www.amazon.com/One, two ...

T
HREE,
F
OUR ...
B
ETTER LOCK YOUR DOOR
(Rebekka Frank #2) -
http://www.amazon.com/Three, Four ...

F
IVE,
S
IX ...
G
RAB YOUR
C
RUCIFIX
(Rebekka Frank #3) -
http://www.amazon.com/Five, Six ...

S
EVEN,
E
IGHT ...
G
ONNA STAY UP LATE
(Rebekka Frank #4) -
http://www.amazon.com/Seven, eight ...

N
INE,
T
EN ...
N
EVER SLEEP AGAIN
(Rebekka Frank #5) -
http://www.amazon.com/Nine, ten ...

E
LEVEN,
T
WELVE ...
D
IG AND DELVE 
(Rebekka Frank #6) -
http://www.amazon.com/Eleven Twelve ... Dig and delve

E
DWINA
-
http://www.amazon.com/Edwina

I
TSY
B
ITSY
S
PIDER
(Emma Frost #1)
-
http://www.amazon.com/Itsy Bitsy Spider

M
ISS
D
OLLY HAD A
D
OLLY
  (Emma Frost #2)-
http://www.amazon.com/Miss Polly

R
UN
R
UN AS FAST AS YOU CAN
(Emma Frost #3) -
http://www.amazon.com/Run run

C
ROSS YOUR HEART AND HOPE TO DIE
 (Emma Frost #4) -
http://www.amazon.com/Cross your heart

P
EEK
A
B
OO
I
SEE YOU
(Emma Frost #5) -
http://www.amazon.com/Peek a Boo

T
WEEDLEDUM AND
T
WEEDLEDEE
(Emma Frost #6) -
http://www.amazon.com/Tweedledum and Tweedledee

E
ASY AS
O
NE
T
WO
T
HREE
(Emma Frost #7) -
http://www.amazon.com/Easy as One Two Three

T
HERE'S
N
O
P
LACE LIKE
H
OME
(Emma Frost #8) -
http://www.amazon.com/Theres no place like HOME

H
ORROR
S
HORT STORIES:

E
ENIE,
M
EENIE
-
http://www.amazon.com/Eenie, Meenie

R
OCK-
A
-
B
YE
B
ABY-
http://www.amazon.com/Rock-a-bye

N
IBBLE,
N
IBBLE,
C
RUNCH -
http://www.amazon.com/Nibble, Crunch