The image of his death flickered into my head, and I had to crawl into the hole after Ruby. To have her back, quite literally. Right on my heels, Nick followed. The flashlight from his phone sputtered out faint assistance. I yelled Ruby’s name. She replied with a gasp. Soft, but noticeable. Her own phone’s light gave faint promise of the upcoming ledge and walkway. I switched from bear-crawl to scoot, letting my feet find the drop-off first. It came and still I thumped down. Nick remembered me enough to know not to ask if I was okay. Instead, he came up behind me and brushed his hand against my back to clean off the dirt. We came to where Ruby stood. The cell phone’s brightness carved new shadows into her full cheeks. Her eyes filled with tears as she read the words spray-painted low on the wall.

You didn’t love me like I asked of you.

Still I love you back.

Beneath it, in a little hole chinked into the concrete to avoid the trickle of water running through the walkway, was the head of the trophy I’d used in Marley’s bedroom and a wallet-sized copy of her freshman year school photo.

Nick gasped at the sight of the picture. His body trembled beside mine.

“It’s really happening,” Ruby whispered.

From farther up the walkway came an unexpected sound. It echoed down to where we stood. Startled, my elbow jammed into Nick, causing his phone to fly out of his grasp and land facedown. Ruby pulled her hands to her chest as a protective instinct. With both of their phone’s lights swallowed, the blackness gasped out more mysterious noises.

“We can come back tomorrow.” Nick found his phone as he spoke. Only a pat or two before it returned to the safety of his grasp. We ran down the walkway, which seemed infinite on the return.

When we collided into the rest of the group inside the tunnels, I let out a small scream. “The noises. Was that you guys?” I asked once I realized. Fear made me sound petulant, and the indignant tears I hadn’t dealt with in forever resurfaced with a vengeance.

Harrison scoffed. “What do you mean?”

Nick pushed through them and kept moving toward the exit. “Let’s go back outside anyway.”

“C’mon,” Ruby said with a head nod. “We’ll explain out there.”

“This is so ridiculous,” Harrison said under his breath. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Stop muttering,” Aidy warned him. I awarded ten mental points to my sister for finding her backbone and shoving it in Harrison’s face as often as she could, though it struck me that the two made a bitter pair. Where a deep and full history elevated some relationships, it seemed to be souring theirs.