Zipped

8: The Accident

“But, didn’t this seem a bit suspicious?” I asked them. “She didn’t feel it was necessary to talk to anyone about this in the first place? Doesn’t that sound suspicious to you?”

“Maybe she wanted to make sure that she remembered everything before she chose to tell anyone,” Molly said, shrugging. My sister could be determined, but at the same time she could be so naive.

“But still. It just seems a little fishy, you know? She should have been able to tell us about it. She’s been down here for so long, and only now it’s become relevant to her. It just seems wrong,” I told them.

“Thomas, this is our chance to get out. You’ve got to trust her, otherwise we don’t have a chance. It’s the only plan we’ve got,” Molly told me. She stared me right in the face, looking as determined as ever.

I nodded. “Okay, fine. I’m sorry,” I said softly and chewed my lip.

Neil nodded. “It’s okay. It’s good that you were thinking about it, in case you’re right,” he replied.

I nodded. I was glad that he at least acknowledged that I had a good reason to be suspicious. We continued to walk together, but then I had a thought. This would be a good time to check out if she was lying or not. So, I turned to look at them. “You go on without me. I’ll meet up with you later,” I told them.

“Wait, where are you going?” Ethan asked me.

I gave them a small smile, hoping to fool them. “Oh, nothing. Just trust me. I’ll see you soon,” I told them and turned to walk in the other direction. I didn’t give them a chance to try and get me to come with anyway.

I took a few extra turns so they wouldn’t follow me, just in case. But then, I finally got to the woman’s room again. I waited out of the door, just listening. Maybe she talked to herself or something. Maybe she’d admit if she was lying after all.

Then, I heard her voice. “They actually believed me. They actually believed me that it was real. If they dig where I told them to, they’ll cause the ground to collapse around them! Then, they’ll be dead, and everyone else will be trapped because they’ll have lost hope!”

My eyes widened. I looked at the door in shock. Did she really just admit to it? I couldn’t believe it. I was right. She wasn’t to be trusted. I listened to see if there was anything else I could find out. Instead, she had gone silent, like she had fallen asleep or something like that. I ran to find my friends again.

I found them at the trading post, where people kept all the supplies that were sent down from the surface to be traded for. They were bargaining for shovels to be used for Ms. Ellison’s plan.

“There you are,” Ethan said, waving to me from the other side of the group. “Glad you found us again. Everything okay?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Not really. I’ve got something to tell all of you,” I replied and chewed my lip. “So, when I left you guys, I went back to Ms. Ellison’s room. I was trying to find out whether or not she was lying about the escape route-,” I began, but was cut off by my sister.