8 - Truths

I think it's about time for a change of leadership. Because, my brother still doesn't seem to have understood the seriousness of this situation.

More than three hours ago, Han and the three Polish men left to look for the Polish woman. After only a few minutes, maybe two or three, their footsteps could no longer be heard, and since then we have been waiting.

Already an hour ago, the Romanian group packed up everything and went on their way alone. I also advised my brother that we should leave. And best of all as long as his bend lights were still shining.

On the packaging of the bend lights it says that these have a maximum luminous period of 12 hours. These twelve hours are long gone, at least for the first bend lights. However, my brother insists that the bend lights still shine longer and can be found even when they have long gone out.

Well, he may be right. But, he should consider that our current only sources of light are our headlamps and flashlights, for which we do not have an endless supply of batteries. So, without these light sources, how is he going to find the outgoing bend lights in complete darkness?

Meng Yao has been trying to persuade my brother into leaving for what must have been half an hour. I even suggested tearing a page out of my journal and leaving a note for Han in case he came back here. But my brother is stubborn and insists that we shouldn't take the unnecessary risk of trying to find our way out of here alone. And he also said that we should at least give Han another hour or two.

The rest of us, of course, disagree and want to leave immediately to look for the exit. I will now go back to Meng Yao and my brother and continue to try to persuade him to leave.

*~*~*

Leni has hurt herself! After my brother stubbornly kept telling us to wait, she stormed off in a huff and fell when her flashlight went out. She probably sprained her ankle, or worse. Now we're doomed to wait, because we can't hardly carry her out of here.

To make matters worse, Rin and May just came out with the truth about their story. They said that only half of what they told was true. I try to reproduce one to one what May told.

"Four years ago, my then 15-year-old daughter had gone hiking with my sister and her husband. The last time I heard from her was when she called me and told me she and her uncle had gone back to town to restock their supplies. They found a cave in a forest during their hike that they wanted to explore. She was already all excited and looking forward to it. I asked my brother-in-law not to go down there without someone who knew their way around. My brother-in-law said they were only going to go a few feet into the cave and not really explore it. My daughter promised to call me the next day. But no call came, not even the day after that, or the one after that. Finally after four days, I called the police there and asked them to look for my daughter. But they didn't find her. Only her backpack they found. And that was in the big cave room with the lake. The emergency services continued to search for her for several days. In the cave and also in the forest. But neither my daughter, nor my sister, nor her husband were found. There was no other account activity, they did not show up at stations or airports. The search was stopped after two weeks! My ex husband and I begged, we looked for a private investigator but nothing helped. They were and are missing. My ex husband and I were already living in divorce by then and I was already with my current husband. We kept trying to find a guide to take us through the woods and into the cave. But everyone refused. So we came up with a way to get into the cave after all. We realize that my daughter is long gone, but I at least want to find her remains to bury her. We didn't had a flat tire. We deliberately drove to the parking lot by the woods. My husband then stabbed the tire with a knife. Unfortunately, the storm surprised us and we had to stay in the car until morning. I then really saw this little girl and just kept following her. Until the time when Han and the other two came. Suddenly I couldn't see the girl anymore."

It was then Zhan who asked Rin if he too saw the girl. Rin shook his head, but affirmed that he believed his wife and that after all, they would not have gotten that far without further ado.

I then asked her, "How did you know we would be here at this exact time and where we were going?"

May looked to my brother and I immediately got a stomach ache. I had known that my brother was acting strangely. May explained, "Hai Kuan contacted us on the Internet and wanted to know more about our daughter's disappearance. We wrote to each other more and more often and became friends. He never actually intended to go here. We offered him a lot of money for it. Because we knew that a guide would not refuse him. He is young and athletic, best conditions and that is also demanded. And after careful consideration, Hai Kuan then agreed."

Before any of us could say or ask anything, my brother said, "I did it for me and Cheng. You guys know that I'm moving to Shanghai soon. Cheng also wants to move there. But neither he nor his family have the money right now. And with the money, I could take him with me right away. I could have bought us a small apartment and we wouldn't have to save money to move in together."

"Why didn't you tell us exactly that? Why all these lies? Do you think we wouldn't understand your wish?" Asked him Leni, who was still in a lot of pain.

"I was going to say it at first. But then I thought, with a guide, out of my duty, we could still make a great adventure vacation. After all, we had been planning for so many years to do something really crazy for once. And I promise you, you will all get your money back from me. It's all going very differently than we planned or thought." Replied my brother.

"It's not about the money Hai Kuan. You just shouldn't have lied. You forced us to participate here and for what? To find a dead body? I'm sorry for the loss of Rin and May, I really am. But why did Yibo and I have to join?" Zhan asked bitterly.

"It's simple. I didn't want to leave you two alone, afraid that something would happen to you. In my opinion, it's completely unclear how May's daughter disappeared, or all the others. I cannot and will not risk anything happening to my little brother. Even if it was not seen in the past few days, but Yibo means everything to me. He is next to our parents, the most important thing to me in life." Said my brother.

"Then you shouldn't have brought him here. You say you love him and worry about him. But dragging him here? You've ignored and belittled his concerns all this time. You even called him a whining child. Is that any way to treat someone who means so much to you?" Replied Zhan angrily.

Zhan was really talking himself into a rage and Yanli had to calm him down. She put her hand on his shoulder and spoke softly to him. Only slowly did he come down again. And I swear, if I didn't know better, I would say that for a moment Zhan's eyes lit up red, he was so angry.

I didn't say anything myself. I couldn't. For I was far too busy staring at Zhan's eyes. Have I really come to the point of imagining things? Things like that my boyfriend's eyes can glow red?

All of a sudden, a feeling arose between love and fear. It's bad enough that my brother lied to all of us like that, so I certainly can't trust him anymore, my own brother! No, now I am already imagining things. I just want to get out of here! I want to go home and away from all this and all these people. I need distance, time for myself to think and come down again.

*~*~*

Yanli just found Han's backpack. In it, in addition to a large amount of batteries, also water bottles and several one man meals. Not very tasty, but they are filling.

She found the backpack at the end of the tunnel through which he and the Polish group passed. The backpack is there, but where is Han? Where are the others?

I sit a little apart from the others by now, and even sent Zhan away when he tried to join me. I need to be alone now. I need to sort out my thoughts, calm down and get my head clear. I don't need anything else right now.

*~*~*

Han is back. But he's alone and hurt! He said they didn't find the Polish girl. Instead, he said, they were attacked by "something" that wasn't human. Besides a cut on his upper leg, which he got when he was sneaking along a rock wall, he has many large bruises.

Yanli took care of his wound provisionally. Then Han told them that everyone ran off in panic when they were attacked. He tried to catch up with the three Polish men, but couldn't do it. In the end, his flashlight failed and he had only the weak headlamp. He had intentionally left the backpack behind so as not to carry unnecessary weight in case the Polish woman would have had to be carried.

I admit, I am scared, very scared. We are all very scared!

Zhan and the others are still keeping their distance from me. Yet right now I wish Zhan would come to me. Why am I too cowardly to ask him to sit with me? I want him with me, right now!

*~*~*

Han made something temporary for Leni to walk halfway. We want to go outside. But not by the way we took to get here.

Cheng noticed something as he took a water bottle. Because of the cold in the cave, they were ice cold. But when he took the water bottle out of his backpack just now, there was condensation on it. That means it is warmer in this part of the cave. Han suspects that warm air is coming in from the outside and we may not be far from an exit.

Let's try our luck. We have no other choice anyway. Han's wound needs stitches and Leni's ankle needs to be examined as well.

Finally, I found the courage and walked up to Zhan. I stood in front of him and he immediately took me in his arms even before I said anything. I apologized to him for rejecting him too harshly earlier. He said that he could understand that, because it was all just too much.

I don't care if Zhan has red, brown, black or yellow eyes, I want him to be by my side. I want to get through this together with him. I want us to go back to Beijing together and have a normal relationship. With everything that comes with it.

*~*~*

We're about to leave. We have already packed everything. Han is fixing Leni's temporary once again. Cheng and Hai Kuan have a drink and then we're on our way. And hopefully we will find the exit very quickly. And even more I hope we won't be chased by whatever Han attacked.