"Come on Leon. We've got to move." Marina ordered her grandson as she shoved the perfect replicas of The Book into a green satchel.

"What now?" Leon whined from his cot laying flat on his back.

"We haven't much time. Don't you feel it?" Marina closed her eyes and opened her hands.

"If you mean cold, clammy and depressing then yes I do feel it."

"Exactly... now pack up some food. Throw it into your backpack."

Leon did as he was told, although he was not sure why. "Did you hear something outside Nana?"

"No I sense something inside and it's much worse. Come on and hurry up. Throw in some bottles of water. We've gotta get out of here."

Leon dumped old crumbs out of his canvas backpack and began tossing in some cans of tuna, peaches, and bottled water. He was sick of peaches and tuna fish. "Where's the can opener?"

"I don't know... we don't have time to look for it. I've got all the perfect reproductions. Let's head out the back way."

Marina and Leon crawled, weaving their way through a narrow, hand-dug tunnel. This specific avenue was so secret not even Leon himself knew where it ended. Marina sported her SUN powered miner's light, which always intrigued Leon.

"Nana... how can your miner light be solar powered? You only use it underground." He asked this partly to annoy his grandmother and partly because he always became smart-mouthed when he was nervous.

"Leon you are irritating me. You know full well S.U.N. powered is my acronym for Simulated Uninterrupted Neuron power."

"Right... SUN power. But how does it work underground?"

Feeling as if she were wasting her breath, Marina regurgitated the information once more, "By transmitting the energy from my own body's cells through a special absorbent pad on my forehead. My body's energy passes through the pad and into the light's mechanism, mimicking my own physical energy. The light's power is simply an extension of my body's own natural resources. She paused. Leon looked confused. "Leon I have gone over this with you a hundred times. I'm the battery!" She sighed and mumbled to herself, "And you said I never taught you any science."

"Yeah but I just don't get it. How did you, a regular old grandma invent such a slick thing?"

"Watch it Leon... you know there is nothing old or regular about me. Age is just a number," Marina reprimanded as she continued to snake her way on her hands and knees through the dirt tunnel.

Leon's attention was waning. He had lived like a mole for so long and there seemed no end in sight. His grandmother would lecture him about his special calling in life.   'We all have a purpose on this planet,' she would instruct him. Still he wondered what his purpose was. He was not a genius like his grandmother or particularly brave like his mother. His father was so charismatic when he spoke all the people in earshot would hush and hang on his every word. Leon Sr. had mad public speaking skills and the military executed him because of it.  As Leon crawled through the clay it caked onto his knees and he considered his short life. What's my purpose?

As if reading his thoughts Marina said, "Leon there is only one of you on this Earth."

Shocked he concealed his goose bumps with a joke. "You mean, under it."

Marina shook her head as well as shook off her arthritis as she continued plodding forward. A spider hitched a ride on her back.

"Hey Nana, tell me something... Why haven't you shared your SUN power with anyone else yet? It could help a lot of people."

Marina came to a halt and sat up right. The spider slid off and crawled up Leon's pant leg. "Leon, it's not time." She tried to turn around in the cramped space to face her grandson.

"Uh oh..." Leon thought, "I've inspired an imparting of ancient wisdom session." Leon smacked his leg killing the "hitchhiker."

After squeezing her small frame one hundred and eighty degrees, she eyed her grandson. "Listen to me Leon..." Her miner's light blinded her grandson so she flipped it up, illuminating the dirt ceiling. Another lone spider scurried off. "Apart from Justice I cannot create anything. There's nothing new under the sun. I have just taken what already exists and tweaked it."

"Yeah so why can't you share what you've tweaked then?"  Perhaps Leon's gift was speaking plainly.

"Leon what are you good at?" Marina waited not so patiently for his reply.

Leon pondered.

"Come on Leon we all have gifts. Some are just harder to discover than others." Marina wasn't teasing.

"Nana can we play unearth your special skills another time? I'm craving ventilation." Leon wasn't joking. He was tall for his age and scraped his back on the tunnel ceiling as they wound their way through the maze. This created a constant cloud of dust. Without his protective mask his good humor was turning.

"Fine," Marina agreed. "Let me leave you with this... Let's say you have a gift for leading a battle. You cannot proceed until you have a clear-cut battle plan as well as orders from your superior officer. Well I'm waiting for my orders." The tunnel ended abruptly. They had hit a brick wall.

Leon felt a sarcastic remark well up in his throat. He choked it down with a cup of dust.

"Leon hand me the chisel and hammer to the left directly above your head. It's in a crevice in the tunnel wall."

Leon felt the position his grandmother instructed. His hands easily located the tools. "Now how did those get there?"

Marina rolled her eyes and greedily grabbed the tools from her grandson. "How do you think Einstein?"

Leon wished he knew who this Einstein person was. He also wished he would begin to exude his grandmother's inventive skills instead of his snide comments. He knew she loved him but she never seemed to get him.

Tap, tap, tap. Marina chiseled at the chink between two large cinder blocks. She scraped the gray brick pushing it forward. It landed on the other side with a thud. She repeated this procedure until there was an opening large enough for both she and Leon to squeeze through.    

Marina pushed back her flaming red bangs. "Okay Leon we're going through into an abandoned well and climb up."

"A well!" Leon shouted. "Great idea Nana!"

"Shhh! Leon we may be being followed. You cannot talk or even breathe loudly. Do you understand?"

"Yes... I mean--" Leon shook his head up and down.

Marina whispered, "When we pass into the opening feel directly to the right. There you will find metal rungs. Climb up and over the side and I'll give you further instructions on the exterior. Okay?" Without waiting for Leon's reply Marina turned off her light and slid through the cavity. Leon followed closely behind.

As Leon climbed up he recited a poem he made up to him calm, "One, two...What are we gonna do? Three, four... Life's such a bore. Five, six... Living underground stinks. Seven, eight... I want real food on a plate. Nine, ten... Life will get better, when? Eleven, twelve... Dumb books on a shelve. Thirteen, fourteen..." He could never find a line rhyming with fourteen. He repeated his chant from the beginning until he reached the crisp night air.

—-

"Belly... oh Belly..."  a falsetto voiced toyed.

Bell heard her horrid nickname in the dark.

"Jelly Belly, are you smelly?"

"Tommy is that you?" Bell was completely blind and terrified. She didn't understand why Tommy was being so heartless.

"Did Belly make a boom, boom in her pants?"

"This isn't funny Tommy. Knock it off." Bell's throat was dry and her voice was hoarse. "Stop being cruel and hand me my water jerkface."

"Here you go Belly." A water pitcher floated towards the sick child and crashed onto the floor. "Oops Belly had another accident. Belly go pee pee on the rug." 

"Tommy why do you sound so strange?" In raspy declaration Bell ordered, "Go and get my mother for me at once."

"Nope, I wanna play a game."
    "I can't play. I'm a blind invalid and you are a depraved idiot." Bell felt a finger poke her in the forehead. Doink, doink, doink... "Stop it Tommy. This is beyond heartless."

" But I'm not Tommy..."

"Who are you?" Bell asked, crawling inside herself.

Suddenly the one voice became thousands, "WE ARE YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE."

Feeling she had lost her mind Bell answered what she thought was her own declining brain function, "Well worst nightmare, I'm in no position to fight you. If you want to play, you will be playing alone." Bell shunned the voice and painfully turned on her side. A trickle of blood fell from her ear.

"We're done." The voices faded. Silence.

Ella bustled into the room and spoke loudly,  "Time for your medicine dear."

Bell did not turn towards her mother.

"Wake up Bell it's time for your dreadful concoction." Ella attempted, in vain, to sound cheery.

Bell did not move.

"Daughter, you're scaring me." Ella watched her daughter's back carefully to see if she was breathing. Once satisfied of life she walked to the other side of Bell's bed and discovered her daughter's eyes wide open. "So we are ignoring me this evening?"

Still, Bell gave no response.

"Well fine. Don't speak to me. I'm not much in the mood for your dripping wit this evening anyway. However, you will do as you are told. Open your mouth." Ella stood poised, medicine bottle in one hand, spoon in the other. She noticed the blood stain on the crisp, white pillowcase.  Her arm twitched and she spilled a splotch of burgundy colored medicine next to the red, creating a sad, abstract work of art.  Purposefully she shoved her body against the bed to see if her daughter would respond.  It worked.

"Who's there?"  Bell turned over. "Tommy are you still here?"

Ella put the evening's dose aside and wrapped her arms around her daughter. If the Academy Awards still existed she would definitely win an Oscar for best supporting role as the doting mother. "No Bell, it's me your mother..."

"Mother? Is that you?" Bell felt Ella's hair and recognized her scent--dish soap and bleach.

"Yes Bell... you gave me quite a scare." She pushed Bell's tangled, blond hair away from her eyes. "You have some blood in your hair. How about I wash it for you hmm?" Ella stood up from the bed and readied herself to retrieve a bucket of water and soap.

"Mother, why aren't you speaking to me? Say something. It's indecent enough I can't see. Must you punish me with your silence as well?"

Ella rushed back to her child. "But I am speaking to you!" She placed one of Bell's hands over her mouth and the other on her throat and spoke emphatically.

Frantically Ella asked, "My mouth is moving. Can you feel the vibrations from my throat?"

"Mother I can't hear you." Tears fell from Bell's darkened eyes.

Ella was at a loss. She was a born fixer. If there were a problem, she would find the solution. Unfortunately there was no earthly solution to repair her broken daughter. No amount of medicine or money could solve this divide in her fix it system. When Ella's husband disappeared her system began to crumble and it ushered in a new understanding for her. Destiny is cruel and out of her hands. She had planned her life, educated her mind, saved for the future and made lists to keep all of it organized. Nevertheless, all of it had come crashing down into one big unorganized heap. Life is unfair.

"Mother... mommy!" Bell's arms stretched out wildly in her dark, silent world. "Can you hear me? Am I speaking aloud? Hello! Are you there?!"

Ella regained her composure, grasped her daughter hand, placed it to her cheek and nodded, "Yes."

"So I'm deaf as well as blind now?" Bell asked already sensing the answer but craving a human connection.

Ella clung to Bell's hand and nodded again, "Yes." Then she gasped, took a deep breath and fought back tears. She did not need Bell sensing her despair. Now, more than ever, she needed to remain strong. She would do right by her—no matter the cost.

Bell began to sob. Her sobbing turned into moaning. Her moans became full grown wailing. This brought on a coughing spell which loosened chunks of phlegm in her chest. She clawed at her throat gasping for air. Bell never lost control, not when her father vanished, not when her baby brother died, not in grandfather's absence... She needed Izzy.

Where is Izzy?

-End of Chapter 22-

Author's note: I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Please vote, comment, follow and add The Wasting  to your library. If you've got a book you'd like me to check out—I'd be delighted.