Amy let out an ear-piercing shriek and grabbed the white basin. The hand’s grip tightened and began to pull harder. Amy clung onto the basin for dear life while trying to shake her foot loose.
Amy felt like the rope in an awful, life-threatening tug-of-war. Perhaps she would be stuck here forever being slowly torn in two. A loud crack echoed around the cave and Amy’s leg fell limp.
It was broken.
That was when she realized there was no hope left for her now. If only she’d listened to Denis none of this would have happened. Tears began to poor down her face.
“Denis,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Amy sat there crying, her arms wrapped around the basin and watching helplessly as the hand kept on pulling her closer to the edge. Suddenly, a burst of pain shot up Amy’s broken leg; the hand had pulled her ankle underwater.
Amy felt as if she were on fire, unbearable pain engulfing every part of her body. Her hands lost their grip on the basin, and she bent forward to examine her leg. At once, the hand grabbed her left arm and began pulling it down as well.
Amy screamed and tried to clamber up to the other side of the marble island but the hand had seized her other leg as well.
It pulled her healthy leg under and then her arm. It began to tug her slowly towards the edge. Amy’s right-hand fingernails scratched the cold marble, creating small sparks.
And without warning, the hand let go and sank down to the bottom of the lake.
Amy pulled herself out of the freezing water, panting. She took a few deep breaths before passing out on the marble floor.
*~*
A loud cry broke the silence in the seaside apartment. Denis groaned and heaved himself out of bed. He glanced at the clock. Twenty past three in the morning.
He walked over to Gloria’s crib, picked her up and brought her into the kitchen. He rocked Gloria gently as he spooned the baby mixture into a milk bottle. Denis loved his little girl to pieces but he couldn’t wait for this night feeding lark to be over.
When the milk was ready he brought Gloria back to her crib. She drank the milk happily and the bottle was empty in two minutes flat.
He placed her back in the cot and tucked her in. The he turned to go back to his own bed.
His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. He had thought Amy was lying beside him but her half of the bed was empty and it looked as if nobody had slept there at all.
Denis’s first instinct was to call the police, but then he realized it was pointless; he knew where Amy had gone. Part of him had known she would go there, no matter how hard he tried to stop her.
He sat on the bed and buried his face in his hands.
“Amy,” he murmured, “please be safe, please.”
*~*
Down in the cave, Amy was regaining consciousness.
She was exhausted, her leg was broken and she had no way of getting out of this horrible cave. She glanced down at her leg and gasped.
There was a hand-shaped burn that covered her ankle. Amy touched the cut tentatively. It glowed and seemed to burn her hand. She drew her hand back quickly.
What a wonderful day this was turning out to be.
Amy closed her eyes and tried to breathe deeply. “I wish I was able to get out of this cave,” she muttered, trying very hard not to cry.
She sighed and opened her eyes. What she saw almost made her cheer happily.
The boat had risen from the water and was waiting for her to get in. Amy managed to lift herself in though it took a while getting her leg positioned.
The thoughts of the awful hand faded away, Amy was just happy she was going home.
*~*
Denis couldn’t seem to sit still. Horrible thoughts of what might be happening to Amy kept playing inside his head. He remembered the last words he’d heard her say.
Found her lying on the floor, dead
“Stop panicking,” Denis told himself. “Any second now, she’ll come in and everything will be fine.”
Suddenly, there were bangs and noises outside the door. Denis stood up and looked out the window.
It was pitch-black outside, he couldn’t see anything, but he knew people were there. Perhaps it was a few drunks from the village.
One of them yelled something in a made-up language and the door clicked open. A man stepped into the house. He had sickly white skin and twisted, snake-like features.
“W-w-who are you?” Denis asked, hoping that the man wouldn’t notice that he was shaking.
Tom Riddle’s lip curled, Denis obviously wasn’t as clever as his late wife. “Your worst nightmare,” he hissed.
For the second time that morning Denis’s eyes widened.
The man raised a stick and shrieked something in the unfamiliar language. There was a flash of green light and Denis knew no more.
*~*
Amy dragged herself off of the cliff face and onto the cold, wet grass. Thankfully, it was low tide and she didn’t have to swim out of the cave. The climb had been very difficult with her broken leg and had taken her what seemed like an eternity to reach the top.
Amy grabbed a stick and began walking, using the stick as a crutch. She would have to get it bandaged up back at the apartment. Oh, Denis was going to be terribly mad with her. She had been extremely reckless going to the cave like that and not telling him about it.
“I shall take him out for dinner tonight,” Amy decided. “And I’ll do all the “ oh my god!”
A glittering green skull hung above her apartment. What on earth was it doing there? Was Denis alright?
Amy hurried up to the flat as fast as her leg would allow.
The door was open and it was creaking in the wind.
“Denis?” Amy called. “Denis, are you alright?”
She stepped into the apartment and quickly checked the kitchen and the sitting room before entering the bedroom.
Gloria was sleeping peacefully in her cot and Denis “
Tears rolled down Amy’s cheeks. Sprawled on the bed was Denis Bishop.
Amy wrapped her arms around her husbands limp form and went on crying quietly. She knew who had done this; it was the same person who had pulled her plaits when she was five, the person who made sure she was never happy.
Tom Riddle.
Amy sobbed onto Denis’s shoulder. “Come back to me, Denis,” she whispered. “I love you.”
The Cave by Ellie4Harry
Chapter Notes: Well, here it is at long last! (You can stop attacking me in dark alleyways now!) As always, I'm sorry for the terribly long wait. This chappter is dedicated to my friend Clara, though I'm pretty sure she'd prefer a happy story about nice fluffy bunny rabbits.