Thunderstorm

I sat on a piece of rotten log, breathing hard. Kingsley handed me a bottle of water. ‘Here.’ I downed half of the bottle in one long gulp. ‘You need to rest.’ I shook my head. ‘I need to continue looking for him.’ Kingsley pressed a hand on my shoulder. ‘You are exhausted.’ ‘I’m fine.’ ‘Listen to me. Just take a ten-minute break, okay?’ Kingsley didn’t give me a chance to argue. He left with another search team. ‘I’ll be back for you in fifteen. Don’t go anywhere.’ I tried to stand up, but my legs refused to obey my order. I checked my wristwatch. It was about nine pm. Back in Lisbern, nightlife would be just beginning. But here, all I saw was pitch blackness punctuated by an occasional sweeping flashlight. If the weather forecast was right, the rain was less than three hours away. In this place, mudslides and landslides were an ever-present threat. If we couldn’t locate Kieran by then, everyone had to leave and come back in the morning. I didn’t want to leave him alone up in the moun