Page 14 of Born in Depravity

I didn’t know where we were going and I didn’t pay attention. We probably made at least a half a dozen turns already.

The longer we spent down here, the more claustrophobic I felt. It felt like our air supply was limited, and I didn’t want to take in another deep breath for fear of it running out faster.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew my thoughts were irrational, that we weren’t actually running out of air, but there was no room for rationality in my brain right now.

Black dots danced behind my eyes, and I blinked before looking away from the flashlight. My foot connected with something, a small rock buried partially in the dirt, perhaps, and I stumbled.

Roberto tightened his hold on me.

“Careful, Miss,” he said gently.

I nodded, moving myself closer to him.

I didn’t know how long we walked for, but it seemed to go on for hours. My feet ached and my lungs were starting to burn. I didn’t think I had ever walked this far in my entire life.

I blinked when I thought I saw something.

For a moment, I was sure it was my eyes playing tricks on me. But then I saw it again.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

I let out a small gasp as my heart did a little flip. I didn’t know if my reaction was due to excitement or anxiety. But something told me my life was going to change drastically as soon as I stepped foot out of the tunnel.

Roberto pushed what looked like a wall made of mud and grass. It creaked from the pressure before giving way, and he opened the passage out to the dark blue sky.

Dawn was approaching.

We must have been walking for hours.

I paused when I got to the threshold and looked out at the Arizona desert. But only in front of me. Behind me, though, outside the tunnel, I could hear the distinct hum of a car driving across the road. The ground beneath my feet and the dirt wall surrounding me started to tremble as the car drove past us.

We must be beneath a road.

Everything looked familiar, yet not at all.

My heart pounded fiercely inside my chest, making me feel lightheaded.

“Miss?”

Roberto stood in front of me, holding out one hand.

Slowly, I placed my much smaller one in his. Like a trusting child.

Had Roberto been my father, would my life have been better? Happier?

I was nothing to him, yet I swore sometimes he looked at me like he … like he loved me as his own.

I blinked away the moisture and let him pull me outside the tunnel.

I looked down at my shoes.

I was sure the sand on the beach looked different from the dirt on the ground I was currently standing on.

I wished I could feel the sand with my bare feet …

I wished I could feel sand on the beach with my bare feet.

I had never been to the beach before. And California had beaches, didn’t it?

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