There is no going back.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Carly
Then
Carly burst from the tunnel after her sisters, resigning herself to the fact that hands would grab her. Drag them back to the oppressive room that stank of blocked toilets and vomit.
But there was nothing.
She rose to her feet, all the while brushing her hands against her body. Shaking out her hair. She could still feel the beetles on her.
Thought she would always feel the beetles on her.
She usually loved the rain, felt it made everything smell clean, but now there was only the stench of insects in her nostrils. She shivered, her clothes soaked through.
‘What do we do?’ asked Leah.
Carly wanted to lie down on the floor and cry. She wanted to give up, but that wasn’t an option. She was the big sister but she felt so shaky, her legs like spaghetti.
She spun a slow 360, eyes searching the gloom, but it wasn’t until the cloud passed across the moon lifting the darkness that she saw the glint of the fence. It was close.
So close.
‘Listen.’ She crouched onto her haunches and gathered her sisters to her. ‘You’ve been so brave but I need you to be brave a little longer.’
Her sisters nodded. Their faces edged in silver light.
‘Over there is the fence. We’re going to run as fast but as quietly as we can. If the men come back – if one of us gets caught – we don’t stop. We don’t go back.’
‘But—’ Marie began.
‘No buts. If we’re separated it will only be until one of us reaches help and then all of this will be over.’ Carly felt guilt scrunch her insides. Marie was sick and Leah had hurt her ankle, but if she went at their pace, there was a danger they’d all get caught. At least this way there was a chance she’d make it and she’d fetch help more quickly. She was determined if she left them, it wouldn’t be for long. ‘We’ll soon be home.’
‘With Mummy and Daddy.’ Leah perked up.
‘Yes. And Bruno. Cross my heart.’ Carly curved both her little fingers and hooked them around the twins’ pinkies:
‘A pinkie promise can’t be broke
Or you’ll disappear in a puff of smoke
This is my vow to you,
I’ll keep my promise through and through.’
‘We’re going home.’ Carly’s voice was steadier this time. ‘Are you ready?’
‘Yes,’ they said, but their voices were small.
‘Run!’
Carly’s feet flew over the rough ground. She didn’t slow. Didn’t stop to check how far behind Marie and Leah were.
She threw herself at the fence. Twisted her fingers around the wire, shook it hard. It was too high to climb and besides the top was razor wire.
Quickly she moved on. Her eyes scanned for a gate but instead of the exit she’d tumble through, open and conspicuous, she found something better.
A hole.
She dropped to her knees and clawed through the undergrowth, the sharp edges of wire scraping against her back, until she was through and could stand once more. She took a precious second to seek out the twins. They hadn’t yet reached the perimeter, their arms around each other. Carly wasn’t sure who was holding who up. Carly waved until she was sure they had spotted her and then she turned and scrambled up the bank, slip-sliding backwards, driving herself forwards once more.
And there it was.
A road.
The road.
She nearly wept, but instead threw herself into a ditch and it was there she waited until Marie and Leah popped their heads over the bank like meerkats. The sisters were reunited once more. A team. Carly was glad. No matter how much they needed her, she knew she needed them too.
The road was barely a track, and Carly’s spirits dipped as she wondered how frequently it was used, but she told herself to stay positive. Even if they didn’t meet any traffic the road had to lead somewhere. Somewhere there would be a phone and a police station. Warm, dry clothes, and a sense of safety. Somewhere they could wait for their parents and that thought made her both nervous and excited. Although she’d told Marie they wouldn’t be angry there was a doubtful voice inside her head, wondering if they might blame her. If her stepdad would hate her for putting his daughters at risk, but that was silly. He’d never made her feel any different, any less. Their parents would be overjoyed to see them, all of them, she knew.
‘Keep low and follow me.’ Carly crawled along the verge, her hands slapping against wet grass, her knees slipping. ‘If Moustache and Doc appear, lie flat and keep still.’
She couldn’t hear them. Couldn’t hear anything except the rain beating against the tarmac and her own frantic heart. Her eyes searched the darkness for yellow beams of torchlight but there was nothing.
Had they got away? Carly dared herself to hope.
Progress was slow. Her back ached. Her head hurt. She stole a glance behind her at Leah’s face deathly pale in the glow of moonlight. Carly could see she was in pain but she hadn’t once complained about her ankle.
Eventually they came to a fork in the road.
Which way?
There wasn’t a tell-tale glow of lights from houses, or the blue flickering light from TV sets.
Left or right? Right or left?
There was so much at stake.
Before Carly could make up her mind she saw two spots of light in the distance.
‘No.’
She shook her head as though she could make them disappear but then she realized they were travelling too fast to be torchlights. They were headlights.
A car.
Lightning cracked.
Carly felt adrenaline course through her as she cast one last look around for the men, but they were nowhere to be seen. She staggered to her feet and stumbled into the middle of the road, waving her arms.
‘Help! Help!’
The rumble of thunder masked her thin cries. Leah and Marie joined Carly in the middle of the road, the air full of their desperate pleas.
‘Stop! Please!’
For a second the car seemed to accelerate before it stopped. Its hazard lights winked as it hugged the verge.
Carly shielded her eyes. She couldn’t see who was driving.
Both doors clicked open.
Were they safe now?
Chapter Forty
Leah
Now
Today is my first thought as the sun glaring through the curtains prises open my eyes. My head is fuzzy. There’s a bitter taste in my mouth, almost as though I have a hangover. It’s not alcohol causing bitterness to rise in my throat though, but the memory that last night I had almost chased an innocent man to his death.
I’d been so sure it was him but it was my Fregoli again deceiving me. I am no longer sure what I think. I no longer trust myself. My only hope is that everyone else is right. It’s some crackpot sending the letters and everything else is just in my imagination.
The teddy bear is a coincidence.
The cross, though? That can’t be as easily explained.
I roll over, stretching my legs out in the empty space George should be.
By the end of today this will all be over.
Until then I am not going out. Archie and I will snuggle up on the sofa and watch Peter Pan. The Incredibles. The Jungle Book.
We’ll be safe, I tell myself. Safe.