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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Escape

When Susie woke up, the room was in darkness. A small light was coming from the fireplace where the fire was still burning a little. A large white moon could be seen through the window.

What time was it?

Susie stood up to look at her watch in the moonlight. As she got to her feet, her head started to hurt badly, right between the eyes. Quickly, she sat down again. Was she ill? Why did she feel so bad?

And where was she?

She had had a terrible dream. The worst ever. But it wasn’t real. It was just a dream.

Or was it?

Looking around she saw that she was in a place she did not know. Not the flat in London, Not the holiday house. Where then? There were some large pictures on the walls.

Ah, Richard, of course. In his house, that was where she must be. Had she fallen asleep here? They were going to see Charlie, weren’t they? What had happened? Where was Richard?

Trying hard, she remembered having a cup of coffee and feeling sleepy. Then she thought of something and began to be afraid. Perhaps Richard had drugged her. There was a drug, she knew, that people used. She had read stories about women who were given this drug and then hurt. What was its name, the drug? She could not remember.

Standing up again, she moved carefully towards the door, She tried to put the light on, but it didn’t work. The door was locked.

‘Richard,’ she shouted. There was no answer. Again she shouted, but her voice only sounded in the empty room.

Now she knew she was right to be afraid. What was Richard trying to do? What did he want from her? He must be mad and dangerous. She must escape, run away from here, from him. Now.

She went quickly to the window. It was locked too, of course. But looking down she saw that the room was above the front door of the house. She could see the small roof over the door just below her. She could get down onto the roof and jump to the ground from there. She must break the window - but how? She went back to the fire. Ah, a half burnt piece of wood. She could use that.

The glass in the window broke with a lot of noise. Richard would hear, for sure. Quickly, she climbed out and dropped down onto the small roof. ‘That wasn’t too bad,’ she thought. ‘Now for the big jump.’ She looked down at the ground. It seemed a long way away.

Was that a sound in the room behind her? There was no time to lose. She shut her eyes and stepped over the side of the roof.

She landed hard on the ground. But she hadn’t hurt herself. She stood up. Everything was OK. There was a shout in the room above the door. She must go. Fast.

The moon made it easy to see the road. As she ran, a sound came from Richard’s house which made her blood run cold. It was a terrible, angry scream. She looked behind her at the house but there was nothing following her, Yet.

In front of her, the road was clear, the snow on the road shining in the grey light.

Then, a moment later, she saw a man coming towards her further down the road. He was holding a gun.

Without thinking, she turned from the road and ran across a field towards a high hill. She started to climb the hill. It was difficult in the dark and the snow. She held onto plants and small trees to stop herself falling. Soon her hands were cut. She used her clothes to clean the blood from her hands.

When she got to the top she realised that she was on Brynmawr Hill. Of course! Richard had said that his house was quite near Cynghordy House. Perhaps she could get back there. But it was locked, she remembered. The key was in her bag and she had left her bag in Richard’s house. Oh God, what was she going to do? And what about Charlie? He must be very worried about her. What would he think?

Perhaps she should go to Tom’s house. He lived near too, didn’t he? But which way was it to his house? Looking around her on the hill, she had no idea where to go.

She was very tired. She must stop for a bit first. She must sit down and rest. She needed to think what to do. She had a terrible headache and her arms and legs were hurting. She could go no further. The ground was cold and wet with snow but she didn’t care.

Just then she realised that an icy wind was blowing across the top of the hill. She was in the same place where she had taken the photographs on that first day, on the little hill. As she looked back at the way she had just come, the wind became stronger. The noise of the wind was in her ears and she could hear nothing else.

Then she saw that coming up the small hill towards her was a very large black animal. The moonlight lit up its eyes and they were burning like fires. When the animal saw her, it began to make a strange and terrible noise, like a wolf.

This was not a dream. This was real. She must run. But she could not move.

The animal was coming closer quickly, its great legs working to carry it. It was moving faster than the wind. Susie watched, unable to do anything. It was very near now and about to jump at her.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a gunshot.

The animal rose up on its back legs. It seemed more than three metres tall. Its lips were pulled back in a terrible smile and its large, dangerous teeth were white in the moonlight. Something silver could be seen in the hair of its stomach.

As Susie screamed, another shot rang out. A black hole seemed to open in the animal’s body. It turned with a wild shout and ran towards the wood on its two back legs. At that moment, Susie realised something with a terrible certainty. What she had seen was not an animal. It was a man.

‘Well, I’ll be,’ a voice said behind her, a voice she knew was Tom’s. ‘Come on, young lady. We’d better take you home.’