by Maggie Joan
Taking into account the five vehicles, which each needed a driver, and the fact Blue and I were both shot, that meant at least six people. Unless they were gangsters used to drive by shootings, they couldn’t shoot a gun and drive. I knew for a fact the quad bikes only had one person each. The Land Rovers could have easily contained at least four people each but if this was the criminal enterprise I now suspected, numbers would be kept to a minimum.
Six people and four dogs. That was my challenge. I had no idea where the hell I even was let alone how to raise the alarm for help. I smiled at the irony. This would be a new one—me actually going to the authorities willingly. With my past history of being a runaway though, would they even believe me?
I pushed the negative thoughts to the back of my mind. I couldn’t allow myself to be defeated before I’d even gotten out of here. Voices sounded from outside and I could hear footsteps coming towards the shed.
A bolt slid across the door, the screech of the metal piercing right through my skull and making my headache ten times worse. As the door opened, daylight flooded the dingy shed, blinding me momentarily as my eyes adjusted.
“Well, well, well,” said a male voice. “She’s awake.”
“Hello, poppet,” said a female voice. “How are you feeling?”
I blinked furiously until my vision returned. A big burly man stood to my right. Dressed in a blue boiler suit covered in mud, a flat cap, and streaks of grease all over his weathered face, he really did look like a farmer. His hazel eyes were hard and emotionless and the flat stare he gave me actually gave me the chills. Suddenly my past foster homes didn’t seem so bad.
To my left, a petite old lady with a slight hunch back started undressing my bandages. A pair of glasses perched on the end of her nose like a librarian and the woollen cardigan she wore over her flowery dress made me think of a grandma. Not that I had one of those.
“Thirsty,” I replied. “Can I have a drink please?”
The man snorted. “No.”
The woman looked at him over the top of her glasses and narrowed her eyes at him. “Fetch her some water.”
“Water means she’ll need the toilet which means more chance of escape,” he said, his gravelly voice sending a shiver down my spine.
The woman rolled her eyes. “For goodness sake, Colin. Just do as your damn well told before I tell Barry.”
Colin muttered something under his breath and stomped back outside. Through my limited view of the open door, I could see a farmyard. Churned up mud, gravel, an open sided barn with an old tractor and straw bales, and some sort of evergreen hedge.
“I’m Edith,” the lady said. “I do apologise for this little situation we have here.”
“It’s ok,” I said, smiling at her. “Exactly the kind of thing I’d get myself into.”
She chuckled as she removed the last of my bandages. “Healing nicely from the looks of it. I’m going to clean it so this may sting a bit.”
I watched as she used a pair of forceps to pick up a gauze pad, dip it in water, and then scrub my shoulder with it. If I thought trying to move it had been painful. I was sorely mistaken. The pain from her touching the open wound had me seeing stars. Nausea swelled in my stomach. A deep ache accompanied the firing heat blazing through my muscles.
“Nearly done,” she said. “You’re doing spectacularly well. This antiseptic is a bitch but it’s good stuff.”
Even though that explained some of the pain, it didn’t make me feel any better at all. Still, at least she was antiseptic. I smiled as I thought about Blue. Had this been how he’d felt when I’d put my Savlon on his knee wound? No wonder he wouldn’t let me touch his shoulder afterwards.
“Where’s my horse?” I asked, trying to distract myself from the stinging in my shoulder.
“We both know he’s not your horse, poppet,” she said, putting a clean pad on my bullet wound. “But he is safe and unharmed. He’s a tricky one, that one. Not the first time we’ve had to dart him.”
“Can I see him?”
She laughed. “You’re ballsy, missy, I’ll give you that.”
I grinned. “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
“That is very true,” she replied, applying a fresh bandage. “My dad used to say the same thing.”
“I’m hardly going anywhere, am I?” I said, looking down at my shoulder. “I don’t have anywhere to go to anyway.”
“I must admit, I have been wondering what on earth a pretty little thing like you would be doing riding a wild stallion in the middle of the moor.”
“Wild? He’s not wild.”
She tweaked her thin pink lips up into a smile. “He may as well be. None of us can do anything with him. Just before he escaped, he nearly killed Colin.” Her smile turned into a grin and she whispered, “Between you and me that wouldn’t have been a bad thing.”
I giggled. “Not very friendly, is he?”
“He’s a typical local I’m afraid. Doesn’t like outsiders or anything he’s not familiar with. He won’t even eat his dinner without gravy because that’s all he knows.”
I laughed. “Each to their own.”
Colin returned then with my glass of water. I smiled at him and said thank you but didn’t even get eye contact from him. He really didn’t want me to have this water.
“Untie her please, Colin,” Edith said, undoing my left wrist.
“Are you crazy?” he said, his voice rising by ten decibels. “She’s going to run.”
Edith tutted at him. “Where is she going to run to exactly?”
“Home. The police.”
“You should pay more attention to the local news. She’s the runaway everyone has been looking for. She’s going nowhere.”
Colin pressed his lips together so tight, his moustache nearly met his goatee. Without a further word, he yanked at the wrist restraint and let me free. As they undid my ankle ties, I thought to myself that was rather easy. The question still remained—now what?
Chapter 21
A farmyard was the right guess. A big old farmhouse sat not a hundred yards away from the shed where I’d been kept, smoke pouring out of the chimney, chickens pecking their way through the muddy grass out the front, and two Jack Russell terriers laying around outside the door.
Six dogs. Not four, six. And ankle biters were the worst. I smiled to myself as I recalled a saying my mum had about my dad.
“He’s like a terrier on a trouser leg, Blue. He just doesn’t give up.”
I’d never understood it until I’d met one of the little critters. Horrid things. It was thanks to one of them that my first attempt at running away had been thwarted and I’d been subjected to a further month of sitting in soiled clothes and living off bread and butter. I learned for the second try and crushed some of my foster mum’s sleeping tablets into his food.
“I’m guessing you’d rather like a nice long soak in a hot bath?” Edith asked, gesturing for me to enter the house first.
I began to wonder if these people were cannibals or something. Were they wanting me bathed and fed before they killed me and ate me? This certainly was the most peculiar kidnapping I'd come across. Not that I'd experienced any previously but from what I'd seen on TV shows.
“That would be rather nice,” I said, walking into a porch littered with muddy boots and shoes.
One of the terriers growled at me. I glared at it and stuck my tongue out. It jumped to its feet and started barking at me.
“Merry, shush,” Edith said, silencing the wretched thing instantly.
I smirked at it and walked past. One-Nil you little shit, one-nil. I started to take my shoes off at which point Edith told me not to bother.
“I give up trying to keep this place clean,” she said. “Take a left into the kitchen, dearie.”
The porch opened up into a beautiful flag stone floored open plan room. The kitchen sat to the left, an old Aga in the centre of the kitchen and solid oak cupboards. To the right a large red corner sofa curved arou
nd a giant TV. The delicious aroma of freshly baked bread hit me and in that instant I missed Marsha’s house. I wanted to be back in my bedroom being teased relentlessly by the spawn of the devil. Was that being homesick?
But then again, if I was still at Marsha’s, where would Blue be right now? I’d have never met him and that is something I definitely didn’t want to even think about. In less than ten days I'd connected with another soul, but not a human, a horse. The bond we shared was so intense and profound, I couldn’t imagine having something so special with another human.
We shared a mistrust of the same species and our friendship had been born from that. I felt honoured and extremely proud that despite his obvious abuse and lack of love, he’d found it within him to let his guard down and trust me. Did that mean there might be hope for me after all?
“Would you like some homemade lemonade?” Edith asked, gesturing for me to take a seat.
I nodded. “Yes, please.”
The dining table was made from solid oak and clearly been here many years judging from the marks criss-crossing its aged surface. Edith went to the fridge in the corner and pulled out a big jug full of ice and slices of lemon. She poured me a glass and set it down in front of me.
“Thank you,” I said.
“You’re welcome. If you’re fair with us, we’re fair with you.”
I don’t get that impression from Colin, I thought to myself. “Can I see Blue please?”
She frowned and sat down opposite me with her own glass of lemonade. “Blue?”
My cheeks flared. “Sorry. It’s what I called him. Felt wrong not giving him a name.”
“It suits him actually. I like it.” She narrowed her eyes at me and smiled. “Your name is Blue, isn’t it? From what I remember hearing on the news?”
I nodded. “How long have you had him? He’s in fantastic condition.”
She cleared her throat and took a sip of her drink. “Not long. I think he’s still pining for his last home. He managed to jump out of his field a few days ago. That’s how you happened upon him. He won’t be doing that again, that is for sure.”
I smiled. “Made the fence taller?”
She snorted. “No. He’s staying firmly put in his stable.”
My heart skipped a beat. No. He would go spare. He loved the open space and freedom to roam around. All horses did. It was against their very nature to keep them locked away in a small wooden box. An overwhelming urge to find him and set him free almost made me act without thinking. However, I couldn’t afford to put one foot out of place until I'd figured this situation out.
“Are you hungry?” Edith asked. “You look like you need a good meal.”
“I could eat a horse,” I said, laughing.
She winked. “That could be arranged.”
A shiver went down my spine. Something in the way she said that made me think they probably had eaten a horse. “How many horses have you got here?”
“A few. We tend to...wheel and deal.”
I nodded. “You’re dealers?”
“So to speak, yes. I handle all the finances and the boys do all the graft round the farm and with the horses.”
“Are they your sons?”
She nodded. “All five of them. Was interesting bringing them up on my own, I'll tell you.”
Six people. I was right. “I bet it was.”
“They’re good boys though. Will do anything for their ol’ mum.”
“That’s the way it should be,” I said, smiling at her.
She cocked her head to one side and smiled back at me; a proper genuine smile that shone from her eyes as well as her mouth. “You seem like a good kid. What are you doing running away from home?”
I thought about lying for a split second and then realised I had no reason to lie. Edith didn’t know me and after I’d figured a way out for me and Blue, I’d likely never see her again. Talking to strangers about my life seemed a whole different ball game than talking to someone I knew. There was a level of disassociation that came with talking to someone new that provided a level of comfort to a degree.
“I’ve not had a home in nearly ten years,” I said, taking a sip of my lemonade. The bitter sweetness flooded my tongue and I found myself actually quite liking it.
“Orphan?”
“Kind of. Dad killed Mum when I was six. Nothing has gone right since then. In and out of foster homes, children’s homes, emergency accommodation. Never stayed anywhere more than a few months.”
“How come?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing worth hanging around for.”
As I said that, the penny dropped. I had a reason to wait around now—Blue. My life had been completely upended in the last few days and I now couldn’t see life without him. We depended on each other, we were each other’s lifelines, and right now, I needed to be that lifeline for him and get us both the hell out of here.
“That’s a real shame. Young girl like you should have a stable home and things to look forward to, not be wondering where her next meal is coming from and what disaster she needs to avoid next.”
“I just carry on and deal with whatever is thrown my way. Not a lot else I can do.”
She flashed me a sympathetic smile and then said, “How do you fancy a nice hot soak in a big bubble bath?”
I grinned. “I fancy the sound of that, that’s for sure.”
“Follow me,” she said, rising from her chair and heading towards the stairs.
I followed her up the wooden stairs, noticing the shiny varnished finish to each step and wondering how slippery they might be. I’d have to be careful coming back down. I couldn’t afford any injuries, not with Blue relying on me.
At the top of the stairs, the landing split left and right, four doors down each side. Straight in front of me was a white door that Edith opened to reveal a monstrous sized bathroom. When I saw the freestanding bathtub complete with gold feet in the middle of the room, I nearly squealed in delight.
“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to always sit in one of those,” I said, not even attempting to hide my Cheshire cat grin.
“You enjoy yourself, dearie. You’ve had a long, tough few days.” She pointed out the towels and all the bubble bath and shampoo. “Can I wash your clothes for you whilst you have your bath? I can leave them outside the door once they’re clean and dry.”
I hesitated for a moment. With Edith being so welcoming, it really didn’t feel quite real that I had been kidnapped. “Sure, if that’s ok?”
“Of course. It’s the least I can do. And I must apologise for the scene in the shed. I wanted to bring you in the house from the beginning but sometimes it’s best to appease Colin than to fight him.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
Edith made her way out and closed the door behind her. As I stripped off and threw my clothes outside for her to wash, I couldn’t help but understand how some people built relationships with their kidnappers. Edith was a very friendly, likeable lady and to think of her being anything but helpful and kind seemed peculiar.
I ran myself a wonderfully hot bubble bath and slipped beneath the bubbles, trying to formulate a plan of escape.
Chapter 22
By the time I’d had a long soak in the bath, being mindful not to get my shoulder wet, Edith had washed and dried my clothes and laid them outside the bathroom for me. I surprised myself with how grateful I felt and wondered if this was the beginning of Stockholm Syndrome.
As I put my clean clothes on, the waft of freshly laundered clothes hit me and I found myself thinking of Marsha yet again. I’d never run away from anywhere and found myself thinking back to the family I’d left behind. Had I made a grave error in judgement this time? Potentially messed up the one chance I might have had at being happy?
I pushed the thoughts away. I didn’t have time to think about that now. My priority was figuring out this situation and how to get me and Blue the hell out of here. I headed back downstairs to find Edith in the kitch
en preparing a joint of beef.
“Do you eat meat?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Roast beef for tea,” she said. “My boys favourite.”
“Do you need any help?” I asked, remembering that I still needed to come across as a human, not a possession.
“That’s sweet of you but I’m alright, thank you. You should rest with that shoulder of yours.” She nodded towards the sofa and the TV. “Go and help yourself. Put your feet up.”
I faked a smile and did as she suggested, my mind whirring away with options and plans. I needed to get a good look around the place, see where Blue was, see where the possible exits were, and formulate from there. This had to be done logically.
Flicking the TV into life, I was surprised to see Sky TV at my fingertips. I automatically headed for the documentaries and put on a program about sharks. I had no interest in it really, but it was mindless, easy watching, and gave me the opportunity to occupy my mind with other ideas whilst seeming to look interested in patterns of hunting in various species of sharks.
A yellow teleporter rumbled past the window, flecks of rust speckled all over it. The front bucket was piled high with clean straw and I wondered if it was going anywhere near Blue. I watched it from the corner of my eye disappear around the side of the house. I didn’t dare turn my head to follow where it went in case Edith was watching me.
I heard a horse neigh, but it wasn’t Blue. Becoming more and more worried about him by the second, I chewed on my nails in a fruitless effort to calm my rising anxiety. I couldn’t settle my mind from just wanting to find Blue and run.
My bet though was that every possible exit had been gated and padlocked shut. When I’d tended to Blue’s injuries, I’d taken a guess that he’d jumped over something and hit himself on the way over. If I could figure out where he might have escaped from, it might be a way out second time around for him.
“I tend to eat after the boys,” Edith said, clattering around in the kitchen. “I let them have their fill and then help myself to whatever is left. You can eat with me and afterwards I’ll take you to see that horse.”