“Brought you breakfast,” he snarled, “eat it, it’s going to be a long day, be back in ten minutes,” he left the tray on the floor beside the door. Carla heard the door lock. His words didn’t really resonate with her as she could read nothing into them, other than a ‘long day’ may suggest she would still be alive at the end of it. She gingerly walked over to the tray as if she was expecting someone to pounce. She sat on the sofa eating her breakfast. The coffee feeling as if it was the best drink she had ever had. She tried not to think what was in store for her. She tried to focus her thoughts on Donna and what it was she would be doing in order to rescue her. That thought made her shiver when she realised she did need rescuing. She could hear the footsteps of Matt Conner pacing the floor above her. She did not like that sound at all.
Ten minutes later the basement door opened and in it stood Matt Conner, with the same manic look that made Carla’s whole body tremble. He swiftly walked over to her and grabbed her by the arm.
“Come on!” he said “we need to get showered, he swiftly marched her up the basement stairs, through the living area and up the stairs to the bathroom.
“Get undressed, we need to shower,” he told her and Matt Conner started removing his clothes. Carla froze for a moment, “I can undress you myself,” he threatened, Carla slowly undressed until she was naked, trying to cover herself with a self-conscious act. Matt pulled her arms to the side and pointed to the shower, she reluctantly stood underneath the shower. The naked Matt followed her in and face to face drew his body close so they were touching. Carla felt herself cringe and tried not to show her disgust, or her sense of terror. Matt turned on the shower and poured shampoo on Carla’s head. He then proceeded to wash every part of his and hers body as Carla stood frozen in fear.
“We need to wash our sins away,” he told her. He rinsed the soap off and ordered her out of the shower, where he dried her and himself, he then turned her around to face the large mirror, he stood behind her, his hands cupping both her breasts, “What do you see?” he asked her,
“I see us,” she cried,
“What am I doing? He demanded,
“Your touching my breasts, “she gasped,
“You know why I’m doing that don’t you?” he asked her, when she didn’t answer, he squeezed her breast hard causing her to shriek in pain,
“No, please just let me go, I’ll tell no one,” she pleaded through her tears. Matt ignored her pleas,
“It’s because I can,” he told her, “Your mine now Carla.” He grabbed her clothes and led her to the bedroom. He gave her a pair of his boxer shorts from out of the drawer to put on. She did what she was told, thankful at least she was covering herself up. He chucked her bra and panties across the room and pointed to her remaining clothes, telling her to get dressed. They went downstairs and sat at the kitchen table, where Matt made two more cups of coffee whilst singing along to the radio. Carla looked across at the two patio doors, hoping that she could make a run for it, but there was no keys in it. She knew there were keys in the front door at the bottom of the stairs as she had seen them as they were coming down. If I can just make it to there, then I could be free, she told herself, adrenalin building up inside her as she could see her only chance. Matt sat down with the coffee, with a smile on his face, Carla tried to smile back.
“Here you go sweetheart,” he said as he handed her the coffee. Carla put it to her mouth, but as Matt sat down she immediately threw it in the face of Matt. He immediately let out a scream and put his hands to his face as Carla darted to the front door. She got to the key, she turned it, it unlatched easily, she yanked the door but it would not open, she noticed a bolt at the top and undone it and pulled at the door once more, she felt it open, her freedom beckoning her. The door was only open a couple of inches when it came to a sudden stop. She screamed in anguish as she saw the door chain preventing her from opening the door fully. She closed the door and fiddled with the chain, eventually freeing it from its holder. She could smell the fear inside her when her head was yanked back by her hair. She shrieked in pain as Matt Conner led her by the hair back down into the basement, where he threw her on the floor. He picked up the umbrella and snarled as he stood over her. “Where do you want it first?” he asked, as he prodded her with all his might. “Donna!” Carla cried amid the pain.
* * *
Hayleigh and Crazy Cavan sat nervously drinking tea and eating biscuits as they awaited the arrival of the people driving from Porthcawl. Hayleigh had wanted to go over to Matt’s, but Cavan had persuaded her not to. They did however drive out past his house to see if the Lexus was in the drive, it was. They came back home without any further explanation, other than Carla was still in there with him, or she wasn’t there at all. She had actually gone to call the police and had pressed the 9 button twice, only to cut the call. Matt Conner needed to be kept sweet if Carla was going to get out of this alive. Cavan himself wanted the girl to be found alive and well. There was a certain ‘posh bird’ that he wanted to get to know more intimately.
The four in the car drove at high speed towards their destination, constantly trying to contact Carla and updating Hayleigh on how far away they were. The last message read that they were less than an hour away.
As Matt once again sat at his dining table drinking more coffee, Carla lay on the floor of the basement sobbing uncontrollably as the pain racked her body. She felt at the time of the attack she was about to die. In some ways she was wishing that she had as the pain and the fear and not knowing what happened next, was beginning to be too much to comprehend and bare. Her whole body was racked with pain from where he had prodded every inch of her, thankful in some way that her clothing offered some protection.
As he drank his coffee, he was crying, crying at what he had done and crying of what he thought he was capable of doing. He had gotten the anti-depressants from the bathroom and sat there holding them in his hands. Twisting the bottle as he sat, he opened them, took one out and washed it down with his coffee, he just wanted something to take the edge off, to try and stop him doing what he was doing. Carla cowered as he came into the basement, she hurled herself into a ball in the corner of the room as he approached her. “Time to go,” he told her and picked her up from the floor, helping her up the stairs to the patio doors leading out onto the gardens and drive. He opened the door and Carla the air felt like she had been given freedom. Matt pulled out a knife, held it to her throat as he stood behind her. “Try to run and I kill you,” he told her. He locked her in the car, securing her inside, went back to lock the patio doors. He got into the car and drove off.
“Fancy a trip to the waterpark?” he asked her. Carla didn’t answer, she just trembled amongst the tears.
* * *
Excellent time was made as the posse from Porthcawl pulled up outside Hayleigh’s house. There were quick introductions, soft drinks to be had and various trips to the loo, before they were sat at the large dining table, explanations were given and assumptions made before deciding on any form of action.
“Why don’t we just go and knock his door?” asked Donna, showing her impatience,
“I was going to do that,” answered Hayleigh, “we did drive past, his car was still there early on,”
“Why didn’t you knock?” asked the bemused Donna,
“Because there was only us two, I debated calling the police, but that would madden him,” Donna gave Cavan a questionable look, “as big and strong as he looks Matt would kill him, we didn’t want to take a chance, or at least I didn’t, Cavan would do anything I ask,” added Hayleigh, Cavan felt like he had been called a coward yet rendered a hero, he simply smiled.
“Let’s go see now,” suggested Smithy, “there’s more of us,” it seemed a good idea as any, to all who thought about it, Darren paced the floor,
“I’ll kill him if he’s hurt her,” he said, no one questioned his reasoning, they all questioned his capability.
“We’ll take the 4x4 we can all go then,” said Hay
leigh as she grabbed the keys.
When they got there, the Lexus in the drive was no longer there, it brought a lump to Hayleigh’s throat as she thought that she should have called the police earlier on. They left the 4x4 on the road and walked up to the patio doors at the side of the house. Donna and Hayleigh banged heavily on the doors whilst the others looked for any movement in the windows. There was none, Hayleigh picked up a large concrete stone and aimed it at the window after she had noticed the keys were still in the door.
“What about the alarm?” asked Cavan,
“Unless he’s changed the code I can see to that, but to be honest I’m past caring.” Cavan took the stone off her and hurled it at the window where the pain shattered, he threw it once more to shatter the second pain. The alarm rang out as Hayleigh put her hand through, opened the door and ran inside to the cupboard under the stairs to kill the alarm. Matt hadn’t changed the code. All six stood in the kitchen. Hayleigh went down to the basement followed by the others, she tried the door. It was locked. Cavan stood in front of her and with one mighty kick with his steel toe cap boot it flung open, almost taking it off its hinges. Donna briefly explained to them the significance of the umbrella she could see on the floor. Marcia recognised it as the colourful one he had bought in Porthcawl. There was a half-eaten breakfast still on the tray. They went upstairs still mindful that Matt could be in the house, but all were thinking it was unlikely. Donna gave a wry shriek when she recognised the underwear that was on the bed room floor as being the same ones she had gone to purchase with Carla. Her heart went out to her friend as the tears strolled down her face. Hayleigh comforted her with her arm.
“She’s alive.” She told Donna,” I think I know where he might have taken her, I’m going after him,”
“We all go,” said Marcia,” but let’s tell the police what’s happening first.” They all agreed that was the best form of action and Hayleigh did just that. She grew agitated at the operators ignorance of the situation, claiming that no crime had been committed, and underwear being left on a bedroom floor is hardly evidence of such an offence, the call ended with her being chastised for using the emergency number. They told her they would send someone around when they were available. She killed the call, with a rage in her eyes.
“Fucking nob heads, they’re sending someone around, one of us needs to stay here for when they come,” all eyes looked at Darren,
“No way,” he shouted. He had no choice as the five of them got into the 4x4 and left Darren sat at the kitchen table holding a large kitchen knife.
* * *
Deep into the waterpark woods, at the exact spot where he had broken the leg of Dale Simpson. Carla was slumped against a tree, her hands pulled behind her and bound together around the tree. Her legs were bound with a cable tie. Matt had pulled her blouse open showing her breasts. She had a gag in her mouth. Her body was weak and bruised going from being in pain to floating somewhere nice, it was as if she kept floating from this world to the next and every time she went to knock on the door of the next world, someone was preventing her from doing so. Now she was sat in the world of pain, watching the madman that stood before her with a knife, his words were menacing and calculating.
“When Aimee died, she lost all of her hair through the treatment,” he told his captive. This revelation stunned Carla even further. Not only was he mad, he was pretending his dead daughter was alive. He leant down before her with the knife in his hand. She closed her eyes for what she thought would be the final time, hoping it would be painless and she would be released from this hell. She felt her hair being pulled and feeling the sensation of the knife cutting through it. She opened her eyes seeing Matt chucking piles of her hair on the ground before her. When he hacked off as much as he could, he stepped back in admiration.
“You look beautiful, just like Aimee,” he told her, she wanted to scream, she wanted to shout, but she could do neither, she could only think of one hope. That was Donna.
From where they were, Matt could see the 4x4 pull up, he recognised the car as being his ex-wife’s, a wry smile came to his face as he watched, Hayleigh, Marcia, Smithy, Donna and Cavan get out of the vehicle, all looking towards the water and the woods beyond.
Matt untied Carla and dragged her to her feet, he had parked his Lexus deep into the woods. He threw her into the passenger seat and clipped her seat belt.
“We don’t want you having an accident,” he mocked. He started the car and revved it loudly.
* * *
They all momentarily froze as they saw the Lexus coming down the dirt track at high speed, they could all see that it was occupied by two people, neither instantly recognisable but they knew who they were. Matt was laughing out loud as he drove, with the gag now removed from her mouth Carla screamed, frantically clutching at the handle of the door which remained locked. Hayleigh stood on the track between the Lexus and the main rode as the car came hurtling before her, she hoped Matt would stop when he saw her, before throwing herself out of the way. He was just seconds away when Cavan pushed Hayleigh to the side and stood there with his hands held out. Matt shrieked with delight when he hit him. They all watched as Cavan’s lifeless body hurtled through the air and come to rest metres away from where he was hit. Panic set in as Hayleigh went over to the cadaver, Smithy called the police, Marcia went over to Hayleigh and hugged her. Donna got in the 4x4 and gave chase.
Matt drove like the devil into the country side and eventually into the country lanes. Both sides of the lane was laden with trees and a shallow brook. Matt Conner drove at high speed, as he reached a bend, he chose not to take the bend, and he turned to look at Carla, who was frozen with fear.
“Remember what you did to Charlotte,” he shouted, “Did she die Carla? Did she?” he unlocked the central locking just before the front side caught a tree and the car hurtled towards the brook, spinning in the air and landing on it’s roof. A minute later Donna pulled up, she screamed as she saw the carnage. Police car sirens could be heard in the distance.
17. Welcome home.
For three days Donna, never left her hospital bed, in the centre Of Doncaster. The drips and machines attached to her forever constant in the droning they gave out or the information they were given, forever in her vision. Hoping they would not fail her. Hoping that if there was a god then he would save her. Smithy. Darren and Marcia, at the invitation of Hayleigh stopped with her. Not only to help them, but Hayleigh needed some comfort as she thought of the ‘biker without a bike’ who was no longer with them. She had grown fond of him and he had given his life for her, she would make sure he had the best funeral he possibly could have. She had plenty of time to look back at things, wondering that when she had so many splendid things, the best and most reliable people in her life had been the working class biker and barmaid.
Darren was inconsolable, he visited her every day, still dreaming that he would someday get back with the one he loved. They just let him believe that, not telling him that they had been told it was unlikely she would awake from her coma.
Donna was at the hospital holding her hands, when Carla’s parents walked in, they had been staying at a hotel in Doncaster to be near her daughter, and they exchanged sorrowful smiles as Donna left them to spend time with their daughter. For the first time in three days she left the hospital. She had to go to the B&B, where Carla had stayed to pick up her belongings that she had never picked up. Carla offered to settle the bill when she collected it, but was refused, people knew what had happened. The small village of Hatfield was in shock once more. The B&B had a small lounge and bar for residents only and Donna asked if she could dine there with a glass of wine. The proprietors insisted she did so free of charge. Donna chose fish and chips, her and Carla’s favourite at Ceaser’s. She ate her meal with gusto not realising how hungry she was. Carla’s suitcase was beside her and a small holdall, she opened the hold hall and inside was Carla’s lap top. It brought back so many memories for Donna. She fired up the lap top, put in the
password. Subconsciously she checked on the progress of her books. They were charted 1 and 2 in the romance/drama section, her royalties were in the thousands. It only brought tears to her eyes. She ordered a coffee as she searched the computer, she come across a new file, a new novel, it was called. The Rise of Charlotte, she opened the file, there was only a couple of chapters done, and the tears really flowed when she read that charlotte had been in a coma and didn’t wake up for three days, it was only when she realised the significance did she shriek and quickly got into her car for the hospital.
Carla’s parents were still there when she got there, she offered to take over if they wanted to grab a coffee, they accepted her invitation and left her alone with Carla.
Donna grabbed her hand and held it tightly and spoke softly to Carla,
“Just read your third Charlotte book, it’s beautiful, can you remember how hard she fought baby, how she come out of that coma,” she wiped her own eyes as she spoke, she continued in a more positive voice, “that was always your dream babes, to create a star, you brought her back to life babes, now you need to live too,” she leant over and kissed her, she sat back down clutching her hand softly, “She awoke from her dream Carla, now you got to wake from yours, because this isn’t your dream, its someone else’s.”
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