Lucy Lockhart: The Awakening

by Bryce THOMAS

  The blackness seemed to seep into every fibre and every pore of their bodies as they clung onto each other’s arms, listening and waiting. After what seemed like ages, but what was in fact only seconds as they held their breaths, they heard the sound of voices outside the back door. Then, the faint noise of car doors banging closed and the grating sound of the starter motor as the driver revved the engine into action, were the last sounds they heard before being engulfed in a total and eerie silence. Remaining as still as corpses, neither girl spoke for a good five minutes after the sound of the car had faded into the distance; both listening, waiting, not knowing what to do.

  Eventually, it was Lucy that moved first. She let go of Loanne’s arm, got down on her hands and knees and busied herself feeling, inch by inch, every bit of the long floor of the cupboard. There was nothing there with which to prize open the door. ‘If only we had a knife,’ she muttered as she went about her task.

  ‘Will this do?’ Loanne asked, holding out something in the blackness. Lucy couldn’t see what it was that Loanne was holding, but she made her way back to her companion, her fingers feeling along the bare walls to guide herself back along the cupboard.

  ‘Keep speaking,’ was all she said, encouraging Loanne to guide her towards her. She held out her own hand, feeling for whatever it was that Loanne had offered, and after a moment, her fingers touched Loanne’s outstretched arm. She let them follow the arm down to Loanne’s wrist and then felt for the article that Loanne was holding. As she got hold of it, the hard object felt warm to her touch. Taking it from Loanne’s fingers she turned it over in her hands and realized what it was, instantly.

  ‘It’s a hoof pick,’ Loanne stated. She had, as she always did when cleaning the hooves of her horses, put the hoof pick down the side of her riding boot so as not to lose it in the wood shavings that were scattered on the floor as bedding for the horses. It was a loop of steel with a hook on it about the length of Lucy’s fingers. She felt the point. It wasn’t particularly sharp, but it was better than nothing.

  Raising the hoof pick up to about face level, she pressed it hard against the cupboard wall, twisting and turning it while she pushed as hard as she could. Gradually she made headway, but it wasn’t as fast as she hoped. The wall was thicker than she had expected, made of boards and not plaster as she had first hoped. Eventually, after what seemed like ages, a tiny hole appeared, driving a thin, faint shaft of light through the blackness as she pulled the tool away from the wall. It instilled a brief burst of energy into her as she pushed it back in the hollow and delved, once again, as deeply as she could.

  ‘The wall is just made of thin boards,’ she said eventually. ‘We’ll dig our way out of here in no time.’ But she didn’t feel as confident as she tried to sound, and wondered if Loanne was at all convinced by her words. Time was passing far too quickly.

  ‘We haven’t a lot of time to do anything,’ Loanne began to explain, though Lucy knew the fact herself.

  ‘They aren’t likely to just leave us here. They’ll be on their way back soon, or, at least, that horrible man will.’

  With a growing feeling of desperation, Lucy dug at the boards a little more, each twist and turn of the tool making the hole bigger as the hoof pick gradually worked its way up to its hilt. Deciding to see if she could see anything through the hole, she pulled the hook out of the notch and placed her eye against the gap, but then, suddenly, with a gasp and a faint squeak of astonishment, she sprang back, shock and despair pinning her body against the back wall of the cupboard. Her heart missed a beat as she steadied herself, the thin beam of light reflecting the fear in her eyes. She heard Loanne take a sharp breath in reaction to Lucy’s reflexive recoil, and then, reason beginning to regain control, she thought about what she had seen. Where, before, there had been a faint shaft of light, now there was a dark watery eye looking back at her.

  Loanne remained so quiet, she might not have been there. Lucy edged forward towards the hole, pushing herself away from the back wall with the palms of her hands, and standing up straight. This time, from a distance, she peeped once more through the hole. The thin shaft of light was flowing freely through it from the outside once again.

  Had she imagined what she’d seen? Was the dark prison beginning to panic her?

  Loanne hadn’t uttered a single word. Whilst Lucy had been digging at the wall, she had moved past her and had gone towards the cupboard door. Standing next to it, waiting and listening in the silent blackness, Lucy’s cry had startled her, but Lucy couldn’t tell what Loanne was feeling, and Loanne couldn’t see what Lucy thought she had seen either. ‘Shh,’ she whispered suddenly. ‘Keep still. I can hear something.’

  Lucy could hear nothing but the blood coursing through her ears with every beat of her racing heart.

  ‘He’s here,’ Loanne stated, not willing or able to expand on the statement.

  ‘Who’s here?’ Lucy asked, now thinking about what she had seen through the hole. But Loanne didn’t seem to know.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she whispered, but not more than three seconds later, there came a sound from outside that could only have been the closing of a car door. There were no voices this time. Another clunk reached their ears as another door closed, and then, a few long moments later, the latch lifted on the outside door of the house and the door gave out its warning squeak as it was pushed open. Footsteps rang in the empty hallway, each one louder as they came towards the cupboard. Then they stopped. There was total silence. Long moments passed, but there was no sound, as if the person at the other side of the door was thinking.

  Somehow, Loanne’s hand found Lucy’s. They stood there, waiting, anticipating. In the silence, Lucy felt Loanne, slowly and silently, pull her a little nearer. With her lips against Lucy’s ear, she whispered so quietly that even a mouse wouldn’t have heard, her breath hardly seeming to pass from her lips. But, in the deathly silence, Lucy heard.

  ‘You run when I distract him,’ Loanne instructed. Still, there was no sound from outside; no movement,

  no voice, nothing. But Lucy knew that the person was still there. She dared not whisper back, in case the person outside knew nothing of their whereabouts, but it was a remote hope, and she was resolute in her determination. Nothing would make her abandon her friend; not now, not ever. Still holding Loanne’s hand, gently, she tugged on it to pull her away from the door so that she could take her place to be the first to emerge from their prison. But Loanne’s body remained steadfast. Her wiry frame had become solid, and Lucy felt an inner strength in her spindly comrade that she had not recognised before. With her determination to be the first to emerge from their prison, Loanne remained as still and as fixed as a statue. The harder Lucy tugged, the more the statue solidified.

  Then, suddenly, a scraping sound cracked through the black silence. It could only have been the removal of the chair from beneath the cupboard handle. Even though she had expected it, the sound made a cold shiver run down Lucy’s spine. A bead of sweat emerged above her eye and coursed down her cheek. Images of things totally unconnected with what was happening flashed through her head. First she saw the horse she had been riding in her dream the day she had woke up in hospital. Now it seemed to be real and unimagined. Then she was running. Just running. It might have been a race, but she couldn’t tell. So quick were the thoughts scudding through her head that hardly a second passed before the turning handle of the cupboard door snapped her back to reality.

  As the crack of the door widened and the light from the hallway broke into the darkness, she could see Loanne, a hand on each side of the door frame, braced like a racehorse, bobbing and fidgeting slightly in anticipation, ready to burst from the starting gate. She knew it was too late to try and push past her. Loanne was determined to be first out of their prison and nothing would have budged her.

  It all happened in a flash, but somehow, as Lucy framed what was happening in her mind, it was as if everything was in slow motion.

  The man standing at the
door could not see into the gloomy cupboard as well as the girls could see out. His broad frame blocked out the essential light he needed to make out what was there in front of him, whilst the girls’ eyes were already accustomed to the darkness. They both could see him perfectly, despite the poor light. It was the man they had seen earlier, the one that Norton had referred to as Ackley the one with the baseball bat which, quite obviously, he had intended to use as a club. His face was unshaven, his greasy brow wrinkled and his teeth clenched together in a look of determined but anguished resignation to the task as he stared through the doorway. It was clear he knew what he had to do. It didn’t need to be stated; it showed on his face. His hand seemed huge as it reached forward to grab the first of his victims. But somehow, it grasped at clear dark air. Loanne wasn’t where he had reached.

  It all seemed so comical at first. Loanne moved to the left as the hand grabbed to the right. His other hand swung around on a thick arm, grabbing at Loanne, but once again, as he swung his arm around her to crush her in his grasp, Loanne simply wasn’t there. She had moved back to the right, then ducked down and had dodged beneath his armpit and out of the cupboard as if it were two films being played together but out of sync. Somehow, Loanne was a fraction of a second ahead of her opponent. At every swipe of his hand, he was seeing her and grabbing at her while she was already on her way somewhere else. And it was done in a way that made it seem all the more comical as she dodged past him and ran to the open door.

  She’s away! She’s escaped, Lucy thought with relief, but wasn’t actually waiting to see what happened next. As Loanne burst through to freedom, Lucy was already on her heels, heading out of the door as well, but Ackley seemed to be intent on catching that elusive imp, the firefly of a girl that seemed to know his every move. He had already turned towards the door in hot pursuit of his intended prey, leaving Lucy free to come out of the cupboard behind him. Perhaps he didn’t know there were two victims in the cupboard? Lucy wasn’t really too bothered about the answer. She was out of there and running behind him.

  Suddenly Ackley stopped only feet from the door. Loanne was still there in the opening, hands on her hips, taunting him as if it were a game. But it wasn’t a game. Run! Lucy thought, but she couldn’t shout a word, her throat was so dry. Why isn’t she getting away?

  Loanne just stood there. Ackley stopped, puzzled but obviously determined to catch her. Suddenly he positioned his body as if he were about to take on a tackle from a rugby player, his weight over his front leg, arms out and forward. Loanne was heading back towards him. He couldn’t resist waiting for her to run straight at him. Who did this little brat think she was anyway? He’d enjoy sorting this one out.

  Lucy had seen what was happening. She too was perplexed, but she kept her wits about her. She had to get past this predator so that she and Loanne could escape together, since it was obvious that her friend wasn’t going to leave without her. Without knowing why, running forward, gaining speed, and concentrating on his front leg, she aimed a kick at the back of his knee. Her foot impacted with a dull, crunching thud. The knee gave slightly, it seemed, at first as the leg began to take the full weight of Ackley’s body, and then, as if pulled down by some invisible force, his leg doubled forward as he fell to his knees.

  Lucy’s momentum had dissipated with the force of the impact of her foot but she was quick to regain her own balance. She had to get to the open doorway and to do that she had to go past her adversary whose bulky shoulders were blocking the narrow passage.

  It was Loanne that made the decisive move. She was still coming forward, and as she did so, Ackley, in an effort to both catch her and to prevent himself from falling forward, grabbed out at her, both hands clutching at air as he continued to plunge into empty space. Loanne had done it again, shifting into a different space to that in which Ackley seemed to be falling.

  Taking her opportunity, Lucy jumped forward, her left foot landing squarely between the man’s shoulder blades, pushing him down to the ground, completing his descent as she swung her right leg forward and upward, jumping as she had never jumped before, using every ounce of strength to fly over his head.

  A raised, grasping hand caught her toe, causing her to trip forward, but Loanne was there, as if she had expected it, ready with arms out and catching a hold of Lucy’s arm to steady her as she staggered to keep her balance. It seemed all too choreographed, but who was caring? Whatever was happening with her friend, it was certainly working in their favour.

  But Ackley clung on tight, his grip like a clam on Lucy’s trainer. Loanne was keeping her from falling over but Ackley was pulling Lucy’s foot towards him. But his other hand was beneath him, keeping his balance. It was then that Lucy remembered Loanne’s trusty hoof pick. It was still in her right hand and now, desperate to prevent being drawn closer to the raging figure, Lucy raked the hook across the side of his wrist. A deep growl boomed down the hallway and through the house. The man’s vice-like grip had weakened but he still clung on. He had pulled Lucy closer but, still using his left arm to prevent himself falling forward, he would have to leave go of her foot before he could get another hold. With the hook raised once more, this time threatening to claw it down his face, Ackley finally released her and swerved sideways to avoid the blow.

  With the slightest of hesitations as their eyes met, Lucy and Loanne both turned and headed out of the doorway, spinning left and down the farm yard along the side of the house, past an old green Peugeot, and heading towards the gate that led to the road. As she turned, Lucy saw that Ackley was not taking it lying down. He was up on his feet and on their heels like a sprinter out of the starting blocks, chasing after them, moving remarkably fast for someone his size.

  The girls had only gained a few seconds and no more than about fifteen feet. Ackley was up on his feet and gaining fast. And their troubles were not about to get any better. Down the lane, only forty yards or so ahead of them, they realized their way was blocked. It was the silver car they had seen Norton driving the day before. Now it was just parked there in the grass strewn driveway, the two passengers clearly visible through the windscreen, watching, waiting, obviously making sure that Ackley did his job. Could they dive past it? Lucy thought, but too late. The two car doors opened simultaneously, blocking the lane completely, and then as the girls hesitated for a fraction of a second, out climbed the two detectives, though it crossed Lucy’s mind that they weren’t dressed for arresting anybody. They just stood there behind the doors, looking and waiting as the girls ran closer. Albright smirked, his eyes becoming mere slits, but Norton, on the other hand, leaned confidently with her bare arm on the car door. With her eyes defying Lucy to keep going, she cackled so loud that even Albright turned his head in astonishment. Lucy recognized that laugh; she had heard it before.

  With no way to escape down the lane, Lucy pulled Loanne sideways, turning their route of escape to the left, across the front of the house and into the overgrown garden at the other side. Heading back around the buddleia bush, she circled back to the rear fence and their entrance hole in the hedge. She hadn’t thought about it at the time, but it was only just large enough for them to squeeze through into the farmyard. If they could make it back through the hedge, then it would block Ackley’s pursuit and they would gain enough time to escape.

  Loanne didn’t see Lucy stumble. She was concentrating on getting to the fence and back through the hole in the hedge. Lucy had caught her foot on one of the buddleia’s low branches and only saved herself from falling to the ground by grabbing onto the rest of the bush. But, despite not losing her balance, she had lost ground. Ackley was fast, faster than they had expected and now he was only a couple of his large strides behind her.

  Lucy’s energy reserves were draining away fast. The weeks of lying in a bed had taken its toll. She tried hard to pick up speed again, following Loanne along the old fence. She would soon reach the point where they had climbed over from the hole in the hedge. Loanne had kept going and was already over the f
ence and diving through the hole in the hawthorn hedge, mindless of any scratching, snaring thorns. Lucy was only a few paces behind her, but her encounter with the buddleia had lost her some ground and had given Ackley chance to gain an extra couple of strides. He was only an arm’s length behind her now and almost upon her. She knew she would never get over the fence in time. Without thinking of the consequences, Lucy pushed her left leg forward and dug her heel hard into the flagstone pathway. Her body was still travelling forward with the momentum of running, but her legs had momentarily jerked to a stop. With her body still moving forward, she squatted down, hands around her head, curling into a ball and rolling forward like a jockey thrown at a fence. It never occurred to her why she was doing it. She didn’t even realize that it was something that jockeys do to prevent being trampled by a following group of jumping horses. Their hooves might hit you, but they don’t land on you. She was rolling forward, waiting, curling tighter and tighter, when suddenly she felt the first impact of Ackley’s feet. But the feet weren’t kicking her; they were stumbling against her rolling body, tripping him as his momentum carried him over her, unable to find clear ground on which to correct his balance. With a huge thud and an enraged groan, Ackley slammed down onto the solid paving slabs ahead of her.

  With her heart pounding in her chest, and without even a glance at her opponent, Lucy stood back up, saw that Loanne had already climbed over the fence, and followed her. But weakened now, she staggered and caught her shin on the top rail as she desperately tried to vault over it. She tumbled head first towards the hole in the hedge, hands on the ground, running on all fours as she tried to right herself. She saw that Loanne had already dived through the hole, had spun around and was peering back through it, watching as the spectacle unfolded.

  Loanne hadn’t looked back or realized that Lucy had gone down in the buddleia. But it was too late to do anything now. She couldn’t head back through the hole to help her friend. In order to be safe, at least one of them had to escape. With one prisoner free, then their pursuers wouldn’t dare harm the other. She hoped.