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Running Scared

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Chapter 10

Previously...

Hi honey,
Just a quick one.
I hope that you both are okay and safe.
I’m fine and not in danger. I am with friends and they are helping me sort out my problems. Things are coming to a head and I hope to be able to get things sorted very soon. Stay where you are with Claire and I’ll contact you as soon as I can. This is a burner so you can’t contact me, but I will let you know how things go when I know myself.
Missing you all.
Love Dad xxxxx

I re-read the text several times. I wondered if he was saying these things just to make Amelia and me feel better.

I wouldn’t be happy until he was back with us. I just hoped and prayed that it would be soon.

And now the story continues...

The next morning, I showed Amelia and Claire the text I had received from Daddy.

‘It looks like things are happening, let's hope that they are good things, ‘remarked Claire.

‘I miss Daddy so much,’ said Amelia, her voice choking slightly.

‘Don’t worry sweetheart,’ said Claire, hugging her, ‘at least we know he’s safe and so are you two. You couldn’t be in a safer place.’

Looking around, I could well see what Claire meant. Here we were in what I thought must be considered a stately home with huge grounds and lots of people looking out for us. It was a far cry from Daddy’s little cottage which never really felt very safe.

I wondered if we would ever feel happy to go back to our house, where we had lived all my life. It was where Mummy and Daddy had lived just after they got married. We had had a lot of fun and happy times there, but I suppose that it was a place of sadness too as Mummy had caught her awful illness there and…

I couldn’t think of that. I had to remain positive about things and try to look to the future where Daddy and we could be together again.

I went for a quiet walk in the garden. I was wrapped up warm, as it was quite cold. Even in Devon, it gets cold in December, although they don’t get much snow due to a quirk in the climate. I was wearing a long skirt with thick tights and boots. I should have worn jeans but being able to dress all girly without question was still a bit of a novelty to me.

It was so lovely in the garden. Looking over to the lake, the fountain was throwing up a huge jet of water. Beyond the lake there was what I think they called a folly. It was a round, tall structure with windows and looked quite old. I wondered over to it and went through the archway. There were stairs inside and I climbed the circular stairway until, puffing slightly, I reached the top.

The view from the tiny ramparts was breath-taking and I could see the extensive park beyond the gardens. To the left was a wood and to the right, the ground sloped gently away into the distance where the sea glistened in the December sun where Penmarris Bay lay.

Looking back, the house looked wonderful and very stately. The lawns were extensive, if a little damaged by molehills. I smiled at that. I had heard stories about those molehills and the ceaseless war Auntie raged against what she called vermin and pests, but I thought they were rather cute and cuddly.

I wondered how long we were to stay there. It was a lovely place to live, everyone was so friendly and supportive, but I missed Daddy and I wanted him back and if that meant leaving here, I would do it in an instant.

I sighed, wishing that I could have some sort of control over what was happening, but I had very little control. Everything was out of my hands. Daddy said that he might have to go abroad. If that was the case, where could he go where he was safe, and would that make us any safer? I didn’t think we would ever be safe until the people that were causing all of our trouble were caught and brought to justice.

I made my way back to the house and found the others in the games room. Not that they were playing games, they were watching cartoons on the huge wall TV, it must have been at least a 50-inch screen.

Claire had said earlier that some relatives were coming to visit and that was why everyone was staying in.

I was bored and looking at Amelia, I could see that she was too. In my opinion, there was no need for us to stay and see relatives that had nothing to do with us.

‘Fancy going down to the quay?’ I asked.

‘Yes, that would be great.’

“Let’s go and ask Claire if we can go.’

‘OK,’ she replied, getting up.

We found Claire in her room. She had been washing her hair and was drying it.

‘Hello, you two.’

‘Hi Claire. Can we go down to the harbour? I thought about popping into Abby’s Pottery as we haven’t seen her pot or whatever it’s called.’

She thought for a moment and I could see that she was torn about the decision.

‘Yes,’ she sighed, ‘all right, we can’t wrap you up in cotton wool, but promise me that you girls will both be careful and not talk to any strangers.’

‘We won’t,’ said Amelia.

It was still strange thinking of my sister as Amelia, but I was getting used to it as I was being called a girl. I rather liked her new name and my one too. Maybe after all this nonsense was over, we would keep them.

We walked down to the quay. There had been some snow overnight and the roads were still a bit slippery, so we had to go carefully. We both had thick coats on with gloves and scarves, together with tights under our skirts, so we were warm enough. Auntie had a selection of boots in all sizes for her many visitors and we both had nice ones that fitted us, and my feet were toastie. After our brisk walk to the quay, I was feeling quite hot!

We reached the quay. It was getting quite busy down there with various people milling about looking at the shops and festive stalls selling everything from trinkets to hot chestnuts. The ice rink was doing a brisk trade and we wandered over and had a good laugh at the kids and some adults falling over. Not that we would be any better, of course!

We went over to the pottery and could see that it was quite busy. Walking in, we said a quick ‘Hi,’ to Abby who was behind the counter, serving a customer and had a little look around. I knew that Abby was gifted, as everyone said so, but I didn’t realise how gifted she was. There were pots, plates, cups, mugs, figurines and all sorts of lovely things that showcased her talent.

I could see that Abby was a bit too busy to talk to us. I wanted to introduce ourselves as we hadn’t spoken to her before, but I could see that it would have to wait for a bit.

So, we went out of her shop and we were going to go into Samantha’s gallery but it looked like she was busy too, so we just decided to go to the Bide a Wee Tea Room and sat in window seats with steaming cups of hot chocolate and yummy cream cakes.

Looking out of the window, it was great just watching the world go by. I couldn’t believe how busy the quay was. It seemed like Christmas was a bit touristy as I couldn’t believe all these folks were locals.

Looking beyond the quayside was the harbour, with all the boats bobbing about and the rigging singing in the slight breeze. At the far end of the harbour lay Samantha’s boat and I smiled at the prank played on us when we pushed that big red button and set off the ships’ horn!

I looked over to the left and there was that policeman talking to a woman with a pushchair. I must admit at the sight of him that my heart got a little jumpy. I was still worried about him. He might be a nice man, but he was a member of the police force and I had no idea what he might do if he found out who Amelia and I really were.

Amelia was happily stuffing her face with the cream cake, little knowing that she had a dollop of cream on her nose. She looked happy and without a care in the world, I envied her. I was the worrier in the family. So much had happened in a relatively small space of time and wondered how long it would take for all this mess to sort itself out.

Was my father still in this country? He hinted before that he might have to leave and go abroad for a while. That meant that he would be even farther away from us and I hated that thought but desperately wanted him to be safe and out of harm's way.

I shook my head and tried to pull myself together. I should cheer up and look on the bright side. Daddy said that he was safe and so were we, living with the mad Auntie Dotty, having Claire and Steph around, not forgetting the almost as mad Sarah causing havoc whenever and wherever she could!

We finished our drinks and cakes and after telling Amelia to wipe the cream off her nose with a serviette, we went out into the cold air.

We looked at a few stalls, then the ice rink where lots of people were laughing and enjoying themselves falling about and then we walked on to the side of the quay where West Beach started.

There were a few hardy dog walkers on the clean sand and in the distance a lone horse and rider were galloping along the beach by the waterline.

‘Jen…I mean Emma,’

‘Yes?’

‘What’s going to happen to us?’

And there was me thinking that Amelia wasn’t a worrier.

‘Daddy will sort things out.’

‘I hope so. I don’t like being frightened.’

‘You’re not frightened now, are you?’

‘A bit. I miss Daddy and I want him here, with us?’

‘So do I but he needs to sort things out first.’

‘I hate having to hide away.’

‘Penmarris is a nice place to hide, don’t you think?’

‘I suppose,’ she said kicking out at a sandcastle and demolishing the ramparts.

It was getting a bit cold and windy on the beach, so we turned back towards the quay and then decided to go home as we had told Claire that we wouldn’t be too long, and I think that she worried about us. I wondered if Daddy and Claire would get married any time soon. I rather liked that idea. I knew that Claire would never replace my mum, but she was nice and I was growing to like her a lot and maybe even to love her. She had put her neck out because of us. She didn’t need to, but she did, as did Stephanie, that goofball who was just like a sister to us already.

I had visions of us in the church with Daddy and Claire getting married. Both Amelia and I would be bridesmaids, of course together with Steph, all in matching dresses – lovely!

We walked up from the quay along the narrow winding lane out of Penmarris that led to our new temporary home.

‘Emma, do you think that Daddy and Claire will get married?’

‘That’s funny, I was just thinking about that a few minutes ago. Would you mind if they did?’

‘Not really, I think that she’s nice and kind and Daddy needs someone. I think Mummy would have liked her.’

I could hear engine noises from behind and I pulled Amelia over to the wall, as the lane was a bit narrow. It was a white van, so it was quite wide.

It came closer and I held Amelia’s hand as it went to go past.

But it screeched to a stop.

The side door suddenly slid open.

Two men in face masks got out and grabbed us and dragged us into the van. I could hear Amelia screaming, but I didn’t have a chance as something was put over my face that smelt awful and everything went black.

I woke up with a pounding head and had a terrible taste in my mouth. I was lying on a mattress that smelt of musty damp. Looking around the room I could see dimly that there was another mattress and Amelia was lying on it. The only window the room had was boarded up from the outside. It was nearly dark and what little light that came into the room was from a gap at the top of the window and I wondered how long we had been there. I stood up, feeling very wobbly and going over to Amelia, I tried to wake her up, but she was fast asleep or drugged. At least she was breathing.

I walked over to the door and tried to open it, but the sturdy door was locked. It wasn’t a very big room and was in a poor state of repair, with wallpaper peeling and an ever-present damp smell.

I banged on the door and screamed, ‘let us out.’ But no one came. It was very quiet and I could hear nothing beyond the room.

Going over to where Amelia was, I once again tried to get her to wake up. I shook her shoulder and she groaned, and I sighed with relief as I was so worried about her.

‘Jen…I mean Emma where are we,’ she said as she slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. ‘Oh, I feel terrible.’

With that, she leaned over and was promptly sick, luckily missing me by inches.

She started to cry, and I hugged her as best I could.

In a corner of the room, I noticed a bucket and two plastic bottles of what I hoped was water. I went over, unscrewed one and sniffed. There was no smell, and I took a chance and just took a little sip. It tasted like water and shrugged. If whoever had kidnapped us wanted us harmed or dead, they had had plenty of opportunities to do that, so I felt fairly safe that the water was harmless, but I waited a while before offering the water to Amelia. Better safe than sorry as Daddy used to say.

As I didn’t have any after-effects, I gave Amelia some water and I think that drinking it made her feel a bit better. I know that it did me.

‘So, where are we?’

‘I don’t know,’ I replied, ‘but I expect that this has something to do with Daddy.’

‘I’m frightened.’

‘Me too, but we have to wait and see what happens.’

And that is what we did, but not after I checked that there was no way out. The door was solid, and the windows were locked and shuttered. We could hear no noise from outside except the twittering of the occasional bird.

We had been left water, but no food and Amelia kept saying she was hungry. I felt too sick with worry to even think about food, but Amelia was different to me. Her mood swings were weird, to say the least. One minute she was all positive and the next she was crying on my shoulder.

Somehow, we both fell asleep and I only awoke when I heard the sound of an engine coming from outside. It was lighter now and I wondered how long we had been there. Was it morning? I had left my watch in my bedroom and Amelia never wore a watch so I had no idea of the time.

Amelia woke up too and we looked at each other with dread. Sitting on the grubby mattress, I held her sweaty hand and waited.

There was a key turning in the lock and then the door crashed open.

Two men came in, their faces covered with balaclavas, we could only see their mouths and eyes. They both had guns in their hands, and they were pointing them at us.

‘Do not move,’ said the smaller man who I took to be the leader. He had a posh accent, very British, but to my ears a bit too perfect, but what do I know?

‘Is he foreign?’ I wondered.

The other man stood by the door, he had a large cooler bag by him and I wondered what it was for. I instinctively took him to be the subordinate one.

‘Why have you kidnapped us?’ I asked the smaller man.

‘A strong word, kidnapped. Just let us say you are helping us with our enquiries. Now do not speak unless I allow you to, understood?’

We both nodded. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. I could only imagine how Amelia felt.

‘You may be wondering why you are here.’

‘Yes why, we’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘I told you not to speak. But as you have asked the question, I will answer it. You are the children of Phillip Marshall and we need to find him. Oh, you might be wondering how we found you. You gave us the run-around, I grant you that, as initially, we were looking for a boy and a girl. However, facial recognition software can look beyond the obvious and we were able to match the faces with ones that we have on record. There are cameras everywhere, even in places you would never dream of. We are in a world of surveillance and there are few places where one can hide.

‘We have your details on record, as your father is of great interest to us. Everyone and everything regarding him is documented and recorded, including his girlfriend and her daughter, by the way.’

‘What do you want? We don’t know where Daddy is.’ blurted out Amelia.

He turned his cold, hard gaze on my sister.

‘If you speak out of turn again, you will be punished, but it is a valid question. Marshall is a danger to us and needs to be found at all costs. He is clever enough not to tell anyone of his present location, but I am sure that he knows where you are. We will simply put it out that we have his children under, erm, shall we say, protective custody and if he gives himself in, we will let you go. That sounds reasonable, I think.’

I put my hand up, like I was in class. I didn’t want either of us to get hit by this psychopath for speaking without permission.

He looked at me and said, ‘speak.’

‘Are you the police?’

‘No, I and my colleague over there are much higher up the food chain than mere police officers.’

‘Why can’t we see your faces.’

‘You ask too many questions. Emma is it now? Nice name for a girl, but you are really a boy, aren’t you? Mind you, dressed and looking like that, you don’t look much like a boy called Jason, do you? Now, enough of this nonsense you are to stay here until your father comes to his senses. If he does not do that, then, I regret that unpleasant things might happen to you both and his girlfriend and daughter, who, by the way, are in our,’ he coughed, ‘custody elsewhere.’

‘What!’ I shouted, ‘Don’t you dare harm them!’

He came over and slapped my face hard. It was a stinging blow and I could feel a trickle of blood coming out of my mouth where I had bit my tongue.

‘You pig!’ I shouted through my tears. Amelia hugged me and was crying uncontrollably.

‘I told you not to speak. You will learn manners if it kills you. Now do not try to escape, you are miles from anywhere and this building is secure.’

The big man came over and placed the bag on the small table over to the side and then went back to the doorway. He still said nothing.

‘We will be going now. Whether we come back again depends on your father. We will see how much he loves you both.’

Without another word, he left, followed by his henchman.

As I heard the sound of a car engine grow fainter, I felt more despair at that moment than I have ever felt in my life.

Would Daddy come back and give himself up?

On the one hand, I hoped that he would, on the other, I hated the idea of him giving up to those thugs.

We had gone through so much in such a short space of time and I wondered if we would ever see our father again and whether we would still be alive in a weeks’ time. I was under no illusions that these people would stop at nothing in their quest to get to my Daddy and I dreaded the future like never before.

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I apologise for the delay in posting. Mainly caused by real life and I must admit, a bit of the dreaded writers' block situation. I hope to get back on track from now on.
Oh, and if you can, please do the kudo-thingie...many thanks and hugs! ~Sue