Chapter 46
FORTY-SIX
Scarlett was trying to force the wood to move enough so she could squeeze between the gap, to see if she could free Janey as well, but it was hard. She was in so much pain every time she moved or put pressure on her side. It made her wince and grit her teeth.
‘Shh.’ Panic in Janey’s voice made Scarlett’s legs turn to jelly, and she turned around.
‘What?’ she whispered urgently.
‘I heard something.’
‘Oh, God, is he coming?’ Scarlett hissed, blind panic filling her insides and making her blood turn to icy water with the fear.
She didn’t have the shard of wood, it was still under her mattress and out of her reach, but she couldn’t move because if he had a torch then he would see the broken post and know what she’d been doing.
They both froze in time, breathing as shallow as they could to not make a noise as they listened out for the footsteps that might come their way.
Scarlett at least had something to protect herself with.
Janey had nothing except the bucket she’d peed in earlier, but it was something she supposed.
It felt as if the world had slowed down, every second felt like an eternity as she stood against the broken piece of wood.
The pain in her side had dulled to a burning throb that made her feel sick, and her skin felt clammy to the touch.
It had been a couple of hours since she’d pulled that splinter out of her side and she knew it was infected, the dirt down here not helping.
The floor of the cell she was in was made of dirt and God knows what other bacteria that was crawling around in it. If he didn’t come soon, it might be too late anyway, because if the fever took over and she was semi-conscious she wouldn’t be able to defend herself.
There was no more noise. They waited, barely breathing, for what felt like forever for him to come and hurt them, but he never came and they didn’t hear anything else.
‘Where is he?’ Scarlett whispered.
‘I don’t know, he’s been gone for hours.’
‘What if he isn’t coming back, what then?
He might have put us in here with no intention of coming back for us, knowing fine well that we’d die of dehydration or cold.
’ Scarlett was close to tears. She liked the odd true crime documentary, had watched enough on the Discovery Channel to know the world was full of people like him.
What she had never expected in a million years was that she would become a victim to one of them.
It was so unfair. She could see Dawson standing in front of her as clear as her own hand.
He was making that goofy expression he did to make them laugh.
He leaned forward and whispered, ‘He’s not coming back, get out, Scarlett, while you can. ’
‘I’m trying,’ she whispered.
‘You’re trying what?’ asked Janey.
‘To get out.’
‘Hurry, Scarlett, please try and kick it out or something.’
Scarlett wanted to tell her to fuck off. She was in agony and if she did get out, she wasn’t wasting time trying to free her.
‘You can do this, please, Scarlett.’ Dawson’s voice was soft but there was no mistaking the urgency in it.
She began to kick at the splintered wood as hard as she could, clutching her side, until she felt the wood snap with a loud crack and there was a gap that if she held her breath she might just be able to crawl through.
Gritting her teeth and with the tears streaming from her eyes, she bent down, taking hold of the sharp piece of wood in one hand.
With the other she began to make herself as small as possible to squeeze through the gap.
Fire raging through her insides she managed to get her left arm and leg through, then dragged the rest of her body through it.
The pain was so intense that she saw stars, almost losing consciousness.
She collapsed to the floor in a heap, panting and crying at the same time.
‘You did it, well done. Are you okay?’
She couldn’t answer, the pain was too much, but she grimaced in Janey’s direction then rolled onto all fours and crawled towards her cell.
Looking around, Dawson had gone. Had he even been here? She was running a fever and probably hallucinating.
Scarlett began to feel for the door to see if she could free Janey so they could get the hell out of here.