Chapter 17 #2
I clamp my hand over my mouth and run upstairs, grabbing my gym bag and throwing in clothes and toiletries.
I have no plan for where I’ll go, but I need to get out of this house.
Pulling open my bedside table drawer, I grab the small folder with all my important documents.
I’ve always kept it within easy reach, just in case there’s a house fire and I need to leave in an emergency.
I pull off my pyjamas and throw on the T-shirt and joggers I’d left on the yellow velvet accent chair.
Downstairs, I don’t even bother to double-lock the front door – there’s little point when, clearly, someone has no problem getting in. Hoisting my bag over my shoulder, I grab my keys and run to my car, my footsteps thundering on the driveway, crashing into the eerie silence.
I open the door and jump in, locking it behind me, my breath coming in fast bursts. When I press the ignition, nothing happens. I try again, but still the car doesn’t start. I slam my fists on the steering wheel and fling open the door, rushing towards the gate.
When I get there, I tap in the security code and wait.
Still there is only silence.
I try again, and a third time, but it’s evident that Giles has changed the code again. I fumble in my bag for my phone and send a message to Declan. But it’s the middle of the night and I doubt he’ll read it when he’s out with his friends.
While I wait, I dip into the shadows, knowing that it’s pointless when the cameras pick up every part of Silverleaf Heights.
Fear paralyses me as seconds tick by. But I won’t go back to that house – I need to get far away from here.
Locking me out was one thing, but now I’m trapped inside with no idea what’s planned for me.
Even if the gate opened, my car won’t start, so I’d still be stuck here.
There was nothing wrong with it the other day; someone has done this.
And now I’m right where they want me to be.
I don’t even know how many of them are involved.
My fear turns to anger and I rush to the Murphy house and ring the doorbell continuously. Someone needs to let me out, and right now I don’t care who that is. I stand back and look up at the house, but no lights flash on. No one is coming.
I head next door to Giles’s, pummelling my fists on the door and again pressing my finger on the doorbell. ‘Open up!’ I yell, in a voice that is not my own.
Again, there is nothing but darkness and silence, so I rush to Xander’s, but it’s the same story there, as if I am alone in Silverleaf Heights. This is what someone wants me to think.
The only house left to try is Eleanor’s. She and Rufus have never even tried to pretend they like me, so I know there’s no chance they will open the door, and even less that they’ll give me the security gate code.
And I’m right. Just as with all the other houses, there is no sign of anyone waking up at number five.
I check my phone and see the message I sent to Declan hasn’t been read.
With only a vague idea of what to do, I race back to my house, heading to the side gate.
My key is already in my palm and I force it into the lock, closing the gate behind me.
But I leave it unlocked. I have no idea if my plan will work, so I need to ensure I have an escape route.
I peer through the kitchen door just to be sure – and the decapitated blackbird still lies on the floor.
Ignoring the bile rising in my throat, I race to the back of the garden and climb over the fence.
It’s low enough that it’s not too difficult to negotiate, and I haul myself over it, grateful that Giles believes high fences are an eyesore.
On the other side, I land in a mass of tangled bushes and undergrowth thick with nettles and brambles.
Spidery branches claw at my legs as I try to wade through them and, as far as I can see, there is nothing but a dense wall of green and brown stretching in all directions.
A wave of claustrophobia and panic surfaces in my throat, but I keep one thing clear in my mind: being out here, with no idea if I’ll make it through, is preferable to being trapped inside that place.
Without looking back, I push forward, deeper into the overgrown bushes, ignoring the scratches and stings that fight to slow me down.
I’ve lost all sense of direction, but instinct tells me to head left.
All along, this is what’s been surrounding the luxurious and pristine Silverleaf – a terrifying and inhospitable wilderness.
Up ahead, the bushes part and I find myself in a clearing.
I wonder if this time I really am hallucinating: the undergrowth appears to have been hacked away.
But this is definitely real, and someone has done it deliberately, but why?
Grateful to no longer have my skin shredded with every step, I pause to catch my breath.
Then I realise that it’s not just a clearing I’m standing in – someone has forged a path that leads around the edge of Silverleaf Heights. With a mixture of adrenalin and fear surging through me, I follow it.
And all I can think is that finally I know how Kimmy’s body was hidden that night.