Chapter 32
NATALIE
Nobody has come to rescue her. She must have been mistaken when she thought she heard someone outside the door.
An old house’s creaks and groans: that was all it was.
When she finally realized nobody was coming she flopped back into bed and cried tears of frustration and fear.
The waiting is the worst part. Whatever they have planned for her she just wishes they’d get on with it and put an end to this awful, torturous misery.
She’s feeling weaker now from lack of food. But she can’t eat because she knows if she does she’ll be groggy and brain-fogged again, and she needs to stay focused. She needs to escape.
She has no idea what time of day it is. The rabbit with the dead eyes stares at her, judging her, and she has the urge to throw it against the wall. The rabbit. She has the same memory of its head poking out of a bag. What does it mean?
A slant of sunshine is struggling to filter through the film of dust on the glass and she wonders why they haven’t killed her yet. Why keep her here, locked up for days?
The sound of a key in the lock makes her jump and she sits up, gathering the sheet around her, as though for protection.
The nurse is back, framed by the doorway, and this time she doesn’t bring a trolley of food.
Natalie’s breath catches when she sees that the nurse isn’t alone.
A man hovers behind her, also wearing a mask.
His eyes are bright and glaring and there is something about him that tugs at her memory, pulling her out of this nightmare and tumbling into the past.
‘Please let me go!’ she cries. ‘If this is about the drugs, I promise to get the money I owe.’ Her voice dies: the man is wearing scrubs, as though he’s about to perform surgery. Her whole body goes cold with horror. What are they going to do to her?
The nurse comes towards her and perches on the edge of the bed. The man moves forward too. He is holding something. A syringe.
‘I think it’s about time you started giving us some answers, Natalie,’ says the woman, her eyes hard. ‘We’ve waited long enough.’
‘What kind of answers? Please. I’ll tell you everything I know. I promise. Just don’t hurt me – please …’
The man steps forwards uttering a name, and instantly the rabbit’s significance floods back and, along with it, everything else.
Now she knows exactly who they are and what they want.