Chapter 7
Sian had felt self-conscious from the minute she’d walked into a local Co-op. The security guard had looked her dead in the eye and then turned his attention to the rack of newspapers on his right. Her photograph was on the front of the Daily Mail with the headline, ‘Monster Unleashed’.
She kept her head lowered as she paid with her mum’s debit card, quickly packed her bag and left the shop.
Her chest tightened with anger as the image of Henley holding her daughter’s hand flooded her mind.
Sian forced a new picture into her head.
She felt the familiar buzz of excitement in her body picturing Henley begging for forgiveness before Sian pushed a syringe filled with fentanyl into her jugular vein.
‘Hey!’ Sian exclaimed as a sharp elbow to her side dragged her out of her dark thoughts.
She turned around to see a man in a black parka with the hood over his head, hands stuffed in pockets walking hurriedly away.
She pushed her hand into her right pocket and felt a sense of relief as her fingers curled around the freshly cut door key, ready to use as a weapon.
She increased her pace and jogged towards her parents’ house.
Sian was disorientated by the bright lights of a van’s full beams. She didn’t even see the figure heading towards her until he gave her a sharp push to the chest. Before she could react, she was thrown hard against the van, forcing all air from her chest. There was a smash as her bag fell to the floor, her red wine mixing with the rain running across the pavement.
Rage and adrenaline flooded through Sian’s body and she grabbed her attacker’s wrists, her nails tearing through his skin.
The punch to her bruised face was swift and she fell to the ground, tasting blood.
Her attacker roughly snatched her phone from her pocket.
Struggling, Sian turned over, pushed her hands against the ground screaming as shards of glass pressed into the palm of her hand.
She rose shakily to her feet, attempting to find someone who could help her or to find a way to safety but the small window of opportunity disappeared as Sian felt a pair of muscular arms around her.
‘No. Please, no,’ Sian shouted as she was thrown into the back of the van, landing hard against the metal bulkhead.
A few seconds later, the van jolted forward and made a sharp U-turn.
Sian rolled onto her back, her hands raking through her hair as the sound of Coldplay’s song, ‘Paradise’, filtered through the van’s speakers.