Page 54

FIFTY-THREE

RUTH

Ruth hadn’t realised before that there was a gentle continuous hum in the room, but she did miss it as soon as it abruptly stopped. That was a short while ago now. She trembled. It was getting a little colder, too.

Don’t be scared, silly – those words rang through her head. Who were the children and where were they now? All she wanted was for them to come back and open the hatch. If it was just a game like they said, surely it would be over now.

It was a game to the children and that told her a lot. The children were desensitised to this whole situation and that sickened her. Those poor children. She pitied their father, the man who had brought her here, and she knew she was dealing with someone who only cared about himself. After all, he brought children into it.

At a guess, she thought the children sounded around four or five, maybe the one who spoke was a boy, but it was hard to tell when they were so young. A lump formed in her throat as she thought back to when Elissa was that age, and she longed to pick her up and hold her again.

The pitch-black room felt as though it was getting smaller and she was sure that if she could see, there would be curls of her white breath rising in the chilly air.

The farm where Gary works – their nephews and grandchild came over a lot. She went to see Gary there about a year ago and she asked the little boy about his toy dog and he said it was a deer and called her silly. In her mind, she saw Gary playing with the children and showing them the bunker.

Rubbing her sore leg, she dislodged the slight scab that had formed over the wound. It began to bleed again. Her head still banged away.

She tried to inhale, but she couldn’t breathe well at all. It was as if the air had got a little thinner. Maybe it was her heart or maybe it was because the ventilation was bad.

Hugging herself, she wondered if there was any heating at all in the room. She called out for the children again, but there was no answer.

Stumbling over to the metal door, she began to hammer on it. ‘Let me out.’

All shouting did was make it worse.

She grabbed the material of her top at the neck and stretched it, hoping that she could inhale better, but it didn’t help one bit. The slight wheeze coming from her throat and chest was concerning.

The thrumming of her heart created a sickening feeling in her gut. She thought of Gary and Eric, and her house. Both of them had treated her badly in their own way. Her heart sank.

She had no one left in the world. First she lost Elissa, then her marriage had broken down, and Eric was a married man. All she had was her job. Just a job and nothing to show for her life. She banged on the door again. Again, nothing.

The loudest click ever made her withdraw from the metal door.

A speaker crackled and a robotic voice filled the room, disorientating her even more. ‘Open the door.’

She had been trying so hard to find a way out, now she wondered if the metal door was the entrance to her death. Didn’t she need to go upwards? ‘But…’ she stammered. ‘No, I err…’ she whimpered. ‘I want to go home.’

‘Open the door,’ the speaker yelled.

She placed her hands out and felt for the door handle while gasping. ‘Where does it lead?’

‘To your future.’

‘Don’t make me do this.’ She couldn’t help but half sob.

The loud booming barks of a dog came through the speaker. ‘Get that fucking thing out of here.’ Seconds later a door slammed, the barks had stopped.

There was someone else involved because her kidnapper was talking to them. They had a dog. Who did she know that had a dog? Only the farmers that Gary worked for. Hand lingering on the handle, she hesitated. ‘Is that your dog?’

‘You don’t get to ask questions.’

She was sick of the game. It was time to confront her captor. ‘Why are you doing this, Gary?’

There was a long pause. Had he gone?’

A slight snigger filled the air and the robotic voice made it sound demonic. ‘Because this is what you need. This is for you, and if you open the door, you’ll see. All this, Ruth, I did it for you.’

‘What I need is to go home,’ she said with a quivering voice.

‘What you need is for somewhere for all that love to go. All these years, I’ve seen your sadness, and now I give you what you long for. I am the answer to your prayers. You can thank me later.’

‘What?’ she rasped. ‘Keeping me here in this dark hole isn’t the answer to my prayers!’

‘Go through the door. She’s waiting for you. She needs a mother.’

‘No.’ He was lying. It was a trap, just like those messages he sent. If he wanted her to go through the door, he’d have to come down those ladders and drag her through it.

A piercing screech filled the air. She held her hands over her ears. It got louder and louder and kept going until she could bear it no more. ‘Stop, stop,’ she gasped.

‘Door, door, door,’ he kept yelling as he turned the volume up.

The continuous tinnitus-like torture kept blasting out until she could bear it no more. She pressed the handle and pushed, only to be faced with more darkness. Deeper she stepped into the bowels of the structure, or was it just the beginning?

She imagined a dark maze behind the door, where she’d be trapped forever until she froze to death. It was probably nothing more than a giant tomb.

Had there been others before her? Had he brought Elissa down here and left her to die? The screeching got louder.

‘Stop,’ she croaked as she held her hands over her ears. Light-headedness made her unsteady on her feet. Her chest got even tighter as she inhaled the stench of human misery. ‘Gary, please, you have to stop this.’

‘Close the door.’

She reached out and slammed it closed, then the screeching stopped. The door clicked again. She went to go back, but it was locked. ‘Where am I? I can’t see. Please, Gary. I did what you asked. I need to be able to see and I’m cold.’

No one replied, but a loud sickening thud came from the room she had just been held in.

Knees shaking, she stood stiffly. Hands out in front of her, she began to step on the floor that was soft underneath. She must be on carpet or a rug.

After only two steps, her fingers brushed over what felt like a worktop. There was a kettle, the dip of a sink.

Fingers tickling the tap, she ran it and water came out. Thirstily, she bent over it and drank until she almost choked on the warmish water. The other side contained a rack and lots of plastic-covered items. She tore one open and the smell of sweetness instantly hit her nostrils. It was cake. She took a bite and threw the rest back on the shelf, not hungry but knowing she needed her strength just in case she had to fight her way out of this.

The stench of urine got stronger, roiling her stomach.

She walked a few paces forward and she reached another door. Placing her ear to it, she listened for what might be behind it, and she was overcome by emotion.

It might be Elissa. Maybe all these years he’d been keeping Elissa in the bunker because Elissa was hers.

What she and Gary never told anyone was that Elissa was not his biological daughter. She’d had a one-night stand, just a guy in a bar, and Gary had stood by her.

His mood towards Elissa was hot and cold. One minute, he’d take her to do things – fishing, chess matches, drawing – but other times, he’d get resentful because she wasn’t his. His moods were unpredictable and he’d have moments when he abandoned them both for days.

She thought of how they’d tried so hard to have a baby together. It never happened. This was the result of Gary’s pent-up frustration, anger and resentment. ‘Gary, please let me out so we can talk. I know I could have been a better wife. I am so sorry, Gary.’

It was no good. He’d gone and she was alone in the dark. She listened again, wondering what was behind the door, then she pressed the handle.

It was locked. She didn’t even know whether she wanted the truth. If her daughter was nothing more than a corpse behind that door, did she want to know?

But she was a mother and if Elissa was there and she was dead, she wanted to be able to take her home and bury her, have a proper goodbye for her. That’s if she ever got out.

The silence was deafening. Head thick with a fog that was getting denser by the second, she leaned against the door and slid down to the rug on the floor where she slowly felt her breaths getting more laboured. The locked metal door was cold against her shivering body.

Was that a sound? She tried to listen over the top of her thudding heart.

It was a hissing noise. Hiss, hiss, hiss. Maybe there was ventilation behind the door.

The door clicked. Ruth had a feeling that all the answers were waiting there for her. She just had to be brave enough to open it.

She fell backwards as someone else took that decision from her and opened the door. Something clasped over her mouth. The more she panicked, the more forceful the hand was.

She fought, but she was too weak. It was over.

Gary lied and she would never know what happened to Elissa. He couldn’t have Ruth so he was killing her.

The hand pressed down hard over her mouth as she lay there.