Silent Scream

Sixty-Eight

Kim opened her eyes to find a strip of fabric jammed into her mouth, tied in a knot at the back of her head.

She had been laid on her side and her hands and feet were bound together in a bunch of limbs, her knees wedged beneath her chin.

The pain throughout her body faded in comparison to the thudding in her head. It originated from the crown and spread like tentacles around to her temples, ears and jawbone.

An icy coldness from the concrete floor was seeping through her clothes and into her bones.

For a moment Kim couldn't recall where she was, or why. Gradually, flashes of the day started to come back to her but it was like a collage. She had a vision of Richard Croft lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood. She vaguely remembered the briefing but couldn’t recall if that had happened the previous day. She sensed, more than remembered, that she’d returned to the site and spoken with Cerys.

As the snapshots began to arrange in chronological order Kim recalled that she had returned to Crestwood to find the denture.

Through the haze, she remembered that she'd found it ‒ before the blackness descended.

She had no idea how long she had been unconscious but she knew she was in the manager’s office. Dust and soot were caked to her skin.

Her vision started to clear and her eyes adjusted to the light. The room was unchanged and the street lamp outside threw a hazy light into the room.

The silence was broken only by the sound of water dripping somewhere in the distance. The noise offered an eerie presence in its continuous regularity.

Kim pulled at the ties that bound her. They held fast but scored into her flesh. She tried again, ignoring the pain, but the rope burned into her broken skin.

She searched her memory for anything she may have seen in the room that might help her. Nothing came, but she knew she couldn't just lie still and wait.

Something scurried past her head, which galvanised her into action. She tried to inch forward, wriggling like a scorched worm. The effort brought fresh waves of pain emanating through her skull and bile burned the back of her throat. She prayed she would not throw up and choke.

Suddenly she heard a noise and stopped squirming, her senses alert and keen.

She craned her neck towards the doorway. A figure appeared. The form was familiar to her.

Kim blinked through the darkness as her attacker stepped into the shard of light illuminating the room.

Her gaze travelled from the feet, up the legs, torso and shoulders ‒ right into the eyes of William Payne.