The Boudicca Parchments

Chapter 59

“Let us go!” shrieked May as the was dragged along down the corridor by one of the men.

“My daddy will kill you!” Shir threatened the man who was dragging her. He was about to hit her when the third ma who had just closed the door behind them, shook his head. He seemed to be the leader and the girls realized that he was the one they had to watch and be careful of.

They were taken to a room at the end of the corridor. At first it looked to them as if the room had no windows, but then they looked up and saw that very close to the ceiling there was a wooden board nailed to the wall, and they both realized in that instant that there was a window behind it, but a small window and one that would be very hard to reach, even if it were not covered. The fact that there was a board over it, meant that if they shouted for help it would be hard for anyone too hear them.

The one strange thing about the room that they also noticed was that it had two small beds and a lot of toys, almost as if it had been a children’s room. They wondered where were the children who used it. Had they grown up? Run away? Maybe they had died and these people had kidnapped them to replace them.

The two men let go of the girls, but stood close to them in case they tried to run away. The third man stood in front of them, looking down at them.

“Okay first of all I want to tell you that we won’t hurt you if you don’t try to escape. We’ve brought you here because we want to get some one to talk to us.”

“Who?” asked May.

“Your uncle,” said the man who had been holding Shir.

The man who was the boss looked at the other man angrily. The twins noted this and realized that the man who had spoken wasn’t supposed to tell them.

“But why?” asked Shir. “I mean why didn’t you just call him on the telephone.”

“Or send him an eMail?” added May.

“He always answers his eMail,” said Shir.

“Or you could call him on Skype,” May suggested.

“Or you can send him a text,” Shir explained.

“Enough!” the man shouted. The huddled together frightened, both wanting to cry, but neither wanting to give in to tears before the other did first. “As soon as we are able to speak to your uncle, we will let you go.”

“Promise?” asked May.

The man hesitated.

“I will promise to let you go, if you promise not to try to escape…”

The girls looked at each other. Then one of them put her hands behind her back, remembering something that they had learned in America from other children they met in Disneyland.

“I promise,” she said.

The other did likewise, also putting her hands behind her back, unseen by the kidnappers. In England, crossing ones fingers meant that one was hoping for something to happen. But in America, if you made a promise with your fingers crossed, it meant that you didn’t have to keep the promise.

“Promise,” she said when finally managed the tricky operation of crossing her fingers.

“Okay,” said the man. “And I promise too.”

They smiled.

“Will you give us food if we get hungry?”

“Yes of course we’ll give you food. We won’t all be here all the time. But there’ll always be one of us here if you need anything. In the meantime, there are lots of things to do here. Look…” He pointed. “Lots of toys. You can play with them.”

They looked around and saw some dolls, and some lego — which didn’t really interest them. But the one thing that caught there eye was a skateboard. The only trouble was, they didn’t have space in the small room to use it.

“Okay I’ll leave you alone now.”

The three men left the room and the girls heard the sound of the door being locked. When they realized they were alone, the girls started to cry and hug each other. But only for a minute. Then one of them said: “I don’t believe that man.”

“But he promised,” said the other. “And he’s orthodox. It’s a sin to lie.”

“Yes but it’s also a sin to kidnap people,” said the other. “And if he did one sin then he might do another.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“We need to escape.”

“But how?”

“There’s a window up there. That’s why they put that board there.”

The other one peered up to it, squinting to see it.

“But it’s got nails or screws or something. Otherwise it would fall.”

“Okay, we’ll have to find some way of tricking them… listen.”

“What?”

“They’re going.”

“But he said there’s always be one of them staying.”

“I know, but listen… to of them are leaving. That means there’s only one. That means it will be easier to escape.”

“But how are we going to escape?”

“I’ve got an idea. I’ll whisper it in your ear.”

Ten minutes later they were calling out to the one who stayed. When he opened the door, they saw that it was one of the nasty ones. But that didn’t matter. In fact, in some ways that made it better.

“We’re hungry!”

“Yes, you said you’d give us food!”

He looked embarrassed and confused, like he didn’t think it would actually happen,

“What… what would you like?”

“Chips!” said one.

“With tomato ketchup!” said the other.

He smiled with relief.

“Well I think I can manage that. We’re got oven chips. Would you like some mini schnitzels with that? I can heat them in the microwave.”

They looked at each other and smiled.

“Okay,” they said.

He didn’t know why they were smiling so much as he left and locked the door behind him. It was only food after all. But the happier they were, the less troublesome they would be. One less problem to worry about.