Darkness falls - English version

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Pontypandy - about 3  hours later

Radar growled softly and woke me up. The television had already switched itself off and my living room was shrouded in darkness save for a small lamp in the window when I lazily opened my eyes.

It's always been like this since Penny left. My head just couldn't calm down. I hadn't slept in my bed in weeks.

Turning on the TV was the only time I could distract my racing thoughts enough to fall asleep. As long until the nightmares starts that had haunted me ever since I found out what trouble Penny was in. Each time I woke up breathing heavily, like I'd run a marathon. I was always shaken to the core by the atrocities my head made me see and the fact that I was always too late to save her. After what seemed like endless minutes, I always managed to calm myself down, finding myself back to reality while telling myself that these were just dreams and that Penny was living her life somewhere safe and alive. Then I turned the TV back on, hoping that some teleshopping channel or documentary would distract me enough from all the questions in my head to go back to sleep.

I was already reaching for the remote control again when Radar barked loudly. I jumped in shock and looked at the dog, my heart racing - I couldn't help how skittish I'd been getting lately.

"Keep calm, buddy. It's probably just the raccoon who wants to get at our garbage. Be happy. You'll definitely find something to eat in the garden tomorrow," I sighed, annoyed that these pests kept coming around rummaging through the station's trash cans and eating their prey in my yard. Who could blame them the way Elvis cooked? He was still cooking for 6 people, so one portion always ended up in the trash. However, the cleaning up work in the morning always got stuck on me.

The bell broke the silence in my apartment and made me flinch again, followed by Radar's wild barking, who immediately jumped up and ran to the door.

I followed at his heels and turned on the light to check the time. It was half past one in the night. Who wanted anything from me at this hour?

I ordered Radar to stop barking when I got to the door. Should I arm myself with something? Could it be that Ridley scouring the area for Penny? Radar whined pathetically and scratched desperately at the door, almost as if he wanted to hurry me up. He certainly wouldn't do that to a stranger, right? It was probably Ellie or Elvis because they needed someone to talk to as they were also racking their brains about Penny. Every one of us did. Almost everyone in town, even the kids, missed her visibly. It was almost as if Penny had taken every joy from Pontypandy with her.

I turned the doorknob just for Radar to slip out when the gap was big enough for him. I pulled the door wider and froze.

"Penny?" I asked, amazed to see her here. I would have expected everything. Not with her.

"Sam," she replied, a faint smile crossing her face.

Only now did I register that she was leaning heavily against the door frame with her right arm and my gaze wandered down her, reached her left hand, which she pressed into her side. My eyes widened in horror at the amount of blood soaked into her jacket and down the leg of her pants.

"Penny, what..." I got no further as she staggered and I quickly grabbed her as she collapsed against me. Cheap whiskey stung my nose as I wrapped my arm around her and used my free hand to turn her face toward me to convince myself that she had indeed passed out.

Damned.

I picked her up carefully and carried her inside. Radar stormed past me up the stairs when I kicked the front door and it slammed shut. As quickly but gently as possible I laid her down on my couch and grabbed my cell phone from the table. I dialed Helen's number and prayed "Pick up! Pick up already..." to myself until she actually answered. It felt like an eternity."Helen. I need help. Bring your doctor's bag! The big one!" I said quickly and just waited for her answer that she was on her way when I hung up and turned to Penny again.