Finding Maisie

Finding Maisie: Chapter 25

Finding Maisie

Chapter 25

My head felt like a drum was crashing inside of it. It was excruciating and made me feel disorientated. I couldn't lift it off the ground as it felt like a two tonne weight was holding it down. All I could do was look at the mud level with my eye, the grass stalks and the little trail of blood coming from my head. The scary thought though was that I was awake - I could tell that as I was looking around. So if I was awake, why couldn't I hear anything?

I felt a tear trickle down my cheek before I even realised I was crying. What was going on? I was too panicked to concentrate and think of the last few things that happened before I was unconscious. I remembered the abductor being there, well.. He was always there, but this time so was everyone else. I remembered fighting Joshua and then panicking because Maisie was.. Oh, because she was fighting the abductor. That turned out alright though because I.. I strained my mind willing it to remember. It was because I.. I had a gun to Colin's head. I was going to kill him but Callum stopped me. Callum! He was alive! So why did the mention of his name make my hand feel cold. Oh, that's right, I was holding his hand when it happened. When the waterfall exploded. That was it, that's what I needed to remember. The abductors phone was connected to the explosives. He rang a number and the waterfall exploded.

I had to get up. I had to see if everyone was alright.

I clenched my teeth to try and ignore the banging pain in my head as I stood up. The sight before me was terrifying. The waterfall was like a ruin. Large bits of rock were thrown everywhere and there was a layer of dust on the ground. And what scared me more was that I couldn't see anyone. I was the only one awake it seemed. Were they all alright? Maisie, Mr Miller and Callum? They couldn't be dead, could they?

My breathing quickened as I realised that my thoughts could be a reality. I was the only one awake and that couldn't be a good sign. For all I knew, I could be the only one alive.

I stepped out from where I was in the bushes and nearer to the waterfall. It didn't look like a waterfall anymore. The river was running in many directions as it no longer had rock to fall down. Some of the trees around the explosion had snapped and broken to the ground. Overall, it looked disastrous. It looked like something terrible had happened there. And thats when it struck me that it had. It was hard to get my head around the fact that I was involved in something so catastrophic. Not only me but the people I loved.

I had to find them.

I searched the ground for any sign of a person. Behind rocks, in-between trees, next to bushes. I felt my breath get stolen from me as my eyes laid upon something I didn't want to see. There was an arm coming out from behind a bush. It wasn't actually the arm that sent a fear through me. It was the fact that it wasn't moving, not one inch. And the hand looked cold; is that even possible, for an arm at a distance from me to look cold? I didn't want to see who that arm was attached to. Something as cold looking as that arm could only mean that its owner was dead. How could I bring myself to move forward? I felt sick and light headed. There was no way I would be able to see Callum or Maisie dead.

I told myself to snap out of it. I was losing valuable time, standing still and just thinking. Say the person behind the bush was alive. I may have lost the chance they had at making it through this.

I forced my legs forward, one after the other. As I got closer to the bush it was easier to walk there. The fear of it being someone dear to me made me all the more anxious to get there.

I let a small breath escape my lips as I finally saw the owner of the arm. It wasn't anyone I loved; in fact, it was someone I despised.

It was Harry.