Numbered

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

 

The Officials came, pounding on the door. Kylie wondered what she had done wrong. Mrs Worth looked angry – her eyes shot daggers at Kylie as the Officials rushed into her room and brought her out, clicking handcuffs around her wrists.

 

“Am I going home?” Kylie asked, but somewhere deep in her heart she knew that she wasn’t.

 

Jared came out of his room at the last moment, wondering what all the noise was. Mrs Worth’s voice had risen to a furious scream.

 

“GET HER OUT!” She yelled, as Mr Worth tried in vain to hold her back.

 

The officials nodded as they wrestled Kylie out of the house. Jared watched her, his eyes filled with hate and disdain.

 

The door closed and she was brought down a dark corridor, with prison cells on either side. At the bottom of the corridor, in the last jail cell, was a hunched over figure, wrapped in an old blanket stained with dirt and blood.

The person turned around to face Kylie.

Kylie’s heart dropped to the floor. It was her grandmother. Her face was scraped and the wrinkles in his face were engrained with dirt.

 

She tried to say something anything, but she couldn’t force the words out of her mouth. They took her into a different room, where a rope was hanging from the ceiling. She struggled as they took her closer to the noose, looping the rope around her neck and tightening it…

 

A strangled cry escaped her throat as she felt hands shaking her. Her eyes shot open.

“Kylie.”

Jared was knelt on her bed, his hands on her shoulders, a concerned expression on his face. She realised it had all been a nightmare.

Her face was wet with tears, and her throat was sore and rough. Oh God, had she been screaming? She must have woken up the whole household.

Her eyes drifted back to Jared again, and her face heated. Had he seen her screaming and thrashing about like a mad girl? She hastily wiped the tears from her face.

“I’m so sorry, sir. I don’t know what-“ Her voice was barely audible, and her throat hurt when she spoke.

“It’s called having a nightmare,” he smiled, ruefully. “Don’t worry about it. Are you okay?” He looked genuinely concerned about her; his eyebrows drawn together, eyes soft.

“Your parents. What if-“ She pulled the duvet up to her neck. What if they told the Officials? She could be transferred somewhere else. A prison, maybe.

“They never heard a thing. My father’s a heavy sleeper and mother, well, you would know about it by now if she was awake. Look, are you alright?”