Her own way

Chapter 13

Peter groaned, his head was pounding in agony. Just what exactly happened last night? The thought ran through his head as he slowly opened his eyes. Blinking he looked up and to his surprise, he was looking up at the ceiling of the kitchen instead of his bedroom. To add to his confusion, when he raised his hands to rub his face he found he could not actually move them apart – they were bound together, and glancing down he saw his feet were also tied. Twisting his wrists one way and then the other in an attempt to loosen the rope, he ended up rolling onto his side, coming face to face with his mother who was also bound but also had some material tied over her mouth preventing her from speaking. On the other side of Hannah, Peter could see Ellen tied in a similar way but the way she was lying gave him cause for concern.

Ellen was lying in a peculiar fashion, her body was twisted with her top half on its side whilst her legs were facing the floor. Her head was tucked down towards her chest meaning Peter could not see her face, or even tell if she was breathing from this angle. This made Peter begin to panic. He was responsible for the safety of this family and if something had happened he did not know just what he would do. Wriggling around, Peter edged his way past his mother’s body pausing only to assure himself that she was still breathing before reaching his sister. She looked to be in a bad way, from the way she was lying to the bruises that Peter could now see forming on her arms and on her forehead. There was not much he could do with both his hands and feet ties. He was worried that if he tried to move Ellen at all it could make her condition much worse. Again he found himself wondering what happened. The last thing he remembered was the door to the kitchen being kicked down and a man, or was it several men behind it before it all went black.

Who were those men? Why would they invade our home like that? Peter’s unspoken questions broke through the concern he was showing for his younger sibling. Only then did his mind stray to his brother and other sister. He froze where he was and listened intently for signs of life elsewhere in the house. After a few minutes he heard a thump from the room above him signalling Ethan was still there, and judging from the extremely muffled noises, he was also bound and gagged like his mother and twin.

“Ethan!” Peter yelled, and paused for a sign that his brother was listening. The noises stopped so Peter continued. “Stop fidgeting, we’re all tied up and Ellen is injured. We need to keep calm! I haven’t heard or seen Kate so she may have gotten out before we were knocked out. She may be able to get us out of here.” Two distinct thumps sounded from Ethan. Peter took that as a sign that Ethan understood and he let out a deep breath that he hadn’t realised he had been holding. He looked back down at Ellen and stroked her hair. “Please let them be okay. Don’t let anything happen to Kate.” He whispered, trying to hold out a sense of belief that somehow they would get out of this.

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“Sam, do I really have to come with you today?” Jackson whined, as he and several others followed Sam along the trail. Sam was leading the way and was amused by Jackson’s attitude. He had wanted to go looking for that girl again but Sam had other plans.

“Yes Jack,” Sam chuckled, shortening his name to tease him. His chuckle turned into an outright laugh when he heard Jackson’s grumble at the nickname. The group had set off at first light, Sam feeling rather antsy about speaking to a few families once again. With starting this early he hoped to catch one particular family before they start their day. “Pick up the pace a bit lads!” Sam called, moving a bit quicker in his determination to reach the first location, following the trail further into the forest. After while, the trees began to thin and Sam led the men into a clearing. He turned to the men and kept his voice low as he spoke, “right, it is important that no one leaves this building until I have spoken to them. No violence though lads, we don’t want them hurt.”