PEEL-BEHIND THEIR EYES. Book 1 (Complete)

Chapter 23. Macy dear

From the rafters above dust snowed down in a continuous mist of fine particles that fell through the intruding rays of light twinkling until lost in gloomy lower reaches of the large decaying store room. All was still and silent except for the constant scream of gulls outside and the storage rooms residential pigeon population as they fluttered in and out.

Every now and then Macy heard the soft splatter of what she knew was probably pigeon poop, once it even landing on her leg, she prayed it meant she was due a little luck sometime soon, she could use some.

Looking up through the shimmering snowfall Macy guessed it to be mid-day-ish as the light clawing at the roof tiles seemed to be strongest almost directly above where she lay. Weak Macy gasped for breath in the stink ridden heat, moving as far from the foul toilet bucket as she could, she gagged. Unscrewing the lid from the last of the bottled water she swallowed its content and chewed the last bite of a cereal bar the monster had left them.

"Them," she thought "There's only me now"

Tears threatened to fall and wash dust from her cheeks, annoyed with her weakness Macy shook free of her misery and scolded herself aloud in her mother's stern voice,

"NO! No time for that nonsense Macy dear, you have to get out of here!"

Her mother, Macy wished she was at home with her mother, wished she was with her father whom last she had seen was angry and disappointed in her, the memory hurt a lot, she had to tell them she was sorry and that she loved them, just had too.

With gritted teeth Macy rolled onto her side, the chain around her waist painfully digging into her hip as she searched the floor again for anything useful, a screw a nail, anything. As she rummaged through the inch-thick carpet of dirt and pigeon shit Macy thought of her bedroom, so clean and comfortable quite literally the total opposite of her current abode. As she walked around the room in her head she ran her fingers along the shelves of DVDs and books she loved to watch and read, she imagined the heroes in them and what those heroes would do if they were here instead of her "not give up that's what".

Glancing out of the window beside her bed she saw herself walking by the roadside Sunday gone, she watched as her father stormed in mad with her. And then horrified she watched as a giant black shadow reared up behind her and engulfed and took her.

Macy watched as her mother and father now standing outside waved her goodbye crying softly before shrugging their shoulders and walking back into the house. Banging on her bedroom window Macy imagined screaming for them to look up and see her. They didn't.

Opening her eyes to the reality of the hot smelling prison cell she was in and felt a chill of dread run through her body. Without realizing it she began to sing a lullaby softly to herself.

One-two-three-four-five, once I caught a fish alive.

Six-seven-eight-nine-ten, then I put it back again.

Realization dawned at what she was singing and she slammed her mouth shut, this time, her body shook with anger.

Searching furiously now she almost missed the glint of light winking at her as a ray of light passed through something just above her head. There attached to the wall by a loose rusted screw hung an old shelf bracket, the shelf had long fallen away but the old cast iron bracket remained and was just within her reach. The pain in her badly swollen handmade if difficult to put any weight on the bracket but as luck had it rust had taken its toll on the screw and with only her good hand Macy finally after several minutes of bending it back and forth was rewarded, the screw gave way releasing the hard fought item.

Coughing out dust laden air Macy lay on her back breathing heavily as stinging sweat trickle into her eyes. Unwilling to wipe her eyes clear Macy held the metal bracket tight to her chest as if it was at any minute it was going to be snatched away. Having had time to think since Rebecca had been taken that morning Macy had guesstimated it would be a day before the monster came to take her away as he had the others, so that was how long she had to get out of there, that or die and dying was not an option. With gritted teeth she ignored the pain in her hand and rolled over and climbed to her knees, following the chain at her waist to its moorings at the wall and with the metal bracket now a makeshift chisel began to hack at the brickwork the chain had been bolted into. Within minutes sweat dripped off the tip of her nose and thirst was calling for water. As the store room warmed up and here exertions stirred up more suffocating dust a new fierce determination took hold of her and she hacked away all the harder. She prayed between gritted teeth,

"I" bang

"Will" bang

"Not" bang

"Die" bang

"Here" bang bang bang.

Century old brickwork flaked and chipped away as she struck it repeatedly and with every piece of red brick that broke away she felt freedom gradually creeping closer. Soon her exertion began to take its toll and slow her down, each time she raised her arms to strike her muscles ached her swollen hand throbbed agonizingly and sweat stung her eyes. Taking a rest Macy put the neck of the empty bottle to her lips and prayed there was one last drop but there wasn't. Letting the bottle fall to the floor she stared at her work at the shallow crater around the chains mooring and understood how much more time and effort it would take to free herself. Picking up the bracket and with a determination she did not understand continued to strike the wall, hoping she could do it before she collapsed from exhaustion, or before the monster returned for her!

(Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. All comments are truly welcome and are very helpful. If you could walk your finger over to the star and vote, that would be marvelous. Thank you!)