Tara's Story

Closer to the Truth

Chapter 2: Closer to the Truth

20th of April, 1993

Two weeks later, and no sign of the mysterious man that we’d caught creeping around. We returned back to the huts, it wasn’t the best idea, but we had no other option. Besides maybe he wouldn’t come back. And if he did, then we’d be screwed. It’s not until now that I look back that I realise how foolish we’d been going back to the one place that men would be bound to return.   We didn’t explore much in those few weeks; the days mainly consisted of cold rainy days. I remember at home on days like this Emma and I used to put on our raincoats and jump in the big puddles near our house. We’d get endless entertainment, and feel free, forgetting about our situation at home for a while. One day Emma and I completely lost track of time, wound up in the amount of fun we were having. The rain clouds were despairing as the sky turned to dark, all that could be seen was the glomming moon in the night sky.  When we returned home, dad was waiting out the front with a furious look on his face. My initial thought was to run, but I knew that he’d catch up to us, and it’d make everything worse.  So we walked up to him, mud dripping from our raincoats and took our punishment. He didn’t use violence, just yelled at us and locked us in our rooms without food or anything, and were only aloud out to go to the toilet. This lasted two days, but he finally let us out. It didn’t worry me only being bound to my room. I wrote a lot, mainly about the fears I faced. Writing allowed be to feel free and release my thoughts, to escape into this world where I was the author of my own life, and could make anything happen. And I knew I could, but at that point hadn’t figured out how. Anyway, I’ll talk more about that later.

23rd of April, 1993

Our days started getting dull as we weren’t doing much. The weather got hotter, to the point where it exhausted us. Then on the 22nd   something happened. Emma and I heard screaming nearby, we were startled, but curious to find out where the scream was coming from. As we walked away from the hut, the screams seemed closer. Until we saw her, a little girl no older than Emma running straight towards us. She had tears streaming down her face, and stopped running to say something, but didn’t get the chance. Even looking back now, I’m still certain I would’ve known it was a trap. Their came the man minutes after the girl. Emma and I were slower to react than the little girl who had suddenly disappeared.

“Leave us alone I screamed, as he yelled for us to stop running”. I knew I sounded pathetic and that there no way he’d listen to me, but I wasn’t thing rational.  Something didn’t add up in my mind. Suddenly a man appears out of nowhere, now a little girl; something told me this wasn’t a coincidence.

We thought we’d out- run him when suddenly he appeared behind us. It came to a point where Emma and I were far too exhausted to run any more. The man seemed surprised that we had tried to escape again.  Then he spoke;

“Well girls, finally we meet. I have no intention of hurting you, in fact I’ve been sent to save you.”

” Then who was that girl I whispered?”

“Oh that’s my daughter; she’s having trouble coping in the wilderness”.

“Then why was she crying then? screamed Emma”

“Oh don’t worry about her. I guess I spoil her too much; she’s not used to this environment, and thinks if she cracks we’ll go home.

“Why would you even bring her than, I replied”

I thought it would do her good, to get away from our glamour’s world for a while”

“How come we haven’t seen anyone else then? Surely theirs more than one person searching for us, and how did you know we were here?

“So many questions for such young girls your age, I can ensure you that my motivates are purely to rescue you too, and return you to your family, they’re very worried you know”

He stood their staring waiting for a response. When he neither realised Emma nor weren’t going to say anything he replied;  

“Well then now that’s sorted we better can a move on.”

We stupidly followed him, even though we sensed he was spurious. I held on to this little hope that maybe he really was saving us, and that our parents had finally woke up to themselves and realised what they’d done. I was far off from right, this man was a murder.