Finding Maisie

Finding Maisie: Chapter 7

Finding Maisie

Chapter 7

Poppy's POV:

We didn't have a plan yet on how to save Bella. We didn't know even where her and the clown went. This seemed impossible.

Callum and I had been running all this time, only taking occasional one minute stops. I guessed that we were searching for Bella or anything that might lead us to her... or that we never shook the feeling of someone chasing us.

There had been no sight of any of the abductors workers... yet. I wouldn't have betted on it staying like that for long. The abductors was not the type of man to give us much of a break from terror.

I didn't think we were any closer to finding our way out if this maze. We had past the "almost there" sign plenty of times but then the next sign we would see always seemed to be "halfway there". We really were lost but that seemed unimportant. I didn't care about getting out of the maze, not until we had Bella.

Callum and I were running around in endless circles when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

'Wait!'

Callum stopped and followed my gaze. There was something grey and lumpy on the floor.  We walked down another stretch of maze to a dead end. The object was at our feet. It was clothing, a jumper probably. But, on top of it,  was a piece of paper. It had been left for us.

I picked up the paper and read it, 'Property of Maisie Miller.' I took the grey object from the floor and, as I had guessed, it was a jumper. My heart thudded, as it did at any mention of Maisie. It looked like just an ordinary jumper, with pockets and a hood, until I saw a patch of red on it. It was Maisie's blood. I felt Callum tense up beside me. I ignored him for the moment and looked at the label inside the top of the jumper. I almost jumped for joy.

'You do know that's her blood, you don't have to be happy about it,' Callum remarked.

'No, Callum, of course I'm not. Just look at this,' I showed him the label. Callum just stared at it blankly.

'What about it?'

'That's an adult size. Eight year old Maisie would have never fit into it. They kept her alive. Well, at least until she was big enough for this. But if they kept her alive that long...'

'...why not keep her alive until now,' Callum said. He smiled now, feeling the same hope that swelled in me. It was strange, though. Strange and unsettling to picture Maisie growing up, becoming a teenager, perhaps even an adult. It was strange because we weren't there to share it with her. She had a whole life that we hadn't been a part of.

The hope was drowned out by the echo of footsteps heading closer to us. The men were in the maze again.

I pulled Callum and we started sprinting through the maze again. The footsteps were loud now, and dangerously close. I snuck a look behind and my stomach dropped. They had caught up with us. Only two though, the two stronger looking men. The clown was missing and, probably, with Bella.

'Which way?' Callum asked me.

I looked around. I couldn't see any signs or any clues leading us to the way out.

'Um, left!' I shouted without thinking.

We turned left and ran down the path. It wasn't long until I realised left was the wrong way. The complete wrong way. There was a wall, a brick wall, a dead end. We had nowhere to go.

We couldn't run back. The abductors men were already there, inching closer to us. I looked at Callum and he smiled at me. Not a happy smile, but a reassuring one. And I soon figured out why. What would they do? Would the abductor sent two of his minions into the maze to kill us? It didn't seem likely, but then again, the abductor wasn't a predictable man.