Winter Went | #2 Winter Series

Chapter 35

|| Amelia ||

There are ten ordered rows, and now one girl falls into the prisoner in front, disrupting the line. She screams and screams, but there's nothing to be done. She cannot save the exploded building now.

* * *

They find me in a quaking mess on the floor, knees drawn to my chest, eyes on the floor, anywhere, anywhere from that horror behind me.

I failed him. Why the hell did I fail him?

Angie's brown eyes meet mine. We are in the car, and the Scottish man revs the engine. I didn't realise I'd moved.

"What happened?" her voice is so sweet and soft, and it only makes me cry harder.

His last words.

"He said he loved you."

"Loved me? What do you mean?" Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Why are you talking in the past tense?"

Can't do it.

Can't tell her.

"Where's Zach, Amelia?"

She'll hate me, I think, and then the tears come again once I realise that I can only think about myself, not her or her dead brother.

Selfish.

Selfish brat.

I don't answer her question.

We drive away from the prison, and that's when the hate for myself kicks in.

* * *

There's a car behind us - that's what the Scottish man says. I can see his eyes glancing in the rear-view mirror every few seconds. Our eyes meet a few times and he holds the gaze, almost as though he knows.

His foot slams down on the accelerator and soon we're roaring down a muddy path.

"She's following us," he says. I don't have to ask about the 'she.'

He swerves right down a small lane so tightly that I almost smack my head against the window pane.

Then he swears violently, and the car stops to a halt.

"Dead end," he hisses.

* * *

We tumble out of the car. My stomach insides seem to roll around, and I'm scared it'll come up the wrong way.

A little silver car has stopped behind us. The lane is so small and so well covered by trees that there's no hope of turning round, unless we want to ram straight into the car behind us.

The door to the elegant car opens, and Sarah steps out.

"There you are," she says with a small smile. "Finally I caught up." I notice that tucked into the crook of her arm there is a slim, modern laptop. She follows my gaze, and when she sees the device, her smile grows wider.

"Oh, that," she says, a playful tone in her voice. "Yes, I'll come to that in a minute."

"What do you want?" Angie asks viciously. She's beside me, standing her ground. If she were a cat, her fur would be bristling.

Sarah plays with a strand of her hair, twirling it around and around her finger. "There's so much you don't know, Angie Day." Her eyes are on me, still cold but lighter too. She's enjoying this.

If only the growing pit in my stomach would go away.

"Your brother died in an exploding building," Sarah says nonchalantly. "His body was mangled to pieces. His guts are probably among the rubble. You wouldn't find him if you tried, only bits of him."

I can't hear anything. There's only the pounding of blood in my ears. The world seems to spin on its axes.

Tilting, tilting.

I am aware of a scream.

Then I am aware of Sarah's hands on mine, pulling me towards her. She shoves me to the side of the car. I expect her to pull me inside but she doesn't. My knees threaten to buckle against the cold metal.

"Look at this."

Her laptop is open on the roof of the car. I have to crane my neck upwards to see it. But one look at the screen is enough.

It is a white, blank room, barely decorated.

Maisie sits on a chair, and Josh stands behind her. That's not the only thing. There's something that truly makes my knees weaken, and I crumple to the floor.

He's pushing a gun to her small head.

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