Abigail: Chapter 62
The taxi dropped me at the exact spot where we’d parked earlier but this time I didn’t waste any time keeping my eyes open for a specific position in the woods. Instead I put my head down and kept walking. The rain had stopped but it was still cold and I was keen to keep moving. From what Ryan had told me about his visits here as a kid, the distance from the woods to the school couldn’t be far but after walking for twenty minutes without stopping, the school was still nowhere in sight. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to try and look on Google maps but the phone signal was too weak. I had no option other than to keep walking and hope that I wasn’t going round in circles.
Another twenty minutes later and I looked up to see a break in the trees. It was starting to get dark but I could see a building in the distance with high fencing and huge warning signs. I kept walking until I reached the fence and saw a series of gaps along the edge. It seemed that I wasn’t the only person wanting to pay the old school a visit. I pulled my coat tightly around me and climbed carefully through the fencing. The main school building was ahead with smaller outbuildings dotted to the side. If Ryan was here I was keen to see him before he saw me so I kept to the edge of the overgrown shrubbery as I made my way towards the main building. All the windows on the ground floor were boarded up but someone had broken the wooden panel blocking the entrance so I moved it to one side and stepped inside.
I walked carefully through the entrance into what I imagined would have been the main corridor. My footsteps echoed along the corridor so I slipped my feet out of my boots and walked silently along the corridor in my socks. On each side of the corridor were classroom doors with little panes of glass in the window. I peered into each one as I went but they were empty. I got to the end of the corridor and was about to check the classrooms upstairs when a light in one of the outbuildings caught my attention.
I slipped my boots back on and edged along the side of the shrubbery until I reached the building. The windows here weren’t boarded up but the glass had long since been stolen or smashed. I stood on tiptoes to try and look inside. I was reaching up as far as I could go when my phone burst into life.
Damn! I fell back against the side of the building and landed with a thump in the grass. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and flicked the switch to silence it but it was too late. The light inside the building had gone out and I was left sitting in near total darkness. Moving as quickly and as quietly as I could, I felt my way along the side of the building, trying to find somewhere to shelter out of sight of whoever was inside. I looked at the screen and saw two missed calls from Rob. I sent him a text message telling him exactly where I was and waited. Only an idiot would blunder in there on her own and I was no mug.
When I started to lose all feeling in my left buttock I decided to ring him and find out where he was. He picked up right away.
“Charlie? Where are you?”
“Shhh!” I hissed. “I’m outside the building. How long are you gonna be?”
“Charlie?”
“Rob?”
I looked at the screen and cursed the rubbish phone signal. I was about to try again when I heard the sound of footsteps behind me and then everything went black.
When I woke up my head was throbbing. I touched the side where it hurt and felt something sticky. I was lying in total darkness and when I tried to sit up, I found my arms and legs were trussed up like a turkey. I heard a sound coming from somewhere to my left.
“Ryan?” My voice echoed round the room. “I know you’re there you spineless scumbag. Why don’t you show yourself? Wimp!”
“I’ll give you wimp you little whore!” He smacked me on the side of the head and I fell over again with a thump. He seemed to think that was funny. I could hear him laughing somewhere above my head.
There was the sound of a match being struck and then a burst of light. In the glow of the match I could just make out Ryan’s form as he lit a bunsen burner. I tried to look around me and could see we were in one of the old science labs. I shifted my body in the opposite direction, peering into the gloom to try and see Toby.
“He’s over there,” said Ryan. I looked where he pointed and saw a heap curled up in the corner.
“Toby? Are you okay?” I called out to him but he didn’t respond.
“Don’t talk to him, bitch!” Ryan was at my side in two strides. He held out his fist to punch me again but instead stroked the side of my face. “You know, this is all your fault Charlie Diamond. You couldn’t just leave it alone could you. You had to go poking your nose in. If it hadn’t been for you, Toby here would be long gone by now.”
I jerked my head away from his hand. “Bollocks. You’re just a lying, thieving, greedy little worm. Toby didn’t stand a chance.”
Ryan threw his head back and roared with laughter. “You think I’m the one who’s lying? You should ask your precious Abigail what her husband was up to all those nights when he stayed out late.” He looked over to where Toby was lying. “Shall we tell her Toby?”
Toby groaned.
“Don’t worry Toby, she won’t tell anyone. Will you Charlie Diamond? Hard to go telling tales when you’re buried under a pile of rubble in an abandoned building. Or maybe you’d prefer something with a little more flair. They’ll write about you in all the papers. The poor tragic figure dying alone in a freak gas explosion. The gas should have been turned off years ago, they’ll write. Yes, I think that would be much more fitting an end for you. But first, let’s play a little game. It’s called truth or dare. Your choice Charlie, truth or dare? Choose wisely.”
“I’m not playing games Ryan. It’s over. You’ve lost. The police know I’m here. Any second now they’ll come swooping in and that’ll be it for you.”
I prayed to God that that were true but in the meantime, I wasn’t going to just sit here and wait for him to hurt me.
He seemed to consider this for a moment. “You might be right but it doesn’t matter. Do you want to know why? Because it’ll be too late for you. I can break you like that …” He clicked his fingers. “And there’s not a thing you can do to stop me.”
“You think so do you? Why don’t you come a little closer and I’ll show you exactly what I’m going to do to stop you.”
He leaned in and with one gigantic burst of effort I swung my entire body at him, my fists connecting with the side of his mouth. I watched as he lost his footing and fell backwards against one of the desks, his head connecting with the top of a bunsen burner tap. He crumpled to the floor and for a split second stayed there but before I had time to react he was back up on his feet, his hands round my throat.
I felt myself fighting against him but there was nothing I could do. His hands were fixed too tightly round my throat as he squeezed my wind pipe. Lights danced in front of my eyes and everything went black for a fraction of a second before the room exploded with colour and sound. I felt someone pull Ryan off me and then everything went dark again.