Deciding nobody is home, I push my key in the lock, turn it, and shove the door open a few inches.
‘Rosamund,’ I call into the cottage, just to be sure. ‘Elise? I’ve brought clean towels.’ I push the door open further and step inside. ‘Rosamund?’
I shine the torch around. Caress the room with its beam. Despite a game of Monopoly set out on the coffee table, ready to play, and two unlit candles standing either side of the board, there doesn’t seem to be anybody in.
I make my way up the stairs towards the dappled greyness of the landing and pass the open door to the shower room. It’s a stunning room – the best on the site, with its double sink and ivory tiles. Finn revamped it back in the spring. He did a wonderful job.
I continue along the landing, and try the handle of Elise’s room, but it’s locked. ‘Elise, are you in there?’
‘Yep!’ comes the reply.
‘It’s only me, lass. Ruth. I’ve brought towels.’
‘OK.’
I step into Rosamund’s room, and shine the torch towards the bed, catching sight of a scan of Rosamund’s baby propped against the lamp on the bedside unit. On the bottom of the bed is an orange hooded fur bed jacket. After laying the torch down, I pick it up. Within moments I’ve put the jacket on and zipped it up. It’s freakishly soft, and my body tingles as I run my hands over, it and pull up the hood.
I pick up the torch once more, and dip the beam towards the floor, spotting Rosamund’s case. I reach behind me and with the quietest of clicks close the door. I crouch down and open the case. The clothes inside are expensive; silk blouses and cashmere are packed neatly. If things had turned out differently with Michael, these are the kind of things I would have worn.
Suddenly the room fills with light. The power has returned. I dart a panicked look about me, feeling as though I’ve been caught out, and bolt to my feet. The shower starts up with a shudder through the pipes, and the sound of water cascading reaches my ears. I freeze for a moment, before willing myself to move.
It’s OK. I’ve done nothing wrong.
I place two towels on Rosamund’s bed, open the door and dash from the room, and onto the landing.
Elise’s door stands open. The shower-room door closed. I lean my head against the wood, listen to the flowing water.
‘I’m off now, love,’ I call, but there’s no reply.
There’s a noise downstairs. Rosamund’s back?
It’s OK. I’ve done nothing wrong.
Someone is coming up the stairs – slow and steady.
‘It’s only me, Rosamund,’ I call out, knowing I shouldn’t really be here, recalling how angry she’d been when she found me trying on her coat last time she was here. ‘I’m dropping off a couple of towels, that’s all.’
It’s OK. I’ve done nothing wrong.
I quickly tap on the shower-room door, and open it. I cover my eyes as I step inside, and place two towels on the rack. ‘Clean towels for you, Elise,’ I say.
I turn to leave, my body tensing as panic surges through me. Before me is a figure in black. I barely have time to register they’re wearing the creepy mask. Barely have a moment for the scream inside my chest to reach my throat.
The pain in my head sends me reeling.
Everything goes black as I hit the floor with a thud.
Chapter 23
Present Day
Me
You’ve left the bedroom door open, and I can see it hanging on the kitchen curtain rail. I don’t know why it haunts me. It’s only a piece of plastic, after all. But it does.
It’s been there since the day you brought me here. Do you leave it there to torment me? Or have you simply forgotten it’s there?
I close my eyes, my mind sifting through the same old questions, and I wonder how many times I will ask myself them.
Why hasn’t anyone found me?
Will I ever be free?
Will I live to see tomorrow?
I listen for your return. I want to ask you again why you are holding me here. Hope that I will find a part of you that isn’t consumed by evil. But outside there’s an unbearable silence.
I sit on the edge of the bed, and pour a glass of water from the jug, lift it with weak arms to my dry lips, and swallow.
I turn as Misty clatters in through the cat flap. He’s free, and yet he chooses to return each day. I wonder if he knows how much he’s helping me through this. Thank God I’ve got Misty.
Chapter 24
Present Day
Amelia
It was dark as I clambered, breathless, to the top of Vine Hill, doubling over with exhaustion. I kept going off course, and the route was hazardous. It’s taken me over an hour to get back. I was stupid, shouldn’t have gone out alone in these freezing conditions.
My bladder aches from needing the loo, and every part of my body hurts, as though icy fingers touch my bones, freezing soft tissue. My ears burn, and even the inside of my nose is crystallised.
I’m relieved to see the cottages have power once more, each window alight with an orange glow.
I’m about to step onwards, desperate to warm myself by the wood burner, and maybe sneak a hug from Dad if he’s in a better mood, when I hear a scream. My mind shoots back to a year ago. I stop calf-deep in snow, filled with dread.
The scream came from Primrose Cottage, and Rosamund flings open her front door and almost falls through it, gripping the doorframe and bending over as though trying to catch her breath. ‘Elise!’ she cries. ‘Elise!’
As if a fire alarm has gone off, Dad appears through the darkness, hurrying towards Rosamund, and Finn races from the other direction.
I make my way towards Rosamund, and startle at
