There was a young teenage girl of perhaps sixteen, holding hands with a child with tear-stained cheeks and a lower lip that wobbled miserably in the cold.
All at once, the dread that had congealed inside his rib cage dissolved into concern, and he immediately went towards them to help.
“Oh my god, are you two okay?” he called out as he came towards them. He saw that the child was a little girl, and she was still sobbing pitifully as she shivered in a wafer-thin rain mac. Beneath him, he felt the muddy slop sucking each of his feet with every step and could already feel the muscles in his calves tiring.
“We’re lost,” the older girl explained, panting with the effort of trudging through the marsh. “We’re on holiday with our parents… our van broke down, and they went to find help…” she trailed off, and a look of despair crossed her face, “…that was six hours ago.”
“Mummy… Daddy…” moaned the little girl, and Jared realised then that it was the child’s terrified sobs that had woken Sienna.
“Come, come into our RV; you must be freezing,” Jared insisted, gesturing towards the motor home. “Would you like me to carry you?” he asked the little girl, whose features were strained with effort. She nodded as a solitary tear slid down her cheek.
Ten minutes later, and the four of them were gathered around the pull-out dining table, muddy clothes bagged up by Sienna and planted next to the boots by the door. Jared placed steaming hot cups of cocoa in front of both girls and studied their bright red cheeks and wide, worried eyes.
“How far did you walk?” Sienna asked, her voice still wracked with the shock she felt. She pulled her dressing gown tighter around her body and sat down opposite the child, who was now wearing one of Sienna’s smaller jumpers and a pair of fluffy socks.
“About two hours,” guessed the older girl as she pushed a long strand of her sandy blonde hair behind her ear. She had introduced herself as Samantha and her younger sister as Francesca.
Jared rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head in disbelief. “It’s almost 4 am…” he muttered, “you must be exhausted.”
“We were too frightened waiting in the van,” said Samantha, resting her hands around the warm mug. Her face crumpled, her intense blue eyes welling up.
Sienna and Jared exchanged hopeless glances.
“Well,” said Sienna after a brief moment’s pause, “I think we ought to drive back to the nearest town now. Alert the police.”
“There’s no need for that,” said Samantha quickly, “not on our account…”
“What if your parents are hurt or lost?” Sienna asked, arching an eyebrow. “If we wait till morning, it could be the difference between…”
Jared nudged her, and she trailed off, suddenly painfully aware of the two pairs of icy blue eyes piercing her from across the table. She awkwardly cleared her throat and drummed her fingers on the table.
“It’s going to be so hard to navigate in the dark,” Jared said slowly. “Maybe it would be better to wait until sunlight.”
Francesca yawned, and her little eyes fluttered drowsily. She slumped up against her older sister before suddenly her eyes snapped open again. Before anybody could comprehend what was happening, her tiny mouth dropped open, and she let out another loud, agonised wail that seemed to make the entire double-decker quiver.
“M-m-my teddy!” she screamed.
Sienna winced and instinctively clasped her hands over her ears, her eyes widening with alarm as she shot a horrified stare at her husband.
“Oh goodness,” Samantha’s face creased with concern, and she glanced towards the door at the bags of clothes, then looked worriedly from Jared to Sienna. “My little sister’s teddy… have either of you seen it?”
Jared blinked. “What?”
Over Francesca’s frantic shrieks, Samantha sighed, her slender shoulders dropping. “I’m afraid my sister is autistic,” she explained with a frown, “she’s so attached to the bear. Without it, she won’t be able to calm down…”
“Well, where is it?” Sienna asked, unable to conceal the subtle sharpness that tinged her voice.
“We had it when we left the van…” Samantha replied, chewing her lip as she thought. “We must have dropped it.”
“NO!” screeched the red-faced child, “m-m-my bear will be all cold and wet and muddy!”
Samantha stroked her sister’s hair and got to her feet, “I have to go out and look for it,” she said.
Jared stood up as well, “wait, what? We’ll find it in the morning.”
Francesca howled. Sienna glared.
“My sister is prone to fits,” Samantha said, “I have no choice. If she gets all worked up… well, there’s no emergency room around here, is there?”
Hopelessly, Jared turned to Sienna, who gazed icily back at him. He groaned and rubbed his temples, which had begun to ache with the pitiful cries of the kid. In an attempt to be positive, he told himself how he’d make a joke of this to Sienna later and remind her of exactly why the two of them should never reproduce. But for that moment, he knew he couldn’t let this skinny teenage girl wade back out into the muddy, squelching wilderness. It wouldn’t be right.
“I’ll go with you,” he said, stifling a groan.
“Thank you,” smiled Samantha, batting her eyelashes. “You’re a hero.”
To this flirtatious comment, Jared’s immediate reaction was to blush. He scolded himself as he pulled his boots back on for finding the teenager so attractive.
“Would you mind looking after my sister?” Samantha asked Sienna. “It’s really far too cold and dark out for a child…”
Sienna looked as though she would rather eat shit.
“Fine,” she said through gritted teeth.
From across the table, Francesca shot her a toothy smile, her crying coming to an abrupt halt.
Chapter Eleven
Summer, 1999
Her clammy skin quivered and shook as the cold metal of the blade was carelessly stuffed up the inside of her top, then dragged through the material so that it ripped open. She cried even louder as she felt the night air on her bare stomach and the evil bastards’
