Innocent

Chapter 21

Not many people know this, but I’m claustrophobic. Ever since Daniel locked me inside a closet when I was about nine, locking me in for two hours, I have been afraid of tight places since then, especially dark places.

I’m in the back trunk of Mr Waters’ car. James is beside me, still unconscious. I panic. So many things were going through my head and I couldn’t think. It was dark. I tried to find a way to get myself out of here, but there were no buttons to press to open the trunk. I could scream, but it would be pointless because no one could hear me from inside here.

James moans beside me. I immediately think he is awake, but then he goes all quiet again. With no lights at all, I felt around, trying to find James’ face. I slap him a couple of times, trying to get him to wake up, but he doesn’t.

Mr Waters turns the car sharp and I roll onto James. He lets out another moan. Suddenly the car comes to a halt.

“Ellie?” James mumbles my name.

The engine cuts off and I hear Mr Waters getting out of his car. His feet crunched on the gravel. My mind went crazy as I thought about where he has taken us. He could have taken us anywhere. Far away from the fundraiser so no one could hear my screams. He couldn’t have taken us far. It could be a farm nearby or something.

He stops moving. I then hear the keys rattling around as he pushes a button on his key chain. The boot pops open. I thought of maybe punching or kicking him and then make a run for it, like they do in the movies. But I knew it would be pointless. Mr Waters will make sure I don’t get away.

He opens it. I couldn’t see his face that well. There was no light anywhere. He grabs James first and pulls him out before pulling me out of the boot. He lets go of me for a second to close the boot before grabbing me again. He drags us to the front of this car, throwing us to the ground where he had the head lights on.

James is conscious, but he is unaware of his surroundings. I try to get to my feet, but Mr Waters grabs me, pinning me down onto the gravel, his body crushing me.

“Let me go!” I scream.

He clamps a hand over my mouth so I don’t make a noise. I bite his hand and he yelps. He slaps me hard across the face.

“You little bitch!”

I try to push him off me, but he just tightens his grip as he places my arms above my head. Tears filled my eyes.

“Stop struggling, Ellie. The more you fight against me, the more I’m going to hurt you.”

My vision is blurred by the tears. I can’t wipe them. I hear him unbuckling his belt. Fear grips a hold of me. I can’t think of what to do. My mind is telling me to run, but my body is too terrified to move. And even if I do run, where should I go? I don’t know where I am. I don’t know if there’s a farm nearby. There should be. We were near some fields, but I haven’t really looked around at my surroundings.

Mr Waters’ weight is taken off me. I thought maybe he has stood up to take off his pants, but he hasn’t.

“What are you doing, you little bastard?” he says.

“Ellie, go! Run! Get out of here!” James screams.

I obey him. I stood up, wiping my eyes so I was able to see. I didn’t look to see if James had run off or where Mr Waters has gone to. I hear groaning. It sounded like James. His Dad must be hurting him or something. I don’t know. I just ran along the side of the road without looking back. I headed towards a street light just a few metres from me. Tall dry grass was around there, about waist length. I could hide there. Mr Waters can’t find me there.