What Makes A Detective.

Chapter 12

"Rosie!" Toby yelled, as the knots finally came free and he started to worm his way out. "Follow the story!"

Rosie, who was currently cowering in the corner, shook her head frantically. Toby saw that now she was trapped. The unknown woman was closing in to grab her, and as Toby finally kicked himself free of the hateful cage Rosie screamed, louder and harsher than any scream Toby had ever heard. Empowered, he splashed through the puddle of warming water which surrounded him on the floor, and picked up the huge pot which had been boiling below him and crammed it on the head of their captor.

"Close enough" he called to Rosie, lightly despite their dreadful situation, and the now blind, burned, bedraggled monster between them spun wildly to face where she thought he had spoken from.

What ensued was a hauntingly gaunt game of Blind Man's Bluff. With his finger on his lips to keep Rosie quiet, Toby began to edge away from the door, splashing his feet through the puddles to lead the woman away from the little girl, and to leave a clean run for Rosie out to the door. He pointed at where he wanted her to go, and carefully, the young boy and the little girl began to step together in time, one towards the door, one away from it. Like a puppet doll, the woman stumbled forward towards Toby, one hand waving out in front of her and the other trying to prise the pot from over her shoulders. She was making a lot of noise herself, and as Toby reached the back wall Rosie reached the door.

"Go!" Toby mouthed at her. "Run!"

Rosie shook her head fearfully again, staying frozen to the spot as Toby began to slink around the wall. Despairing, Toby considered his options. He couldn't go left because of the woman, but he couldn't go right because of the wall, and he couldn't go forward because of the table.

Well, that wasn't strictly true.

Toby backed up as far as he could, before running full tilt at the table, scrambling over it and reaching the door before the woman had time to turn or grab him. He pulled Rosie after him as the two of them pelted out of the house and down the hill. Toby's head was blurring and his vision was getting cloudy as he and Rosie dodged though trees. They were both hopelessly lost, they knew, but they had to get away.

Toby kept pushing them both to run further until Rosie fell over the first time. She burst into shocked, hysterical tears, curled up in a ball on the floor, and Toby didn't have the heart or the energy to soothe her. He instead scooped her up in his arms and carried on moving.

"Don't run!" A cackling cry rang out through the trees. "I'm on my way..."

"Hush, Rosie" Toby whispered desperately. "She'll hear you if you...shhh..."

Rosie whimpered pitifully, and she was now getting very heavy to carry. Toby slowed to a walk, panting.

"Can I let you down?" he asked. The little girl whimpered again, hanging onto his neck tightly, and with a heavy heart Toby took that as a no. He tried to move faster, but having to check his back every five seconds meant he really was barely going anywhere. It was at this point when, for the first time, Toby thought that perhaps he wasn't going to get out of this one. The woman, although she looked old, moved like a cat, and was just as nimble, and at the dizzy, burned, shattered state he was in, he couldn't ever out-manouvre her, especially carrying Rosie. All Toby could hear was his own heart and Rosie's snuffles, but now a new sound came to his ears, and his heart sunk further into the depths of fear.

"If you go down to the woods today, be sure of a big surprise..."

The song floated through the tree trunks, and Toby couldn't tell how close it was.

"If you go down to the woods today, you'd better go in disguise..."

Taking a guess at where the noise was coming from, Toby slid behind the biggest tree he could find, trying to put Rosie down, but she refused to let go, gripping tightly with the strength only small children had.