Fugitive Girl

Finalist in the 'Xtreme Read 2009' competition

Icy cold water soaked her to the skin and she heaved herself out of the muddy puddle, gasping with cold and fear. She flicked her dank locks out of her eyes and felt hot tears prickling the backs of her eyeballs. She cast her mind back to the previous two days and shuddered. No, it was much better to be here than there.

She darted into a nearby alleyway as the clattering of an approaching vehicle alerted her. She peered out into the gloom as a rusty, old bomb with mangled doors, bald tyres and flaking paint clanked into view, headlights beaming past the alleyway and into the blackness beyond. The harsh, yellow glare of the headlamps made her eyes water as she caught her breath. She could hear the low murmur of human voices and then the car door slammed. Her heart thumped and her throat constricted as the voices drew closer to her hideout.

After several moments, the soft mumble of voices lapsed into silence. She craned her neck and glanced cautiously outside once more. All was quiet now. She stared tentatively at the empty car, its engine still growling like a wild animal. The occupants of the car had disappeared. Plucking up her courage, she edged cautiously out of the cover of the alleyway and slipped into the shadows by the grey stone wall a few metres away, overgrown with tumbling weeds and wild creepers, entangled with clusters of vines and shambles of climbing ivy dark with leaves that gleamed silver in the weak, pale moonlight.

She hesitated and cast a furtive glance over her shoulder. All was still and the lane remained deserted. She was beside the grumbling vehicle in an instant. The paintwork was a nasty mustard colour and up close, the windows were coated in a thin layer of grime. The battered motorcar gave a bad-tempered whine and she jumped, startled. Without further thought, she scrambled into the car and knelt on the worn, brown seat.

She crouched there for a minute or two, stunned by her own success. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps and voices headed her way. She pressed her face to the small panel of window, panicked. The men were striding purposefully back to their vehicle, eager to be out of the chilly, bleak darkness of the night.

She doggedly clambered over the back seat and toppled into the boot. It was cramped and stuffy in the back of the car, but she didn’t care. The men thrust open the doors and slid into their places without seeming to notice their new load. She breathed a sigh of relief as the driver muttered something to his companion, reversed the motorcar and accelerated into the night.

She didn’t know what she was doing or where she was going to end up next, but she was safe and, for the moment, happy to sleep away all the anxiety and fatigue of the past couple of days to dream untroubled dreams.

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