Free Run Run as Fast as You Can by Willow Rose Page B

smiled and nodded. He seemed so nice, she remembered thinking. She wondered why he had been alone and not with some nice family. He looked like a dad, he really did. Except for his eyes. There had been something in them when he had lifted his head and looked at her, thanking her for her help. He had pulled something out of his pocket. What was it?
    A cloth, yes that was it. It had been a white cloth. It had smelled horrible. He had put it over her mouth. Susanne spat on the floor thinking about the horrendous taste it had left her with. She needed something to drink. She was so thirsty. But most of all, she needed to get back to her children.
    What if Malthe is still sitting in the car in the parking lot? Oh my god, he must be so scared. I need to get back. What time is it? I need to pick up Christine. How do I get out of here? Where am I?
    "Hello?" she said. "Is there anyone here?"
    There was a sound from above. Susanne gasped. It certainly didn't sound human. Susanne reached out and her hand hit something that felt like a net. Her heart dropped.
    What was this place? A panic spread quickly in her body. Her hands were shivering. Had that guy brought her here? Had he put her in some kind of cage?
    Shivering and panting, Susanne felt her way along the net. It didn't take her long to feel her way around. This was definitely a cage of some sort. She hit the ceiling that was also a wired net of some sort. A loud sound startled her and made her throw herself to the ground with her face on the newspapers.
    What was that? It sounded like an animal? Like an animal screaming? Was that? Could it be?
    Susanne breathed heavily, trying to lie completely still. Whatever it was that was in there with her, she needed to stay away from it. The animal screamed again. Susanne slowly realized that there was more than one animal and they weren't staying in one place anymore. They were flying all over the cage.
    Bats.
    Susanne whimpered when one flew really close to her head. She felt the draft from its wings as it passed her with a high pitched cry. A few seconds after, it happened again, and this time it managed to grab her hair. Susanne screamed as it pulled her hair with its claws and a huge clump was pulled out. She tried to protect herself by hitting into the darkness with her arms, but the bats were too fast. Then she tried yelling and screaming, but the bats were louder. Suddenly, she felt one on her back. She threw herself around trying to knock it off, but it stayed on. Susanne screamed again when it bit her between her shoulder blades. Another bat flew close to her face and Susanne growled and hit her fist into the darkness, but hit the net instead and made a loud sound. Another bite, this time on her shoulder made her scream, then another followed on her leg and yet another on her arm. Susanne was screaming in distress, throwing her body on the ground trying to knock the bats off of her body.
    Finally something happened that provided her with a slight hope. The lights were turned on and the bats all screeched before they flew back onto the ceiling, where they grabbed onto the wire with their long claws and covered their small ugly faces with their wings. Susanne gasped and cried. There were so many of them, it almost made her want to throw up. Her back was pounding and the wounds on her arms were bleeding. Susanne was whimpering as the man she remembered from the day before approached her from the other side of the net.
    "Please, help me," she pleaded. "Please, let me out of here."
     

23
    October 2009
    T HE LETTER CAME in his mailbox. Thomas suspected it might be bad and waited for hours before he opened it. He stared at it on the table with his heart pounding in his chest and his hands sweaty.
    The police had been to his apartment twice since the accident in Ellen's yard. Two officers telling him to stay away from the house and from Ellen and her family. On the first visit, they had been nice and talked to him in a harsh, but almost