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An unknown number has sent 3 messages.
UNKNOWN: I TOLD YOU I WOULD MAKE YOU PAY!
And there’s a picture of Bella asleep in her hospital bed.
UNKNOWN:MEET ME ON THE ROOF. COME UNARMED AND ALONE.
These were sent 30 minutes ago. SHIT!
Another message comes through as I stare at the phone.
UNKNOWN:WAITING!
And a photo of Bella looking extremely vacant and pale.
My adrenaline rises again. I read the messages to Josh and we come up with our strategy. He phones the team to prepare and we are ready when we arrive at the hospital. I’m coming for you, my Bella.
Bella
I’ve been in and out of consciousness all day. Well, I think it’s the daytime, I’m never sure how long I’ve been out for. I’m feeling pretty numb. Everyone is fussing around me, mum and dad especially. Asking me how I feel and what I remember with such sympathy and care.
I remember everything. From the moment John grabbed me backstage to Damien finding me at the house. I don’t feel anything though. Not scared, not relief, not pain. I am confused though as to why Damien isn’t here. I’ve asked my parents, the nurses, every visitor I’ve had and there’s been plenty, “Where is Damien? I need him” but everyone just answers with, “He will be back soon” I really hope he is ok.
My visitors finally leave me for a while. It’s been like a conveyer belt, one lot leaves as the next arrives. I’ve still got Mike outside the door but he stays out there leaving me to get some rest. I fall asleep quickly- the pain killers I’m being fed through the drip in my arm help me sleep.
I’m having a nightmare- its dark I can’t see anything but I can hear the sound of men fighting. Banging sounds, the sound of fists hitting skin and bones. Then painful screams from a male voice. I wonder if this is a dream or a flash back but I don’t remember any fighting between Damien and John. I then realise my eyes are closed and I am awake. I open them and I am in my hospital room.
I look to the door where the sounds are coming from. There’s a loud thud and Mike’s face is up against the small rectangular window in the door. I gasp in horror. Mike’s eyes look right through me and then he slowly slides down the window with the sound of his body hitting the floor. Maybe this a nightmare? I need to wake up.
I hear scuffling sounds in the hallway. The door opens and a man holding a blood-stained knife hanging at his side stands staring at me.
“Well, well. Here she is- the one the devil finally let into his heart. I have to say, you’re not what I expected you to look like. You’re young and pure looking, But maybe that’s the attraction?”
I sit frozen in bed. I have never seen this man before in my life. My thoughts firstly go straight to John, maybe he isn’t dead like everyone told me he was. Maybe he had come back to finish me off. But this definitely isn’t John. Has John sent someone to get me? But something tells me not, and I am confused by his words. The Devil? I look at the knife in his hand- blood drips from the blade onto the light blue hospital floor. Panic sets in as I realise that the blood must belong to Mike.
“Get up, you’re coming with me.”
At this point there’s footsteps in the hallway, then a little scream from a female. She must have seen Mike on the floor. She then appears at my door- it’s the nurse who has been looking after me today “Bella!” she gasps as she sees the man and registers the scene. The knifed man shouts at her to leave, which she does. I don’t blame her. He would kill her too I’m sure of it.
The man takes the backpack off his back and pulls out a black bottle. He takes the lid off and pushes a rag into it. He walks out into the hall, lights the rag with a lighter then throws it down to the left. He runs back in and pulls me out of bed. I fall to the floor and my IV is ripped from my hand, squirting blood on my nightgown and on to the floor. He puts his arm under my shoulder, lifting me up “COME ON!!!” He drags me out of the room and the fire alarm starts to blare.
I smell petrol and smoke. It’s the first time I have been out of bed since I came into hospital apart from a few trips to the loo where I’ve been held up by the nurse. I can hardly move my legs. They don’t feel like my own. One of them has a plaster cast on up to my knee and feels like a block of concrete and the other is like jelly. I scramble to keep up with him, but I don’t have to energy and I flop to the floor. He is shouting at me constantly to “hurry up”, “move” and “come on!” He lets go of my arm and wraps my hair around his fist. He then drags me along the floor.
A few people run past us but they’re in such a panic with all the smoke and the fire alarm they don’t notice what’s going on. I’m thrown into the lift and the man takes out another bottle, lights it and throws it out of the lift doors just as they close. I lie on the floor of the lift when suddenly it stops and we are in complete darkness. My kidnapper is now frantically pressing all the buttons on the lift. The lift must have been switched off with the fire or have been affected by it. You’re always told never to use a lift in fire. He fumbles around in his bag muttering to himself. He gets something out and prises the door open with it.
The lift has stopped in between floors. The floor is halfway up the lift doors and below it is a brick wall. The kidnapper’s bag is flung up out the doors and on to the floor. I am then lifted and also flung through the doors and on to the floor. My chin hits the floor and my front teeth collide, breaking one of my top teeth in the impact. The pain shoots right up my nose and into my head. I suppose it’s the least of my worries right now though. I am dragged again by my hair. It’s painful and I feel strands being ripped from my scalp at the root. I am doing my best to get to my feet but I am so weak.
For what feels like a lifetime of having my whole body weight pulled by my hair and banged and scraped up God knows how many flights of stairs, we finally reach the top. The man has his knife out again in his hand and holds it out in front of him as he opens a fire exit door at the top of the stairs. He moves us out through the door and I am hit with the cold fresh air. I am only wearing and hospital nightgown and so I’m instantly covered in goosebumps.
We are on the hospital roof. There’s a greenhouse to the right. We make our way over and go inside. There are some blankets and cushions on the floor, bits of rubbish and an ash tray. It looks like staff maybe come up here for a break. It’s definitely warmer in here than outside. I prop up a few cushions for my back and curl up, tucking my legs into me as much as my cast will allow.
“Now we wait,” says the man. I stare at him. I am very confused as to why this is happening to me….. again. Maybe it’s like in that film ‘Final Destination’, where those people changed seats on the plane and survived the crash when they were supposed to die and then death catches up with them in different ways. Maybe I was supposed to die with John and this is death’s way of putting that right. Who knows but I am going to ask him.
Chapter 21
Bella
“Who are you? What is going on?”
