The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

1

Martin Jones walked into the ward and made his way over to bed where the nurse was tending to the sleeping Cass Blakely.

"Doctor Jones! I thought that you'd clocked off ages ago."

"Yeah, I should have." Jones rubbed the bridge of his nose and managed to hold back the yawn he so badly needed. "So how has Miss. Blakely been since I last saw her?"

"She's been asleep for the past few hours but the rest seems to be doing her the world of good." The nurse handed Jones, Cass Blakely's chart. "Have you heard anything from the police about that girl she was talking about?"

"A couple of officers went down to the woods and had a scout around but didn't find anyone except a young man. They're questioning him right now," Jones told her as he scanned the chart sheet.

"So what happens now?"

"Well Judy, now I get to go back home to my adoring family."

"And the girl?"

"What girl? The police found nothing, and nobody has reported a child missing." Jones passed the chart back to the nurse. "The way I see it that crack to the head probably wasn't the best thing that ever happened to poor Cass here."

2

Cass heard the man and the woman talking but it became more distant by the second. The mist inside her head faded and the dark place came back into view. She was there again with the little girl in that damp, cold room but now they were alone. The day before, when she had seen the girl in the old part of town, Cass had called her by her name; now she remembered what it was.

Tamicka!

The girl's head turned in her direction her eyes wide with fear. Had Cass said the word out loud? She was quite sure that she had not. The little girl rose to her feet and walked on unsteady legs towards Cass. Her eyes made contact with Cass' as if she knew she was there.

A teary smile crept onto Tamicka's face. "Have you... have you come to help me?"

Cass was just about to say yes when her vision became engulfed in the swirling mist again.

"Please don't go! Don't leave me!"

There was nothing Cass could do. Within seconds she was back in the hospital bed again.

3

Amanda took her mobile phone out of her bag, sat on her bed and scrolled through for Penny's number. It had only been a few days since Penny had stormed out of the barn but to Amanda it seemed as though weeks had passed. She missed her; there was no other way to put it. She pressed the connect button and after a long silence a woman's voice came on the line.

"The number you have dialled is not available, please try again later! The number you have dialled is n..."

"Fuck!" shouted Amanda as she jumped to her feet. She threw the phone down onto the bed; her anger building by the second.

She grabbed her quilt in both hands and stripped it from the bed sending her phone crashing against the wall opposite. "Shit, look at what you made me do now bitch."

As soon as the words directed at an absent Penny left her lips, Amanda felt bad. That was why Penny had left her in the first place.

"...fuck off back to mummy and daddy like a good little bitch..."

The words rang around Amanda's head like chimes. She had been an idiot to say them, and all because she had not wanted to show any signs of weakness to her minions, Sarah and Wendy.