The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Seven

1

The windscreen wipers were on full but that hardly made a difference as the rain beat hard against the glass. Jack Moon kept his eyes focused on what little he could see of the road ahead. He knew that he was well in excess of the speed limit long before he looked down at the speedometer but that was the last thing on his mind. He had to find Tamicka, that was the main priority.

"Slow down Jack!" Donna's calm voice held a slight edge of fear.

Moon took his eyes from the water blurred glass and gave her a cursory glance. Outwardly she seemed the perfect picture of calm until he looked down at her hands. They were clenched, the fingers of the right one tightly interlocked with those of the left, so that her knuckles became white with the pressure.

"Look, the sooner we get the police onto this the quicker we can find her." Moon changed gear and the car picked up speed.

"And what use will we be to her if we crash and die?" A shade more fear had wormed it's way into her serene facade.

It took Moon a few seconds to break out of his adrenaline rush and process Donna's words. He clicked the gear shift down a couple of notches and brought the car to a much more agreeable speed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. You're right of course." Moon knew the smile he flashed his passenger was unconvincing but she did appear to be much more comfortable now that he wasn't driving like a maniac.

"I still don't understand why we're not going back to where you found her last time," remarked the woman.

He glanced at her again before fixing his eyes back on the blurred road. She may have been right there too although he doubted it. Last time he had felt like her had been dragged to that little building in the woods as if by some invisible connection. This time there was nothing, everything just seemed blank.

2

Penny pressed the disconnect symbol on the screen of her mobile phone and frowned as she placed it down on the left arm of her chair, away from the heat of the fire.

"I did tell you that those things don't work up here dear," said Mrs. Hughes as she set the tray holding three cups and a large teapot down on the mahogany coffee table.

"I know, I just feel so useless though," Penny replied looking back at her phone. "I need to be doing something."

"But we are doing something sweetheart," the old woman poured tea into one of the cups and handed it to Penny.

"Drinking tea?"

"No dear, not just drinking tea," Mrs. Hughes started to pour tea into the second. "We are waiting here in case that poor little child comes back. It wouldn't do for her to get here and find nobody home would it?"

The girl took a sip of the hot, refreshing liquid and gazed at the intricate floral pattern that decorated the ultra fine bone china cup. "Well that's all well and good but it doesn't make me feel any less useless." Penny knew that she was pouting but she was beyond caring.

"She won't be coming back!" came the little girl's voice from the sofa where Cass sat.

Penny felt her heart pick up by a few beats as she starred over at the young woman. Only the smash of the precious ceramic cup Mrs. Hughes had just dropped snapped her out of her gaze.

"Jane, is that you my dear?" The old woman took a few steps towards the sofa.

"Yes Nana, it's me. I was just with her and she is so frightened."