Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller

by Daniel Hurst

  Then I hear the sound of a chair being scraped across the tiles in the kitchen, and I wonder why the intruder is not making more of an effort to be quiet. Do they want us to know that they are here?

  The sound of the front door slamming confirms it.

  They are inside now, and they don’t care that we know it.

  So what the hell does that mean for us?

  I continue to squeeze Adam’s hand as I listen to the sounds below. That light I saw outside the bathroom window must have been made by whoever it is that is here now. I feel scared that we could have been lying helplessly in bed when they entered the cottage, although it doesn’t make much difference that we are awake and standing in the hallway. We are still as defenceless and unprepared as we would have been if we had been sleeping.

  The noises suddenly stop, and while the silence is disconcerting, I’m at least grateful that there aren’t any footsteps on the staircase. As long as they stay down there, then we are okay up here. But we are still by no means safe.

  Unless...

  ‘Is it your sister?’ I whisper to Adam, suddenly realising that maybe it is her who has come to this cottage in the dead of night. That would explain why she has made no effort to be quiet. She is simply entering her own property. But if it is her then surely she would have seen the car parked out front when she arrived here. So why hasn’t she called out to us?

  Adam suddenly lets go of my hand, and it falls limply alongside me.

  ‘It’s not my sister,’ he whispers to me, and I notice a smile curling at the corners of his mouth. Then it continues to develop until it is a wide grin.

  Five seconds later and he is laughing at me like he laughed at me in my nightmare.

  I step back away from him, putting my hands to my mouth to stifle any sound that might escape it. I realise now that all my fears were not unfounded. There is something wrong and it goes far beyond simply being on the run from the police. Everything that has happened since we got to this cottage. The broken TV. The missing sim card. Adam forgetting his phone when we went to the village. And the increasing casual behaviour being demonstrated by the man I married. All of it is culminating in this moment right here.

  This moment where Adam is laughing at me and I don’t know why.

  I go to close the bathroom door on him but his hand shoots out to stop me from doing so, and then it is quickly around my wrist and pulling me towards him.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I scream, and now I don’t even care if the person downstairs hears us.

  ‘Ssshhhh.’

  The sound from Adam’s lips is interrupted by his laughter, and as he holds me tightly in his arms, I pray that whatever this is about will not result in him harming my baby. He can torment me all he wants, and I have the feeling that he will, but surely he won’t lay a hand on me in case he hurts the child inside me.

  But who knows what he is capable of? I don’t know why he is laughing, and I don’t know why he is completely unperturbed by the arrival of the stranger downstairs. All I know is that I’m in serious trouble.

  Then I hear a cough from the foot of the stairs and notice the smile on Adam’s face.

  Was that a signal for him?

  ‘Come on,’ Adam suddenly says, pulling my hand and yanking me towards the staircase. ‘We don’t want to keep our guest waiting.’

  I guess it was. But I don’t want to go.

  I have to stay up here.

  I reach out with my free hand and grab the open doorframe of the bathroom, using the leverage to stop Adam from taking me down the hallway anymore. But Adam doesn’t stop pulling on my other hand, and I feel like I am being stretched in two as I try to keep a grip on the doorframe.

  I expect Adam to let go, if only because he must know that I won’t, but he doesn’t, and I let out a cry of pain as my shoulders are pulled wider apart than they should be.

  ‘Laura, stop it,’ Adam says so calmly that it’s as if he isn’t currently trying to drag me down the stairs.

  In the end, my hand loses its grip on the doorframe, and I go flying towards my husband who puts out an arm to stop me from falling past him, and at least that is something because otherwise I would have gone straight down the steps and landed in a crumpled heap at the bottom.

  I doubt either me or Samuel would have survived a fall like that.

  ‘Are you going to stop being silly now?’ Adam asks me, and I don’t have much choice because now he has both of his hands gripping my arms tightly from behind and he is walking me down the stairs.

  My feet stumble and I miss one of the steps, but Adam steadies me and keeps me moving until finally, we are at the bottom. I guess it’s time for me to see who is waiting for us down here.

  I look around the room but at first, I can’t see anybody. I see the sofa. I see the useless TV. I see the table with our coats lying across it. But I don’t see anybody. But Adam leads me a little further forward and then the kitchen comes into view.

  That’s when I see the chair in the middle of the tiles, as well as the person currently tied to it with their mouth gagged and their eyes wide with fear.

  I recognise the person immediately. I guess the mystery of the missing man has been solved.

  Bradley is here.

  But who is that standing next to him?

  Adam pushes me away from him, and I turn to watch him walk forward towards the woman standing beside the prisoner. He reaches her and takes her by the hand before moving in for a kiss.

  I watch my husband and the woman show no shame in displaying their affection for each other while the man I had an affair with wriggles in his restraints and looks at me for help.

  I have no idea what is happening, but it doesn’t really matter now. I assume that I won’t be leaving this cottage alive, and judging by the look on Bradley’s terrified face, he doesn’t think he will be either.

  45

  ADAM

  It’s great to be reunited with Gemma again. It’s nice to reunite Laura and Bradley too although I have a feeling that they don’t feel quite so happy about it as me. The look on Laura’s face is not one of joy, although it’s not as bad as the one on Bradley’s.

  He just looks terrified.

  ‘What’s the matter, darling? Don’t tell me you thought you had kept your little affair secret?’

  My question to my wife is spoken in the way that I have been dreaming about saying it for months now. It’s smug, it’s confident, and it’s dripping in a sense of superiority. But it’s no surprise when Laura doesn’t reply. What can she honestly say to that?

  ‘Any trouble getting up here?’ I ask Gemma in reference to the guy beside us who continues to wriggle and try and break free of his restraints.

  ‘None at all. He was very easy to handle. I guess two days in the boot of his car has worn him out a little.’

  I smile at Gemma and feel a great sense of pride for what she has helped me do. She has risked so much to help me get my revenge tonight, but all it has done is show me what real love is. Laura would never have done anything like this for me. All I got from her were lies, betrayal and a constant visual reminder that the bump in her stomach was Bradley’s gift to my marriage.

  Speaking of Bradley, he is still fidgeting, and I admire his effort, if not his common sense. As if we would have allowed there to be any way for him to wriggle free. He’s wasting his last reserves of energy on a futile fight. But it’s fun to watch all the same.

  ‘I don’t think he is as worn out as we would like,’ I say as I stare into the terrified man’s eyes and feel the fear emanating from within him.

  ‘Do you want me to put him back to sleep?’ Gemma asks me, and I know she is referring to the chloroform-covered cloth she has on her possession. It’s the one she used to get Bradley into the boot of his car when she abducted him on his way to work. But I don’t want him to go to sleep again.

  I want him to be awake for what comes next.

  I shake my head at Gemma and then turn back to my wife who
is still standing in the same spot as when she came down the stairs. I’m surprised that she hasn’t tried to run yet although she wouldn’t get far. Gemma locked the front door behind her on her way in tonight. There’ll be no more guests here this evening. Everybody is in attendance, which means the fun can now begin.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Laura asks me when the mystery of the situation becomes too much for her.

  ‘I’m getting my revenge,’ I reply, walking towards my wife and enjoying the sight of her taking the same number of steps backwards to keep the distance between us. ‘Revenge for all those nights you told me you were working late when really you were sneaking into pubs and hotels with this guy,’ I say, nodding my head back towards Bradley who just continues to make unintelligible noises through his mouth gag.

  ‘Revenge for you breaking our marital vows and making this marriage nothing more than a pathetic waste of time,’ I continue, warming into my role now. I’ve practised it enough times in my head, and so far, my delivery has been perfect.

  ‘And revenge for that baby you are carrying inside you,’ I say with a strong hint of venom in my voice as I thrust a finger towards Laura’s stomach.

  She has backed up all the way to the front door now, and I know she is just dying to turn around and try the handle to see if it will open. But for the moment, she doesn’t try. She just keeps her eyes on me.

  ‘This baby is yours,’ Laura tells me, but I shake my head to let her know that her lies aren’t going to work anymore.

  ‘Yes it is!’ she cries, and I am pleased to see that she is now starting to look and sound as scared as the man tied up behind me. It’s about time Bradley had some company in that respect.

  ‘I know you lied to me about the date you got pregnant,’ I say, finally playing my hand. ‘I know you lied to me about the due date. And I know you lied to me about the scans. It’s not my baby at all. It’s Bradley’s, isn’t it?’

  I turn to look at the man in the chair and see that he has stopped wriggling and making useless sounds now and is instead watching and listening to me.

  ‘That’s right, Bradley. That is your baby she is carrying. Not mine.’

  He moves his wide eyes from me to my wife, and for a second he doesn’t look so scared anymore. He looks like he has been lied to as well by Laura.

  Welcome to the club, mate.

  ‘You’re wrong,’ Laura tries, but I bat my hand at her dismissively before she can give me any more lies.

  ‘I’ve had enough of listening to you,’ I tell her, stepping towards her again and this time she can’t back up any further. ‘Telling me you love me. Telling me what kind of a family we will be. Telling me you would never hurt me. Look where that has got us. Now it’s time to listen to me.’

  I reach Laura, and I can see the fear she has for me in her eyes. She must be wondering what kind of a man is capable of doing all of this. Well, I’m about to tell her.

  ‘I lied about the hit and run,’ I confess. ‘I just needed a way of getting you up here with him.’

  I gesture to Bradley behind me, but I don’t turn around. I’m enjoying the look on Laura’s face too much.

  ‘What have you done to him?’ she asks, and I’m slightly annoyed that she is concerned enough about Bradley to enquire.

  ‘Not much. Stuck him in the boot of his car. Kept him there for a couple of days and then drove him up here.’ Gemma fielded that question, and she deserved to. It was her who did all the work on getting Bradley here, after all.

  ‘He’s been reported missing!’ Laura cries.

  ‘He’s not the only one,’ I shoot back, and Laura slowly registers what I have just told her.

  ‘People think I’m missing?’ she asks me, and I nod my head.

  ‘Oh my god. My friends...’

  ‘Don’t worry about them. They don’t know yet.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Laura says.

  ‘It’s quite simple. Instead of popping into the village, I was going back home and helping the police look for you.’

  Laura shakes her head. Only now is she beginning to understand the depths her betrayal took me down to and how determined I have been to get my revenge.

  ‘Why wasn’t my picture in the newspaper if I am missing?’ she asks me, I assume with genuine curiosity rather than from being annoyed that Bradley got more column inches than her.

  ‘I had asked the police not to report your case to the media for seven days. I told them one of your best friends was ill and the story would cause her great distress.’

  ‘You did what?’

  ‘That was my idea,’ Gemma interjects. ‘I know families of missing persons can make requests like that.’

  ‘Gemma’s a police officer,’ I add, rather proudly, and Laura only then seems to realise that all of this isn’t just about me getting back at her.

  It’s about me moving on with somebody else.

  ‘You’ve been having an affair?’ she asks me as the penny finally drops.

  ‘You’re damn right I have. What’s the matter? Feel betrayed?’

  Laura slaps me hard across my face, but I barely flinch. It felt good. I’m surprised it took her this long to do it. I let her enjoy the moment because it’s the last one she is ever going to enjoy.

  ‘What are you going to do to us?’ Laura asks me as I step away from her and walk over to Gemma, who is now preparing for the next part of our plan.

  ‘Seeing as you two enjoyed spending so much time together by yourselves, I thought it would be nice to leave you up here with each other,’ I say.

  Laura turns and tries the handle on the front door, but of course, it doesn’t open.

  ‘What’s the matter? You used to like spending time with Bradley,’ I say with a snarl.

  ‘Get away from me!’ Laura says, and she moves into the corner of the room, holding onto her bump as if that is supposed to make me stop what I am planning on doing with her. ‘What about Samuel?’

  ‘Why would I care about another man’s baby?’ I ask as I reach towards her with the pair of handcuffs my partner brought for me.

  ‘Tell me what you are going to do!’ Laura begs as I grab her hands.

  ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ I say, feeling a rush of adrenaline as I do. ‘We’re going to kill you both. And then we’re going to get away with it.’

  46

  LAURA

  I glare at my husband as he stuffs the gag into my mouth and winks at me. I want to scream. I want to hurt him. I want to get out of here. But I can’t do any of that.

  I’m just as screwed as Bradley is.

  I had no idea that Adam knew about my affair, nor did I know that he knew who the real father of my baby was. I thought I’d kept my secrets well hidden, and while that is nothing to be proud of, at least I thought I was saving my husband from so much pain. Yet now, all I want to do is hurt him.

  I want to hurt him before he hurts me.

  Bradley continues to try and break free of his restraints beside me, but I choose to sit still for the moment because I don’t want to give any more pleasure to my husband and the woman he now seems to be loved up with. I watch as he and Gemma work together to doublecheck both of our restraints before they move onto the other side of the room and talk quietly between themselves for a moment.

  Part of me wishes that I could hear what they are saying, but another part of me thinks that it might be best that I can’t. Adam has already told me that the plan is to kill the two of us, so I guess they are just going over the logistics of that.

  I can’t believe he is going to do this. Regardless of whose child I am carrying, how can he kill the innocent life inside of me? This is not the man I knew, and the more I watch the pair of co-conspirators talking opposite me, the more I get the feeling that most of this has been Gemma’s doing.

  Adam mentioned that she was a police officer, and I bet she has used plenty of her knowledge and experience gained in the force to hatch this little plan. I have no idea how her and Adam came into
each other’s lives, but I don’t care right now. I can’t change what has happened so far.

  But maybe I can change what happens next.

  I take a deep breath and then do my best to scream as loud as I can through my mouth gag, making as much noise as possible to try and gain my husband’s attention. I don’t know if this is going to work, but I have to try something. He says he doesn’t care about killing the baby inside of me, but maybe he will have second thoughts if he thinks that baby is coming right now.

  I feel the strain in my throat as I force as much noise as I can out into the mouth gag, and it must be working because I see Adam and Gemma turn to look at me. I refuse to stop screaming until they remove the gag, which Adam eventually does, but not before I feel as if I’ve cried myself hoarse. But it’s not the time to rest my voice.

  I need to get louder.

  I let out a deep, guttural cry of pain as the gag is taken from my mouth, and my husband looks visibly shocked as he listens to me. I pause for a moment and suck in several deep mouthfuls of oxygen before making the same sound again until I am sure I am doing a good job of faking an impending birth.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Gemma asks me as I lean forward in the chair to make it appear as if I am doubled over in pain.

  But I ignore her as I cry out again and it’s Adam who speaks next. He seems a little more concerned than his partner.

  ‘Laura, what is it?’ he asks me, putting his hand on my shoulder as I keep my face down and continue to howl like a banshee.

  ‘I think the baby is coming!’ I cry out before groaning loudly and twisting my face into an agonised expression.

  I don’t look up at Adam or Gemma as I continue to act out what I hope is a very convincing performance, and the fact that Adam’s hand remains on my shoulder gives me the encouragement to think that perhaps he still cares about me a little after all. But then I see Gemma’s hand reach down between my legs and she touches my crotch, and I look up to see her face only inches from mine.

  ‘Her waters haven’t broken. She’s faking it,’ the bitch says before she removes her hand and pushes me back into an upright position on the chair.