Desperate Measures Read online

  Guiltily, I thought of Paul and Sarah. It was horrible not knowing what was happening. Please, please, please let their baby be OK, I thought. I imagined them in the hospital, Paul sitting by Sarah’s bed waiting for her to wake up, or waiting for the doctors to come round, or encouraging her to eat something. I knew the routine. I’d done it with Mum. I hoped they were too caught up in their own troubles to worry too much about us. An uncomfortable thought struck me. Dad would know by now too. What would he be thinking?

  I forced myself to think of something else. Matt. No. Rosie? I desperately wanted to text or ring her but I’d deliberately kept my phone switched off. I knew the police could trace calls. It was much too risky.

  I shut my eyes and decided that I had to think positive. To look forwards, not backwards. When we got to Great Auntie Irene’s, she’d be surprised to see us of course but she’d give us something good to eat and tell us everything was going to be all right from now on and I didn’t need to worry any more. She might have been really old but she had all her marbles and she’d sort everything out. When we were first taken away from Dad, Mrs Frankish had asked if we had any other family who could look after us. There was only Uncle Mac or Great Auntie Irene. Uncle Mac runs a sheep farm somewhere in Australia and Mrs Frankish said we weren’t going there. When she found out Great Auntie Irene was eighty-one and didn’t have a phone, she said staying with her wasn’t an option and we weren’t to bother her.

  I should never have listened to the old bat – Great Auntie Irene was family.

  It really would be like a fantastic holiday, I thought. Better even. It would be like coming home. A proper home. And, if we could never go back to Paul and Sarah’s, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. We’d make a new life, start new schools and make new friends – no one like Rosie maybe, but she was a one-off. Re would come on leaps and bounds with Great Auntie Irene’s help. She loved reading stories with her. And Jamie would settle down at last. He’d finally stop whacking people. He was always so gentle with Jip – that dog brought out the soft side of him. They’d play together for hours in Auntie’s huge garden and he’d make loads of dens and camps but she wouldn’t mind a bit. She was like that. Maybe she’d even let us camp out on the island again. And we’d help her too – earn our keep with the chores like shopping or cleaning. Even Re could help wash up or lay the table so us being there would be good for her too. And we’d be company.

  ‘Old people get lonely,’ Great Auntie Irene told me once. ‘We like to have you youngsters around to shake things up a bit and remind us we’re still alive!’

  I thought of Elizabeth back in her huge mansion with just her memories for company. We could go back and see her. Visit. Take Great Auntie Irene. The pair would get on like a house on fire. They’d be swapping wartime memories like there was no tomorrow. I smiled to myself. Everything was going to be perfect.

  I opened my eyes. Re and Jamie were playing noughts and crosses on a scrap of paper. Jamie was letting her win for a change and she had a big grin on her face. The radio was still on but the cricket seemed to have given way to the news. I double-checked our map, mentally ticking off the stations we’d already stopped at and planning our route when we got off at the station after the next one. Suddenly something the newsreader said made me sit up sharp.

  ‘. . . the three missing children, non-identical twin girls aged fourteen and a boy of ten . . .’

  I froze. Jamie and Re hadn’t heard. The newsreader began to describe our exact appearance. Hardly daring, I glanced over to the people sitting on the other side of the aisle. They were chatting and laughing at the moment but how long would it take one of them to notice us? I quickly reached over and flicked the radio off. The man with the beard immediately started to stir.

  ‘Quick, get up,’ I urged Jamie and Rhianna.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ asked Jamie.

  The man picked up his radio, puzzled at its abrupt silence. He shook it, then realising it had been turned off, glared at us, switched it on again even louder, giving us another rude stare.

  ‘Appeals for the children to return home have so far been unsuccessful and police are becoming increasingly concerned for their welfare and safety. And now the weather . . .’

  Jamie went white and grabbed his bag. I got Re to her feet and started ushering her out of the carriage following Jamie. We passed a woman in a red jumper who glanced up at the three of us.

  There was a flicker of surprise in her expression. She looked as if she was about to say something but I didn’t wait around to listen; I bundled Jamie and Re into the next carriage. The train was coming into a station.

  ‘What’s the matter, Vicky?’ Re asked.

  ‘We’ve got to get off now, Re. Right now.’

  ‘But we’ve only done five stations. I counted. You said six.’

  ‘Never mind. Come on. Bring your bag.’

  We moved quickly through the carriages to the other end of the train and when it came to a halt and we could finally open the door, we leapt out.

  It was a tiny station surrounded by countryside in the middle of nowhere, with large pots full of bright red geraniums and a white picket fence. It was very quiet and completely deserted except for a few hikers in shorts and walking boots, who got off at the same time as us.

  I looked back at the train – the woman in the red jumper was on the platform talking urgently to the guard and pointing at us. She had recognised us all right. The guard was torn between moving the train off and chasing after us. As we ran to the exit tumbling through the group of hikers, she called after us, ‘Come back!’ but we didn’t.

  We were nearly at Great Auntie Irene’s. We were nearly there. We couldn’t give up now.

  Chapter 21

  When we ran out of the station, Vicky made us hide in some bushes so she could have a look at the map again. She said because we got off the train early it was going to take us a bit longer to get to Great Auntie Irene’s but it would be all right because we were going to take a short cut. I didn’t think it was very short. We went down a footpath. There were no houses just fields and hedges and trees and lots of sheep with muddy bottoms that baa-ed and clattered away noisily if we went near them.

  We walked for ages and ages and the brambles scratched my legs and my feet were sore and I kept tripping up and banging my knees when we climbed over gates. Then it started raining and my hood wouldn’t stay up so my hair got wet and water trickled all down my neck and I wanted to go back to Elizabeth’s house. I told Vicky but she wasn’t listening because she was looking at the map and arguing with Jamie about which way to go. Then Jamie said we had to watch out for adders. One little bite and our mouths would start foaming and our arms and legs would jerk and we would die if we didn’t get the right medicine.

  Once in the Unit, one of Maxine’s arms and legs started jerking and she had foamy spit coming out of her mouth. I don’t think it was an adder bite though. We’ve only got guinea pigs in the Unit. They’re called Floppy and Tom and I don’t think they’re poisonous. Mrs Edwards didn’t say what it was. She didn’t say anything except we all had to go out into the corridor and wait. I didn’t want to because I saw Maxine looking at me and I knew she wanted me to stay with her and hold the hand which wasn’t jerking but they wouldn’t let me. An ambulance came. Even Charlene Slackton stopped laughing and stared with her mouth open when they put Maxine in the back. It was break-time and everyone was watching. They put the siren on and all the Year Seven boys chased the van out of the gates. Maxine didn’t come back to school for ages.

  I was fed up with running away. So was Jamie. He was getting crosser and crosser. He snatched the map out of Vicky’s hands and said she was just a stupid girl and everyone knew girls couldn’t read maps. He looked at it for ages and ages and when Vicky said, OK, where are we then, he threw it back at her and said how should he know.

  Vicky was really angry because she didn’t catch the map when he threw it at her. It fell on the ground and got all wet
and muddy and then it started to blow away and she had to chase it and, when she caught it, it was ripped.

  She told Jamie off but he just shouted really really rude words at her and told her he didn’t care.

  My jeans were all covered in mud and I was cold and my socks were soggy. I told Vicky but she said it was all right because we’d be there soon. But we weren’t. We just kept on walking. And walking. And walking.

  When we did the sponsored walk in the Unit to raise money for our own computer we never walked this far. It was sunny and we had drinks and snacks and Mrs Edwards played I Spy with us as we went along and we sang songs and it was fun. I didn’t want to sing songs or play I Spy even though Vicky said I could do all the spying.

  I kept asking Vicky if we were there yet and she kept saying ‘In a little while’ or ‘Nearly’ but we still weren’t and after a while she stopped saying anything at all when I asked her. Jamie told me to shut up moaning or he’d give me a double chinese burn and whack me. Vicky still didn’t say anything so I sat down on the wet grass. Then she said something.

  ‘Re what the hell are you doing?’

  ‘I want my dinner.’

  ‘We haven’t got any dinner. Come on, get up!’ She bent down over me and tried to pull me up.

  I pushed her off. ‘I want sausages, chips and peas and then I want to watch Neighbours with Great Auntie Irene.’

  ‘Get up!’ Vicky shouted.

  ‘What’s the point?’ Jamie said, chucking his rucksack on to the ground next to me. ‘This is stupid. We don’t know where we are – we could be going anywhere! We’re probably going round and round in circles thanks to you!’

  ‘Me? Hang on, you’re the ones that wanted to run away!’ Vicky snapped. ‘I never wanted to go anywhere, remember? This is all your big idea.’ She stared down at us both sitting on the grass in the rain. Her orange hair was like wet wool and bits were stuck to her face. ‘Get up! We’ve got to keep going!’

  ‘Stop bossing us around!’ yelled Jamie back at her. ‘We’re fed up with it, aren’t we Re?’

  ‘Yeah. You’re always bossing us. We don’t like it.’

  She looked at us both then made a funny sort of gulping noise.

  ‘Bossing you around?’ she said. Her face was all red and her mouth was twisted up. ‘OK. That’s fine. I’ll stop bossing you around. Stay right here if you like. It’s not my job to watch over you. I’m not Mum. Understand? I’m not her.’ She wiped the wet hair from her face. ‘And something else. I’m tired and I’m hungry and I’m soaked to the skin too. I’ve had enough. So from now on you can do what you like. So I won’t be bossing either of you around any more because, guess what? I’m going back. And I don’t care what happens to us all. They can split us up. They can send me to the moon. I just don’t care any more . . .’

  As she turned round and started to walk away Jamie got up and ran at her, growling like a bear. He jumped on her back and she tried to push him off. She swung round and started yelling at him to leave her alone but he wouldn’t. They fell on the ground rolling round and round in the wet mud, whacking and shouting and screaming at each other.

  The noise stabbed into my ears and screeched round inside my head till it hurt. I shouted at them to stop but they wouldn’t so I started yelling too. I ran off up the hill. I shut my eyes and put my hands over my ears to try to keep out the noise. I kept running up and up until my legs wobbled underneath me and I started falling, slipping and tumbling down I didn’t know where.

  Chapter 22

  We both heard the scream. Startled, we looked up, our fight forgotten.

  ‘Rhianna!’

  There was no sign of her. We ran full pelt up the hill. Reaching the peak we hardly dared to look down the other side. The ground fell away sharply and the steep slope was studded with trees, scrub and brambles. And then we saw her at the bottom, close to a boulder-filled stream. She was lying on the ground like a limp rag doll. We rushed down the slope, half sliding, half running, tearing our clothes and grazing our skin. I could feel the panic rising. We were miles from anywhere. What if she was seriously hurt? Suddenly I felt sick. What if she were dead?

  I stopped and stared at her. She was so still. Her big moon face was splattered with dirt but white as chalk. Was this how dead people looked? I never saw Mum after she died. One evening she was in her bed at the hospital, the next morning she was gone and Dad was clearing her things out of the little locker. He’d said Jamie was too young and Re wouldn’t understand but I should go to the funeral with him. But I just couldn’t bear to see the coffin with Mum shut up inside it so I never went. I never said goodbye.

  Jamie got to Re first. He bent down close to her face.

  ‘She’s breathing,’ he whispered. ‘Vicky, don’t just stand there . . .’

  But I didn’t know what to do. This was my worst nightmare and it was all my fault.

  ‘Vicky!’ Jamie shouted. ‘Do something!’

  I pulled off my jacket, made it into a cushion and gently tucked it under her head. I got some tissues from my rucksack, wet them in the stream and gently wiped the mud and dirt from her face. After a few seconds her eyelids fluttered a little.

  ‘Re, are you OK?’

  She opened her eyes and groaned.

  ‘Where are you hurt?’ asked Jamie.

  ‘Everywhere.’

  ‘It’s all right, you’re going to be all right.’ I looked at Jamie. His face was as pale as Rhianna’s. He looked like he was going to cry any minute.

  Slowly, bit by bit, we got her to gently move each finger and toe, each arm and leg. Nothing was broken and the worst of it seemed to be cuts and bruises, but she was exhausted.

  ‘We’ve got to get her out of this rain,’ I said.

  I looked round. The opposite slope was steeper and faced with bare rock. A small waterfall cascaded down it into a fern-edged rock pool. The stream flowed down from this pool winding its way between moss-covered rocks and round trees. A little way past the waterfall, the rock face jutted out, creating a small dark hollow at ground level. Thinking this might give us some shelter from the rain, I pointed it out to Jamie and he went over to investigate. He disappeared out of sight for a few seconds then reappeared with the trace of a nervous grin on his face.

  ‘It’s a cave! It’s half covered up with brambles and it’s not very big but it’s dry inside. Someone’s used it as a den before – there’s stuff still in it.’

  We helped Rhianna up and, putting our arms round her for support, managed to get her to the cave. We carefully pulled back a ton of brambles and the branches of a huge wild rose bush with pink flowers. The outside walls were dripping with ferns and moss, but inside, just like Jamie promised, it was dry. I shivered knowing that it must have been stuffed full of spiders and other lovely creepy crawlies but for Re’s sake I didn’t allow myself to think about them.

  Inside, there was a dusty matted rug on the floor and even a couple of mouldy cushions. We sat Rhianna gently down on the floor, took off her wet coat and jeans and wrapped her sleeping bag round her. On a little rocky shelf there was an old biscuit tin and a few tatty comics. Everything looked as if it hadn’t been touched for ages. Gingerly, I opened the tin. Inside there was half a packet of stale biscuits. We were so hungry we ate every last crumb.

  I used some of the water from the stream to clean up Re’s cuts as best I could. Then we unrolled our sleeping bags and gently zipped Re into hers.

  ‘Re,’ I whispered as I snuggled her down, ‘I’m sorry. Those things I said. I didn’t mean them. I do care about you both. Honest.’

  She looked at me with those wide-set grey eyes, then asked, ‘Are you going to leave us here on our own?’

  ‘Course not, silly,’ I replied, giving her a big hug.

  ‘I’m not silly.’

  ‘You’re right,’ I told her. ‘I’m the silly one.’

  After hanging up our wet coats and jeans to dry as best we could, Jamie and I lay down either side of Rhianna and within a few
minutes she was fast asleep. Ten minutes later Jamie was asleep too. It had been such a long, horrible day. I turned over and shut my eyes but sleep wouldn’t come. It wasn’t quite dark yet but the rain had stopped and the clouds were clearing away. As quietly as I could, I unzipped my sleeping bag, pulled on my spare jeans and wet trainers and clambered out of the cave.

  It was very quiet and the ground smelt fresh and earthy. I followed the path of the stream down through the woods, thinking that I could easily retrace my steps as long as it wasn’t too dark. The woods were strangely silent and eerie. The air was misty and the leaves on the trees were shiny and dripping. I followed the stream for about ten minutes and was just about to turn back when the trees thinned and the ground became more pebbly. I looked up and gasped when I saw it. Our island on the lake. Right in front of me. We’d been so close but hadn’t even realised it was there. The lake was as beautiful as I remembered – the surface of the water shimmered pinks and oranges in the sunset.

  I hurried down to the shore and looked up along the lake edge. Perched halfway up a hill was the house where Great Auntie Irene lived with Jip. It sat with its green paintwork and grey tiled roof like an old friend patiently waiting for us. This was going to be our perfect new home.

  I wanted to shout and whoop and cry all at the same time but I didn’t dare. In the distance, I could hear the high-pitched whine of a couple of dirt bikes. There were still people around.

  It was late now. I didn’t want to give Great Auntie Irene a fright this time of night. She was an old lady and probably didn’t get many visitors.

  I heard Jip bark excitedly a few times as some quacking ducks splash-landed on the lake. I didn’t feel like going back to the cave, I wanted to sit looking at the house and the lake and the island all night but it was almost dark and I knew I must. The last thing I needed now was to get lost or lose my footing and fall over, so slowly and carefully I retraced my steps back along the stream to the cave. Jamie and Re were still sound asleep.