Chapter 85

Chapter 85

‘Where are you, you piece of shit?'

Spittle flew from Naomi's dry mouth as she bellowed out her anger.

‘I'm still down here, you know! I'm still alive!'

Fury and desolation wrestled for supremacy, as the teenager's voice shook.

‘Show yourself, be a bloody man. See what you've done …'

Naomi angled a glance towards Mia's corpse, then swiftly turned away. Her friend looked more waxwork than human, a sight that crushed her.

‘This is your fault! You did this!'

Raging, she pointed her finger at the door, as if her censure, her hatred, could somehow summon her captor, calling him to account.

‘Come down here and look at her. Just look at her …'

She petered out as emotion mastered her, a heartfelt sob erupting from her.

‘Just look …'

She whispered the last words, before collapsing to the floor and burying her head in her hands. Naomi was beyond exhausted, having spent the entire night fighting off scavengers who relentlessly circled Mia's body, and now her fury and defiance was inexorably turning to despair. It was inevitable that her resistance would be broken soon, that the determined vermin would finally gain their prize. If only he would come back, if only he would see what he'd done to her, then maybe she could still be saved this torment. He could take Mia away, bury her, save her from the slow decay that surely awaited her …

But there was no sign of him. In fact, he had been gone for over a day, a delay, an aberration that had proved fatal. Would he ever return? Even if he did, how would he react? Would he somehow blame her for Mia's death and punish her accordingly? Would he simply take the poor girl away in silence, leaving Naomi all alone? Or, worse still, would he find another companion for her, some poor innocent who even now was going about her business, unaware that a fate worse than death awaited her?

These horrific possibilities spun round Naomi's brain, pitching her further into despair. Each day seemed to bring fresh punishment and this morning was no different. Last night she'd found herself cradling a dying girl, fighting off the relentless pests. This morning, she found herself screaming wildly into the ether, hopelessly summoning a phantom who refused to appear. Exhausted, dizzy and hollow, she wondered now where her torment would end. Yesterday she'd been convinced she knew the worst, understanding with total certainty that she would die in this dark vault. But now she wondered if life, this shitty, unfair, cruel life had other plans for her.

Was it possible that instead of losing her life down here, she would first lose her mind?