Find You in the Dark: a gritty, nail-biting psychological thriller by Mark Gillespie

Author:Mark Gillespie [Gillespie, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Deep Red Publishing
Published: 2023-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

16

LAURA

Laura’s body froze. In a split second, everything stopped working.

It happened just as she reached into the rucksack for the knife. Her body tensed up and she felt like a wishbone about to snap.

Her fingers gripped the knife handle. But she couldn’t pull it out. It was like a sudden paralysis at the worst possible moment. He was right there – the man who ruined her life. Right there, waiting for Judgement Day. A few more steps, pull the blade out and plunge it into Dirk’s back. Spin him around. Look into his eyes. The last thing he’d hear, apart from the sound of his dying breath, would be Laura’s name in his ear.

He’d looked right at her. Then he turned around again, thinking she was just another tourist. A blue-haired nobody.

He doesn’t recognise me, Laura thought. What he did back then. It meant so little to him.

She’d followed the family to the top of the hill, keeping a close distance. The track to the monument was one she’d taken several times over the years. Mostly for the solitude she’d experienced at the top, far away from everything and everyone. The best time to come up was late in the day, preferably in winter, when there were no tourists. Wrap up well. Bring a torch. It was quite something.

Laura had to move. She couldn’t just stand there like an idiot, her hand stuck in the rucksack. Body and mind out of sync. She had to bring all that hate back to the surface. That would do it. That would get things moving again. Let the hatred bubble up and spill over.

And yet looking at Dirk, Laura felt like a victim again. Naked and humiliated. Hiding behind the sheets. Trapped in a hotel room.

Here was a chance to settle the score. In the nightmares that had plagued her over the past five years, the stranger in that hotel room would sometimes take the shape of a red-skinned devil with sharp horns or some other kind of grotesque monster. His shirt unbuttoned. Smoking. Drinking from a silver flask. This was the same monster who lived rent-free in her mind and there was nothing she could do to evict him.

Until now.

This was her chance. And she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t do anything. Her hand was still trapped inside the bag, like a foot stuck in the mud.

Laura could feel the sweat running down her face. Now, she screamed to herself. Do it now. How long could she just stand there, stooped over, hand in the bag, before someone noticed?

How long before they came over? Before they realised that she was trying to pull out a knife?

Laura glanced at Dirk.

He wasn’t paying any attention to her. Instead, he was admiring the view. Looking up at the monument and its central arches. Throwing the occasional glance to the right, looking for his family. His contentment was repulsive to Laura. He was so at ease with himself, despite all the things he’d done.

What would Dirk see if he turned around? A madwoman wrestling with something in her rucksack.

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