Trapped.
Michelle was in the office, now that it was no longer a crime scene. She was sorting through the papers once more, hoping, pleading that something would turn up that would give her some sort of clue to where Frank had taken Carla.
She'd tried his mobile number so many times that she knew it by heart. Each time it rang off, though it was more than she'd expected.
"Where is she?" Michelle cried out to herself, pushing a file off of the desk in frustration. It spilled open, revealing some of Frank's old contracts.
"Well these are going in Carla's file." She growled, leaning down to pick the papers once more. Technically they were Carla's clients, anyway. He'd stole them from her when he'd pitched up his own little factory in that dim old wareh-
"Oh my God!" Michelle jumped up from her seat, the chair flying backwards in force, skidding across the office on its wheels before crashing into the wall. That was it. His old factory. If it was supposedly abandoned once more, who'd even think about checking there?
She was out of the factory in a flash, flying down the steps and unlocking the door to Carla's car.
"Michelle? Where are you going, I were just-"
"Yeah, later Sean, tell me later!"
Sean had to jump out of the way to stop Michelle reversing into him, shaking his head slightly as he watched her speed off down the street.
Her hands shook on the wheel as she weaved in and out of other cars on the road, her heart hammering against her chest. She had to be there. They didn't have passports, they weren't at the house and Frank had to keep a low profile.
She parked around the corner. She didn't want Carla's car to be recognised. Her heels clicked madly against the floor as she stalked over to the warehouse. It was boarded up, now, but the door was broken, and she was able to squeeze herself between the wooden board that was up against the half open door.
It was even more dull now the lights weren't on, and she struggled to see what with the only light being through to small cracks showing through the shoddy boarding up.
Her heart sank. What had she been thinking? Of course she wasn't going to find Carla here. It was bare, right down to the dirty white floor. Even Kirk wouldn't be thick enough to hide here in a game of hide and seek.
She gasped when she heard the scuffling of the door, spinning around as it was shoved open. She came face to face with a tall, burly looking man. He had short stubbly hair and tree trunk arms. He wore a menacing grimace on his face, and Michelle knew in an instant he wasn't someone to be messed with. Although when he saw Michelle, he seemed to freeze, almost looking scared. It didn't take him long to regain composure.
"What are you doing here?" His voice was gruff, and he spoke as though he expected a pretty decent answer.
"I could ask you the same." She was an idiot for arguing with him, but she didn't want him to think he intimidated her in the slightest.
"That's none of your business, get out."
"I've got as much right to be here as you have, by the looks of it." She replied back, smartly, folding her arms in an attempt to stop her form from quivering.
"Look I'm not in the best of moods, so why don't you just…" He'd trailed off, noticing that Michelle was stood, wide-eye'd , staring at his hand. It wasn't hard to mistake. She'd seen her unwrap it. She'd been so happy on Christmas when she'd received it. It was such a beautiful necklace.
"Where is she?" Michelle whispered, her eyes filling with angry tears.
"What are you talking about?" He snapped, taking an advancing step forward. "I haven't got time for this. Get out."
"Where is she?" Michelle shouting it this time and before she could stop herself she'd thrown herself at him, trying to hit him, hurt him, make him tell her where she was because she knew that he knew.
Her small frame was no match at all for his mountainous build, and she was soon thrown onto the floor. All the air was knocked out of her body as she landed hard on her back, though she tried to scramble back up again.
In what seemed a split second of panic or madness, he'd grabbed hold of her once more, dragging her back up. His fist caught a handful of her hair and she cried out, unable to twist herself from his grip. He was dragging her towards the far corner of the room, and she had to follow, every stumble causing a sharp sting as her roots were wrenched more.
It was only when he leant down that she saw a small metal handle attached to the floor. When he lifted it, a small, dark ,hollow square appeared in the ground, the top of a ladder just visible. A trap door.
Michelle twisted in his grip once more, struggling like mad to break free from his grasp. Her struggling didn't go down well, and she received a hefty thump which caught her square in the ribs. She was too shocked to make any sound as the dull ache started to spread down her side, her ribs now throbbing.
He'd taken advantage of managing to knock her to the floor by pushing her down into the gaping, black square. She was aching, but she wasn't going to give up. She clung onto the top of the ladder, desperate not to let him close the hatch. But again he had the upper hand, and he slammed the hatch down with a force that made Michelle let go before she'd found her footing on the ladder.
She fell hard and heavy onto her wrist, another pained cry escaping her lips as she clutched her hand to her chest, feeling a sharp sensation travelling to her elbow.
It was pitch black down here and freezing. A sudden wave of nausea washed over her as she realised just how terrified she was. She had no idea what he was playing at and it suddenly dawned on her that no one knew she was there. She couldn't stop the terrified sob that left her lips, followed by an ear piercing scream as a weak groan emerged from somewhere to the left of her. She wasn't alone.
She crawled over, blindly, her hands out infront of her. She was trembling by the time her hand touched something solid, someone solid.
She squinted, allowing her eyes to become adjusted to the dark. She could just about make out the outline of a body, hunched up, knees to chest in the dark and as her hand stroked over soft, long hair, her heart leapt into her mouth.
"Carla!"
