Hello to all new and continuing readers. Hope you're still enjoying 'TBWCH'
Disclaimer – Characters belong to Michelle Magorian!
Chapter Seven
They rush through the building. They know the quicker they can get in and out of here the better. The stench is awful. He doesn't want to admit to anyone what it smells like. He's fearing the worst. He thinks of the lad, who can possibly live in these conditions with that smell at the moment? It's as almost as if he wants to find the place empty. At least he can think of William as being safe from this place.
They head into the kitchen and apart from a table and a couple of wooden chairs, find it to be completely empty. The next room they try must be the boy's bedroom, in it is a wooden bed with the thinnest mattress alongside a small and badly discoloured bedsheet and blanket. A small pile of dirty clothes lay in the corner. He can recognize a few as things that Alice Fletcher had knitted for William during his first week in Little Weirwold. He glances back at the bed. It's clear that it's not been slept in for several days but it still looks untidy, unwelcoming, inhospitable.
He's beginning to get more and more worried as they make their way through the house. The stench is getting worse and poor Samuel is agitated by something. Deep down he knows that something must be here for the dog to be acting like this. Even Alf realizes that there's something odd about the poor animal.
"Is he usually like this?" Alf asks Tom.
He shakes his head in reply. "He can smell something. I'm sure of it."
They check a second, larger and more decorated bedroom of which he guesses must be Mrs Beech's. He shakes his head when he realises that she has got a decent bed and blanket. He thinks of the boy again. Surely she'd be taking care of him. They also find a small wooden wardrobe which is empty of clothes.
Alf shakes his head. "Wherever that woman's gone, I don't think she's taken the boy with her."
Tom nods. He glances at Alf. Neither want to admit that they have a bad feeling about what they're going to find.
Suddenly, Sammy jumps up at Tom before racing down the staircase. - It's as if he's trying to tell them something.
Both he and Alf, plus Glad make their way quickly down the stairs and back into the kitchen. He finds Sammy pressing up against a door. He can already see that it has been wedged shut.
"What's that door for?" Alf asks Glad.
"Just a cupboard with some pipes in" replies Glad.
"Any reason why she might have forced it shut?"
"Cant think of one" Glad replies. "Its like she's trying to hide something."
'Or someone' he thinks to himself. His heart is beginning to get faster. The worry. The fear. The dread of what's behind is growing.
He and Alf tug sharply at the door, hoping that the sudden force would be able to free it but it's been secured with something underneath it. A second attempt a couple of minutes later makes little difference.
Eventually Alf finds a metal bar that he can put on the inside of the door to use as a pivot to try and force it open. After a couple of more tries, he's able to force their way in.
Alf shines a light into the cupboard. The smell has gotten worse.
"God" Alf coughs, "What on earth is going on here?"
Tom can make out the outline of a something in the corner. A small, thin, frightened figure with an arm chained to a pipe above their head. The little figure is nursing a bundle in their other arm.
He's shocked by the boy's appearance when he realizes who it is.
It's William. They've found him.
Once again, many thanks for reading so far. More to come soon.
