Pushing up the Daises. By L. Whitmore
Chapter 1, A Near Miss
Lori sat in the empty room, silently twiddling her thumbs. A single tear dripped from her pale cheeks onto the muddy jeans she wore. Her long blonde hair hung around her face like clouds. She began gently to bite her lip. The gentleness turned to brutallity and blood emerged. She gently wiped it off and smeared it onto her blue top. The door opened and a smartly dressed woman walked in, her shoes tapping the wooden floor. She sat opposite Lori and put a small tray on the glass table in between them. They sat there silently, until the woman coughed quietly and spoke.
"I understand you have had......erm..... an incident, Lori." She picked up a small plate with a few chocolate biscuits on.
"Do you want one?" Lori shook her head, her hair draping over her shoulders. The door opened again and a tall man entered. He joined the woman and they quietly confided in each other for a while. He turned to Lori.
"You know who did it, we don't. Lori, you must tell us......" Lori looked fearfully up into his eyes.
"I..........I can't....I........."She stammered. The woman nodded.
"We understand. At some point though, we need to know. You nearly died, Lori. Do you want that to happen to your friends?" Lori shook her head violently. She pulled out a piece of paper, brown and scrumpled, from her jeans.
"What's that?"The man enquired. Lori bit her lip and pushed it into his hands.
"I......he....gave me that.......before.....before......" They glanced at each other.
"It's o.k." The woman patted her arm gently and read the paper over Pete's shoulder.
15/5/95
This girl was killed. If she is alive, please contact me so I can finish my job.
The name was torn off, but there was a single letter before the rip, an M. Lori swallowed deeply. Tears swept down her face and she brushed them away. Pete looked at her sadly. What boy or man could harm such a quiet, sensitive girl like Lori? His college, Sara, carefully put the paper in a plastic envelope for studying later.
"Lori, we're going to send you and your family away to another country for a while, until he's caught. We'll give you a few body guards to be around you all of the time and a nice quiet, secluded house to live in. You can choose where you want to go, if you want to." Sara said, glancing at Lori's worried face. Pete nodded.
"If you choose, then there's no chance of him finding you. If we choose, he may find you. We don't want to take that risk of losing you and your families lives." Lori sat silently as she thought. Her brow knotted together as several countries leapt in her mind. Finally, she spoke.
"I.......I always wanted to go to.....Australia." Sara and Pete nodded encouragingly.
"I..... always wanted to see the bush babies.....and crocodiles." Sara smiled. She looked at Pete.
"Australia it is then. We'll buck you some first class tickets, five for your family, five for your body guards." Lori managed a gracious smile.
"Thankyou....."