Disclaimer: I own nothing Tolkien has created, unfortunately. I guess I can
still dream.
A/N: Come on review please please. Alright, enough begging. Please. Sorry. Thanks to Katy, have a really good new year.
Ch 4 Welcome back
Fred gripped Ned's shoulders and shook her gently, not wanting her to hit out at her like she had done with Bob.
"Ned can you hear me?" She shouted.
Ned obviously could because she looked right at Fred and moved her head around to try and find the source of the almost hysterical laughing that was coming from Bob. Although she was awake Ned didn't seem to know where she was or who Fred and Bob were, this was hardly surprising and yet it concerned Fred who was still trying to get Ned to look at her properly.
Ned gripped Fred's wrists and pulled her hands away from her shoulders. Fred didn't resist. Ned tried to sit up and after a few failed attempts and a little help from Fred and Bob she managed it. She looked completely dazed as she looked around her as if trying to work out where she was. She then turned to the two, in her eyes, blurred people beside her. They looked vaguely familiar and yet she had an incredible urge to run away from them.
She began struggling to crawl away, knowing that it wasn't safe to stay there but at the same time not knowing whether she would be able to get away. Everything was blurred and confusing. Like it was all new and yet she had been there before. All she saw were blurred shapes that resembled things that she remembered and yet they seemed so far away, too far away for her to reach. Everything was so dark with the occasional light mass that was too distorted to make sense of. It was like looking through smeared glass that didn't show anything clearly.
Ned was desperate to work out what was going on but there was a fogginess clouding her thoughts so there was no way she could understand what was happening. She couldn't hear much, she could hear voices but they seemed so distant, like they were miles away and shouting at her but she couldn't hear them. It sounded like she was listening to them underwater and they could only be heard as muffled sounds that made no sense to her.
It was almost as if she recognised them, the voices, they sounded familiar and yet she couldn't figure out what they were saying or who they were coming from. As she looked around she could see those distant shapes, she swore they were looking at her, they must have been the ones talking to her but she couldn't understand what they were saying.
Their voices were resounding in her head but they weren't getting any clearer, they sounded angry, they were shouting at her. If only she knew what they were saying. She wanted to move away or tell them something to stop them shouting at her but she couldn't speak, her mouth was so dry, she couldn't speak, she couldn't move away. She suddenly felt trapped, trapped with these people, she wanted to get away, she wanted them to leave.
Ned tried to crawl away but her muscles would not allow her to move far, she wanted to, she could feel the need to go away but her body wouldn't respond to her mind's pleas. She felt hands grabbing her, pulling her back. They were stronger than her, she couldn't make them leave. Her body was so weak it wouldn't do what she wanted and what she wanted was to get away from these people.
Those seemingly big hands were pulling her back, gripping her so she couldn't leave. Why wouldn't they leave her alone? What was she to them? Why did she feel so tired? She didn't understand what was happening or why it was happening.
Fred and Bob were trying to keep Ned from crawling away; they had grabbed her before she could get too far. They knew that they had to help her but all she wanted to do was get away from them. She appeared to be afraid of them. That made no sense to Bob although Fred understood perfectly.
"Why's she trying to get away, we only want to help her?" Bob asked loudly whilst she tried to restrain the struggling Ned.
"She's been underground for four weeks without any light. She's been buried alive, wouldn't you be scared? She probably doesn't understand who we are or where she is. She's been underground, she's not used to this." Fred said quickly also trying to keep Ned still who was crying and trying to get away.
"What do we do then? How do we calm her down?" Bob hoped Fred had an answer. "We have to help her. Soon."
"Okay. Let her go." Fred said letting her grip loose.
"Let her go? Are you insane? She's sick she needs help." Bob shouted back at her.
"Yeah but we're not helping her by grabbing her. We're just making her more upset. Just let her go."
"So she can crawl away into the city. Probably not the best idea Fred." Bob was still holding on to Ned hoping to restrain her.
"Look at her Bob, she can hardly crawl now, I hardly think she's strong enough to make it to the city. Just let her go. At least then she'll calm down and we can try and get her to your uncle's."
Bob paused uncertainly for a moment and then let go of Ned who fell on her face and struggled to get to her knees again. By now she was crying, but making very little noise. Neither Fred nor Bob needed to ask why.
Finally, after a few minutes of trying to crawl away Ned fell on her face again and began crying into the pavement. Bob and Fred forced themselves to stay away from her not wanting to upset her even more. After a few minutes Ned's cries died down slightly and she lifted her head slightly. She didn't move though, she didn't want them to know where she was. Her logic just wasn't there at that time. She still couldn't understand what was going on but now the physical pain was taking over the shock.
She remained still against the floor hoping the two people who were holding her wouldn't come near her again. She could feel the severe cold that was taking over her body. She didn't understand why though, she wanted it to go away. Those blurred images of people were fading into just black shadows that were now completely unrecognisable and yet because of it even more terrifying.
Suddenly the blackness left her and the shapes were back again but this time they were clearer, like she was just too far away to see them clearly but getting closer. She recognised them although she couldn't remember where from. She didn't know their names but now she got the feeling that they weren't going to hurt her. Still she didn't want them getting too close.
That coldness was taking her over again but that welcomed blackness wouldn't come back. She just wanted to sleep again, like she had been before. She tried to speak hoping to attract the attention of the two people. She got the feeling that they knew something about what was happening to her. Yes they knew, that's why they were there. She tried again and the shout came out as a strained croak.
Bob and Fred were watching this. Bob was about to walk over to her when she heard the croak but Fred stopped her and shook her head.
"She wants to call for us." Bob whispered fiercely.
"Then let her call for us. Be patient Bob."
They waited for some time. Finally they heard what sounded like a word. It was definitely form Ned although they couldn't make out what it was; they guessed that she wanted their help. Bob went towards her and this time Fred didn't stop her. Instead she followed.
Although the girls had only heard a word that hadn't really made sense Ned had tried to say more. She had wanted to ask them to help her, to make her warm and to let her sleep, to tell her what happened. Unfortunately she couldn't say all of this and ended up just saying one word.
"Help."
Bob and Fred approached her carefully not wanting to startle or upset her as they had done earlier. She lifted her head from the ground as Bob knelt down next to her. She looked pleadingly into Bob's eyes and lay back down. Fred stood watching this not wanting to get in the way but wanting to stay close just in case there was a repeat of the incident earlier on.
Everything seemed calm now though, Ned was silently crying into the pavement and Bob was speaking gently to her hoping to keep her that way but comfort her. Ned eventually looked up at Bob who smiled at her, she tried to speak but it came out as nothing more than a whisper. Bob leaned closer to hear.
"What happened?" Ned asked quietly.
"That doesn't matter now." Bob whispered back. She looked over to Fred who pointed at her watch and up at the slowly brightening sky. Dawn. "Ned, we have to get you out of here. It's going to be light soon and we need to get you indoors. Okay. Me and Fred are going to take you to a safe place but you're going to have to help us. Do you understand?"
Ned twisted her head round to look at Fred and smiled. She nodded suddenly trusting these two still unknown people completely. Fred smiled back hoping to bring her some comfort and make her see that she was alright. She didn't know whether it worked or not but it was worth a try.
Bob leaned down closer to Ned and helped her friend get up. It took a while but eventually she was almost standing, with the help of both the girls. They had to get her out of the graveyard, they knew how bad it would be of they got caught. They were surprised that no one had found them already.
Slowly they managed to get Ned walking down the road although it took a lot of support for her to do this. Ned had been buried for several weeks so her muscles were very stiff and she had to concentrate very hard to be able to walk at all.
Eventually they managed to get into the city. It was just beginning to get even lighter but luckily there still weren't many people walking around. Those that were generally just ignored them, too busy with their own problems to worry about anyone else. It took a lot of work to get Ned into the city and all three were relieved when they finally saw the first buildings. Ned wasn't the only one having a hard time, Fred, who had ran away from the hospital was also finding it hard, she hadn't realised that the fairly short walk would be that hard. She smiled when she finally saw the buildings although she had to force herself to half-carry Ned through those never ending streets.
Finally they reached a tall block of flats. When they got there Bob stopped and looked up.
"Please don't tell me your uncle's flat is on the top floor." Fred begged but the look on Bob's face told her she already knew the answer.
"It's really not that far." Bob insisted. She understood why Fred was so worried; it was a long way to walk especially with Ned being ill.
"That's odd because it looks like miles. I'm guessing there isn't a lift either?" Fred wasn't the least bit hopeful when she said this.
"There used to be but unless you want to climb up the lift shaft then we should probably take the stairs."
"I knew you were going to say that." Fred said as Bob pulled out the key from her pocket and pushed it into the keyhole. Nothing happened.
"I think we may have a slight problem." Bob said to Fred who was looking up tiredly at the flats.
"What's the problem?" Fred asked looking over at her friend.
"You remember that my uncle said I could borrow this flat?" A small nod from Fred. "And you remember that a few weeks ago he was robbed?" Another nod, Fred had a good idea of what Bob was going to say. "I think he changed the key. I mean the whole block of flats changed the keys."
"You call that a small problem? They don't come much bigger than that." Fred was almost shouting in frustration.
"It could be worse." Bob said trying to calm Fred down slightly.
"How could it possibly worse?"
"We could have to climb up the walls." The humour didn't work though and Bob instantly regretted it.
"Just kick the door down." Fred eventually said.
"What?"
"Kick the door down. It's not hard."
"I can't just kick the door down, that's breaking and entering. We could get arrested for that."
"What and you think that digging up bodies and stealing cars is perfectly normal? You had no worries about doing that, this should be a breeze." Fred was getting more and more impatient.
"Fine. I'll kick the door down. No problem." Bob was inspecting the door wondering how she could do it.
"Bob would you just hurry up, it's pretty simple, just kick it really hard."
"That's easy for you to say. It's not your fingerprints that are going to show up on this is it?"
"Bob, you're using your feet, no one's fingerprints are going to be on it. Either you do it or I will."
"Alright, just give me a minute."
Fred sighed but knew that nothing she could say would make her friend go any faster. Suddenly and almost unexpectedly Bob kicked the door as hard as she could. Fred was relieved that she'd finally done it but her relief was halted when Bob recoiled and nothing happened. The door stayed firm and only Bob was almost lying on the floor. She was trying to keep her weight off her hurt foot.
Fred looked on trying to support Ned at the same time as casting angry glances at Bob was attempting to speak despite her obvious 'discomfort'.
"It's a lot harder than it looks." Bob said whilst hopping up and down.
"Nothing's changed." Ned said in a shaking but almost normal voice. She even surprised herself when she learned that she could speak almost normally.
"You're telling me." Fred smiled back after looking over at Bob who had finally stopped jumping up and down. "I suppose we could just wait for someone else to come in or come out. Or we could call someone's flat and ask them to let us in. Bob, pretend you're a flower person or something."
"Why me? I just nearly kicked a door down."
"Yeah, emphasis on nearly. Besides, I have a bad foot and Ned is technically dead so that only leaves you. Sorry."
"Great. Nice to know we're working as a team again." Bob tried to sound serious but she couldn't conceal the slight smile that crossed her face. "Okay, who should I call?"
"Just pick a random number. It doesn't matter." Fred was getting impatient again, mostly because of the added weight Ned was leaning on her. Her friend wasn't getting any better whilst they were stood outside talking. "Bob hurry up, we need to get her inside." Fred pointed at Ned who was beginning to move towards the floor despite Fred's efforts to keep her stood up.
Bob nodded and pressed the number four button on the intercom. At first no one answered but finally an elderly voice came on the line and asked them who they were, it was almost as if she had it written down. Bob told her that they were delivering flowers and needed to come in. The woman hesitated for a moment before a little red light came on indicating that the door was now open although she made no official invitation.
Both Fred and Bob smiled as Bob opened the door and walked through keeping it open so Fred could almost drag Ned through. When they were through Bob closed the door and helped Fred with Ned. They waited a moment before walking towards the lift, Fred hoped that maybe they had fixed it and that they wouldn't have to walk up those stairs. She was not only worried about Ned but she was also beginning to get tired herself. She didn't want to let Bob know this so suppressed an annoyed sigh when they discovered that the lift was still broken.
They looked over at the stairs, neither wanting to climb them but both knowing they had no choice. They couldn't risk waiting around for too long or meeting someone in the corridors, they didn't want to think what this looked like to other people. They were carrying someone who had come out of a grave just an hour ago. Ned was getting more and more tired as was Fred, which hadn't escaped Bob's notice no matter how much she tried to hide it. The stairs were going to be a completely new challenge, one that no one wanted to face.
They opened the door and looked at what they had to climb. It didn't look so bad to Bob but to Fred who was beginning to feel the strain on her already weakened body it seemed like a mountain rather than stairs. They walked up the first flight and stopped for a moment allowing Ned to rest slightly and for themselves to get a break from pulling her up the stairs.
Eventually after a while of walking up the staircase they finally reached the last door. By this time it was not only Ned that was having trouble standing up but also Fred. It was a lot of work for someone who has only walked as far as the end of a hospital ward and back in the past four weeks.
When they reached the top there was a great temptation to drop Ned and run to the door and throw themselves onto the couch and rest but they both resisted and hauled Ned along the small corridor until they reached Bob's uncle's door. Bob inserted the key which still fit the lock and they helped Ned through. They took her through to the bedroom and laid her on the bed. She instantly fell asleep as if she was too tired to keep her eyes open.
Although Bob and Fred had a lot of questions they wanted to ask her they let her sleep and left the room. Before doing so Fred picked up a blanket from the other side of the room and threw it over the sleeping Ned. She left the room and walked into the kitchen where she found Bob sitting at the table drinking a glass of water. She motioned for Fred to do the same noticing how tired she was. Fred gratefully accepted and sat down and quickly drank the water.
She watched Bob for a moment before stating what they had both been thinking.
"So what now? Maybe we should have taken her straight to a hospital or the police. They know more about this guy Frank than we do. I'm not sure whether we can even treat her; she needs help, probably more than we can give her in a flat. We have no idea what this has done to her. We don't even know if she knows who we are. You saw how frightened she was when we dug her up."
"You're probably right but the police wouldn't know what to do anyway. We'll do all we can for her and then we'll see what happens. I think she does remember us though. Did you hear her at the door, she said that nothing had changed which means she probably remembered us."
"She was confused. Maybe she didn't know what she was talking about."
"Maybe." Bob thought for a moment. "We'll look after her here for a while, if she gets too bad we'll call an ambulance. Okay?"
"Okay. I just hope you know what you're doing." Bob nodded trying to convince Fred that she did.
Fred got up and walked over to the table in the living room. She picked up the flowers from the vase on the table and shook the water off them trying to make them look presentable. Bob looked confused.
"What are you doing? I really don't think that flowers are going to help Ned too much right now."
"These aren't for Ned. They're for the old lady who let us in."
"Great, you're getting sentimental on me now?" Bob smiled, still not understanding.
"There were robberies around here. We told the lady we were delivering flowers and we didn't come. She's going to get suspicious and probably call the police. If I take these to her it might stop her from doing that. Okay?"
"Fine. You know best."
Fred nodded before turning and walking out the door. Before she left Bob stopped her.
"Fred, you look tired, you want me to do that?"
"No, I'll do this, it won't take a moment. You look after Ned. Don't wake her, it's probably best if she slept for a while anyway." Fred smiled at the look of concern on Bob's face. "Don't worry. Everything is going to work out. You'll see."
"I hope you're right. Don't be long, you know more about first aid than I do." Fred nodded and walked out closing the door softly behind her.
Bob smiled once again and went to the bedroom. She wanted to make sure Ned was alright, if that was even possible. She hoped Fred was right and Ned really was going to be okay. Everything had happened so quickly that she hadn't even thought about what it meant that her friend was alive. They were a trio again. Like it used to be, almost.
She went into the bedroom and walked over to the window. She closed the curtains so that the light wouldn't disturb her friend. Bob didn't want to think what it was like being locked inside a box for weeks. The claustrophobia that. She tried to stop herself. She had seen what it did before, with Fred in Orthanc, the constant cries. It all flooded back to her like it was happening. Everything, coming home to find Ned lying dead, the torture, the power, David. She didn't want to think about these things and yet she couldn't stop herself. She had found that happened a lot since that week, she was constantly reliving it. It haunted her, her dreams.
She once again stopped herself, she had to be strong for Ned and Fred, they were the ones that had suffered the most in all of this. She had to stop thinking about all this. Unfortunately it didn't work, she still felt that pain time and time again, heard Fred's desperate cries for help. She couldn't stop them echoing in her mind. She looked at Ned and realised that she was crying, seeing her friend alive, something she never thought possible was brilliant and yet there was still something telling her that something was wrong, that it wasn't that simple. That familiar feeling of dread came back to her as she was forced to bury her face in the sheets to stop it.
After a few minutes she heard a door slam and felt a hand on her back guiding her to lay down on the bed. As much as she wanted to resist her body told her not to. She lay down and fell into a dream-filled sleep that she wished she didn't have.
A/N: Come on review please please. Alright, enough begging. Please. Sorry. Thanks to Katy, have a really good new year.
Ch 4 Welcome back
Fred gripped Ned's shoulders and shook her gently, not wanting her to hit out at her like she had done with Bob.
"Ned can you hear me?" She shouted.
Ned obviously could because she looked right at Fred and moved her head around to try and find the source of the almost hysterical laughing that was coming from Bob. Although she was awake Ned didn't seem to know where she was or who Fred and Bob were, this was hardly surprising and yet it concerned Fred who was still trying to get Ned to look at her properly.
Ned gripped Fred's wrists and pulled her hands away from her shoulders. Fred didn't resist. Ned tried to sit up and after a few failed attempts and a little help from Fred and Bob she managed it. She looked completely dazed as she looked around her as if trying to work out where she was. She then turned to the two, in her eyes, blurred people beside her. They looked vaguely familiar and yet she had an incredible urge to run away from them.
She began struggling to crawl away, knowing that it wasn't safe to stay there but at the same time not knowing whether she would be able to get away. Everything was blurred and confusing. Like it was all new and yet she had been there before. All she saw were blurred shapes that resembled things that she remembered and yet they seemed so far away, too far away for her to reach. Everything was so dark with the occasional light mass that was too distorted to make sense of. It was like looking through smeared glass that didn't show anything clearly.
Ned was desperate to work out what was going on but there was a fogginess clouding her thoughts so there was no way she could understand what was happening. She couldn't hear much, she could hear voices but they seemed so distant, like they were miles away and shouting at her but she couldn't hear them. It sounded like she was listening to them underwater and they could only be heard as muffled sounds that made no sense to her.
It was almost as if she recognised them, the voices, they sounded familiar and yet she couldn't figure out what they were saying or who they were coming from. As she looked around she could see those distant shapes, she swore they were looking at her, they must have been the ones talking to her but she couldn't understand what they were saying.
Their voices were resounding in her head but they weren't getting any clearer, they sounded angry, they were shouting at her. If only she knew what they were saying. She wanted to move away or tell them something to stop them shouting at her but she couldn't speak, her mouth was so dry, she couldn't speak, she couldn't move away. She suddenly felt trapped, trapped with these people, she wanted to get away, she wanted them to leave.
Ned tried to crawl away but her muscles would not allow her to move far, she wanted to, she could feel the need to go away but her body wouldn't respond to her mind's pleas. She felt hands grabbing her, pulling her back. They were stronger than her, she couldn't make them leave. Her body was so weak it wouldn't do what she wanted and what she wanted was to get away from these people.
Those seemingly big hands were pulling her back, gripping her so she couldn't leave. Why wouldn't they leave her alone? What was she to them? Why did she feel so tired? She didn't understand what was happening or why it was happening.
Fred and Bob were trying to keep Ned from crawling away; they had grabbed her before she could get too far. They knew that they had to help her but all she wanted to do was get away from them. She appeared to be afraid of them. That made no sense to Bob although Fred understood perfectly.
"Why's she trying to get away, we only want to help her?" Bob asked loudly whilst she tried to restrain the struggling Ned.
"She's been underground for four weeks without any light. She's been buried alive, wouldn't you be scared? She probably doesn't understand who we are or where she is. She's been underground, she's not used to this." Fred said quickly also trying to keep Ned still who was crying and trying to get away.
"What do we do then? How do we calm her down?" Bob hoped Fred had an answer. "We have to help her. Soon."
"Okay. Let her go." Fred said letting her grip loose.
"Let her go? Are you insane? She's sick she needs help." Bob shouted back at her.
"Yeah but we're not helping her by grabbing her. We're just making her more upset. Just let her go."
"So she can crawl away into the city. Probably not the best idea Fred." Bob was still holding on to Ned hoping to restrain her.
"Look at her Bob, she can hardly crawl now, I hardly think she's strong enough to make it to the city. Just let her go. At least then she'll calm down and we can try and get her to your uncle's."
Bob paused uncertainly for a moment and then let go of Ned who fell on her face and struggled to get to her knees again. By now she was crying, but making very little noise. Neither Fred nor Bob needed to ask why.
Finally, after a few minutes of trying to crawl away Ned fell on her face again and began crying into the pavement. Bob and Fred forced themselves to stay away from her not wanting to upset her even more. After a few minutes Ned's cries died down slightly and she lifted her head slightly. She didn't move though, she didn't want them to know where she was. Her logic just wasn't there at that time. She still couldn't understand what was going on but now the physical pain was taking over the shock.
She remained still against the floor hoping the two people who were holding her wouldn't come near her again. She could feel the severe cold that was taking over her body. She didn't understand why though, she wanted it to go away. Those blurred images of people were fading into just black shadows that were now completely unrecognisable and yet because of it even more terrifying.
Suddenly the blackness left her and the shapes were back again but this time they were clearer, like she was just too far away to see them clearly but getting closer. She recognised them although she couldn't remember where from. She didn't know their names but now she got the feeling that they weren't going to hurt her. Still she didn't want them getting too close.
That coldness was taking her over again but that welcomed blackness wouldn't come back. She just wanted to sleep again, like she had been before. She tried to speak hoping to attract the attention of the two people. She got the feeling that they knew something about what was happening to her. Yes they knew, that's why they were there. She tried again and the shout came out as a strained croak.
Bob and Fred were watching this. Bob was about to walk over to her when she heard the croak but Fred stopped her and shook her head.
"She wants to call for us." Bob whispered fiercely.
"Then let her call for us. Be patient Bob."
They waited for some time. Finally they heard what sounded like a word. It was definitely form Ned although they couldn't make out what it was; they guessed that she wanted their help. Bob went towards her and this time Fred didn't stop her. Instead she followed.
Although the girls had only heard a word that hadn't really made sense Ned had tried to say more. She had wanted to ask them to help her, to make her warm and to let her sleep, to tell her what happened. Unfortunately she couldn't say all of this and ended up just saying one word.
"Help."
Bob and Fred approached her carefully not wanting to startle or upset her as they had done earlier. She lifted her head from the ground as Bob knelt down next to her. She looked pleadingly into Bob's eyes and lay back down. Fred stood watching this not wanting to get in the way but wanting to stay close just in case there was a repeat of the incident earlier on.
Everything seemed calm now though, Ned was silently crying into the pavement and Bob was speaking gently to her hoping to keep her that way but comfort her. Ned eventually looked up at Bob who smiled at her, she tried to speak but it came out as nothing more than a whisper. Bob leaned closer to hear.
"What happened?" Ned asked quietly.
"That doesn't matter now." Bob whispered back. She looked over to Fred who pointed at her watch and up at the slowly brightening sky. Dawn. "Ned, we have to get you out of here. It's going to be light soon and we need to get you indoors. Okay. Me and Fred are going to take you to a safe place but you're going to have to help us. Do you understand?"
Ned twisted her head round to look at Fred and smiled. She nodded suddenly trusting these two still unknown people completely. Fred smiled back hoping to bring her some comfort and make her see that she was alright. She didn't know whether it worked or not but it was worth a try.
Bob leaned down closer to Ned and helped her friend get up. It took a while but eventually she was almost standing, with the help of both the girls. They had to get her out of the graveyard, they knew how bad it would be of they got caught. They were surprised that no one had found them already.
Slowly they managed to get Ned walking down the road although it took a lot of support for her to do this. Ned had been buried for several weeks so her muscles were very stiff and she had to concentrate very hard to be able to walk at all.
Eventually they managed to get into the city. It was just beginning to get even lighter but luckily there still weren't many people walking around. Those that were generally just ignored them, too busy with their own problems to worry about anyone else. It took a lot of work to get Ned into the city and all three were relieved when they finally saw the first buildings. Ned wasn't the only one having a hard time, Fred, who had ran away from the hospital was also finding it hard, she hadn't realised that the fairly short walk would be that hard. She smiled when she finally saw the buildings although she had to force herself to half-carry Ned through those never ending streets.
Finally they reached a tall block of flats. When they got there Bob stopped and looked up.
"Please don't tell me your uncle's flat is on the top floor." Fred begged but the look on Bob's face told her she already knew the answer.
"It's really not that far." Bob insisted. She understood why Fred was so worried; it was a long way to walk especially with Ned being ill.
"That's odd because it looks like miles. I'm guessing there isn't a lift either?" Fred wasn't the least bit hopeful when she said this.
"There used to be but unless you want to climb up the lift shaft then we should probably take the stairs."
"I knew you were going to say that." Fred said as Bob pulled out the key from her pocket and pushed it into the keyhole. Nothing happened.
"I think we may have a slight problem." Bob said to Fred who was looking up tiredly at the flats.
"What's the problem?" Fred asked looking over at her friend.
"You remember that my uncle said I could borrow this flat?" A small nod from Fred. "And you remember that a few weeks ago he was robbed?" Another nod, Fred had a good idea of what Bob was going to say. "I think he changed the key. I mean the whole block of flats changed the keys."
"You call that a small problem? They don't come much bigger than that." Fred was almost shouting in frustration.
"It could be worse." Bob said trying to calm Fred down slightly.
"How could it possibly worse?"
"We could have to climb up the walls." The humour didn't work though and Bob instantly regretted it.
"Just kick the door down." Fred eventually said.
"What?"
"Kick the door down. It's not hard."
"I can't just kick the door down, that's breaking and entering. We could get arrested for that."
"What and you think that digging up bodies and stealing cars is perfectly normal? You had no worries about doing that, this should be a breeze." Fred was getting more and more impatient.
"Fine. I'll kick the door down. No problem." Bob was inspecting the door wondering how she could do it.
"Bob would you just hurry up, it's pretty simple, just kick it really hard."
"That's easy for you to say. It's not your fingerprints that are going to show up on this is it?"
"Bob, you're using your feet, no one's fingerprints are going to be on it. Either you do it or I will."
"Alright, just give me a minute."
Fred sighed but knew that nothing she could say would make her friend go any faster. Suddenly and almost unexpectedly Bob kicked the door as hard as she could. Fred was relieved that she'd finally done it but her relief was halted when Bob recoiled and nothing happened. The door stayed firm and only Bob was almost lying on the floor. She was trying to keep her weight off her hurt foot.
Fred looked on trying to support Ned at the same time as casting angry glances at Bob was attempting to speak despite her obvious 'discomfort'.
"It's a lot harder than it looks." Bob said whilst hopping up and down.
"Nothing's changed." Ned said in a shaking but almost normal voice. She even surprised herself when she learned that she could speak almost normally.
"You're telling me." Fred smiled back after looking over at Bob who had finally stopped jumping up and down. "I suppose we could just wait for someone else to come in or come out. Or we could call someone's flat and ask them to let us in. Bob, pretend you're a flower person or something."
"Why me? I just nearly kicked a door down."
"Yeah, emphasis on nearly. Besides, I have a bad foot and Ned is technically dead so that only leaves you. Sorry."
"Great. Nice to know we're working as a team again." Bob tried to sound serious but she couldn't conceal the slight smile that crossed her face. "Okay, who should I call?"
"Just pick a random number. It doesn't matter." Fred was getting impatient again, mostly because of the added weight Ned was leaning on her. Her friend wasn't getting any better whilst they were stood outside talking. "Bob hurry up, we need to get her inside." Fred pointed at Ned who was beginning to move towards the floor despite Fred's efforts to keep her stood up.
Bob nodded and pressed the number four button on the intercom. At first no one answered but finally an elderly voice came on the line and asked them who they were, it was almost as if she had it written down. Bob told her that they were delivering flowers and needed to come in. The woman hesitated for a moment before a little red light came on indicating that the door was now open although she made no official invitation.
Both Fred and Bob smiled as Bob opened the door and walked through keeping it open so Fred could almost drag Ned through. When they were through Bob closed the door and helped Fred with Ned. They waited a moment before walking towards the lift, Fred hoped that maybe they had fixed it and that they wouldn't have to walk up those stairs. She was not only worried about Ned but she was also beginning to get tired herself. She didn't want to let Bob know this so suppressed an annoyed sigh when they discovered that the lift was still broken.
They looked over at the stairs, neither wanting to climb them but both knowing they had no choice. They couldn't risk waiting around for too long or meeting someone in the corridors, they didn't want to think what this looked like to other people. They were carrying someone who had come out of a grave just an hour ago. Ned was getting more and more tired as was Fred, which hadn't escaped Bob's notice no matter how much she tried to hide it. The stairs were going to be a completely new challenge, one that no one wanted to face.
They opened the door and looked at what they had to climb. It didn't look so bad to Bob but to Fred who was beginning to feel the strain on her already weakened body it seemed like a mountain rather than stairs. They walked up the first flight and stopped for a moment allowing Ned to rest slightly and for themselves to get a break from pulling her up the stairs.
Eventually after a while of walking up the staircase they finally reached the last door. By this time it was not only Ned that was having trouble standing up but also Fred. It was a lot of work for someone who has only walked as far as the end of a hospital ward and back in the past four weeks.
When they reached the top there was a great temptation to drop Ned and run to the door and throw themselves onto the couch and rest but they both resisted and hauled Ned along the small corridor until they reached Bob's uncle's door. Bob inserted the key which still fit the lock and they helped Ned through. They took her through to the bedroom and laid her on the bed. She instantly fell asleep as if she was too tired to keep her eyes open.
Although Bob and Fred had a lot of questions they wanted to ask her they let her sleep and left the room. Before doing so Fred picked up a blanket from the other side of the room and threw it over the sleeping Ned. She left the room and walked into the kitchen where she found Bob sitting at the table drinking a glass of water. She motioned for Fred to do the same noticing how tired she was. Fred gratefully accepted and sat down and quickly drank the water.
She watched Bob for a moment before stating what they had both been thinking.
"So what now? Maybe we should have taken her straight to a hospital or the police. They know more about this guy Frank than we do. I'm not sure whether we can even treat her; she needs help, probably more than we can give her in a flat. We have no idea what this has done to her. We don't even know if she knows who we are. You saw how frightened she was when we dug her up."
"You're probably right but the police wouldn't know what to do anyway. We'll do all we can for her and then we'll see what happens. I think she does remember us though. Did you hear her at the door, she said that nothing had changed which means she probably remembered us."
"She was confused. Maybe she didn't know what she was talking about."
"Maybe." Bob thought for a moment. "We'll look after her here for a while, if she gets too bad we'll call an ambulance. Okay?"
"Okay. I just hope you know what you're doing." Bob nodded trying to convince Fred that she did.
Fred got up and walked over to the table in the living room. She picked up the flowers from the vase on the table and shook the water off them trying to make them look presentable. Bob looked confused.
"What are you doing? I really don't think that flowers are going to help Ned too much right now."
"These aren't for Ned. They're for the old lady who let us in."
"Great, you're getting sentimental on me now?" Bob smiled, still not understanding.
"There were robberies around here. We told the lady we were delivering flowers and we didn't come. She's going to get suspicious and probably call the police. If I take these to her it might stop her from doing that. Okay?"
"Fine. You know best."
Fred nodded before turning and walking out the door. Before she left Bob stopped her.
"Fred, you look tired, you want me to do that?"
"No, I'll do this, it won't take a moment. You look after Ned. Don't wake her, it's probably best if she slept for a while anyway." Fred smiled at the look of concern on Bob's face. "Don't worry. Everything is going to work out. You'll see."
"I hope you're right. Don't be long, you know more about first aid than I do." Fred nodded and walked out closing the door softly behind her.
Bob smiled once again and went to the bedroom. She wanted to make sure Ned was alright, if that was even possible. She hoped Fred was right and Ned really was going to be okay. Everything had happened so quickly that she hadn't even thought about what it meant that her friend was alive. They were a trio again. Like it used to be, almost.
She went into the bedroom and walked over to the window. She closed the curtains so that the light wouldn't disturb her friend. Bob didn't want to think what it was like being locked inside a box for weeks. The claustrophobia that. She tried to stop herself. She had seen what it did before, with Fred in Orthanc, the constant cries. It all flooded back to her like it was happening. Everything, coming home to find Ned lying dead, the torture, the power, David. She didn't want to think about these things and yet she couldn't stop herself. She had found that happened a lot since that week, she was constantly reliving it. It haunted her, her dreams.
She once again stopped herself, she had to be strong for Ned and Fred, they were the ones that had suffered the most in all of this. She had to stop thinking about all this. Unfortunately it didn't work, she still felt that pain time and time again, heard Fred's desperate cries for help. She couldn't stop them echoing in her mind. She looked at Ned and realised that she was crying, seeing her friend alive, something she never thought possible was brilliant and yet there was still something telling her that something was wrong, that it wasn't that simple. That familiar feeling of dread came back to her as she was forced to bury her face in the sheets to stop it.
After a few minutes she heard a door slam and felt a hand on her back guiding her to lay down on the bed. As much as she wanted to resist her body told her not to. She lay down and fell into a dream-filled sleep that she wished she didn't have.