Chapter 12- Impasse
He woke with a start and stood stiffly, raising his hands out above his head and cracking his shoulder back to place. He rubbed his eyes and looked out of the window and then over to the clock, its face was showing 2 am and everything seemed still and well but his heart was pounding. Something was not right.
Erik threw on his jacket and headed towards the door, grabbing his cloak from the back of the seat on his way. Opening the door cautiously he peered around it, the hallway was dark and this was a fact he very much appreciated. He closed the door softly behind him so as not to wake Rebecca, the thought of another five minutes with her made the bile rise uninvited into his throat. He fled through the corridor, leapt down the stairs, landed with a small thud at the bottom and continued out of the building allowing the door to slam shut behind him.
He ran along the road, so quickly his feet barely touched the floor as moved. There was very little light tonight, the moon was nowhere to be seen and the clouds made for a poor view of the street ahead. Or at least it would have for anyone but him. He noticed that the fog was falling low and as he ran his ragged breath showed in clouds in front of him. His chest and legs began to ache but he still he made his way trough the back streets of London. Still he ran.
And ran.
Christine didn't know what was happening to her, one minute she was sleeping soundly in warm covers and now she was being dragged by her hair through the lobby of her own house. There were a lot of voices, male voices, coming from the living room and she heard Raoul but when she tried to scream for his help she was kicked in the stomach. She wretched violently, somehow she was not sick but the pain was almost unbearable. The brute dropped her in the lobby and growled at her to stay exactly where she was, she obeyed with tears streaking her cheeks and her stomach ablaze.
The man opened the living room door and she spotted Raoul with his hands tied behind his back and blood pouring from his nose. There were three men in there and one had a knife pointed at her husband's throat. Oh God, she thought defying her first instinct to run in there and try save Raoul. She would only end up dead herself and then what would become of him? No, she needed help, she thought and with a courage she did not know she possessed she managed to stumble to her feet and with all the energy she had left, she darted for the door.
She was already outside before any of the men noticed she was gone and then she heard a gruff voice shout after her. Keep running. Her feet somehow carried her through the pain and she flew down the alley next to the neighbour's house and suddenly there was a hand over her mouth and an arm around her stomach. Help me, she thought but she was trapped.
'Shut up.' Was the last thing she heard before she passed out.