The wind was growing wilder. There were trees coming down and branches flung into roads, cars were running in to one another and on every street it seemed a car alarm was blaring.

"Do you think she's done something silly?"

Rita's voice was faraway as she stood looking out of the window of Connie's office out onto the ward.

Her legs were stiff from being held in the same position. Her muscles ached and her tongue was dry and brittle. She licked her chapped lips. Dim morning sunlight was beginning to tint the night sky grey and the stars were slowly being blotted out, beginning with the faintest stars and eventually washing over the vivid, bright stars. It was colder than it had been, and every where there were warnings to stay at home. She hugged her bare arms tightly.

"Rita..."

Charlie was sitting on the sofa, a cup of tea growing cold between his hands.

"What?"

Rita turned to him. Her face was pale except the blotched pink skin beneath her bloodshot eyes. She sniffed and used the back of her wrist to wipe the damp from her cheeks.

"Look at this place!"

She gestured to the room that Charlie had attempted to tidy up. There were splinters of mirror glass in the rug by the desk that shone like stars trapped between the weave and the bin was full of snapped and broken plastic, the computer screen propped up by it's side, the screen billowing out like a burst balloon.

"She left her phone...she's been gone for eighteen hours in this weather? What am I supposed to think!"

"Rita. We don't have any reason to think that she might have..."

"Killed herself?"

Charlie raised his hands in a shrug.

"It's Connie. She would never let them win."

He said quietly, and Rita turned away again, looking through the mesh window of the door as Connie had done so many times. She felt sick and she felt tired, but above all else she felt lost, as though somebody had torn her heart right out of her chest and taken it far, far away.

"What if she didn't have a choice?"

She murmured. But before Charlie could think of a reply the view of the ward beyond the glass door was blocked by Zoe, who had raised a hand to knock before she noticed Rita looking back at her.

She pushed down on the handle and opened the door, gingerly looking between the two of them.

"Any word?"

She asked tucking her hair behind one ear, though she could guess the answer.

"Nothing."

Charlie answered, setting his mug down on the little side table as Zoe entered the room properly and closed the door behind herself.

"The police have found Connie's car in the car park of a pub in town – The Table? No sign of her though."

Rita took an uncertain step backwards, and then another, until she grasped the desk, steadying herself.

"The Table?"

She whispered, looking from Zoe to Charlie. She shivered involuntarily and her scalp crinkled, the hairs at the back of her neck rising.

"They've got her."

She choked.

"They've got her..."

-.-

Lots of outraged reviews/messages. Just remember, Connie is falling apart, but she still loves Rita. xxx