of need. But she felt very far away, and that only made him cry more.
Peter sat on the wall of a house on the desolate street for more than five minutes as images of Colin and Cheryl flashed through his mind. Eventually, his crying subsided, until he was left shivering, his tear ducts exhausted like reservoirs emptied. He looked up to the grey sky and closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling deeply to calm himself.
CHAPTER 21
16:34pm
Now the adrenaline from the chase was starting to wear off he could feel all manner of aches and pains, particularly in his legs. His shins felt like someone had beaten them with a crowbar. He felt a cold sensation running down his legs, like tiny drops of blood trickling beneath his skin. To distract himself, he focused again on the twisted game that he knew was set to continue. His foray through the Marshalls site had reminded him of playing Hide and Seek as a child - why was Celo playing Hide and Seek? Did something happen to one of them whilst playing the game? Anything that could suggest a motive for why Celo was doing this?
The two main places they played Hide and Seek w ere the Marshalls site and Durden Woods. On one occasion he’d hurt his leg in Durden Woods during a game of Hide and Seek. He was the seeker and whilst he was counting to a hundred the others went home and left him searching for them in the woods. He remembered that pretty much all of them had been a victim of that prank at some point. In both Marshalls and Durden Woods the group would often run off and leave the seeker unless the seeker was one of the girls. The boys felt an instinctive protectiveness towards them and never played that prank on them. As he’d searched the woods in vain he’d fallen into a concealed hole and hurt his leg. He was trapped there for a few hours until he was found by a man who helped him out of the hole and returned him home to his worried mother. He’d needed a plaster cast and had missed the last few weeks of the summer holidays and the first month of the new term.
Peter couldn’t remember any other significant incidents that occurred in Durden Woods, but he recalled that they were caught playing at the Marshalls site a number of times. They had always escaped in the same way he’d just evaded the police. However, on one occasion, they’d been too slow. Cas, as always the strong protector of the group, was last as he waited for everyone else to jump over the fence. As a result he was caught by the security guard, a large man with a flat head and furry moustache, who had grabbed him by his neck and dragged him back to the main office at the front of the site. The other members of the Excellent Eight circled back around to the entrance making sure they stayed at a safe distance. On a number of occasions Gavin and Peter crept up towards the site to try and get close enough to the reception to catch a glimpse of Cas and find out what was happening to him. However, they’d been spotted on each occasion and chased away. About two hours later, they recognised Cas’ father’s car pulling up and a sombre young man, with his shoulders slumped and his head down, was escorted out by his father and bundled into the back of the car.
Cas was grounded for three weeks and Peter went around to his house every day to spend a few hours playing games in his bedroom. His father had initially turned Peter away for the first three days of Cas’ grounding but eventually let him in on the fourth day. On speaking to Cas, Peter found out that his father was mainly annoyed at him because he had been summoned from his work at the mill and as a consequence had lost a day’s pay. There had always been a shortage of money within Peter’s own family, but Cas’ family had it worse. Cas’ mother had a rare debilitating disease which left her practically housebound. She got a pittance in incapacity benefit, which came nowhere near covering the medical bills required to help
Peter sat on the wall of a house on the desolate street for more than five minutes as images of Colin and Cheryl flashed through his mind. Eventually, his crying subsided, until he was left shivering, his tear ducts exhausted like reservoirs emptied. He looked up to the grey sky and closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling deeply to calm himself.
CHAPTER 21
16:34pm
Now the adrenaline from the chase was starting to wear off he could feel all manner of aches and pains, particularly in his legs. His shins felt like someone had beaten them with a crowbar. He felt a cold sensation running down his legs, like tiny drops of blood trickling beneath his skin. To distract himself, he focused again on the twisted game that he knew was set to continue. His foray through the Marshalls site had reminded him of playing Hide and Seek as a child - why was Celo playing Hide and Seek? Did something happen to one of them whilst playing the game? Anything that could suggest a motive for why Celo was doing this?
The two main places they played Hide and Seek w ere the Marshalls site and Durden Woods. On one occasion he’d hurt his leg in Durden Woods during a game of Hide and Seek. He was the seeker and whilst he was counting to a hundred the others went home and left him searching for them in the woods. He remembered that pretty much all of them had been a victim of that prank at some point. In both Marshalls and Durden Woods the group would often run off and leave the seeker unless the seeker was one of the girls. The boys felt an instinctive protectiveness towards them and never played that prank on them. As he’d searched the woods in vain he’d fallen into a concealed hole and hurt his leg. He was trapped there for a few hours until he was found by a man who helped him out of the hole and returned him home to his worried mother. He’d needed a plaster cast and had missed the last few weeks of the summer holidays and the first month of the new term.
Peter couldn’t remember any other significant incidents that occurred in Durden Woods, but he recalled that they were caught playing at the Marshalls site a number of times. They had always escaped in the same way he’d just evaded the police. However, on one occasion, they’d been too slow. Cas, as always the strong protector of the group, was last as he waited for everyone else to jump over the fence. As a result he was caught by the security guard, a large man with a flat head and furry moustache, who had grabbed him by his neck and dragged him back to the main office at the front of the site. The other members of the Excellent Eight circled back around to the entrance making sure they stayed at a safe distance. On a number of occasions Gavin and Peter crept up towards the site to try and get close enough to the reception to catch a glimpse of Cas and find out what was happening to him. However, they’d been spotted on each occasion and chased away. About two hours later, they recognised Cas’ father’s car pulling up and a sombre young man, with his shoulders slumped and his head down, was escorted out by his father and bundled into the back of the car.
Cas was grounded for three weeks and Peter went around to his house every day to spend a few hours playing games in his bedroom. His father had initially turned Peter away for the first three days of Cas’ grounding but eventually let him in on the fourth day. On speaking to Cas, Peter found out that his father was mainly annoyed at him because he had been summoned from his work at the mill and as a consequence had lost a day’s pay. There had always been a shortage of money within Peter’s own family, but Cas’ family had it worse. Cas’ mother had a rare debilitating disease which left her practically housebound. She got a pittance in incapacity benefit, which came nowhere near covering the medical bills required to help
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