Shattered Dreams by Rebecca King

documentation.”
    Harry
scowled down the road. “One thing I want to know is; why we were
allowed into the entrance hall today?”
    “ I know,” Barnaby sighed. “Yesterday, you didn’t even get one
foot over the threshold. Why today, of all days, have we been
allowed in only to be told the same thing, and then thrown back out
again?”
    Harry
frowned and shook his head in disgust as the questions began to
tumble through him. Thankfully, Barnaby was driving. It gave Harry
the perfect opportunity he needed to think about what in the world
he should do next; and just how he was going to get Tilly
free.
     
    “ But, I really want to leave now. I don’t have any debts. I
don’t owe anyone any money. I have coins,” Tilly argued as she
hurried after the warden who stalked down the corridor ahead of
her. She nearly ploughed into his back when he suddenly slammed to
a halt.
    “ I am telling you to get back to your room,” the man
growled.
    Her eyes
darted downward and she saw his fist clench threateningly. For one
brief moment her eyes met his, and she wondered if he really would
hit her. Somehow, in this awful place, she wouldn’t be surprised if
he did.
    She had
been here a week now, and had yet to find anyone in charge who
would even listen to her. She had been bullied, threatened, and
blatantly ignored. Despite asking numerous staff to be allowed out,
she had seen nothing of the governor, and now began to doubt
whether he really even existed.
    The
female warden, Mrs Taylor, was downright sinister, and seemed to
take delight in scaring the residents with threats that one day;
she would lock them in their rooms, and forget where she left the
key. It was deeply unnerving to see the hopelessness that lurked in
the depths of all of the residents’ eyes, and witness the fear on
their faces when they knew that Mrs Taylor was around.
    “ I want to see the governor. I demand to see the governor –
now. I am not a prisoner. I haven’t committed any crime, and
shouldn’t be here. I made a mistake and demand that you release
me,” she declared firmly.
    She
lapsed into startled silence, and took a hasty step back when the
warden suddenly leaned toward her with an almost feral snarl on his
lips.
    “ I have told you that the governor ain’t here, and I ain’t
taking you anywhere. Now get back to your room, or you forfeit your
food for the next day.”
    Tilly
tipped her chin up, and glared back at him at the same time that
she crossed her arms.
    “ Let me write a letter then,” she demanded, and carefully
ignored his disgusted snort.
    Although
an inner sense of self-preservation warned her to keep her mouth
shut and do as she was told, she knew that she was fighting for her
freedom, and couldn’t afford to be bullied into staying silent. She
couldn’t just allow herself to be forcibly kept a prisoner by
anyone, but she was at a loss to know how to get someone to listen
to her.
    “ I warn you here and now that I know your name, and I know
that you are breaking the law by keeping me here like this. I will
get out and, when I do, I will make sure that you get to feel the
full weight of the law for this. This is false
imprisonment.”
    She
gasped in pain when he suddenly grabbed her elbow in a fierce grip,
and all but dragged her down the long corridor toward her
cell.
    “ I am not going to be silenced, and forced to remain here
against my will,” she muttered through gritted teeth “I can get
myself out of here, and I will.”
    In spite
of that, she was thrown mercilessly through the door of her room,
and landed on the bed with a heavy thump. The sharp edge of the
wooden frame bit painfully into her hip, but she stumbled back onto
her feet and clutched the bars of the now locked door with tight
fingers while she peered out into the hallway. Now that she was
alone and had the door to act as a barrier, she felt considerably
braver, and had no qualms about raising her voice so that the
warden could hear what she had to