Time To Play by KA Richardson (free children's ebooks online .txt) 📕

her feet. She lifted her dress to examine her ribs and wasn’t surprised to see them turning a dark shade of purple already. Her breath felt shallow, and her face pulsed with her heartbeat where Yolanda had hit her.

I need to get out of here. I cannot be here when she comes to send me back to that house.

Elvie made her way to the window and fiddled with the catch. She was surprised to feel it open and pushed the window upwards. It screeched loudly, paint on paint, and she paused, hoping that no one had heard. Shoving with all her might, she pushed the window up until it locked in position – a mere couple of inches from the bottom. Definitely not enough for her to crawl through.

Tears threatened as she looked around the room, searching for something, anything that could help her force the window open.

But there was nothing to find in the sparse room. The beds had metal frames that required dismantling with a screwdriver. There was nothing else other than the bedside table and the lamp.

She stared at the lamp for a moment.

Elvie smiled as she suddenly realised something. When the bedroom door was opened by Yolanda or whoever, it wasn’t locked. They always left it ajar while they were in the room. The lamp could prove to be a useful weapon.

She pulled the plug from the wall and placed it behind the door, so it was ready for her to pick up when she heard someone coming. She allowed herself to slip down the wall beside the door to a sitting position, ignoring the pain from her side.

And she waited.

Farne Islands, Northumberland – 4 November

Marlo made sure her tank was secure and double-checked the oxygen pressure. She dipped her mask into the salty seawater, then spat in it and rubbed her fingers around before giving it another quick rinse. She didn’t know what it was about spit that stopped the mask steaming up, but it worked and that was what mattered. Popping the mask over her eyes and nose, she put the respirator into her mouth and tested it by inhaling.

She was set.

Sitting on the edge of the boat, she leant backwards and let her body fall into the water. Kicking her legs powerfully, she swam deeper.

The boat had been coming out with a group of students and a small dive team, and she’d managed to hitch a ride. They were doing some kind of ecological survey, looking at the silt around the wrecks and checking it for nutrients to compare to other areas of the seabed. Or so she’d been told anyway. The two divers were students doing their final degree year.

Either way, she was pleased to see them. It had saved hiring her own boat to take out. She’d contemplated buying her own several times, but she’d have to pay for storage, maintenance and everything else; sometimes it was just easier to hire.

Before entering the water, she’d set her underwater watch on countdown so she wouldn’t miss her ride back. It’d be a long swim if she did. Her camera was round her neck and hooked to her vest so it didn’t stray while she swam.

She spent a minute taking in the surroundings. Marlo had dived there several times, but the thing she loved about the sea was that it was always changing. You could dive the same place twice in two days and something would be different. The only thing that she didn’t like was the silence. A girl could really hear her thoughts when she was submerged under tonnes of water.

When she’d first started diving, the silence had been the thing that put her off the most. All that time lost in her own thoughts had been a bad thing when she was younger. It had let her dwell on the dark stuff too much. But now it was more like a form of meditation. She could force her mind to empty and her body to relax.

She swam to the north-east, keeping her eyes peeled for the underwater landmarks she knew were there. Marlo jumped as a seal suddenly swam past her at eye level. It looked back, its black eyes glinting as her torchlight flashed over them, then turned back and continued with its search for dinner. She refocused on the rocks in front of her and veered slightly to the left.

Then she saw them.

From the depths of the silt on the sea floor rose several pieces of curved wood. Grabbing her camera, she unhooked it and checked the digital screen at the back. The image was as clear as a bell. Snapping away as she swam around the remains of the wreck, Marlo gave the job her full attention.

She didn’t see the other diver swimming up frantically behind her until he grabbed her leg to get her attention.

Marlo jumped and kicked back instinctively, using the force to push off and turn. She’d already grabbed for the knife she kept on her belt, and her heart was pounding so loud it could have been hooked up to an amplifier.

The other diver waved his hands at her, silently telling her he was no threat. He used hand signals to beckon her to follow him, and even through his mask, Marlo could see he looked afraid.

She hooked her camera back onto her chest, placed her knife back in its holster and followed rapidly.

As soon as she arrived, she saw the source of his panic. One of the other students had become entangled in a fishing net and was struggling to get free.

Bloody kids. They should both know to carry a dive knife with them, and not to panic if they get trapped. Jesus, the way she’s flailing about I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t rip my mouthpiece out.

Despite her thoughts, Marlo knew what to do.