Letting out the Worms: Guilty or not? If not then the alternative is terrifying (Kitty Thomas Book 1 by Sue Nicholls (primary phonics .txt) 📕

of her pelvis. A drainage tube ran from her side and dripped bright red blood into a plastic bag, and a monitor bleeped her heartbeat, which was steadier than it had been when Sam first arrived.

They were alone in a side room. Through the open door, hospital life continued. A stretcher trolley squeaked along the corridor; two nurses chatted across a desk, one, with her back to Sam, leaned on the edge, scrolling through photographs on her phone and showing pictures of her holiday to her colleague. How dared they be cheerful when all around them people were suffering? Sam glared at them.

His view was interrupted by Paul’s anguished face. ‘Christ. I got here as quick as I could. I had to use Cerys’s car. Tried to use mine, but the damned thing wouldn’t start.’ He blinked at Kitty’s unconscious face. ‘Have you seen a doctor?’

‘A nurse keeps coming in to check all this.’ Sam gestured at the equipment. ‘There hasn’t been a doctor since I got here half an hour ago.’

‘How did you hear?’

‘She had me in her phone as her ICE contact. The hospital called me. And as soon as I heard, I called you.’ Paul dropped into a second chair. ‘ICE?’

‘In Case of Emergency.’

Paul jerked his chin up in comprehension then, his gaze still on his daughter, asked, ‘What happened to her?’

‘Hit and run, I think. The police were here, but they’ve left. They’re waiting for her to regain consciousness.’

‘Did you see to them?’

‘Just briefly. I arrived as they were leaving.’

Paul’s eyes did not leave Kitty’s body. ‘Did they think it was intentional?’

‘Intentional?’ Sam frowned. ‘Why would anyone want to hurt Kitty intentionally?’

Paul dragged his chair to the bedside and took one of Kitty’s hands in both of his. ‘I don’t know... She gets herself involved in some dangerous stories sometimes.’

Sam watched Paul’s profile, seeking any indication that he knew what Kitty had been up to.

51 KITTY

There was pain in the room. In the red heat of her closed eyelids, Kitty struggled to focus her sluggish brain. If she concentrated, she could identify the hub of the pain as her head. It seemed as though someone was taking a pick-axe to it, chop, chop, chop. She groaned and drew a sharp breath as even more excruciating pain shot through her head. The intake of breath sent a further bolt of agony down her back. Afraid to move, she kept her eyes closed and listened. There were voices in the room. Two voices - male. They were familiar, and she searched her head for their names. One was older. When he spoke her name, her body tensed, and pain shot from her spine and down her left leg. She screamed, and the speaker murmured, ‘She’s awake. Thank God.’

The other voice was weeping. ‘Kitty. Kitty, can you hear me?’ She relaxed and dropped from consciousness.

52 LUCAS

It was late by the time the taxi dropped Lucas and Megan home from the wedding festivities. Rain sheeted down in freezing blobs, and Megan shrieked as it penetrated the thin fabric of her dress and soaked her hair. They burst inside, laughing and gasping, and after towelling their hair and faces they dropped onto the settee. Megan had made Lucas a bed on the lounge floor and they both stared at it in silence. ‘Coffee?’ Megan offered, and headed for the kitchen, returning with two steaming mugs.

They snuggled side by side and Lucas hooked off his shoes, groaning, ‘Remind me never to wear these again.’

‘That’s the worst thing about weddings. They’re such joyful occasions but the shoes… ’Megan had kicked hers off by the front door where they remained, one on its side beneath the radiator, and the other balanced on its teetering heel in the middle of the carpet.

Luc and Meg had been dating for six weeks and Lucas loved the girl more each time he saw her.

He had agreed to try the chanting thing. At first it had been to please her, but now, he had to admit he was happier and more focussed than he had been in a long time - ever in fact. Megan had explained a little about her faith but said the most important thing for now was to chant, and to trust.

‘I love your friends,’ Megan put down her coffee and lay her hand, quite naturally, on his thigh.

He pulled her to him. ‘They loved you too,’ he said and kissed her, softly at first and then more urgently feeling his desire grow. Ignoring his anxiety, he kissed her harder and chanted Nam Myoho Renge Kyo in his head, over and over. Megan unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands over his body beneath the fabric. He pulled her to her feet and unzipped her damp dress, letting it fall to the floor. Soon, they were both naked, and he held her to him, feeling the hardness of her nipples against his chest. Then, he pushed her to arms’ length and stared in wonder at her lithe body. Soon, they were tangled together on the floor, and Sam gave himself up to his passion.

In his wildest imaginings he could not have conjured up the sensations he experienced as the more knowledgeable Megan applied her mouth and fingers to his body. Then she was on top of him, her small breasts shaking in the soft light, her face fixed in concentration. He closed his eyes and let himself go.

They slept, curled together in her double bed, the makeshift sleeping arrangements downstairs undisturbed, and awoke to grey skies. ‘Well, Big Boy. That was nice. Very nice indeed.’ Megan ran her palm down Lucas’s stomach and cupped his flaccid penis, and to his delight it stood to attention again.

Sometime later they pulled on underwear and padded into the sitting room. Sam picked up his mobile from between last