Kat Out of the Bag Chapter Eleven By Steve Rudd

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

As the cunning midday sun burned my retinas to a blinding crisp, I slyly slipped on my designer sunglasses, hoping that my three so-called companions might not notice. I looked out of place amidst such blatant wonders of the world, with the horizon-hogging mountains looking down on my little life like the hard-hitting rock above pitied me in some inhuman way. I understood perfectly, for I pitied myself. The three men led me slowly but surely away from the village: the last hub of humanity literally for miles around. The men led; I followed.

I wanted to converse with them in order to try and gleam more information in regards to the suspicious disappearance of the village girl, but I didn't know how best to approach my innocent enquires in order that they look genuine and so as not to in any way implicate myself in the macabre situation. It isn't everyday that a girl goes missing from a tight-knit mountain community, and I realised full well that the men bounding on ahead of me might get upset should I delve too deep. Thus, I kept quiet.

With my head down and blistered feet gaining ground, I must have looked like I was being led away to my doom to any uninformed passer-by. I knew I wasn't, just like I realised that there was something altogether strange about the prevailing situation that I'd unwittingly found myself embroiled in. To appease any fears I might have considered entertaining, I reassured myself that this was in fact exactly the type of spontaneous adventure I craved. Deep down, I was excited; thrilled, in fact. The men must have trusted me, and believed that I might be able to contribute in a positive manner with their search.

I just didn't know how we were to go about searching for the girl. It's not as though these mountain men knew the first thing about police-styled procedures in dealing with missing persons.

For starters, they hadn't scoured the house from which the girl had disappeared with a fine-toothed comb for evidence, just like they hadn't interviewed any of the girl's family about the unforeseen incident. Perhaps this was due to the fact that one of the surprisingly jovial men up ahead, just sliding out of view around the next corner, was the mystified father of the girl. And neither he, nor his wife of the only child, had any reason to harm their beloved daughter in any way. But I knew he was hiding something, even at this early stage in our journey of discovery that shocked all who ultimately became involved in more ways than one.

© Steve Rudd 2005

Continued on www.thisisUll.com...... Chapter 12

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