Belt

Bethan's question is met with silence. For a minute, she thinks that she has been left and she feels a stab of fear that Dave could come to any minute and finish her off. If he is able to. She's not sure which eventuality she is more scared of.

Bethan tries to lift her head but the pain from her bruised throat and muscles rips through her.

Bethan stares at the sky. Clouds pass over and vapour trails perforate the blue. She can hear something chattering and realises it's her teeth.

She hears a groan and then the crunch of gravel as someone gets up. She tries to manoeuvre her head to see but her peripheral vision is obscured because of where she's landed.

This is no good, she thinks to herself. I need to see what's going on. Slowly, by degrees, she lifts her head, grimacing with the effort, until she has raised her head and shoulders and is resting on her elbows. The coat placed on top of her by the kind stranger smells nice, a light perfume permeates it. It is a scent she recognises obliquely but how evades her.

Bethan, tentatively, in her new position looks around. To her right, she can see a prostrate form. Dave. With a little more effort, she pushes herself, using her hands in the sharp gravel to lever herself. Dave is lying on his front. His face is towards her. A cheek lies on stone. He must be unconscious, she thinks. His arms are behind his back. Bethan is shocked to note that Someone has tied him up. It's not rope. It looks like a belt and it's the same colour as the coat.

It wasn't him who groaned, Bethan thinks.

And then she sees her rescuer, standing, shoulders heaving.

*

Christine

You live with someone all these years and you think you know them. And then your daughter finds a camera and you think What's that all about? and you think, It's nothing but there's something about that being in your wardrobe, hidden, that rankles you and your mind starts wondering...

Before you know it, you're following your husband and stopping him from killing someone.

***

366 words

Christine! For those of you that guessed, well done.

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