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.It was like being given a 600 piece jigsaw with no picture on the box and 590 pieces missing.I sat on the bed in an agony, with Gavin beside me, leaning his head into my shoulder.I had my arm around him but I worried that his trust in me was going to blow up in his face if I made the wrong call.The world was going to blow up in both our faces if I made the wrong call.But perhaps I was making this harder than it needed to be.After all, what were these people going to do with us if not kill us? They couldn’t keep us forever.They couldn’t let us go.Although the ‘I’ll live forever’ part of me, the ‘I’m strong and fit and healthy and young so I couldn’t possibly be about to die’ part of my mind couldn’t face the idea that my life might be about to end, I had to recognise the Uluru of reality in front of me.A grimness of spirit came over me.I slipped out of Gavin’s arm and got up again.If we were going to take action, I had to start right now and at least try to find a way to break out of this room.I grabbed the green stool and took it to the lowest part of the ceiling.With both arms above my head I hit at the ceiling as hard as I could.But I couldn’t get enough strength.The only power I had was from my arms, as I couldn’t use the weight of my body.Being tired, drained by all the physical and emotional energy I’d spent so recklessly over the previous few hours and days, didn’t help either.I only had half-a-dozen goes before giving up in frustration.I eyed off the door, but thought I should save that for a last resort, as trying to break that down would make more noise than anything else.I had the horrible feeling it would echo all through the house.Then Gavin surprised me by reaching under the bed and pulling out a broom.He handed it to me with a look that said, ‘I’m not giving you this so you can do a bit of housework.’ Although it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had.But he glanced from the broom to the ceiling and back to me, and I realised at once what he meant.I took a big gulp, knowing that this was going to make some serious noise, and then, holding the broom with both hands, near its base, smashed the handle into the ceiling as hard as I could.It did make some serious noise.It echoed around the little room, but I couldn’t tell how far the sound would travel.One thing was obvious though.The ceiling was made from some pretty lightweight stuff.Just cheap masonite or something.I decided to block out any thoughts about noise and attack with all the strength I had.Boom, boom, boom.Then, on about the fifth shot, I was through.I pulled the handle out, leaving a nice round hole, big dents around it.Jumping down, I moved the stool less than a metre, then got up and started again.Four hits and I’d made another hole.Now I was getting excited.A gleam was in Gavin’s eyes and some life had come into his face.I moved the stool again and started my next onslaught.Sweat was running down my face now and stinging my eyes.I was trying to do this and think ahead at the same time.If I could make a decent hole, then we had to be able to get up through it.And the ceiling had to support our weight.And then we had to get somewhere, to actually find an escape route.My hair was damp with the sweat, and my arms were dropping off.I’d made four holes, in a rough square, and now I could attack the space between two of them, hoping to start punching out the whole piece.But my arms couldn’t take any more.I dropped them for a minute, and dropped my head, trying to get the strength to continue.If only Gavin were a bit taller and we could take it in turns.Then I heard a kind of scrabbling noise at the door.Gavin turned to it with a kind of wild look and a moment later it burst open.Two of the men came lumbering in, with at least one more behind them, and I realised with fear that our escape attempt was over already.I got another bashing, and it seemed almost from the start that it was too much.I felt the will to fight flow out of me with every blow.I curled up on the floor in the foetal position I’d imagined earlier, covered my face, and tried to absorb the impacts.I don’t even know what they were hitting me with.I’m not sure where Gavin was but I think one of them was holding him out of the way.At some stage they left again.It was a long time before I stirred or moved or tried to stand.Gavin was lying on top of me crying, so eventually I got up for his sake [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]