Abandoned Read online

  Abandoned

  Lee Shepherd

  Text copyright © Lee Shepherd 2015

  Design copyright © Hannah Purkiss 2015

  All rights reserved.

  Lee Shepherd has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents

  Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by electronic, mechanical or any other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying or recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publisher and Author. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, or you were not provided with a review copy by the Publisher or Author only, then please return to rowanvalebooks.com or our online distributors and purchase your own copy, as well as informing us of a potential breach of copyright. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  First published 2015

  By Rowanvale Books Ltd

  2nd Floor

  220 High Street

  Swansea

  SA1 1NW www.rowanvalebooks.com

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBNs

  e-Pub: 978-1-910607-52-7

  Mobi: 978-1-910607-53-4

  PDF: 978-1-910607-54-1

  Chapter 1

  ‘Well done, Molly! Well done, sweetheart, that was absolutely fantastic.’

  The father beamed after witnessing his eldest daughter take first place in a junior equestrian event. He, his wife and their youngest daughter, Fiona, stood among lots of other proud parents, most of whom were known to the family in their close knit community.

  ‘Hi, Charles!’

  The father turned to see who had called him. ‘Oh hi, Mark! How’s the wife and kids?’

  ‘They’re good thanks. I saw your Molly out there, she’s really on her game today!’

  ‘Yes, isn’t she? We couldn’t be prouder! Well, I’ll see you at church on Sunday, okay?’

  ‘Sure, see you!’

  As Molly continued on her victory parade, soaking up the applause, she couldn’t help but notice as she passed by her parents that her father’s eyes were no longer on her as he was too transfixed checking his watch for the time.

  Upon realising he was running late, Charles quickly glanced over at Molly and pointed to his watch, informing her that he would have to leave before she had even had time to collect her victory trophy and rosette. She couldn’t help but drop her smile as she watched her father kiss his wife and her younger sister goodbye before waving one last time, then getting into his car and driving off. Her mother, seeing the disappointment in Molly’s eyes, just offered a sympathetic smile and hug. She made sure to get some pictures of her receiving her rewards to show to her father upon his return from work that evening.

  ***

  ‘Help! Help! Somebody, please help! Can anybody hear me? Please, if you can hear me, I beg you, please help! I don’t know where I am, please somebody help me!’

  The words pounded through the lone man’s head as he calmly left, picking his way through the dense forest. He walked the four miles of the nature trail before making his way to his parked vehicle.

  He casually drove away, without a second thought for the fifteen-year-old schoolgirl he had not long since abducted, tied up and abandoned in the six foot deep by eight foot wide underground cell he had earlier prepared. He grinned as he imagined her trapped inside with only a small ration pack and a bottle of water for company, forced to breathe through a thin ventilation pipe hidden by shrubbery. Alone in the dark without a phone and no clue to where she was.

  Looking around blearily, still disorientated from her Ketamine-induced unconsciousness, panic started to settle into the girl’s mind. She needed to get out — and fast.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, the man arrived back at his warm family home and was greeted by his wife, two young daughters and his border collie, Tess.

  ‘Charles, darling! You’re just in time for dinner.’

  He and his family sat down at the table to say their prayers before tucking into their evening meal and discussing one another’s day as a solid, loving family unit.

  Once the meal had been consumed, the children politely asked if they may leave the table and go to their rooms to do their homework and prepare themselves for the evening. The girls were excused, and set about carefully folding and hanging their school uniforms before changing into their pyjamas and taking care of their homework assignments. Upon finishing, they then returned to the sitting room and settled down for the evening in front of the television. Molly’s discontent at her father leaving earlier in the day still showed by the scowl on her face.

  The parents, meanwhile, busied themselves with everyday household chores, taking care of the dishes, tidying up and doing whatever else needed done. Fiona was desperately trying to get their attention by singing and dancing in the centre of the living room, much to Molly’s dismay.

  ‘Sit down and shut up, Fi!’ she snapped, jealous at the bond between her younger sister and their father.

  Charles then decided to go out for his customary evening walk with Tess to get some fresh air and clear his head of the day’s stresses and challenges, leaving the mother to do the laundry and arrange his veterinarian’s uniform for the following day. As she did so she caught a glimpse of her younger self in a photo in the hall that showed her proudly standing in her old nurse’s uniform; she paused for a second to think back on the career she had given up to raise their family. She then gently grasped the cross that hung around her neck, and thanked God for the life and family she had been blessed with before returning to her chores. Just an average day in the Lee household.

  For all intents and purposes, everything appears to show a ‘normal’, well respected, loving family. Unbeknown to the ladies of the household however, everything was not as it appeared. Charles Lee had plenty of serious, unresolved issues and demons of his past; things he has never discussed with anybody till this day — not even his wife. Demons that he struggled with on a day to day basis, his mind a prison encasing all the torture, anger and frustrations of his childhood. He was hell bent on revenge, determined to have his pound of flesh. In doing so, he would inflict onto others the horrendous nightmares of his past, things that could have been so easily avoided if somebody had just bothered to listen to him and believe in him.

  ***

  Mr Lee arrived back at the house after his walk with Tess to find the girls already in their bedrooms, settling in for the night. He visited each of their rooms and kissed them goodnight, then proceeded to read Fiona her favourite bedtime story while his wife, Rebecca, finished off the last of her endless chores.

  ‘Charles, Charles, is that you?’ Rebecca’s voice came from down the hall.

  ‘Be with you in a moment darling.’

  He finished off his story to Fiona before tucking her in for the night, and by the time he had finished it was 9.30pm. Mr Lee then quickly checked his emails regarding tomorrow’s schedule before finally settling down on the sofa in front of the television, sipping contentedly at the large glass of red wine his thoughtful wife had poured for him. The two of them then snuggled up together to watch some min
dless programmes and unwind. Rebecca made Charles look through all the photos she had taken earlier in the day, beaming with pride at their triumphant eldest daughter’s accomplishment, before retiring to bed.

  Mrs Lee disappeared into the main bathroom to undress, leaving her husband to step into a nice hot shower in the en-suite bathroom.

  Whilst the water washed over him, his mind wandered to the young girl he’d recently left behind. She’d be cold and alone, her limbs still not functioning properly due to the drugs he had injected her with. He could picture her lying, semi-naked, in a heap; he had torn off the majority of her clothes to reveal her firm young body. All of a sudden, he started to feel something he hadn’t in months with his wife: he felt aroused.

  The more he imagined how frightened and disorientated the girl would be, the more he pictured her sobbing and begging for help, the more aroused he became. Slowly, he started to touch himself, but before he’d even begun to start properly pleasuring himself, he heard Rebecca coming back into the room, shouting out for him to hurry up and get into bed for a ‘cuddle’, as she was cold in bed by herself.

  Unbeknown to him, her real reason for wanting him to come to her was that she was lying in bed in a brand new matching underwear set and suspenders that she had recently purchased from Ann Summers; a desperate attempt to spice up their recently non-existent love life. Several times over the past few months, Charles has struggled to become aroused in bed; he had spurned his wife’s advances on numerous occasions, blaming tiredness and the stresses of starting his own veterinary practice. In truth, he’d had far more than work on his mind.

  He had secretly been seething with rage and repressed feelings of revenge. The perpetrators of the systematic torture and abuse he received as a child would have to pay.

  This yearning for revenge was heightened by a chance encounter with one of his abusers just a few months earlier, after being called out to a farm near a small town named Wigton, just twelve miles outside of Carlisle in the Cumbrian Countryside. The farmer’s prized cow had been attacked by either a fox or a badger, and the farmer was worried it may have contracted Tuberculosis. The farmer hadn’t recognised the man standing before him, and why should he have? It had been nearly thirty years since he had last saw Charles as a withdrawn, scared fifteen-year-old boy. Charles, on the other hand, could never forget that puffed up, sweaty, red nosed, pockmarked face, nor the stench of whiskey which still clung to him as it did all those years ago. He never let on though; he remained as calm as he could manage, patched up the wound, then gave the cow a shot of antibiotics before making his escape.

  After a short but erratic drive, he’d finally pulled into a layby on the way back and broke down in tears. Shaking and covered in sweat, with all the agonising memories he had repressed for so many years all flooding over him, he decided there and then that he wouldn’t live the rest of his life in that shadow. Instead, he chose to face up to his past, and not bury it any longer.

  ***

  Charles stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. He still felt aroused. Attempting to hide his semi-erect penis under his towel so as not to raise suspicion from Rebecca, he quickly jumped beneath the sheets. His mind was swiftly distracted from his own thoughts about the girl, instead focusing on the vision of his wife lying beside him, seductively looking at him and arching her back in a manner in which implied ‘take me’.

  Whether it was the thoughts he’d had whilst getting showered, or the look of his wife, or possibly a combination of both, she would never know, but that night, for the first time in ages, man and wife made love for the next hour or so and remembered what life used to be like. They remembered one of the reasons they fell in love in the first place. Once they had finished, they kissed each other goodnight, told each other of their love, then went to sleep in each other’s arms — just like days of old.

  Chapter 2

  The next morning Charles woke surprisingly early, judging by the digits on his bedside clock; it was only 5.15am, but he was unusually alert for such an early start. He glanced over to where Rebecca lay and, seeing that she was still soundly sleeping, he gently got out of bed, grabbed his dressing gown from the back of the door, and quietly crept out of the bedroom, carefully closing the door behind him as not to rouse his sleeping wife. He padded to the kitchen to make himself his morning coffee.

  Surprisingly, it wasn’t the young girl in the forest that was on his mind this morning. For some reason all he could think about is Mr Beattie, the farmer whose cow he patched up not too long ago. Mr James Beattie, to give him his full title — Jim to his friends. Charles decided in that moment that he would pay him a visit today on the premise that he just wants to see how the animal is recovering. In reality, he was intrigued to know how somebody who committed such terrible acts towards children could so easily forget the face of a child who had trusted him and his wife to take them in as their own during their time as foster carers.

  However, his thoughts quickly turned back to the girl. He tuned into the news channel on TV and was met by the image of her on the screen. The headline read, ‘fears grow for missing schoolgirl’. He turned up the volume to hear the reporter’s words.

  ‘I am standing here in the small town of Gretna, just on the Scottish border, where a community is in shock, praying for any news and the safe return of missing fifteen-year-old schoolgirl Lucy Mitchell after she disappeared late yesterday afternoon. She has not been seen or heard from since 5pm yesterday. Her parents and family are worried and are pleading for her to make contact and let them know she is safe.’

  Then followed an emotional plea from her parents, Susan and Thomas Mitchell. The father spoke, as the mother seemed too distraught.

  ‘Please, Lucy, if you are watching this and you are safe, please come home or let us know. We are not mad at you, we just want you home and to know you are ok.’

  The camera was now back on the reporter.

  ‘It is not yet known whether Lucy has run away from home, either with a boyfriend or someone she knows, and it is far too early to speculate if the situation is something more macabre, but the community is out in full force searching the area for any sign of her, or clues to her whereabouts. If anyone has any information regarding Lucy, could you please contact the police and let them know. This is Jennifer Metcalfe, reporting live from Gretna.’

  Charles’ thoughts now turned to sheer panic. What if somebody had seen him? What if he got caught? How would he explain this to his family? More importantly, what could he do about the girl? Then, as quickly as he had panicked, he remembered what he had learned in the army about staying calm under pressure, and carrying on under difficult conditions. He forced himself to relax and started to think other thoughts — darker, sinister thoughts. Fuck that little slag, she got what she deserved, the filthy little whore. Nobody is really going to grieve for that horrible little bitch, I’m doing the world a favour by taking sluts like that off the street!

  He casually finished his coffee and proceeded to take his morning shower before getting dressed and preparing his daughters’ breakfast. Rebecca came into the kitchen ten minutes later and was met by the aroma of porridge cooking on the hob and the smell of bread being toasted.

  ‘Cup of tea, darling?’ he asked her.

  ‘I would love one, please. Why didn’t you wake me?’

  Charles shrugged. ‘You just looked so peaceful sleeping, so I thought I would let you have a little longer this morning and prepare the girls’ breakfast myself.’

  ‘Ah, thank you very much, I feel much better for it, I must’ve needed it after last night’s shenanigans, you big, hunky stud!’

  She gave him a sly wink and a kiss on his cheek. This didn’t go unnoticed by the girls, who were now sat at the breakfast table.

  ‘Eurgh, gross!’ Molly exclaimed. ‘Get a room! I don’t want to think of my parents being lovey-dovey, it’s disgusting!’

  Fiona, on the other hand, didn’t really understand what was going on. This didn’
t stop her from jumping on the bandwagon anyway, trying to win respect from her older sister by copying her.

  ‘Yeah, get a room you two!’

  Charles just gave Molly a stern glance and left the room to go get his coat and shoes. Saying goodbye, he then headed towards the door to leave.

  ‘Erm, aren’t you forgetting something, mister?’ Rebecca said huffily.

  ‘Oh! Sorry, love.’

  Charles returned to give his wife a kiss goodbye and inform her he will be running late tonight, as he had important business to sort out at the practice. With that, he got into his Volvo SUV and proceeded to head off up their long driveway and out onto the main road.

  ***

  The narrow roads were quiet at this time in the morning, except for the occasional logging wagon moving back and forward from nearby Kielder forest. As he drove through the remote villages and countryside, he couldn’t escape the image of the missing schoolgirl. A billboard outside a local shop clearly displayed the picture he had not long since seen on the news. This happened again as he passed through more villages. This was all a little bit too close to home for his liking — maybe he should have chosen his victim a little further afield. Ah well, it was a mistake he promised himself he wouldn’t make again anytime soon.

  Charles arrived at the practice and was met by Linda, his receptionist, who handed him a pile of envelopes before quickly running through the day’s schedule. She needn’t have bothered; his mind was not on his workload — he had his own agenda. He asked Linda to transfer his schedule over to one of his colleagues, stating that he has too many follow-up jobs to attend to. All lies of course, but that’s the beauty of being the boss. Linda just agreed, and Charles retreated to his office.

  The first thing he did was turn on the radio and tune into the local station CFM, desperate for more news on the girl — Lucy Mitchell. He hadn’t particularly wanted to know her name, as it made her more human. The girl was just a dirty little slut, worthless and expendable. Lucy Mitchell has a family, friends — she was their darling loved one. This made him think of Fiona and, to some extent, Molly, but he tried not to let the thought of that happening to them and how he would feel enter his mind. He had a plan, he just needed to put it into action.