Chapter 7: doing a bolt

"Randolph, Lynda, come on, you two can do the washing up."

"Aw, Mum," complained Randolph as he got up slowly.

I sat there, unmoving. My immediate thought was 'fuck the dishes', but that wasn't smart. Stay cool, work on your escape plan; that was much smarter.

I got up with (I hope) the appropriate show of reluctance and headed for the sink. Randolph and I both sighed, had a brief argument as to who should wash and wipe, and then got into it.

As we finished, Mrs Keaton said, "It's still quite cool, so we need to dress up warm. Lynda, I've laid your clothes out on your bed, sweetheart."

I'll give you 'sweetheart', bitch, you just wait.

Cotton undies and singlet, a t-shirt, tight slacks, a thick woollen jumper, socks and boots, and a woollen beanie, all girls stuff, all in my size and of far better quality than I was used to.

"Do it, do it," I told myself, "You are going to get your chance. Mr and Mrs Bastard are going to regret what they're doing to you."

She came in just as I was finishing. She looked me up and down, nodded and said, "Very nice." She adjusted the beanie on my head.

Off we went, with Randolph and me leading. I was pretty sure that they wouldn't let me dawdle along at the rear so I would have to get far enough ahead by myself - I was confident that Randolph would start slowing down fairly quickly - then I could slip into the bush and be away.

The path was very faint, and was often hard to see because the sun was only penetrating the thick foliage of the tall trees in random bright patches that made things confusing, and it was winding all over the place as well.

After a while I began to build up a bit of a lead in front. Then Mr Keaton called out, "Lynda, don't get too far ahead, it's easy to lose your way in the bush."

"That's exactly what I'm planning, Mr Bastard," I murmured to myself.

My chance came, a long curve, I was out of sight of them. Away I went: off the path, bent double, scampering along trying not to make too much noise, then I heard, "Lynda, stop, where are you?"

I smiled grimly to myself and kept going.

There was more yelling, it sounded more anxious, but it was becoming more distant. Yeah, I was getting away. I would head towards the lake, then I could find the dirt track and run down to the village. The lake should be on my right; I turned that way.