The story so far:Rhea was unable to send messages calling for help. As she felt her way through the loft in the bathroom, she suddenly realised they were not walls but wooden panels, which were actually the back of the cupboard in Sam’s Grandma’s room. She searched for a way to try to slide the panel aside so that she can enter it.
For several long moments, Rhea’s hands went here and there and then suddenly, the panel moved and opened inward. She squeezed through and almost fell over the piles of clothes that lay on the bottom of the cupboard.
The cupboard was slightly ajar and as Rhea peered over the clothes, she could see a part of the room. There were no men visible. Good.
She could see Sam’s back and the legs of the bed and his mother’s legs on the floor.
Rhea stood up inside the cupboard and slowly pushed open the door, once again making sure that there was no one except the two women and Sam in the room.
“Sam! Sam!” she hissed and he turned around and stared at her in astonishment.
“How did you…” he began but she put her finger on her mouth to shush him.
“I’ll explain later. I contacted my mom, but I don’t know if she understood what I said…” she whispered. “Are you all okay?” She looked at Sam’s mom and Grandma with concern.
“I think Mom’s hurt, but Grandma is just pretending to be unconscious. But we have to do something…”
“I thought of something…” she began, but he interrupted.
“The keys of the back door are behind the fridge. Get them and get out and get help. Our neighbour is less than half a kilometre down the road. I’ll try and keep the men talking for a while here when they come in next.”
He stopped talking as the men’s voices got louder.
Buying time
Rhea backed into the cupboard once again and half closed it, as it had been before. She moved into the space behind the panel, but she didn’t shut it completely. She wanted to hear what was being said.
She could hear one of the men complaining. “I’m hungry.”
“So, what do you want me to do?” snarled the leader. “Roll chappatis for you? Go find something in the kitchen!”
“Oh no!” thought Rhea. “If he goes into the kitchen, I can’t get to the keys!”
Obviously, Sam had the same thought, because he called out, “Sir? Sir? I can make you tea and a sandwich.”
The leader came in and untied Sam. “Go! Hurry up!”
Sam scampered out of the room and hurried into the kitchen. He hoped that the men would not follow him all the way there and that he could meet Rhea and pass her the keys of the back door.
But Sam was not in luck.
The men didn’t enter the kitchen but they sat in the drawing room, ignoring the fallen cushions, the overturned settee, the peg tables that had been tossed aside, the music system that was disconnected and dumped on the floor.
Between the dining room and the kitchen, there was a half wall on one side and a huge open window with a broad counter on which Mom usually placed the food. They normally helped themselves from there and took their plates to the dining table on the side.
Everything was open to view. Rhea couldn’t get out of the bedroom and reach him and he couldn’t get to the keys. What was he going to do?
Sam filled the electric kettle and turned it on and took out three tea bags and put them in the mugs lying on the kitchen counter. Then he buttered some slices of bread. He did it all automatically, thinking desperately all the while.
To be continued...
