Taking off his coat and then his wet trousers, Danny used one of the blankets to rub his legs dry as the shame that he’d been unable to control himself brought a flush to his face. He hung the trousers on the door handle to dry. But it was so cold in the room and he was shivering, his teeth chattering together. Danny put his coat back on and, sitting on the mattress, wrapped his legs in the other blanket.

The tears came again, and curling up on his side, he sobbed bitterly.

3

DAY 1

Eventually Danny’s tears dried. He rubbed at his eyes, blew his nose and thought seriously about his situation. Clearly, he’d been kidnapped and it was up to him, his duty, to do his best to escape.

Danny stood, wrapped the blanket around his legs and shuffled over to the window. The dirty glass was cracked, the frame warped and someone had nailed the window frame to the base so it wouldn’t open. A heavy mesh encased the outside, making it difficult, though not impossible, to see through. The mesh was presumably to deter him from climbing out of the window.

Danny screwed up his eyes and peered into the distance – a main road was visible, separated from the house by a couple of fields. To the left was woodland, not particularly dense, but with a path leading into the trees which could mean that someone walked through it, hopefully with regularity. The noise of the traffic couldn’t be heard from inside.

Adjacent to the house was a large barn, or what was left of one, with more holes than roof from what Danny could see and only half a door swinging precariously on a large rusty hinge. A white van was parked near the house, too close to see little more than the roof, and certainly not the number plate, but he reckoned it was a Ford Transit.

Danny sighed and went to sit back down on the dirty mattress to think. He expected his mother would be home and wondering where he was by then. What would she do first? Probably ring Ethan to see if he was with him.

Ethan lived a couple of blocks away from their house and the two boys had been friends since their first day at primary school. Danny was glad when they both enrolled at St Bede’s, although they were in different classes. Both boys made other friends yet still saw each other often, particularly during school holidays.

If only Danny had waited to walk home with Ethan this might not have happened. When Danny’s mother learned he wasn’t at Ethan’s, what would she do? She wasn’t one to panic but he knew she’d worry when he wasn’t home. He still had his watch on – it was 5.30pm. He wondered if she’d called the police yet.