Please be quiet. Please be quiet. She sent a silent message to Leah and Marie. She was surprised Leah wasn’t openly sobbing and, despite her fear, her desperation, she felt a sense of pride that neither of her sisters had given their hiding place away. They were all in this together. A team.

A family.

A creak. The rusty hinge on the door of the locker next to hers protested as it was opened. She cowered in her metal coffin, feeling the whispers of all those who had lain here before, almost their final resting place. Please don’t let it be hers. She drew her knees upwards, that comma again. Not a full stop, please not now.

She had tried so hard to get them out of here, but it wasn’t good enough. She wasn’t good enough.

At primary school in assembly the kids had recited the Lord’s Prayer. Carly would parrot the words, not thinking too deeply about Jesus and God. Not caring, if she was honest.

She cared now.

Dear God. Carly began to pray. Her lips moved, but the words solely in her head.

Please.

Please.

She pictured herself in her bedroom, sprawled on her bed, Bruno snoozing next to her, his paws twitching as he dreamed. He must be missing her. Her parents would be fraught. Would she ever see them again?

‘They’re not upstairs.’ Doc spoke now, breathless as though he had been running. ‘Christ, what was this? Some sort of hospital?’ There was a crash as he kicked the trolley.

‘A morgue, I think,’ Moustache said.

‘It’s as creepy as fuck. I’ve had enough of this place—’

‘I don’t give a shit,’ Moustache snapped. ‘We stay until we find them. We don’t get the girls, we don’t get paid. If they’re not here they could have made it out by now and then we’re fucked. The road is only a few metres away.’

Bitter disappointment crawled through Carly’s veins. They’d been so close. If it weren’t for the fog they would have spotted the fence.

‘Let’s have another scout around outside then, but if we don’t find them soon we’ll have to go. They could have flagged down a car, someone could be calling the police right now…’ Doc’s voice grew fainter and Carly slumped with relief. They were gone.

The urge to burst out of her hiding place prickled at her goosebumped skin but Carly forced herself to remain where she was, to make sure they really were alone. As she waited she turned their words over in her mind. We don’t get the girls, we don’t get paid.

She had thought that this was a kidnap and they had demanded a ransom from their parents but perhaps the men were planning on selling them to someone else? Either way there was a plan for them. Carly needed to get her sisters to safety before it was put in place. The road’s only a few metres away.

It was knowing this that gave Carly the strength and courage to gently push open the door to her locker, wincing at the creak. Moustache and Doc believed that she might have flagged down a car and asked for help and so she too must believe that she could. Determinedly, she unfolded herself from the small space, toes wriggling to chase the pins and needles away from her socked feet. As she dropped to the floor she drew a deep breath, fetid and repugnant, but the air still fresher than it had been inside her steel casket. Hurriedly, she released her sisters, shushing them as she helped them out.