There was a puddle of water on the pavement.  Unless it was actually some poor kid’s blood.  You couldn’t tell, in the dark.  You’re not on Butcher’s Corner anymore, Natalie told herself, but somehow that didn’t make much difference.

She walked past it, her teeth tightly clenched to keep them from chattering.  They were in a grid made up of long, dark roads, and any minute, something could appear at the other end.

There was a roar in the sky, overhead.  “It’s just an aeroplane!” Natalie yelled, more for her own benefit than for Steph’s.  Her chest kept tightening and tightening, like she was an elastic band being twisted in smaller and smaller loops.  The hadn’t passed the church yet.  She’d been so sure that this was the right way, and they hadn’t even passed the church.  Should they turn back?  But what if that was exactly what Mr Miacca wanted?  What if he was lying in wait, three or four streets behind them?

They got to the corner, and Natalie saw…  She thought she saw…  There might have been something she recognised, just across the road and to the left, but it was too dark to even see what it was.  Natalie wasn’t about to hang around squinting at it, though, so she just crossed the road and headed towards it.  Maybe they’d be lucky.

There were no people around here.  There weren’t even any cars on the road.  All Natalie could hear was the wind rustling through the leaves.

On the other side of the road, there was a fence that looked exactly like a cage, all metal squares from the ground to three metres in the air.  The kind of cage you’d need to keep in a monster.  All Natalie could see through the fence was a blotchy concrete floor.  There was a small building in the distance, but close by, nothing at all.

“My legs hurt,” said Steph.

“Mm,” said Natalie, keeping her eye on the fence.

“Why do we have to walk home?”

“I told you.  Mum had to stay late at work.”  They should have listened to Andrea.  They should have stayed where they were.  At least then they wouldn’t be lost.

“But why couldn’t we…”

“Wait!”  Natalie stopped walking.  For the first time since they’d started out, she stood perfectly still, because she had to get a good look at what she’d just seen up ahead.

The big yellow sign saying M&Ms.  The little pink and white notices in the window.  It was closed now, but it was definitely the sweet shop round the back of their school, the one where Natalie and Steph bought Skittles every Friday afternoon.  And the school was closer to their house than the Girls’ Brigade church was, so this proved it.  They were going the right way.

“Look, Steph!” said Natalie, pointing across the road with her free hand.

Stephanie looked over, and nodded.  “The sweet shop,” she said, cheerful but not impressed.

For a moment, Natalie thought about going down the next street and actually going into the school.  Maybe one of their teachers was working late, and maybe they’d give them a lift home.  But then she got a proper look at the next street, and changed her mind.  Too dark, and who said Mr Miacca wouldn’t live near a school?  It would be the one place where he’d be guaranteed to catch kids away from their homes and their parents.  Besides, Natalie had been to school plays and parents’ evening at her school and Andrea’s, and they were both creepy at night.  Eerie lights glowing from the windows; weird noises echoing from the other side of the building; dark, empty classrooms with the chairs stacked up on the tables.  Natalie didn’t want to go there if she could help it.

Natalie led Steph on, looking from one side of the street to the other and trying to remember exactly what she saw through the car window in the morning, when Mum drove them to school.  Her chest had loosened up a lot now that she knew more-or-less where they were, but she knew she couldn’t relax completely.  They weren’t home yet, and Mr Miacca was still out there somewhere.

She did recognise this street, but not for any good reason.  It was the one where most of the houses had furniture piled up in the front drives.  Years ago, in Year One or something. Natalie and her friend Paul had wandered close to one of those front drives to get a better look at a rusty old swing-seat, and a witchy old woman had popped out of the front porch, yelling, “This is private property!  Keep off!”  She didn’t want that happening again.  Besides, all that furniture would probably be perfect for Mr Miacca to hide behind.  Natalie walked a little faster.

Natalie looked at the houses as she passed them, trying to see if she could remember which one was the old lady’s.  Instead, she remembered something else.  The reason she’d been with her friend Paul that day was that Paul lived nearby.  On the next street, if she was remembering right.  And maybe if they found his house and knocked at the door…

OK, Paul’s mum and dad didn’t have a car, so they couldn’t give Natalie and Steph a lift home.  But they could invite them in, and phone Mum at work so that she could come and pick them up from there.  And that way, Natalie and Steph would get to spend the rest of the evening playing with Paul and his brother instead of trying to escape from Mr Miacca.

They crossed the road and, thank God, Natalie could see Paul’s house from here.  “Let’s go and see if Paul is in,” she told Stephanie, and practically ran to the door.

Paul’s house was painted white, and the door was blue.  The front garden was small and neat and didn’t have any furniture in it.  Natalie went up to the front door and knocked, thinking about what they could do once they were in there.  Paul had a Playmobil pirate ship and a Batman game on his computer.  He had a whole bunch of books that Natalie had never read.  He had…

Natalie looked at the windows, and realised that none of the lights were on.

She knocked on the door, and didn’t hear anything.  No voices, no footsteps rushing down the stairs.  There was no-one in the house.

They’re gone.  Mr Miacca’s taken them.  But Natalie knew, even as she thought it, that it wasn’t true.  Paul and his family had just gone out to dinner or something.  They were miles away, and they had no idea that Natalie and Steph desperately wanted to come in.  They had no idea that Natalie was staring at the front door, trying not to cry.

Natalie swallowed, and looked at Steph.  “Nobody’s home,” she said, trying to sound cheerful, “Come on.”  And they walked onwards.

(To be continued)