Out of Promises Read Online Free PDF

heard the crack of the body hitting the floor and being dragged out of the room, eventually fading into the night.

 
     
     
     
    iv
     
    For three days and nights nothing else happened and Doug was nowhere to be seen.  Freddie went about his day trying his hardest not to bring any attention on him.  No more children went missing either, but he still needed to know where he’d gone to.
    After lights out, he waited until convinced it was safe and climbed out of bed, completely forgetting about the monsters in the dark, leaving the bedroom without looking back.
    The floor was cold under his bare feet as he passed empty bedrooms.  The main stairwell was silent.  A carer spoke on the radio in an office farther along: ‘If the boss finds out about this we’re screwed, you know that?’
    Freddie left him.
    Five minutes later he ended up on the first floor in a part of the home he’d never been or knew existed.  There was a large door with a small window in the middle showing boxes and crates stacked high, some with labels, and some without.  Some of them were open, impossible to see into in this light.  There were also briefcases and suitcases.  A large shutter for loading and unloading was closed.
    He tried the door.  It was locked, so he continued with his slow trek through the maze.
    The next door he found was called the staff room.  Of all the places in this building, he figured Doug would most likely be in there.
    After a quick check to see if the coast was clear, he looked through the keyhole.  There was nobody inside, so with complete certainty, he went in.
    The room was vacant with a wooden desk, some chairs, drawers, and filing cabinets.
    Pushing the door to, he searched for answers.
    The desk was empty, as were the filing cabinets.  He tried some of the drawers, coming across a photograph album buried under some paperwork.
    He figured it to be of pictures of smiling children, but as he flicked through it, he began to cry.  Pictures of boys who had stayed there in the past moved passed his eyes.  He recognized some of them.  Some were tied up, some were naked, and most of them were crying.
    Dropping the album on the floor, he ran out of the room in a panic.
    Echoes of his sweaty bare feet rumbled through the corridors.  He moved through the chilly air at a pace he had never done before, losing his footing and almost falling, the friction on his feet becoming painful and sore.
    Through a window in the bleak emptiness where the overgrown garden touches the building, a moving light caught his eye as he passed.  It was a torch light dancing around in the dark.  He could just about make out two men: one digging a hole and the other holding the torch.  The man digging was from the canteen.
    For a better look, he moved to the Bridge, standing half way between the two buildings with his face pressed against the glass.  The men were only ten feet away, hovering over a rectangle hole of about five feet.
    Then the body was brought out.  The torn clothes gave it away.  The same clothes he’d seen Doug wearing.  With a loose head and lifeless body, it was easy tell he’d been beaten to death.
    Freddie’s heart raced and stomach churned.  He felt he was responsible.  Dropping to his knees, he vomited on the floor, the acidy burn in the back of his throat and foul taste only bringing up more.  His vision went blank and he fell to his side, gasping for air.  His head was spinning and he felt more vomit coming up.  Climbing back to his knees, he let out what was left and leaned against the glass wall, panting and trying to think of a way out.
    If he didn’t get out tonight, he figured he’d be next.
    His thoughts were soon cut through by a voice from the staff quarters.  ‘Hey, you.  What are you doing down there?’
    Instinctively, Freddie stood up and just ran anywhere he could without looking back.  It didn’t matter that his feet hurt.  He just had to get somewhere.  He ran to the loading