Page 1 of Dying Truth
Prologue
Kim knew that her left leg was broken.
She pulled herself along the path on her hands as the stone bit into her palms, shards of gravel embedding beneath her fingernails.
A cry escaped her lips as her ankle turned and pain shot around her body.
Sweat beads were forming on her forehead as the agony intensified.
Finally, she saw the light from the building as three familiar shapes hurtled out of the doorway.
All three of them headed towards the bell tower.
‘Nooo…’ she cried, as loudly as she could.
No one turned.
Don’t go up there, she willed silently, trying to pull herself towards them.
‘Stop,’ she shouted out as they entered the metal doorway at the base of the tower.
Kim tried to still the panic as they disappeared from view.
‘Damn it,’ she screamed with frustration, unable to reach them in time.
She gathered all her strength and pushed herself up to a standing position, trying to drag her broken leg behind her as though it didn’t exist.
Two steps forward and the pain radiated through her body like a tidal wave and brought her back down to the ground. She gagged as the nausea rose from her stomach and her head began to swim.
She shouted again but the figures had disappeared from view and were now in the belly of the tower, behind solid brick, mounting the stone steps to the top.
‘Please, someone help,’ she screamed, but there was no one to hear. She was a good eighty metres away from the school, and she had never felt so helpless in her life.
She glanced at her wrist and saw that it was three minutes to eight.
The bell was due to be rung bang on the hour.
The fear started in the pit of her stomach and grew like a cloud to fill her entire body.
She struggled forward another agonising step, dragging her useless leg behind her.
Torchlight illuminated the top of the tower.
Damn it, they were already there.
‘Stop,’ she cried again, praying that one of them would hear her even though she knew her voice wouldn’t carry that distance.
The shafts of light moved furtively around the tower balcony ninety feet up in the air.
She saw a fourth figure amongst the three that were familiar to her.
The watch on her wrist vibrated the top of the hour. The bell didn’t ring.
Please God, let them get down.
Her prayer was cut off as she heard a loud scream.
Two people were hanging from the bell rope, swinging back and forth, in and out of the torchlight that darted around the small space.
