The Truth

Autor: desertrose
veröffentlicht am: 01.06.2011

Hey, hier mal eine neue Geschichte, diesmal auf Englisch. Die anderen Stories werden immer auf Deutsch sein, nur die hier ist eine Ausnahme. Viel Spaß beim Lesen! Und Kommis nicht vergessen!
eure desertrose
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1
I don’t know why it happened but I know how it happened. My name’s Kit Avery and I have long brown hair. My eyes are brown, too, but the thing I always hated was that I was short. I’m fourteen years old now and I had lived with my mother in an old village near London. I have to take the bus to get to school in London. It is a highschool. My father died when I was small or much better when I was born, so I don’t miss him much because I never saw him.
The terrible thing I want to tell about started last year when I was thirteen years old. I thought it wouldn’t have an end. But everything has an end and so did this story. It ended when I knew everything. When I knew the truth.

2
It was winter and the streets of London were very cold. Because of the fog you couldn’t see anything. It was like London was a ghost city hiding in the darkness. When the bus stopped in front of the school I took my schoolbag and my poster for the English project I had worked on for months and went out. I saw many shadows coming through the thick fog to school. OK, they weren’t real shadows. They were actually some pupils of our school. Suddenly two cold hands came from behind me and shielded my eyes. “You’re Anna, aren’t you?” I said with a large smile. Of course I knew that it wasn’t Anna. “Who’s Anna?” asked the girl behind me. She was really surprised. “Well, actually I don’t know who Anna is, too!” I started to laugh and Shay, the girl behind me, joined me. “OK, the last one who is at the classroom is a loser!” she said and ran as fast as she could. I didn’t run. I was too nervous because of my English project. Shay was my partner at this project. We did it both together but she didn’t seem to be nervous at all. I had to make the poster and she had worked on the PowerPoint presentation. She was my best friend. We did everything together since we were three or four years old. Shay had short brown hair and black eyes. When I came to the classroom I noticed that Mr. Hendricks, our English teacher, hadn’t arrived yet. I looked at my watch. There were only four minutes until the lesson started. I tried to remember everything I had prepared for the project. Shay was looking for her stick in her schoolbag and found it two minutes later. I was really nervous. I looked at my poster. It was OK. “Hey, Kit, don’t be so nervous. Take it easy. You know everything but you’re scaring yourself.” she said. That’s right, I thought. Suddenly the bell rang and Mr. Hendricks came in. “Good morning, children.” He said and put his bag on his desk. Everybody stood up. “Good morning, Mr. Hendricks!” said the pupils and sat down again. “OK, now! Kit and Shay, would you come to the front, please, and tell us about your project?” Shay took her stick quickly and went to the computer at the front. I followed her with my poster and put it on the blackboard. Shay started to explain about our project. It was about Sydney and its famous landmarks. When I saw Shay speaking without any nervousness I became braver. I wasn’t nervous anymore, not at all. “Great! That was great, Kit and Shay!” said Mr. Hendricks with a happy voice at the end of the presentation. Everyone clapped. I was really happy and started to smile.
3
After school I took the bus home as usual. The fog was still everywhere. Why is there always fog in England? It was very cold. I froze and thought about how it might be in another country. Australia maybe. There’s summer now. And there isn’t any fog. I wished to be in Sydney. To see what it looks like there. I wanted to see all the animals we always hear about like koalas and kangaroos. When the bus stopped at my village I got out carrying my heavy schoolbag. I had to walk for a while because the bus doesn’t go to our house. I froze although I had a warm jacket. At home mum was waiting for me with a hot cup of tea. She asked me to tell her everything about the project at school. I told her everything and couldn’t stop to speak because I was really happy until my mobile started to vibrate in my pocket. “I think it’s Shay, mum. I’m going up to my room. Do you need something?” I asked. “Nothing, thanks.” She said. On my way to my room I accepted the call. “Hello?” I asked. “Hello” answered a strange voice “are you Kit?” “Yes” “If want to know something about your father come to the Highschool this afternoon at three PM, understood?”said the voice “Who are you? Can I take my friend with me?” I asked the stranger. “No! You’ll have to come alone! If you don’t want forget it!” Then something clicked. “Hello?” I asked. Nobody answered. Should I go? I don’t know who this person is! Is it a man or a woman? I was scared. What if he or she wants to hurt me? My heart was beating fast. I felt how the blood froze in my blood vessels. I felt I’ve been watched by someone. What if I didn’t go? I looked at the number on my cellphone. UNKNOWN. Where did this person found my number? And why? Why did this person want to tell me about my father? I could ask mum about him. I heard the phone ringing in the living room. Shay! I had to tell Shay about it. Thousands of thoughts conquered my head. “Kit!” my mum shouted “There’s someone who wants to speak to you!” Oh no, I thought, no more unknown people! Who are they and what do they want from me? My heart was beating fast. I felt as if there was something stuck in my throat. I went down the stairs to my mum in the living room. “Are you OK, Kit? Why’s your face so white?” asked mum worried. “No, nothing, mum. Nothing to worry about. But… Who’s on the phone?” I wanted to know. I was afraid of the unknown people. “It’s Justin. He wants to know what your homework is.” I took the receiver and put it against my right ear. “Hello, Justin. I’m Kit. What do you want?” My mum went to the other living room. Our house was big and we were only two. “Hi, Kit! I only wanted to know what our homework in English was. Could you tell me that, please?” said the boy’s voice coming out from the phone. “Yes, of course” I answered “we had an exercise on page forty in the book. I think it’s number three. Do you need anything else?” “Wait a minute.” he said while he was writing something “OK. One little question. Could you tell me where you found this information about Sydney, please? I need it for my project about Berlin because I hadn’t found anything yet.” “I used the internet.” I said laughing. I knew he wanted to know which website it was but I didn’t want to tell him about something I had searched for all these months. “Justin, I know what you want. But I can’t tell you about it. It’s impossible for me to tell you about something I was working on for months. I want you to feel how difficult this project is! I want you to work on your project for months, like I did with mine! And I’m sure yours won’t be so bad!” “I searched for long!” he said “I searched for long but I didn’t find anything! I have only two days! And Mr. Hendricks said I should ask you if I need help because your project was great. I wanted to phone Shay but I didn’t find her number! Please, Kit! Only this time!” I thought for a little moment and then answered “Well, OK, only this time! Write down on Google: cities-of-the-world.com, OK?” “OK…” he said while he was writing what I just told him “OK, thank you very much, Kit! I’m sure my project will be better than yours now! Bye and prepare on being a loser in two days!” he said with a nasty laugh and hang up the phone. I made a nasty grin, too, while I put the phone on its place because this address wasn’t what I had really used. I lied on him and he believed it. I knew he wanted to be better than me without doing anything. I knew Justin. Everyone knew Justin. The nasty Justin who would get a bad mark because he tried to lie on me. What did I want to do now? I tried to remember and I did. I wanted to phone Shay and tell her about this unknown person. When I thought about this stranger I felt how my back froze. Then I took the phone again and typed Shay’s number. I waited a second then I heard Shay’s mum answering my call. I asked about Shay. “Well, she’s not here at the moment because she’s on her way to your house.” She said laughing. “OK, thank you. I’m waiting for her.” I put the phone on its place. Come on, Shay, I thought, come on, faster, I’ve got only one hour, come on! I went to the kitchen where my mum was making some tea for herself. I drank some water. “Are you OK, Kit? What happened? Why are you so scared? And your face! Look at yourself! What happened? Are you sick?” she asked. “No, mum.” I answered. “Did anybody hurt you?” she wanted to know. “No, mum! I’m just tired. And I’m waiting for Shay. She’s on her way to me.” I explained. “OK, then. Here! You’ll have to drink a cup of tea. Go and wash your face at first!”
4
When Shay arrived I told her about everything that happened. “Should I go?” I asked. “No!” she said. “But I want to know who my father was! I want to know what happened! I want to know why he or she wants to tell me about my father!” I complained. “Ask your mother about your father, Kit! This person wants to hurt you! Everyone knows that a person like that is a kidnapper or a killer!” she said “Have you got his or her phone number?” “No, it was unknown! But I am going there!” I protested. “No, you aren’t!” “Yes, I am!” “No, you aren’t! Just think what this person would do! He or she would kidnap you or kill you!” I didn’t know what to say. I had to go! Even if I knew what could happen! I had to know what this person wanted! I had to! I heard the phone ringing. “Shay, I must…” “OK, Kit Avery!” she interrupted me. I thought she would shout at me or tell me that she would never be my friend again. But she continued with the same voice “You can go! But only if I can come with you!” “But this stranger said that I have to come alone!” I complained. “Look! You just said it. He or she told you to come alone which only means that the stranger is a kidnapper or a murderer!” she said. “Kit! It’s Justin again!” my mum shouted. “Oh no! Not him again!” I said and turned to Shay to explain to her why I am angry “Before you came he called me and wanted to get help for his project.” I went to the living room and took the phone from my mum. “Hi, Kit.” He said. “What do you want now?” I asked angrily. “I didn’t find this website you told me about...” “Justin, I don’t want to hear anything, OK?” I shouted and switched the phone off. “My dear, are you OK?” shouted mum from the other living room. She was watching news on TV. “Yes, of course, mum” I answered and asked her “Mum? Could you tell me one thing, please? What did my father work as?” At this moment Shay’s mobile started to ring. “Hi?” She answered “Yes, mum…OK, bye”then she turned to me and said “Sorry, Kit, I have to go home now. Bye!” Then she went out. I turned to mum still waiting for an answer. She was really surprised about my question because she had always told me that when I was small. “He worked as a policeman, you know that, why do you ask? What happened, Kit?” Mum asked. “I told you that nothing did happen. I just didn’t want to forget it.” I said and went back to my room. I took my jacket and went downstairs again “Mum, I’m going out for a while catching fresh air. Do you need anything?” “No, thank you!” she said. I think she was still surprised and maybe not believing me that I didn’t want to forget it. And I think she knew something better than me and didn’t want to tell me. Maybe my father was working at Scotland Yard and no one should know? Or maybe he was still working there? Maybe mum and dad were spies and mum told me dad was a policeman to save me and herself! That would be cool, I thought, to be the daughter of two spies who were working for Scottland Yard and who were searched for by the most dangerous killers ever! I started to laugh at my crazy ideas. Then I stopped to laugh. Maybe this was really like that and these anonymous people who called me one hour ago were these dangerous killers. And maybe that was why mum was so surprised because she thought she was hiding me really good but although these killers did find me and her! And I was going to them! I turned to go back but then I remembered that I still wasn’t sure about my crazy ideas which could maybe be really the truth. I looked at my watch while I was thinking of going or not. Then I decided to go and to know the answer of these ideas and questions I had. I was good at running and I could run away if thy were really killers or kidnappers. I went to the bus station then I hold on. What if this stranger who called me was only someone stupid from our school and triing to laugh at me. What if it was Justin and triing to take revenge because of today morning when I gave him the wrong adress? I was sure now that this was someone triing to laugh on me and I was going there to explain to him on my way that he or she musn’t laugh on me the next time.
5
When the bus arrived I took it and four stations later I went out. As usual there was fog everywhere. I went to the highschool. There was only one car and a woman who was standing next to her blue Jaguar. She was about thirty years old. I knew that someone was watching me. Maybe this woman there? But why? Was the woman this strange caller? Did I really want to see her? Or should I do what Shay said? To stay at home and have a warm chocolate? Should I go home now? When I arrived? When I arrived to the answer of all my questions? I had to! I went straight to the woman with the blue car. “ Hi, I’m Kit” I said friendly. Maybe they wouldn’t kidnap me but tell me everything and ask for mercy, I don’t know why mercy, because I am friendly to them, I thought, like in the movies. But instead of that she suddenly started to shout at me “Come on! Get in that car!” She pushed me into the Jaguar and closed the door. Then she started the engines and drove. “Hey! Let me go! You’re kidnapping me, don’t you know that?!” She took out a gun and put it against my head. “One word and you’re dead, understood?” she shouted. My heart was beating fast. I started to breathe faster and I got goosebumps. I felt how the warm tears went down my cold face. I was really scared. Is she going to kill me? Does she kidnap me to take money from my mum? Poor mum. What would she do now, I thought. The blue car drove away in the fog.
6
We arrived at a car scrab. My kidnapper went out and opened my door. I felt like it was my chance to run away. I pushed her away and started to run. But before I could go somewhere she caught my arm and held her gun against my face. “A,a,a, don’t try to run away!” she said warning me. I cried. It was too much for me. “What are you gonna do with me?” I asked. “Shut up! You’ll know everything at its time!” Then she took a rope and tied my arms and legs. I was too scared to do anything. I didn’t want her to shoot at me. She took a bandage and shielded my eyes. I couldn’t see anything. She pushed me again in that car and closed the door. “Where are you taking me? And who are you?” I asked again. “I told you to shut up! Then shut up and you will stay alive!” Then she started the engines and the blue Jaguar drove again away in the fog. But this time I couldn’t see where she was taking me.
7
After one or two hours, I don’t know how long, the engines of the car stopped. My kidnapper had switched them off. I didn’t know where I was. I only listened. I couldn’t hear any cars but I heard some birds singing. Then I could hear some people. Men and women came and started to speek with my kidnapper. I didn’t listen to them. I only tried to recognize where I was. Then these men and women suddenly opened my door and someone pulled me out. They all or most of them carried me. I didn’t know where they were carrying me and how many they were. I recognized that the birds singing suddenly was gone which ment I was been taking into a house or something like that. They threw me on the floor. That hurted me very much. Someone tied up the ropes and bandage and put them away. I opened my eyes slowly. Everybody went out of the little room I was sitting in except my kidnapper who closed the door. The room was really small and empty. It looked like a kind of basement but there weren’t any spiders. The walls were clammy and cold. There was no window. The woman came and sat in front of me on the cold ground. She was still carrying her gun. “You wanted to know about your father, huh? Well, listen then! We are the cougars. You should know us. We were once ten and your father was one of us. He was our leader and he was killed by a policeman when he tried to save us.” I looked at her. She was lying! I put my hands on the ground to stand up but she suddenly shouted: “Stop! Don’t move or you’ll die!” She was angry. And I was angry. “Let me go!” I said with a warning voice to let her feel scared. But she didn’t answer. She laughed and hit me with her gun on my arm. “Aaaaaaaaaaah! Are you crazy?” I shouted and cried at the same time. My arm felt as if it was broken but it wasn’t. It felt like a wound. “Tell me how to get to Sydney!” she suddenly said. I thought I did understand her wrong. “What?” I asked again. “Tell me how to get to Sydney! Three of us are caught there.” She said. I looked at her. She was really crazy! “I can’t!” I answered. “What? Why? Why can’t you tell me?” She asked angrily. “I can’t! I’m still a little girl!” I answered her trying to be nasty. “But I saw you with your project about Sydney and your father knew how to go there!” She thought for a moment then she grinned nastily and said: “Well, I will help you to know that! You won’t get food and water until you know it! Understood? That’s the best way to remember!” She turned to the door, went out and locked it. Suddenly I heard someone shouting outside. It was really dark in the room. I couldn’t see the door but I tried to recognize where it was. I tried to listen why they were shouting and I could hear something, but not everything. “Why did we take the girl? She doesn’t know anything! We should have taken her mother!” said my kidnapper angrily. “Her mother? Are you crazy, Jo? Her mother means our death! You can take anyone you want except her mother!” A mans voice said. My kidnapper is called Jo. I couldn’t hear the rest of the discussion. My arm was still hurting me. I cried. I knew how to get to Sydney without letting the police notice that they were the cougars. If I told them they would go there and let the other three guys go out and be free again. It would be a disaster because everybody knew that the cougars were very professional killers. They killed like if a cat kills her victom, without any sound. Noone would notice that they killed until they were very far away. Otherwise if I didn’t tell them they would kill me and maybe kidnap my mum later. I was thinking about what to do. I couldn’t escape because there was no window. The door was locked. I had to choose between telling them and not telling them until I fell asleep.
8
It was very cold when I woke up. My arm was still hurting me. It felt like a wound. In films my arm wouldn’t hurt but I knew I wasn’t in a movie. I think my arm was blue. I hated her. My kidnapper. This ugly Jo. It was so dark that I couldn’t see anything. I blew on my fingers to warm them up but it didn’t help. My nose froze. It hurted like a knife which was getting up your nose to freeze your whole face. My fingers felt like if there where thousands of needles crossing them. I tried to go away as far as I could from the walls because they were cold. I wished I was at home. Sitting in the warm living room with my mum in front of the television and drinking a cup of hot chocolate.
9
Suddenly someone opened the door and a woman came in carrying some food and a cup of cold tea.She was about twenty years old and she seemed to be nice, but if she was one of the cougars she was just pretending to be nice. “Hi!” she whispered “my name is Marianne. What’s your name?” ‘‘I shouldn’t give her my name’’ I thought ‘‘I can’t trust her. She’s a killer.’’ She was smiling. “You’re frozen like an icicle! Wait a minute!” she said and went out. What was she going to do? A moment later she came again carrying a blanket and cup of hot tea. He gave me the tea to drink it but I hold it for a moment to warm up my frozen fingers. At first I didn’t feel anything. I held it longer then I began to feel the warmth coming out from the little cup of tea. After that I put it against my cold nose and waited to feel something again. Marianne put the blanket she brought on my back and wrapped me in it. “I don’t know why they took a little girl like you and not an adult! Little children don’t know anything!” she whispered again. “Why do you whisper?” I asked. “Pst! Don’t speak loud. I’m not allowed to speak with our victoms. And I am not allowed to bring a blanket or something to warm you up.” She answered. “Then why do you speak with me?” I asked “And why do you bring something to warm me up if it isn’t allowed to you to do that?” “Look! When I was in your age the same thing happened to me as it is happening to you now! The cougars killed my parents because I didn’t tell them how to go to Paris. That was ten years ago. Later they wanted to kill me. Then I had a brilliant idea! I wanted to take revenge. I told told them how to go there because my parents knew that and they have told me before I was kidnapped. Jo helped me a little bit because she had had the same destiny like me and you.” She explained. “Then why don’t you go to Sydney like how you got to Paris?” I asked. “Because now they want fingerprints.” When I heard that I started to shout: “It’s too much for me! I can’t think anymore! What happened to my mum? Where is she?”
10
“Marianne?” asked suddenly a voice “Are you in there?” Then Jo’s head looked in. “Hi!” she whispered and looked at me “how are you?” “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” I cried. I wanted everyone to hear me. I shouted as loud as I could. Some tears fell on the floor. Marianne and Jo looked surprised and scared at the same time. Jo ran quick to me and held her hand against my mouth. “ You’re gonna wake them up! Then you won’t have any chance to be free again! Listen! We don’t know anything about your father! We only know that he was the best of the cougars. Marvin and Tom know more than anyone of us about your father. They were his best friends. I don’t know if the is dead now or still alive. Tell them what they want and then in Sydney we’re gonna take revenge of them! Now eat your food! You’re gonna need it!” she said and went out with Marianne. I heard her when she locked the door. Now I was sitting in the darkness again. Could my father really be still alive? I couldn’t trust them. They were still murderers. They didn’t change…
11
I don’t know how many days, weeks or months went since I was kidnapped. But I know that very much time went. Jo and Marianne brought always food and hot tea for me. I was thinking the whole time about telling them or not telling them and about how to get to Sydney without being caught because in my first plan I forgot the fingerprints. And suddenly one day Jo came in and pulled me out of the clammy and cold room. “ Well, that’s what I call good luck.” She said and put her blonde hair behind her ear. I looked surprised at her. What did she mean? “ you’re father is still alive.” She explained with a large smile as if she could read my thoughts. The other kidnappers were sitting around me in a circle and laughing. But it wasn’t a nasty laugh at all. “You’re father was caught in Sydney while he was trying to get the other cougars out.” Said a man with short brown hair. I still looked surprised and couldn’t say anything at first. Then a second later I shouted: “You’re lying! My father was a policeman and you killed him!” “Well, I bet your mum told you this, didn’t she?” asked a man with blonde hair. He was about thirty years old. He continued: “I know your father, Kit Avery! I know him very well! I was his best friend, Marvin Smith, until he disappeared. And now! Now after thirteen years, he was caught in Sydney! Think about it, young lady! Think about your father! Your father, Nick Avery!” It made something like a click in my head when I heard the name. “Ha! Got you! His name wasn’t Nick! His name was Henry!” I shouted while I was laughing “You tried to lie on me only to get to Sydney, but you won’t! Understood? You won’t!” I made an hysteric laugh while I was crying at the same time. A man with brown hair stood up and came next to me, to te middle of the circle. I stared at him and he smiled at me. He was about forty years old. “Well, Kit, you’re gonna have to be prepared for many surprises.” He said and turned laughing to the others “I know how to get there! I know how to get to Sydney!”
12
One week later we were sitting on a ship. For ships you don’t need fingerprints. They used false ID-cards to get on ship. I didn’t know that there was a ship going from Great Britain to Australia. I was with Jo, Marianne and Jenny, another woman of the cougars with long brown hair, in one room. The room was very big. The men were all together in another room. I was staring out of the window when Jenny got out of the room. Marianne was tiping something on her mobile. “I still don´t understand why you took me with you to Sydney.” I turned to Jo “Could you tell me why?” She looked at me and closed “Who’s Marvin?” , I asked. “The man with the blonde hair. He´s our leader at the moment.” , She stood up and went to the window, “Be careful when you speak with him.” She sighed and went out of the room. I turned to Marianne, “What are you doing?” She looked up to me “Nothing.”. I came towards her and tried to look at her mobile but she quick put her hands on it. “What do you want? If you have any questions go to Marvin!” , her voice was harsher now and was angry. When I tried to go out she hold my arm and said: “Wait, I’ll come with you”. I looked surprised at her “do you think I´ll let you go alone?” she asked angry “If I would have done that and you brought the police Marvin would kill me.” “Well you’re already dead!” I said and laughed. She got angrier. “Shut up and get out of that room! Now!” I liked that, making people angry. We went to the room of the men but Marvin wasn´t there. John, the man with the short brawn hair, said that the leader was playing billard at the billard room.Marianne took me there. When I opened the door I saw Marvin playing. He was laughing at first like a champion but soon he started a fight with the other men he was playing with. They were normal people, not the cougars. I was nervous. BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU SPEAK WITH HIM. These were the words Jo told me before she left the room. I looked at Marianne. Her look was cold when she was staring at him. “Marianne?” I asked “I think, I’ve changed my mind.” “You…! Go to your room at once!” Oh, oh! That’s gonna be very dangerous, I thought. On my way to our room an old woman asked me about the city I was going to. Suddenly Marianne said politely “Well, we’re going to Athena because her grandmother died.” “What?!” I shouted surprised and Marianne put her hands as fast as she could on my mouth. “I’m very sorry. She’s ill and she doesn’t know what she says. She going to be operated in Athena, too, so she doesn’t want to go there.” The old woman looked sad and as if she had understood the situation, but I knew that she didn’t. “Oh, sorry for the little child. What’s her name and how old is she?” she asked. “She’s called Anne and she’s twelve years old.” answered the young lady. “Oh! The poor girl. I must go now. Goodbye.” she said and went away. When we couldn’t see the old woman anymore, Marianne pushed me into our room, pulled the gun out of her pocket and held it against my face. “One word to anyone here and you’re dead in less than one second! Understand?” I tried not to look scared. “Well, Marianne, you can’t! You need me, I know that.” I said taking Jo’s book from her bed. I read the title and smiled. “Pirates of the Caribbean. I liked the movie with Johnny Depp playing Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom playing Will Turner. I want to watch it again.” She grinned nastily when she heard that. “Why are we going to Athena?” I shouted “I thought we’re going to Sydney.” “Just wait and watch!”

13
Two days later, when I was sitting in the room and reading the book Pirates of the Caribbean which I have borrowed from Jo, Jenny came and took me with her. At first I didn’t know where she was taking me. She took me to the Captain’s room. I thought the Captain was going to help them now but he didn’t because he couldn’t. We arrived there but instead of the Captain driving the ship I saw Marvin. He had a nasty grin on his face. I looked to the back of the room and was shocked. I couldn’t speak anymore, I couldn’t shout for help, I couldn’t cry, I couldn’t do anything. There was the Captain with his assistants lying on the floor and under them there was blood everywhere. They were all dead. Shot by the cougars. I couldn’t breathe anymore. I fainted.
14
I don’t know how long I have slept but when I woke up I was tide up in the captains room. A bandage was closing my mouth so I couldn’t shout for help. The room was empty. They were all gone. I turned my head to the left. There was only the wall. Then I turned to the right and saw the dead bodies of the Captain and his assistants. I felt how the tears went down my face and got really scared. I heared some shots and people who were crying and shouting. I tried to stand up but I couldn’t . Why is everything like that, I thought, why didn’t I stay at home with mum? This is what happens if you always want to know everything. I tried to stand up again and this time I made it. I jumped to the opened door and tried not too look at the dead bodies. I got out of the room. Blood was everywhere on the floor but I couldn’t see any bodies. Suddenly someone from the back put a gun against my head. “Well, Kit Avery, I bet you wonna know what happens here. “A voice said. It was Tom Hauck, the man whose idea it was going to Sydney by ship. He was a big man with brown hair. After he had put my bandages away he said “ We’ve taken the ship. We didn’t kill everybody. Only thirty or forty. We sent the rest of them out in lifeboats. I think they will soon phone the police or someone to help them. We threw the dead ones in the sea. Now Marvin’s going to drive the ship to Australia. I don’t know how. Maybe he had some ship driving lessons when he was a little boy. I don’t know.” I was shocked. I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t say anything. He said only thirty or forty. They were not ‘normal’ killers. They were weirdoes. “Go to your room now, Kit! Go!” I ran as fast as I could. But I didn’t run to my room. I ran out and looked at the sea. There were some lifeboats. “Help!” I shouted “Help!” I saw Jo running towards me and I looked down to the sea. It was pretty high. When I wanted to jump to the sea, Jo hold my arm. “You’re going nowhere! You stay here, understood? Didn’t Tom tell you to go to your room?” she asked angrily “answer me! Did he or didn’t he tell you?” “He did, he did, he did! Let me go! I want to go home! I want to go to my mum!” I cried and I felt how the hot tears went down my cold face. “Ha! Your mum! Just wait until you know what your mum had been working as and who she really was!” said Marvin with a nasty grin. Marianne was behind him. “Marvin, go and get the ship away from here. The police are coming now!” she said. When he heard that, he ran pretty fast to start the engines again. What did Marvin want to say with ‘JUST WAIT UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR MUM HAD BEEN WORKING AS AND WHO SHE REALLY WAS’. I didn’t understand him. “Well, Kit!” said Marianne “You wanted to see the film Pirates of the Caribbean again, didn’t you? Now you are in a story like that. No! Much better! This is reality. This is Pirates of the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean! Are we pirates, comrades? Say yes!” And they all shouted what she excepted to hear. And they said it again and again “Are we pirates? Yes!”. “No! No! No! That’s impossible! No!” I cried, fell on the ground and crouched myself together. I saw the hot tears falling on the cold floor. “I want to go home!” I whispered “I want to go to my mum and see her. I miss her. I really miss her!” Then all my sadness turned into anger. I stood up and looked at them trying not to look scared. “Take me home at once! I don’t care if my father is still alive or not! If he is really alive then he is a bad father! It’s only because of him! Everything started when he was alive! When you knew that he was alive! If he’s a real father he would have stayed with me and my mother! I know that’s all wrong what I’m saying because he is dead! Dead, understood? Deeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaad! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” I shouted. I was so angry and didn’t know what to say, so I screemed and screemed until I fainted. And the white ship went over the Ocean.
15
When I woke up at midnight I was lying on my bed. I had a terrible headache when I stood up. I knew I went crazy when I was speaking to them, but it was like I had put all my fears and troubles in that long screem. I wore my jacket and my shoes and got out catching fresh air. It was very cold in the hall. I heard someone singing but I couldn’t understand the words because they were in a strange dialect. It was coming from the Captain’s room. I went there but I didn’t go in. I was still scared of the dead captain and his assistants although their bodies weren’t here anymore. It was Marvin who was singing and driving the ship. I was really surprised. Where did he learn driving a ship like that? When he turned to get the cup of coffee he had made to stay awake he saw me and smiled. “Hey, Kit, what are you doing here? Come and look at the stars. They look very brilliant here. Really!” I looked to the back of the room. No dead people. Then I came in and looked out of the window. The dark sky was full of twinkling stars. They were really brilliant. Then I remembered the song I was always singing when I was a small girl: ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star; how I wonder what you are.’ “When I was small, I went sometimes in the clear warm summer nights of England out with my big sister to our garden to see the stars. I liked her. She had always told me stories anout pirates and about sailors who went to the sea and never returned, like it happened to her later.” I looked at him surprised. His sister was dead? “Sorry for you.” I said “What was her name and how old was she when she died?” “She didn’t die.” he answered “I wish she was dead. It’s better for her than what she did.” “What did she do?” I asked. He didn’t answer. Then he started to sing: “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” I looked at him surprised. “My sister taught me this song when I was small” he said. “Why do you always speak about your sister? What about your mother?” I wanted to know. “My mother? She died a long time ago. I never met her. My sister cared about me all the time.” He explained. I remembered my father. I never saw him, too. Only in the albums. “And where is your sister now?” I asked. “Can’t you stop asking questions? I don’t like speaking about her! I’m going to Sydney to end all my troubles and you’re starting a new one! Didn’t your mother tell you that you’re asking too much?” he shouted. “Sorry, I’m going back to my room.” I said and turned to go. “No, you needn’t go. But just stop asking these stupid questions, OK? I’m alone here. I want someone to speak with but they’re all sleeping!” he said. “ Can I ask one question?” I asked. “If it isn’t a stupid one, you can ask” he answered. “Where did you learn driving a ship like that?” “When I was small” he started explaining “my father took me to the marina with him. He showed me how to drive a ship. Of course I didn’t learn it at the first time, no! He started to take me every month, then every week. We sometimes took my sister with us, but not always. He let me drive the ship until I learned it. And now I am refreshing all I know about ships!” I didn’t believe him because noone can drive such a big ship without having had ship driving lessons. I knew he was lying on me but was the first part of his story wrong, too? Did he have a sister? Was his mother alive? Maybe he had killed her. When I thought about this idea I got scared and went straight to my room. And the ship was going straight to Australia, too.

16
Weeks later when I was eating breakfast I heard someone shouting “Land! There’s land overthere! We arrived in Austalia!”I ran up to the deck as fast as I could. “What happened, Jo?” I asked “Look! Overthere! There is land! This is Australia! We arrived in Australia!” she said and all cougars began to laugh. Suddenly Marvin came out of the captain’s room. I didn’t notice that he was all the time there. “Shut up, everybody!” And they all stopped laughing. They looked at him surprised. “This isn’t Australia, you fools!” he shouted looking at the land in front of us “This is Indonesia!” Then he smiled while he continued “That means Australia isn’t far anymore! This is Kupang. In about one day we reach Australia!” Then they started to laugh again. You could see that they were very happy as if they had found a treasure. Maybe they really did. But I noticed that Jenny wasn’t laughing. Not at all. She was really surprised and thinking about something but I didn’t know why. Then she suddenly asked “Where did you know that this is Indonesia? I mean, it also could be Australia!” And they all stopped laughing and looked to Marvin waiting for an answer. At this moment I thought that they all were like machines. You give them a password, they start to laugh. You give them another one, they stop laughing. And when Marvin answered they started to laugh again, because although what he said wasn’t funny, they did accept it as funny. He said “I have a map, silly! Didn’t you wonder how I could reach Australia from the Mediterranean without using any map?”

17
One day later we stopped not far from the land. Marvin didn’t want to stop at the port because he said they would notice that this ship had to go to Greece but was stolen on the way. Because of the globalisation the whole world knew that the cougars made a new attack. He said he had shut down all the communication systems when he started driving the ship. We found two motor boats on the ship. The cougars didn’t want to take lifeboats because they didn’t want to be noticed and caught by the police, so they took these two motor boats, put me in one with Jo, Tom and Marvin and drove to the land. We arrived at a beach but noone was there. The beach was empty. It was cold there. Then I remembered that our summer the winter in Australia was. So that was the beginning of the winter. “Listen! We’re gonna take the train from here to Sydney directly. You don’t say anything, Kit! Understood?” Marvin asked. “Yes, yes, yes” I said bored “Can’t you say anything else? For example: do you want an ice-cream, Kit? No, much better: do you want to go home, Kit? I’m sure your mum is worried sick about you and she had informed the police which hadn’t found you yet!” “Kit! You have to be happy! In two weeks you can go home again. By plane! You can go to your mum who is maybe really worried sick about you” he said smiling but when he continued he was shouting angrily “but didn’t inform the police! Now shut up and follow me! Everybody!” “Ay,ay, captain!” said Tom. Marvin turned to him surprised. Then he smiled and took a map out of his pocket.He looked for a moment at it then tipped with his finger somewhere on it and said while he was putting the map away “We’re gonna take the bus now to the station and then go by train directly to Sydney! This is our plan at the moment. If someone has a better plan he shouldn’t tell me because I think my plan is the best. Any other suggestions?” As Tom wanted to suggest something he continued “No? Then follow me! All of you! And don’t say any word! Kit, no word until we arrive in Sydney! Jo’s gonna look after you. Jo! If she makes anything stupid kill’er at once, ok? Now come on, let’s get out of here!” I waited until they were a bit far from here because I wanted to run away and get help. “Go!” shouted suddenly a voice from behind me. I turned as fast as I could and looked into the bored face of Jo. “What are you doing here? I thought you were with them!” I shouted surprised. “Shut up and go!” she said. I knew I had no more chance for running away. We took the bus to the station. Many people there had red hair. But there were also many with blonde and brown hair. The most of them were from other continents, Asia, Europe, Africa and America. You can see, Sydney is very international. When we arrived at the station Marvin bought some tickets to Sydney. We had to wait only fifteen minutes until the train came. Marvin pushed us all in one cabin and closed the door. He took a seat and started to explain “Look! This is our plan at the moment: When we arrive at Sydney, which is gonna be in about one day, you’re gonna hide somewhere with Kit. Tom, Jack and I are going to help Nick and the others out. After that we’re going to take the money that Nick had hidden somewhere in Sydney and go to different places on the world so that the police can’t catch us all at once. Understood? You, Jenny, got everything? We mustn’t make any mistakes because one little mistake means the rest of life in prison.” “You’re lying” I whispered. “What did you say?” he asked. “You’re lying! I don’t believe anything you said! He isn’t my father! My father died years ago! You killed him! I don’t know why you are taking me with you and why you didn’t kill me at once.” I was completely hopeless and helpless. My tears were falling on the floor while I continued “You were lying at me the whole time! I knew that. I’m not stupid. I don’t believe you were kidnapped, too, Jo and Marianne! And I don’t believe you were the bes friend of my father, Tom! I don’t believe you learned driving a ship at a marina when you were a child because those ships are really difficult to drive and your father couldn’t have taught you how to drive it because you need many lessons for years and not only some hours a week! You’re all lying, lying, lying!!!” Jo put her gun against my head. “Be quiet or I’ll shoot!” she whispered. “Shoot! Shoot! I’m already dead! You took me from school, from my mum… You … You took me from my whole life! Shoot! This is better for you and me! Shoot! I told you to shoot!” I cried. I was shivering and I felt I had nothing left to lose. All the cougars were looking at Marvin. He told Jo with a sign to put the gun away. But she didn’t. “Put it away! Why don’t you listen? I don’t want her to die! We need her alive! Nick won’t take us to the money when he sees his daughter dead. And do not hurt her!” The rest of the way I sat crying on my seat and looking out of the window thinking of what could be worse than being kidnapped by people like that until I fell asleep.
18
“Kit! Kit! Wake up! We arrived at Sydney!”. I opened my eyes slowly. It was Marianne trying to wake me up. “Come on!” she whispered smiling at me. I followed her still tired. We went out of the train to the station of Sydney which was really big and full of people. We left the station and took two taxis which brought us to a very big house with many flats. It looked like some kind of hotels but it wasn’t a hotel. It was only a house, but a very big house. “I’ve rented a flat in this house for two weeks when we were in the train. The owner of this house thinks we are a big family, so behave like that!” said Marvin to me. He was standing behind me when we got out of the taxis. I couldn’t do anything because Jo was holding the gun all the time against my back without letting anybody notice. Maybe even Marvin didn’t know about that, because at the train he had told her that they needed me alive and maybe Jo was hating me and wanting to kill me, I don’t know why! “The one I’ve rented is very small because I don’t have any money after this journey, so the girls have to share one room together and the boys take the other one? Understood? There are only three rooms.” “But if there are three rooms, why don’t we girls, take the third one, too, because we’re more than you! Why is the third one empty?” interrupted Jenny suddenly. “It’s our living room, dimwit! You have to be more logically, Jenny!” answered Marvin. And they all laughed. She was thinking logically. Kidnappers don’t need any living room, so why do the cougars need one? The cougars were the ones who had to think more logically, not Jenny. “It wouldn’t be a real living room” Marvin told me when he saw my asking face “It will be a room where we discuss our plans, understood?” He was talking more to me than to Jenny. And he had something which remembered me of my mum. There was something in his face remembering me of my mother, but I didn’t know what. No! That’s impossible! There couldn’t have been something remembering me of my mum, when Marvin was a kidnapper and she a normal bussinesswoman. No. I must have been irritated. He didn’t have something which looks like mum, no, nothing.
19
We went in. The flat was really small. Small bedrooms and a small living room with a smaller kitchen and an even smaller bathroom, which wasn’t a bath anymore. It was a shower. I took seat on a bed in the girl’s bedroom and started to cry again. I remembered mum, my home, my room, my school, my best friend, Shay, and everything, that I liked so much. Why did all these things happen to me? Why? Was I cruel to someone? I don’t remember being cruel to somebody. Why then? I didn’t understand anything. Was mum cruel to someone and now all this happens only to hurt her? Then what about me? What did I do? Nothing. That meant for me that this questions were never going to be answered. I got a headache but I was still crying. I was scared. What would they do with me after they had helped their comrades out of the prison? Would the man they were always speaking about tell them that I wasn’t his real daughter? What would they do after that? Kill me? Thousands of thoughts conquered my head and everyone was worse than other. I thought about mum. What was she doing now? Was she ok? I didn’t have anyone except her. My father was dead and she was my father and mother at the same time. Maybe she was sick now because she thought I was dead. “Hey, Kit! Stop it now! Stop crying! It’s only two weeks! Look around you! This is Australia! No everyone can get free to Australia! Do you want to come and have an ice-cream with me?” asked Jo trying to smile nice but she couldn’t. You could see her nasty face which told you that she wanted to take me somewhere to kill me, not to buy an ice-cream. “Go away! It’s your fault! You kidnapped me! You told me to get there! You put me in that bloody car! You, Jo, you did this all! You helped them to kill my father! My mother’s going to die because of you! When she knows that it was the cougars who had kidnapped me, she would die at once! I know you are going to kill me, too! You want revenge! You want to take revenge because my father caught these three murderers in Sydney and because he was the best policeman!” I shouted at her “I hate you, Jo! I hate you! Everything’s your fault! I hate all cougars! Hey listen everyone! The cougars are dead! You don’t have any life anymore! All killers don’t have any life! You are nothing, understood?! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! You are dead! Dead! Dead!” Then I fainted again.
20
This part of the story was told by the mother:
I had informed the bloody police who didn’t find my daughter yet since she didn’t come after four hours. She went out catching fresh air but did not come back. “Well, Mrs Avery, I told you we couldn’t find your daughter yet!” said the policeman to me at my house. “And I told you that the kidnappers were the cougars! Find my daughter at once! Let me go and search for her, now! I know where she is! I know!” I screemed. I was shouting at them for months but they didn’t let me go and search for Kit. They said it would be too dangerous for me. I saw the gun in his pocket. I knew I went crazy since my daughter was kidnapped. I didn’t sleep, I didn’t change my clothes and my hair wasn’t combed. I had dark circles around my eyes. I pulled the gun as fast as I could out of his pocket and held it against his head. “Let me go! Let me look for my daughter at once! Let me go!” I screemed. He got scared. “It’s all right, Mrs Avery, get down! We’re gonna find her but you’ll have to wait.” “Wait?! Wait?! I waited for long! I can’t wait anymore! My daughter’s gonna die and you say I have to wait! I can’t!” I shouted as loud as I could. I really couldn’t wait anymore. I was all the time searching for her at home on my computer. I was writing on many websites about her, so that somebody who saw her could tell me. I couldn’t wait anymore. No. That was too much. I knew the cougars, I knew Marvin and I knew nick. I knew what they wanted to do with her. I knew Marvin was gonna kill Nick and me and then when she will older he would tell her the truth. The truth about everything that had happened.
I took money with me and the gun of the policeman who was lying dead in the living room after I had shot him. I took a taxi to the airport and then after one hour I was sitting in the plane which was going to Sydney.
21
At this part of the story Kit started to continue:
When I woke up again I saw a doctor in front of me. I was lying on the bed.” What happened here?” I asked.”Well, Miss Smith, your mum told me that you fainted all the time and your father said maybe it was diabetes. So let me please find out why you faint all the time young lady.” He said. “What mum? What dad? My father’s dead and these are my kidnappers!” I shouted. Jo took out hergun and shot him as fast as she could in front of me! I screemed as loud as I could. “Better?” she asked bored. I screemed and screemed. I couldn’t stop screeming. I turned to the wall behind me, I wanted to run away. “Stop screeming now!” shouted Jo and held the gun against me. “Don’t shoot, Jo!” shouted Marvi suddenly while he came in holding a gun in his hand. The gun was pointed on Jo. He looked at me and then to the floor. There was the dead doctor lying. He was surprised but soon he got angry “Why did you do this, Jo? Now we can’t stay here anymore! We have to take the money as fast as we can and go to other countries pretty fast!” I was still shivering and crying. I tried not to look at the deadbody on the floor. “Come on! Nick’s waiting with the others in a park. We got them out and gave them new clothes. The police still didn’t notice that they weren’t in prison anymore! Come on!” he said. Marianne pulled me out of the bed and closed me eyes with her hand, so I couldn’t see the body on the floor. She hold my arm and took me out of the room, then she opened my eyes again. “Come on!” she whispered. I followed them. We took a taxi to the park Marvin spoke about. When we arrived there I saw Jenny, Tom, Jack and the rest of the cougars. One of them was – I was shocked when I saw him – looking like the man I always saw in the albums when I was small: My father but much older!
22
The mother continues:
When I arrived at Sydney I went straight to the prison to look for Nick. I was sure that he was still in prison because there weren’t any news about Nick having run away of the prison or something like that. I asked a policeman in the prison about him. “Wait a second!” he said and started a phone call. “Faster! Faster! He knows where my daughter is!” He looked surprised at me. “Is your daughter the girl who was kidnapped by the cougars?” he asked. “Yes, faster, faster! I can’t wait anymore! She may be killed today!” I shouted crazily. “Ok! Ok!” he said and started to make fast phone calls. “What?” he suddenly shouted in the phone “he isn’t here anymore? Tell them we need many people to get them!…Yes! The girl’s in Australia!” He had a real Australian dialect. After he had put the phone back he turned to me “Come on Mrs Avery! We don’t have much time!”
23
The girl continued:
“Daddy?” I asked. “Who are you?” he asked with a harsh voice. “I’m Kit Avery!” I said. He was surprised “Kit? My little daughter, Kit? That’s impossible!” “Oh, that’s possible, Nick Avery!” shouted Marvin taking out his gun and holding it against my father. “I took her from my sister only to show her how I kill her father like you did with mine! I want to take revenge!” “Stop!Stop! I can’t anymore! I don’t know what happened! I don’t know who you are! I don’t know anything!” I screemed. I started to cry. “Kit!” Marvin shouted “Listen! Your mother is my sister! And that’s her husband! When he knew that my father had money he told her to kill my father and she did! In front of my eyes when I was a child! I never killed in my life. The other cougars did everything! But now I am going to kill for the first and last time in my life! Your mother was one of the cougars! Remember when I told you my sister never came back? I meant she didn’t stop killing anymore. It’s his fault! It’s Nick’s fault! I studied driving ships and bought many sea maps anly to take revenge! This is what I was always aiming for since I was a child! Say good byee to your daughter, Nick!” When he said this he shot. Nick Avery fell on the groundand was only a dead body. These were his last minutes to live. I was shocked. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t believe that my father who I met only minutes ago was dead. “Daddy? Daddy, please stand up! Daddy , wake up! Daddy!” I started to screem. “No, that’s impossible! That’s impossible! It’s only a bad dream! Only a bad dream!” I started to cry and laugh at the same time. I didn’t know what I was doing. I lost the whole control on me. “Where’s the money?” asked Jenny. “Money?” asked Marvin laughing who had lost the control on his body, too. “There’s no money! You lyed on me, I lyed on you!” He was moving like Jack Sparrow. All cougars were surprised. Jo took out her gun – and shot him. I screemed as loud as I could. My father dead, my uncle dead! Killed in front of my eyes! And I didn’t do anything. That’s impossible! I cried because I didn’t know what to do else. I was scared. I knew Jo was going to kill me because she hated me. “Put your guns on the ground, everybody! Police!” The police were standing in a circle around us. I saw mum standing next to them. She came crying towards me. But instead of being happy I fainted.
24
The next part of the story is told by Mrs Avery:
I was so happy to see that I didn’t notice my husband and my little brother lying dead on the ground. Marvin did what he was dreaming of. He told her the truth. He told her about me, her father and the cougars. The police found out that I was one of them and now I was going to stay the rest of my life in prison. The next day Kit came to visit me in the prison of Sydney, where Nick had been staying before. She started to cry when she saw me in this situation but she soon stopped crying. “Mum, I missed you. I didn’t want to believe my uncle but he was saying the truth. I’m never going to cry again because I cried too much. You’re now at the place where my father was. You never told me the truth mum. Never. You said his name was Henry, but it was Nick. You said he was a policeman, but he was a mur… a cougar. You said he was dead, but he wasn’t. Well, ok he is dead now. But not only he and my uncle are dead. I am dead, too. My whole life was ruined in a few months. You are dead, too. The rest of life in prison isn’t a life anymore! But you wanted this! You knew that this would happen if you killed someone, but you still killed. My father did the same.” She said while her tears fell on ground. “Kit, please! Stop it! I know that! But I have one more question to you: Do you still like me?” I wanted to know. I didn’t want her to hate me. I knew I made everything wrong, but that didn’t mean that she would hate me. I am her mother. “Of course, mum. I am never going to hate you. Never!” she turned to go, but she stayed. “Mum! You should be happy to have only one child” then she turned her head towards me and continued “who knows the truth!”