The Tale of Sawney Bean (Complete Novella) Read Free Page A

that would do. I
mentioned it to Sarah and she said we could get some water from a
stream not far from where we were and that we would make do until
tomorrow and that we could sort out more food then. Sarah had
packed a little bag before leaving home having no plans to ever
return there and I couldn’t think of one thing I might fetch from
home so we made our way to the stream and filled a canteen Sarah
had brought with her then we made our way around the edge of town
and down to the beach.

Chapter 6
     
    When we reached
the cave entrance we both had a seat and caught our breath. I
watched Sarah looking around the cave, eyes wide and mouth slightly
open. I could tell she was impressed by the size of it. The cave
led away from the opening upwards and you could only see so far
before the darkness took over. The breeze coming in from the sea
cooled us both and I watched as Sarah lay back and took in a deep
breath before releasing a sigh.
     
    I thought to
myself her day must have been so much more traumatic than mine and
she seemed to be dealing with it so well. I had only to had to hear
the tale of what happened and made the decision to go on the run
with her which wasn’t really much of a decision at all for me. She
had went through all the horror that lead her to commit such an act
as murder then carried out the deed herself and here she was only a
few hours later, her whole life changed forever and she was now
finally getting a chance to rest and take a breath.
     
    I sat looking
out at the sea. The sun was going down and the view from the mouth
of the cave was breathtaking. My mind was running a million miles
an hour but never settling on any particular thought, it just felt
jumbled but I can’t say I was surprised, my life had just changed
forever. Obviously at this stage I still had time to change my mind
and go back but I knew that wasn’t going to happen but what did my
new future hold? Did this mean we were together? Were we just
friends on the run? Did she only want someone to help her get away
then she would ditch me? I just didn’t know but I also knew that
the fact that Sarah had done so little planning that she probably
wouldn’t have given any thought to my part in all this. Maybe she
just thought that I would want to run away too or maybe she really
did like me.
     
    By the time I
turned back round Sarah was snuggled up into a little ball on her
side, the day haven taken its toll on her. I could here the sea
already hitting off the bottom of the cliff and I knew the tide
came in fast so I gently lifted her and slowly walked deeper into
the cave.

Chapter 7
     
    I had only ever
been a little further into the cave than the mouth on one occasion.
I don’t think my grandfather ever cared too much about what was
further in. “Just more cave, boy.” he had told me when I pestered
him. After a lot of nagging he finally agreed to take me a little
further in one time and we explored a little. He was right. It was
just more cave. The entrance led uphill for a while and eventually
opened out into a large cavern within the cliff. My grandfather
never let us go down into the cavern and it was hard to see the
other sides due to it’s vastness, even with our lanterns but it had
looked to me like there may have been other openings along the
walls. My grandfather wouldn’t let us go in that far to explore
though. I knew all this meant nothing as it would be more of the
same but it would allow for some exploring if we were stuck here
for a few days at least and there was no one to stop me this
time.
     
    I stayed close
to the entrance of the cavern as there was no light and found a
patch of ground that didn’t have too much debris on it and cleared
away what did lay there. I softly lowered Sarah to the floor and
lay her back under her head as it had felt pretty soft. She curled
straight back into a ball and wrapped her arms around herself. I
built us a fire with some difficulty as my eyes only adjusted ever
so