Hide and Seek by P.S. Brown Page A

and sink. Peter moved to the next door and found the single bedroom, again with barely enough space to contain the most meagre furnishings. Peter opened the last door to find stairs leading down. The stairwell was dark and he could hardly make out the door at the bottom. He flicked on the light switch and felt an immediate sense of dread upon seeing a message, scrawled in red paint on the door.
    The message said, ‘Your dinner is in the oven darling.’

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 18
     
    15:52pm
     
     
     
    Peter climbed down the stairs and tried the door. It was unlocked and opened outwards into the kitchen behind the counter. The shop was cast in an eerie light from the overcast daylight shining in through the large windows at the front of the shop. He could see an orange light reflecting across the black and white tiled floor coming from behind the door he had just come through. He could also hear a humming noise and his nose picked up an unmistakeable burning smell. He turned round the corner to see that the orange light was emanating from the small window of a six foot high industrial oven nestled in the back corner of the shop. He recoiled in shock at the realisation that Cheryl could be in the oven. He ran over to the oven and looked through the small glass panel. His worst suspicions were confirmed. Through the glass viewer he could make out the shoulder of a woman lying on her side, seemingly unconscious, her whole body pressed against the oven door. He tried to open the door but it was jammed and only opened slightly at the top. He noticed a bulky chain was coiled around the handle and secured with a padlock to a metal loop ring on the top of the oven. The sudden movement of the door opening jolted Cheryl awake and she let out a throaty dehydrated cry.
    ‘Help!’
    Peter tried to reassure her, ‘Cheryl, it’s Peter. I’m going to get you out of there.’
    Cheryl started to scream, ‘Peter, help me,’ banging her fists against the inside of the oven door.
    Peter could feel the extreme heat leaking out from the small crack at the top of the oven door. He looked around for the controls. He could see a shiny plate of black metal was screwed to the oven and realised it was covering them.
    Cheryl shrieked ‘Get me out of here!’
    He ran around to the side and looked down the small gap behind the oven for the plug. He tried to slide his hand down the back to pull it out but it was beyond his reach. He took a few steps back and ran shoulder first slamming his whole body weight into the oven to try and move it but it was far too heavy. His eyes darted around the shop desperately searching for something that could help him. He ran to the work surface of the counter and started frantically opening the cupboards below it. He found a shovel, used to slide trays onto the oven shelves. He ran back to the side and slid the shovel down the gap trying to negotiate it to hook around the plug cable.
    ‘Come on,’ he shouted as the plug teetered agonisingly just out of the socket.
    With a final pull the plug came out and the orange light flickered and died out. A few seconds later the humming ceased. Cheryl was still screaming and bashing her fists against the oven door. He ran around to the front of the oven. Cheryl’s hand was scrambling out of the opening at the top of the door, pulling at the chain, and he grabbed her hand to try and reassure her. Her hand was swollen and covered in blood, cut open from punching and hitting the oven door from the inside. Cheryl’s screams slowly became whimpers. Although the oven was off, Peter could still feel the heat pouring out. With his free hand he yanked furiously at the handle of the oven, bucking back and forth to try and loosen it. His eyes started to well up with tears of frustration. He looked around the shop again and noticed the till register. He broke free of Cheryl’s grasp and she immediately cried out.
    ‘Don’t leave me.’
    ‘I’m not going to leave you