فرار!

Chapter two

Escape!

Howard was still afraid when he woke up. It was night and the long ward was silent. Yes, he was still afraid, but he was stronger, much stronger. Something was going round and round in his head. It was something the detective had said, just before the nurse came.

He looked around the room. Everyone was sleeping. He could see the moonlight on their beds. Moonlight! That was it! The guard had said ‘in the dark’. But he was wrong. It wasn’t dark. It was moonlight, bright moonlight.

Howard sat up in his bed. He suddenly felt excited. Was he remembering at last? But his thoughts were gone before he could catch them. He wanted to shout with anger, but he had seen something. His arm was free. The pole and tube had gone and the curtains were open. Then he noticed something else. The guard was not there!

Howard tried to control his thoughts. What did he know so far? An old lady had been killed, an old lady who lived in Primrose Avenue. And the police thought he had killed her. That name, Primrose Avenue, he’d heard it before. Was the answer there? Could he find the address if he was free?

Free! He had to get free. He had to escape from the hospital. He had to discover what had really happened, because he was certain he had not killed anyone. He hadn’t - he hadn’t done that terrible thing. Then he lay back on the bed. He was feeling weak. How could he escape? They had taken away all his clothes.

Suddenly Howard heard voices outside the ward. He shut his eyes quickly, and lay very still. He could hear the voices of his guard and the nurses. The big doors opened and they came in quickly. They were pushing a stretcher. A man was lying on it He was groaning.

‘It was just outside the hospital,’ the nurse was saying. ‘He walked in front of a bus.’

They put the new patient on the bed next to Howard’s. Doctors and nurses were all around him. Then one of the doctors said, ‘We’ll have to operate,’ and the man was taken away again on his stretcher.

‘I’ll go and phone his wife,’ said the guard, and left the ward. Then it was quiet again.

Howard didn’t move for a very long time. Then slowly he opened his eyes. The ward was quiet. The other patients were sleeping again. He lifted his head and looked at the next bed. The man’s clothes were still on the chair by his bed. They had forgotten to take them away. He wanted to laugh!

Howard got out of bed and stood up carefully. For a moment he thought he was going to fall. He shook his head. Then he felt all right. He smiled to himself. He felt strong. He could do it. Now he knew he could do it. He could escape!

He dressed in the bathroom. The man’s clothes were a little too small but he could get them on. He looked at himself in the mirror. Now for the difficult part–