The Witness- Chapter 3

Chapter III:
The Event

Just as I was getting up from the bench, I spotted a group of men come tumbling out of a cave. One of the men was tied to a chair, and had a piece of cloth strapped to his mouth. It was obvious he was taken hostage. The rest of the men were all wearing sunglasses. One of them kept looking around, as if to check no one was watching. I hid behind a big rock to my left, just to be safe. If I tilted my head to the right, I could just about see them on the sand.
The gang circled the hostage, jeering and laughing at him. The biggest gang member stepped forward, with something in his hand. I hoped for the hostage’s sake that it wasn’t a gun. He seemed to be the leader, the biggest and the loudest. He started shouting abuse at the hostage while the rest of them laughed. Whenever the man keeping watch would look in my direction, I would quickly jump behind the rock. There were a couple of times, though, where he would look at the rock for a few minutes, as if he had seen something behind it.
The man with the gun stepped towards the hostage, and pressed the weapon to his head. Even from here, I could see the hostage squirming frantically, making noises muffled by the piece of cloth.
I knew what was coming. I closed my eyes and put my hands over my ears. But that didn’t stop me hearing the gunshot. It echoed around the cove, reverberating off the cliff walls. It was closely followed by a chorus of laughter and shouting.
I peeked out from behind the rock to see the dead man sprawled over the sand, his blood everywhere. The men all had similar grins plastered on their faces. Even the guard, at least until he saw me.
He shouted something angrily at me, but I couldn’t understand it. The other gang members spun round and started pointing at me. The leader shouted something and the rest of them nodded and pulled out knives, guns and every weapon imaginable. He shouted something else and started running up a path that took you to the top of the cliffs. The rest of them followed him up the track. For a while I was confused, but then I realised they were coming for ME.
I panicked, wondering what I should do. I realised that the best option would be to run. I wasn’t a very fast runner, but I did have a good five minutes head start. I ran back in the direction of the house. But all the rain had made the ground muddy and slippery, and it was too hard and slow to cross. I climbed over a fence, which took me into a huge field. I ran the fastest I had ever run in my life. This wasn’t some stupid running race where you could win a medal. I was running for my life. If I won, I would live. I didn’t want to think about what might happen if I lost.
I ran and ran until I was out of breath. I collapsed onto my knees. I couldn’t run any longer. I knew it was over, I was going to die. At least I would be with my parents. But was it all over?
I spotted a ditch at the edge of the field. It was covered by trees and bushes so it was impossible to see in. I looked over my shoulder and saw the gang chasing me. I didn’t think they could see me, so I jumped into the ditch.
Some of the bushes were spiky and poked into me. It was really uncomfortable, but I’d rather be uncomfortable than dead. The gang drew nearer to the ditch, and with every step they took, their angry mutterings got louder and clearer.
Even though I knew they couldn’t see me, surely they could hear my heart thumping against my ribcage. It was stuffy in the ditch, and I took a big breath of air.
Suddenly, the gang were quiet as a miming performance. I held my breath as a tree branch got brushed away. In its place was a big, pink face wearing sunglasses. It was the leader. He smirked a curious smile and motioned to the other men.
“Take her away, boys.” he said, imitating a police officer.