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Extract from Hiding Out
by Elizabeth Laird
Peter Castle has been on holiday in France with his parents and another family. On the way home, they stop for a picnic. Peter finds a cave nearby, and has a great time exploring it. Soon it's time to go, and Peter gets ready to leave the cave. But what he doesn't realise is that both families think he's in the other car. The first car has already driven off when he leaves the cave...
Peter stepped outside in time to see his mother jump into her car and start off down the lane. For a moment, he stood still, too shocked to act. Then he dropped everything, and ran forward.
"Mum! Stop! Mum!"
Incredibly, she did not hear him. The car gained speed. He ran after it, expecting it to stop. It did not. He was running in dead earnest now, faster than he had ever run in his life. For a moment he thought he could catch the car up. The gap was closing.
"Mum!" he shrieked again. But the wheels were rumbling and rolling noisily over the loose surface of the lane, and the car was speeding up. It was racing further and further away. Then it turned the corner and was out of sight.
Peter's breath was coming in painful heaves. He willed his legs to make a last spurt, but they refused. It would be stupid, in any case, to go on running. He would never catch them now. He slowed to a trot, then to a walk, and then he stopped altogether.
There was suddenly, all round him, an appalling silence. The only sounds were Peter's sobbing gasps for breath.
"They've gone! They've left me behind!" he said out loud, but the idea was incredible. He could not take it in.
I'm all on my own, he thought. In the middle of France. I don't even know the name of this place. I don't know where I am.
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Copyright 2001
© Actis
