Aaron Connor (29 page)

My mind began to fill with the
possibilities that the afterlife could offer. I would finally find
out the answer to the greatest answer of all: what happens after we
die? Which religion would turn out to be right? Would I become a
ghost? Would I go to Heaven or Hell? Would I be reincarnated? Or
would there be nothing but a black, empty void awaiting me? That
last thought really stuck with me. What if there is nothing after
death? What if life was all we have to experience? These thoughts
kept my mind occupied as the time in which my life will end drew
closer.

“
Such a shame
you know, mate” said Barry, “I was rather keen on you. With the
right teaching you would have done well in this business. Shame.
Easy come, easy go I suppose. You really could have gone far. But
you double crossed me. You stabbed me in the back. You’ve just
proven that you’re nothing but worthless scum. The world will be
better without you. Well, for me anyway.”

“
I’m sorry” I
said in a low, shaky whisper, “but I just couldn’t do it. There was
no way I was going to go through with it”

“
Then that’s
your mistake init?” said Barry with a snarl, “You put the nail in
your own coffin. You have no one to blame but yourself. If you just
followed my orders, we wouldn’t be in this situation would
we?”

“
I guess not”
I replied, “I wouldn’t take it back though”

“
I know you
wouldn’t have” said Barry, “We all have our time Mr Connor. Your
time has come.”

I closed my eyes tightly. My
fists became clenched. The pressure in my hands became so immense
that I felt my own nails dig into my skin. My head was shaking. My
teeth were clenched. I began to breathe out of my mouth in an
uneven manner. Hot tears ran down my face. The tears soon hit my
tongue and sent a bitter taste across it. It was only then that the
reality really hit me. It was going to die.

The life I was going to spend
with Lizzie was now never going to happen. I would miss out on an
ordinary life. I would never have kids of my own. I would never be
called “Dad”. I would never have a wedding of my own. I would never
grow old with the one I love. I would never know what being an
adult would be like. I would never get to legally buy a pint of
beer in a pub. I would never get to live in my own home. I would
never feel the sun on my skin again. I would never kiss Lizzie
again. I would never smell the fresh air again. I would never be
able to see the beauty of the world again.

An image suddenly appeared in
my mind. In my mind I saw the beautiful landscape that I spotted in
Gloucester. I remembered the amazing sky, the birds flying in the
distance, the green hills, the smell of the fresh country air and
the feel of the thick grass underneath my feet. A song began to
play in my head as I saw that image. It was a song I remembered
singing in primary school assemblies. It was Jerusalem by William
Blake and Sir Hubert Perry. That nostalgic anthem played with
passion and emotion in my mind. Without at first realising it, I
had found myself singing the words quietly to myself:

“
And did those
feet in ancient time, Walk upon England's mountains green: And was
the holy Lamb of God, On England's pleasant pastures
seen!”

“
Enough of
that, Connor!” screamed Barry, “This ain’t Songs of Praise you
know, shut your pie hole!”

I was ready to leave this world
behind. I was ready to leave my physical body for good. The song
that was playing in my mind was helping me prepare for whatever was
going to come, after my heart had stopped beating. I could hear
Barry’s finger tighten on the gun’s trigger. This was it. I took in
one deep breath and held it. I froze completely and waited for
extreme pain to be inflicted upon me.

“
FREEZE!!”
screamed a voice from somewhere in the bushes, “YOU’RE GAME’S UP,
BARRY PEPPER, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!!”

Suddenly the entire clearing
was surrounded by Policemen. A white Police van drove into the
circle and stopped. The bright colours of the flashing lights on
the van cut through the grey landscape. Several more Policemen
holding guns jumped out of the vehicle and pointed their weapons
towards Barry. The people behind the bush were now standing up with
their arms in the air. It turned out that two Policemen had snuck
up behind them and were now standing before them holding guns.

A female Police Officer holding
a megaphone stepped forward. She had brown hair tied up into a bun,
which was hidden underneath her black cap. Even though she had
pretty features, those features were distorted into a serious and
authoritive expression. I could tell from that one look that this
was someone you really wouldn’t want to mess with.

“
PUT DOWN YOUR
WEAPONS!” she said amplifying her voice, “I REPEAT, PUT DOWN YOUR
WEAPONS AND DISARM YOURSELVES”

Barry obeyed and allowed the
gun, which was a moment ago about to take my life, to drop onto the
grass covered ground. Instinctively a young Policeman snatched the
gun from the ground, he then placed the gun into a see-through
plastic bag as evidence. An older looking Constable walked up
behind Barry, put his arms around his back and handcuffed him.

“
I am
arresting you for distributing illegal substances and the attempted
murder of Aaron Connor” said the policeman who was handcuffing him,
“You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if
you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely
on in court. Anything you say may be given in evidence”

The same man did a search of
Barry’s body with his hands. Happy that there was nothing else on
his person, grabbed Barry with one hand on the neck and pulled him
across the clearing towards the parked police van. Two of the
Constable’s associates were already there to open the two back
doors of the van. They helped the policeman to put Barry into the
back of the van.

A few moments later, all of
Barry’s workers were all handcuffed and being led to the police
van. The Constables and Sergeants were starting to scatter
themselves across the clearing, double checking for any more
evidence and taking notes on clipboards as they did so. The Officer
with the megaphone came up to me, put down the megaphone and untied
me.

As I got up another Policeman
came along and took the bag that was previously on my head for
evidence. The Officer’s original expression of stern seriousness
had now gone, it was replaced with a look of sympathetic concern.
She helped me to my feet and brushed some of the dry mud from my
clothes. She then quickly checked me all over for any injuries,
before leading me over the grass towards the van.

“
Are you
alright young man?” she asked,

“
Yeah” I
answered, “Still feeling a bit shaky, but yeah I’m fine”

“
That was a
very close call you know” she said, “If your friend hadn’t
contacted us, that scene could have gone very
differently”

“
Friend?” I
asked,

“
Yeah” replied
the Officer, “That’s her over there”

I looked across the field and
into a crowd of Policemen and Policewomen. They were all huddled
around talking to someone. Spotting me the crowd parted so I could
see who was in the centre of their circle. I nearly fainted when I
saw who it was. My heart fluttered and I felt like I could float
with joy. Standing there, in the clearing and not too far away from
me, was none other then Lizzie Penny.

CHAPTER TWENTY – FIVE

Lizzie suddenly ran towards me
at full pelt. When she arrived she wrapped her arms around me and
cried into my chest. I returned the embrace and held her there. I
could feel her body shaking and jolting as tears streamed down her
beautiful face.

“
Aaron” she
cried, “You’re OK!”

“
What are you
doing here?” I asked, “I told you to leave”

“
But I
couldn’t Aaron” she explained, “You know I couldn’t”

“
How did you
know I was here?” I asked,

“
When I went
back to Barry’s to get the bike, the door was wide open and
everyone had gone” she explained, “I went inside and watched
everything that was happening on the TV, the one that was connected
to that camera that Lucas put on you. For the first few minutes I
just saw the inside of a car boot. When they took you out I saw, in
the background, a sign that said “Epping Forest”. I called up the
police, told them what was happening and they headed straight to
the forest. I told them the address that Barry’s place was at. They
arrived quickly. They came to lead me to the forest. I followed
them all the way through London on our bike, I rode out of the City
and into the woodland . . . and here I’ am, to the
rescue”

“
You’re
brilliant!” I said, “Lizzie Penny, you are bloody
brilliant!”

“
I could have
told you that” said the Officer, “I’ve never seen such a brave lass
as her, you’re a very lucky bloke, you know”

“
Oh I know!” I
said, “I know”

The Police van closed up and
pulled away with Barry and his workers inside. The van was now
heading straight for the nearest Police Station. Barry and his
associates were now going to be questioned, before going to court
the following day. If you’re wondering how long his sentence was,
it turned out to be a life sentence. I doubt anyone will be having
anymore trouble from that disgraceful bastard again.

As soon as the Police van left,
suddenly lots of media vans drove into the clearing. On the sides
of the vans were logos from ITV, BBC, B.E.N, Channel 4, Channel 5,
Sky News and CNN. Photographers and reporters from various
newspapers also came onto the scene and began questioning Policemen
and Policewomen. Large television cameras were soon seen on the
site as each Broadcaster were recording their reports, which were
to be shown on the news programs that night.

“
Is that him?”
said a reporter pointing to me, “is that the scumbag?”

“
I bet she’s
some sort of whore” said someone with a camera, “I heard that Barry
was a bit of a pimp on the side, that girl’s probably
Nikki”

“
That’s
Barry!” said another, “I know it is!”

“
No he’s not!”
cried the Officer through the megaphone, “He’s the victim and she’s
the hero. If it wasn’t for these two, then we’d have never finally
caught Barry and his gang”

“
Heroes?”
asked a man who was working for B.E.N, “but they’re
chavs!”

“
Come off it
mate” said someone from Channel 4, the man spoke with a distinctive
Spanish accent, “There’s no need to discriminate against them.
These are modern times you pleb, anything is possible. Come on
lads, let’s interview them”

The man from Channel 4 came up
to us, leaving the man from B.E.N to look at us from his truck in
disgust. He was a younger looking bloke with perfect black hair,
white teeth and a crisp grey suit with a blue tie. A camera man and
a man with a boom microphone followed the reporter as he walked
towards us. When he arrived in front of us, he shook our hands
warmly and gave us a nice, big smile.

“
Hello guys”
said the man, “My name is Ernest Tremlett. I’m going to interview
you two for Channel 4 news, is that alright?”

“
Fine” I
said,

“
What are your
names?” Ernest asked,

“
My name is
Lizzie Penny” she said,

“
And I’m Aaron
Connor” I said,

“
Cool” said
Ernest, “Tell me your whole story, tell me how you came to be
here?”

I told him everything that
you’ve just read. I told him my whole story from when I left
St.Ians to how I ended up there in the woods. Of course it was a
summarised version, but he still got to know all of the main points
and moments from our adventures. Ernest listened with intense
interest. When I finished he just stood there opened mouthed and
then smiled. This was every reporter’s dream, an exciting and
emotive story which he can report to the world. He’d just been
given the big scoop.

“
That’s
incredible!” he said, “When we start filming, you tell that story
again in the exact same way that you just told me then, ok? We’ll
get ourselves ready to shoot, I’ll tell you when we’re about to
begin”

Ernst took a few steps forward
and began to talk with his crew. We both began to feel nervous
again. We were about to go on National TV. Ernest assured us
afterwards that it wasn’t Live but he didn’t like to tell people
that, because when people think it’s Live they usually try harder
to do a better interview. Nonetheless, I and Lizzie were going to
be on the Television, in Newspapers and who knows where else we’d
crop up.

“
We’re going
to be on Telly!” said Lizzie excitedly,

“
I know” I
said, “but stay cool, we want to make a good impression, don’t
we?”

“
Yeah, of
course” answered Lizzie, “I can feel butterflies in my
belly!”

“
Just stay
cool” I assured her, “We’ll be just fine”

I may have looked calm and
collected on the outside, on the inside I was still a mess of
emotions. I’d nearly died back there. I was one second away from
death. Yet it didn’t happen. These guys arrived just in the nick of
time. I’d survived that horrible and scarring experience. It made
me realise how fragile life is. It made me appreciate life even
more, as I discovered how quickly and easily it can be taken away
from me.