Community Service Extract

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Kate listened to him stomping away through the nettles and overgrown prickly bushes while she got back to work. With him gone it was quiet, eerily so. As she worked on she realised that she hadn't heard the sound of any birds down by the lake. In fact, the only sound that she had heard all day had been that of her and Stuart, laughing and talking! She strained her ears trying to hear some birds, but all she could hear was the sound of a girl singing instead. It was a rather a sad song, lilting and soft, and then it was gone, as though it had never been. Kate shrugged mentally. It was probably just another hapless community service slave in another part of the park. With it being so silent, the sound was bound to travel.

She worked on for a little while longer, engrossed in her task, but soon became bored without Stuart there to keep her company. When another five minutes had passed and he still hadn't returned she got to her feet, slid off her dirty gloves, and went off in search of him.

She had to force a path through the nasty plants that seemed intent on snaring her. They reached out with their sharp pointed spears like tiny pinching fingers, hooking onto her jeans and scratching the skin on her bare arms, but Kate was ruthless. A sharp, hard pull and she had ripped free, tearing the bush as she did so. Vegetation was no match for her, she decided, with a grin. The damn midges were another matter! They fluttered up into her face as she strode through, getting everywhere and she was afraid of breathing the damn things in so she had to cover her mouth and push through as quickly as the bushes would allow her to.

A sudden cry sent a shiver down her spine and a moment later Stuart came crashing through the bushes and overgrown shrubs, his eyes wide.

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