Close Your Eyes: A gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist!

Stumbling sideways, she sat down in her chair, her eyes unblinking and a million miles away from where we were.

‘Oh God!’

‘Mum, who was I?’

‘I thought we had left all that behind,’ she said to herself as she opened, then shut the first-aid box.

‘Mum?’

She moved to put it away but stopped and then turned and placed it back on the table, her thoughts moving so fast it powered her body.

‘I was assured your injury would give you a clean break.’

Grabbing a tea towel, she held it like she was about to dry up, but there were no plates on the draining board. With her back to me, she raised the towel up and buried her face into it.

‘Mum! A clean break? A clean break from what?’

‘Oh God, Daniel. I’m so sorry,’ she said through muffled fabric.

‘Mum, what’s my name?’

‘I thought, after all this time it was all behind us.’

‘Mum, what is my real name?’ I placed my hand on her shoulder, harder than I intended.

She turned and looked at me, resignation in her face.

‘Your real name is Michael.’

The quiet hope that this was all just some sick joke or a bad dream had been destroyed. My name is Michael. The man on the phone wasn’t lying. He wasn’t confusing me with someone else. It meant I really did have something of his.

‘Mum, why did you change my name?’

‘It’s hard to explain.’

‘Try, Mum, try.’ My voice rose as anger replaced my fear. ‘You’ve been lying to me for as long as I can remember and now my little boy is missing. Rachael is gone and a good man is dead. You need to stop this shit and tell me what I was involved in.’

‘Daniel, I don’t know how to …’

I grabbed the chair beside me and threw it against the wall. One of the legs snapped off.

‘Daniel, please, you need to calm down,’ she begged.

‘Calm down? They said I have until Friday to give back what I took from them. Friday. I don’t even know what the fuck I took, Mum. Up until a few hours ago I was just Daniel, and now I know I’m someone else entirely, someone who took something from people who are prepared to kill to get it back. Don’t you tell me to calm down! What was I involved in, Mum?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You must know. I don’t have that part of my life, only you do. You have to know.’

I grabbed my mum by the shoulders and shook her. I could see fear rush into her whole body. A fear of me.

‘What did I take?’

‘I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. Please, Daniel, you’re scaring me.’ Tears were running down her cheeks, her eyes wide, her head tilting away from me.

I let go and stepped away, afraid my anger towards her would result in me doing something I would instantly regret. Pacing beside the table I reiterated what had happened; Sean was dead, Rachael and Thomas were missing.

‘Mum, I need you to give me something. I don’t know where my boy is, I don’t know where they’ve taken my little boy. Mum, help me, please help me. Tell me something, please. I don’t care that you lied to me. I just want them back.’

She got up to give me a hug, but I stepped away from her. She looked shocked but lowered her arms. I was angry. I was angry because I didn’t know that my family would be put at risk.

‘Mum, I don’t have time, just tell me.’

She nodded and swallowed hard before talking, her voice delicate and lost. ‘When we learnt you might not remember who you were, your dad insisted we kept it that way. He said it would keep you safe and the less I knew the better.’

‘Safe from what?’

‘I don’t know, honestly, Daniel, I don’t know.’

‘But he does?’

‘Yes.’ She looked down at her feet, her shoulders rolling in, tired and defeated. I stepped towards her gently, placing my hands back on her shoulders again. Slowly she looked up at me.

‘Is he likely to be involved in this?’

‘I don’t know, Daniel.’

‘Yes or no, Mum?’ I said quietly but through clenched teeth.

‘He was mixed up in the same things you were,’ she said, again looking away as if she was drifting back to the past. The past that was destroying my present. I shook her again, releasing her from the shock she was slipping into, snapping her attention back to me.

‘Yes or no?!’

‘Yes. But I don’t think he took them.’

‘But he would know who did?’

‘Yes, yes he would.’

For the first time since the call, I felt like I had a sense of direction. I needed to find my father. He was either involved in, or knew who had taken them. In the back of my mind something fired. It made me feel defensive, cornered, like I knew my father was someone capable of committing a crime. I could feel my hand clench into a fist. I could feel myself wanting to hurt him.

‘Where is he?’

She paused.

‘Where is he, Mum?’

I could feel myself getting more exasperated. I knew she was trying to protect me, but I didn’t matter. My needs of protecting my family were far more important.