The cheese in his sandwich was hard, which he hated – the taste too strong – but he kept eating because he didn’t want to go to bed with an empty stomach. Most nights, he watched TV or played a video game until around midnight, but right now he could barely keep his eyes open. He didn’t think he’d make it past ten. Of course, there was a good chance he would lie awake all night, worrying about the trouble he was in. PC Riaz had said he intended to speak with him and Ashley again tomorrow.
He said we were wasting police time.
But we weren’t lying. The woman was real. She needed help.
She needed our help, and we left her.
Jude finished two-thirds of his sandwich and paused. He leant over the table and spat out the contents of his mouth. Grimacing, he decided the cheese was too hard and tangy for him to bear, so he opened the bin and slid the remains off his plate. Then he grabbed a spoon from the cutlery drawer, gobbled the yoghurt, and poured himself a small glass of water. Finished, he headed back out into the hallway, where he heard his mum speaking a little louder than before. He looked in again and saw her on the phone. She was likely talking to one of her girlfriends, of which she had many. Unlike Jude, his mum was a social butterfly.
“He’s going to be the death of me, that boy,” she said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with his head. Naked women chained up in the woods? I mean, can you imagine how embarrassing it was, standing there in front of a police officer while my son goes on about witchcraft and naked ladies? You’re right, Val, absolutely. Maybe I do need to take him to see a doctor.”
Jude’s tummy sloshed with an emotion he couldn’t quite name. It was wrong to eavesdrop, and truthfully he didn’t want to hear any more, so he hurried back upstairs. Ashley would have kicked off if she’d caught her parents talking about her like that, but once again he was inadequate in his response. Instead of getting angry, all he felt was loneliness. His own mother thought he was nuts. Either that or a liar. He didn’t know which was worse. Lying wasn’t something he did, yet, somehow, everybody was doubting him. It wasn’t fair.
He felt himself getting anxious and didn’t want to go to bed all het up, so he decided to run himself a hot bath. It was something he often did to calm down. Hot water never failed to soothe him.
The drab grey bathroom sorely needed a refit and had for a while. The bath panel was missing, exposing the pipework beneath, and the lino was ripped in several places. His mum had neither the money nor skill to sort the room out, but even in such a bad state, it was still Jude’s favourite space in the house. At least the taps worked, and the scalding water filled the bath without complaint.
Stripping naked, Jude rubbed his shoulders against the chill. Eager to get warm, he perched on the side of the bath and placed his feet in the water. It made him shudder. Streaks of dirt lined his ankles and the points of his elbows, put there by his gambol down Devil’s Ditch. His body ached, his shins covered in bruises.
Once the bath was half-full, Jude slid off the edge and slipped beneath the water. Another shudder escaped him and he lay back to relax. He tried to shut his mind off and think of nothing, focusing on the water’s calming caress. Suddenly, things didn’t seem so overwhelming. There might be trouble ahead, but at least he knew in his own mind that he had done nothing wrong – plus whatever happened probably wouldn’t be as bad as he feared. It rarely was. PC Riaz seemed like an all right guy. Surely he wouldn’t take things further than they needed to go.
And there’s no reason to worry about Mum. She’ll wake up tomorrow with a hangover and barely remember any of it.
Once again, Jude fretted about Ashley. She hadn’t seemed herself lately. She was… angry. More so than normal. It upset him, seeing her get so mad at the drop of a hat, and truth be told, she scared him sometimes. His best friend had always had a temper, but not as bad as lately. The worst part was he didn’t know how to help her. He didn’t even know what her problem was. They had used to share everything, but recently it felt as though Ashley was keeping things from him, almost like she didn’t trust him anymore. No, that wasn’t right; it was more like she didn’t think he would understand. Maybe he wouldn’t.
Jude shivered with the cold and then frowned because he was submerged in hot water. It took a moment to register, but he realised the water had gone cold. In fact, it seemed to be getting colder by the second.
What the…?
Jude leapt out of the bath, shivering and grabbing at himself. He took a towel from the radiator and wrapped it around himself. Then he stood there, confused. The water had been hot when he’d sat with his feet in it. It had been warm when he’d slid into the bath. No way could it have turned so cold so quickly. It was impossible.
Impossible.
Maybe mum didn’t pay the gas bill?
Jude padded back over to the bath and dipped his fingers into the water. It was so chilly that it made the bones in his hand ache.
Lovely and warm one minute, icy cold the next.
He yanked back his hand and shook it, then considered racing downstairs to tell his mum. But what could he possibly say?
She’ll end up booking that doctor’s appointment for sure.
So he got himself dry and hurried across the landing with the towel wrapped around his waist. There were no answers to the questions plaguing his mind, so he slid beneath the bed covers and grabbed the TV remote, intending to distract himself. Switching on his old 32-inch that he had got for his ninth birthday, he lay back against his pillows and tried to relax. Perhaps now might be a good time to finish The Hobbit films. It would either take his mind off things or send him straight to sleep. Either was fine.
The opening credits of the second movie began to play. The instrumental music was calming and Jude zoned out as the camera focused in on a lush green meadow. Two children played in the tall grass. Their mother stood nearby, watching them. They all wore old-fashioned clothes. It had been a few days since Jude had watched the first movie, but this didn’t seem like the sequel at all. His confusion grew when the scene continued without context. The mother marched over to the children and pulled something from underneath her skirts. The object flashed in the sunlight but moved too swiftly for Jude to identify.
Is that…?
Is that a knife?
Jude recoiled in horror as the mother started stabbing her children. The scene was more realistic than any he’d ever seen. Blood spurted into the tall grass. The children’s old-fashioned clothes darkened with leaking fluids. The mother’s face was expressionless as she stabbed them again and again and again, a hundred times each. By the time she finished, their bloodless bodies had melted into the earth.
Jude grabbed the remote and switched off the television. He wanted to scream. He wanted his mum. But he realised he was alone. He tried to call Ashley, but there was no answer.
I’m alone.
And I’m going insane.
Chapter Eight
Jude didn’t know how long he’d been asleep, but the fact he was struggling to open his eyes suggested it hadn’t been long enough. He had spent most of last night staring at a fixed spot on the ceiling and trying not to freak out. The image of the slain children was pasted to the back of his eyeballs and he couldn’t shake it. He could smell their blood. But in the early hours of the night, his body must have overridden his mind and sent him to sleep. He was grateful for that.
Now it was a new day, and the night’s terror ebbed away. With the gift that only sleep provides, Jude was now partially detached from the previous day’s events.
The fires of yesterday are ashes today.
Destiny dies and renews every second.
Jude reached into the drawer of his bedside table and pulled out a pad and paper. He jotted down his thoughts, wanting to capture them for the fantasy book he was one day going to write. The pen he used resembled a magic wand, a gift from Ashley. She had found it for him during a holiday in Wales.
He pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, then went downstairs. It was half-past ten, later than
he usually woke up, but his mum hadn’t shouted up to him or tried to stir him – it was the summer holidays, after all. He found her in the kitchen, emptying the bin. Glass bottles clinked inside the black bag, and Jude wondered how much she’d drunk last night. Her bleary eyes and frizzy hair suggested too much.
Why does she do it to herself?
Jude and Ashley shared the odd bottle of cider now and then whenever they could convince an adult to get it for them, but truthfully he didn’t much enjoy the sensation of being drunk. In fact, the smell of cider alone was enough to make him queasy. The last time they drank cider, Ashley had ended the evening puking in the middle of a field. She’d been so miserable that she’d begged him to kill her. It was overly dramatic, but that was Ashley. Life was never boring with her as a best friend.
“Hey, sweetheart. How’s your hand?”
Jude had forgotten about his palm, which was good in that it hadn’t caused him enough pain to notice. Now that he looked at it – and flexed it – it ached, but not too badly. He wondered what it looked like beneath the bandage. “It’s okay. Can I have some cereal?”
“Of course. You know where it is.”
Jude rolled his eyes and went over to the cupboard. “Yep, I know where it is.”
His mum took the black bag out to the bin cupboard while Jude made himself a bowl of cereal and sat at the table. As his mind woke up, he pictured the two dead children. He was certain it hadn’t been The Hobbit playing.
So what the hell happened? What the hell did I watch?
And then there’s the bath water. How did it turn so cold?
Jude’s mum came back into the kitchen and poured herself a coffee. Jude hated the stuff and only drank tea. She never offered to make him one, so he got up and made one for himself. Then he resumed eating.
His mum sat, sipping at her coffee. “You look tired,” she said. “Didn’t sleep well?”
Jude dropped his spoon in the bowl and shrugged. “Not really. I was a bit freaked out after everything that happened.”
“I can imagine. Have you thought any more about what happened? Perhaps it would be better to have a different story ready when the police come back.”
The recollection of hearing his mother talking about him on the phone last night came back and hurt him all over again. She didn’t believe him, and even thought he needed professional help.
“Like what, Mum? What should I tell him? That I’m crazy?”
She leant in her chair and frowned at him. “Of course not! But maybe you should say you didn’t actually see the woman. That it was Ashley who did, and that she just convinced you.”
Jude examined his mum’s face, trying to work out if she was kidding. She’d known Ashley for ten years. “Are you for real? I would never stab Ashley in the back. She’s my best friend. Jesus, Mum.”
She put her hands up as if she meant no offence. “Okay, okay! Look, I understand she’s your friend, but she’s also a very troubled young girl. Hardly surprising with that dad of hers.”
“What does that mean? What’s wrong with her dad?”
“Nothing. Forget I said anything. All I’m saying, sweetheart, is that you have a brain in your head – you can make something of your life – so don’t let anybody else drag you down by involving you in their problems.”
Jude let his head hang and went back to eating his cereal. After what he’d heard his mum say about him last night, he was in no mood to listen to her advice. Ashley was his best friend and had always been on his side – one down, two down. What they saw yesterday had been real. His mum might be right about telling another story to the police, but it was something he needed to talk to Ashley about first. If they changed their statements, they needed to change them together.
Jude stood up. “I’m going out. I’ll be back later.”
His mum nodded. She never objected to him going out, and she never told him when to be back. He appreciated it most times, but this morning he wondered if she even cared.
“Uh, one moment, you,” she said. “Clean your bowl first.”
“Oh, yeah.” Jude snatched his bowl and took it over to the sink. Whenever he was over at Ashley’s, her mum waited on her hand and foot, but he was lucky if he ever got a hot meal. Sometimes, he wanted to yell at his mum to do better. But he never did.
Jude cleaned up his cereal bowl and headed out into the bright sun of a cloudless morning. After a stuffy and sleepless night, it was nice to be outside, breathing fresh air. The sound of birds, and distant cars on the carriageway, made his problems seem smaller. The old man who lived across the road was cleaning his old blue Rover. He waved when he saw Jude. Jude waved back.
Focus on the little things. Focus on the moment.
He went to pluck at his bracelet.
Damn. I dropped it at the farmhouse. The police have it. Wonder if they’ll give it back to me.
Jude left his close and headed where he always did – to Ashley’s house. She lived on a nicer road than him. Her house had a garage and driveway, which was useful because both of her parents actually drove. His mum had never even taken lessons.
Dad drove, though.
The memories of his father had faded, the pages of a book left in the sun, but he remembered a small red car. He remembered days at the zoo and supermarket trips. Then… the memories just stopped involving his dad. There was a line in his brain – before and after.
He picked up the pace, eager to meet up with Ashley. He wanted to tell her about the strange events of the prior evening. She needed to hear about the icy bathwater and the strange, horrific scenes that had played on his television. She was the only person in the world who would believe him.
Jude was so lost in his own daydreams that he screamed when somebody leapt out at him from the alleyway. They grabbed his arm and spun him around. When he saw that it was Ashley, he grabbed his stomach and let out a gasp. “You almost gave me a heart attack. I was just coming to see you.”
She looked at him with wide eyes, and it was clear she was eager to tell him something. “I was on my way to see you, too. You wouldn’t believe the shit that happened last night.”
“Your dad?”
“What? No, no. There was some really weird shit that went down though. I found a fucking worm in my sandwich, but then it was gone, like I imagined the whole thing.”
“Yeah, well,” he said, matching her excitable tone, “I slid into a hot bath and a second later, it was freezing. I mean, it literally went from red-hot to ice-cold in about three seconds. It was impossible, but it happened. And don’t even get me started on the two dead kids.”
Ashley’s eyes widened. For a moment, she stared at him like she didn’t know who he was. Then, slowly, her mouth began to move. “Y-You mean, like, two little kids from the olden days? Boy and girl?”
Jude’s mouth fell open. “Y-You saw them too? Was it on TV? I thought I was watching The Hobbit, but then suddenly I’m watching these two little kids get stabbed to death by their mother. It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, Ash.”
“I didn’t see them get stabbed, but I watched them rot like corpses – maggots in their eyes. I almost puked. Jude, what the hell is going on?”
He shook his head. He’d been hoping she would have the answers. “Maybe it was just some sick movie that was playing. We must have turned to the same channel.”
“I was watching Netflix,” she said. “It was supposed to be some crappy romantic comedy, not a kiddie snuff film.” She put a hand to her neck and sighed, then looked around like she was searching for hidden cameras. Finally, she leaned into Jude and whispered, “It’s the woman. This is all because of her. How could the police not find her? She was right there, chained up.”
“I wish I had the answer,” said Jude. “My mum wants us to change our story so we don’t get in trouble, but I don’t even know what we would say. If we say we made the whole thing up, we could get into even more trouble.”
“I’m not telling anybody that it was a lie. Fuc
k that. We did nothing except tell the truth. The police must’ve screwed up somehow. Or…” She shook her head.
Jude tilted his head at her. “What? What is it?”
She let out another sigh. “What if the sicko who chained that woman up came back after we left? What if he saw us? We left her alone, Jude. What if he came and took her someplace else? What if he killed her? Maybe last night was her fucking ghost screwing with us.”
“And I thought I was the one with an overactive imagination.”
“Yeah, well, that’s how messed up all this is.”
“One of us should have stayed with her. We did the wrong thing, Ash.”
“We were fucking terrified. How were we supposed to know we would run into some abused, naked woman in the woods? If it wasn’t for Ricky Dalca, we never would have even been there. Either way, we tried to help her.”
It was true – they had tried to help her – but they had also failed. So what should they do now? Did they just move on, change their stories, and hope not to get into too much trouble? Could they put this behind them? Move on like it had never even happened?
Jude grunted, not liking where his thoughts were heading. “We tried to help her,” he said, “but we made things worse. I think…” He shook his head and grunted again. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think we need to go back into Devil’s Ditch. We need to try to find the woman again.”
Ashley spluttered. “Are you fucking kidding me? No way am I going back there. The sicko will probably find us and chain us up as well. If he doesn’t just kill us.”
“That’s not going to happen. Either the woman’s still out there, and the police missed her somehow, or the sicko got rid of her and covered his tracks. If that’s the case, there’s no way he would still be hanging around. Either way, we need to go back. If the woman’s still there, she still needs our help. If not, well, maybe we can at least find something to prove we’re not lying. We’re in a bunch of trouble we don’t deserve, Ash. Don’t you want to do something about it?”
Witch: A Horror Novel (The Cursed Manuscripts) Page 6