by Graham West
When your father rejected you, that was the first time I’d actually cared. My own father rejected me. When he moved out to live with another woman, I begged him to take me with him, but he didn’t want me. So you see, I know how you felt and I wanted to put things right. It was all I could think about. I would lie in bed, planning the whole thing. It didn’t take me long to find that article in the Tabwell Herald—all that stuff about Amelia Root—and it didn’t take much digging to find out about the two lads killing Mrs. Adams and the little girl. It’s all online these days.
I found out where Jenny studied and it was so easy getting into that college. I shadowed her for a few days, waiting until she took her eye of the ball. It took seconds to sneak that phone and put a trace on it. I knew where she was every second of the day. I knew when they were lying in wait for me at the adventure park.
It was like a game. I knew the pig’s blood would be more effective than spray paint, and I didn’t want anyone thinking it was just kids. When that old guy started cleaning up my handiwork, it really pissed me off. I remember kicking him and I didn’t care if I’d killed him. I could just hear the demons screaming inside.
Then there was the girl. I was leaving a noose with a message on the tree and she saw me. She was on the phone to someone, but that wasn’t going to be a problem. I wasn’t going to let anyone ruin all my plans, so I shot her. She was just lying on the ground with her skirt around her waist, and I remember thinking how sexy she looked. I got really aroused, and that’s when the demons told me it was okay. I might as well enjoy her. I pulled off her jacket and threw it over her head, and then I pulled her legs apart. If anyone had caught me, I would have shot them too.
I hadn’t been unfaithful to you. It was just sex. I remember using the girl’s phone and speaking to her lover. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say but the words came from the pit of my belly. The demons were goading him.
It was them, Kayla. It was the demons. It was them inside me, driving me on. I knew when I hired that car and changed the plates that it wouldn’t fool Jenny for long, but I didn’t care. I wanted to scare that little bitch before I finally killed her and that boyfriend of hers. It was a game. A beautiful game. But now it’s over and I’m in here, it no longer matters. Satan and his legions have been pretty quiet since this lot put me on medication. They wanted me to kill myself. I guess I’m not much use to them in here. Anyway, the meds are making me pretty sleepy so I might stop them for a few days. Just hope this letter helps you understand.
All my love. Caden. xxx
“You look like a ghost!” Jenny commented, hoping to raise something resembling a smile.
“I feel sick,” Kayla replied. “How come I didn’t see it?”
Jenny tried to lighten the mood. “Perhaps they’re very clever demons.”
Kayla wasn’t biting. “It’s not funny.”
Jenny turned down the sound on the TV. “Maybe he did love you! In his own weird kind of way. People like him—they’re psychopaths. They can live in neighbourhoods for years and no one suspects a thing—until it all comes out in the news.”
Kayla nodded. “I know, and I always wonder how the hell no one has rumbled them. Surely there’s something odd.”
“Like we said, Jekyll and Hyde,” Josie added.
“And what about that demon story?” Kayla asked. “Do you believe that?”
Jenny shrugged. “Who knows? He’s had plenty of time to make it up.”
Kayla looked around. “Well, Caden was my first boyfriend, and the way I’m feeling at the moment, he’s gonna be my last.”
Josie laughed. “Relationships are hard work, hun. It’s not about demons, it’s about human nature. We’re all flawed in some way or another. Every one of us.”
Kayla never asked Jenny about that afternoon when Caden had paid them a visit disguised as a journalist. She never asked what had happened in the bedroom or how Jenny had managed to break his cheekbone. Reece was a part of her past—a past that she wanted to forget.
It was agreed that his name would never be mentioned until the trial. But Jenny found herself confiding more and more in Darren. The phone calls after Jake had gone to bed. The text messages that she had taken every morning before he started work in the garage. Sometimes it felt like a secret affair. Jake seemed suspicious. Was there more to this relationship? He would never have dared to ask, but Jenny knew.
She flashed up Darren’s profile picture on her phone and showed it to Kayla one afternoon in her father’s kitchen. The visits had become less frequent and shorter; Jake had calmed down but he was watching everything out of the corner of his eye.
“He’s quite fit isn’t he!” Kayla exclaimed with a mischievous cackle.
Jenny nodded. “What? You fancy him?”
Kayla shook her head. “It would be nice to have him around. If Dad and Jake accepted him—you know, if he became part of the family—”
Jenny smiled and placed an arm around Kayla’s shoulder. Things seemed okay recently although she’d never understand what had happened that Sunday afternoon when Kayla had dropped her robe and set her heart pounding.
“I like you better every day,” Jenny said.
Kayla laughed. She had that mischievous look in her eyes. “That’s good, cos I’ve got my eye on another one of your tops.”
***
“Where is he?” Jenny screeched, sitting bolt upright in her bed.
“Hey, cool it, babe. You’ve been dreaming again!” Jake said, studying her. “Holy shit. You look like you’ve wet yourself!”
Jenny looked down at her nightgown, which was soaked in perspiration. “It was terrible,” she gasped, still trembling. “I was at the lake—it was so still. I was just watching, listening to the sounds of the forest. It was like I’d stumbled into a painting. It was so eerily beautiful, I was drawn towards it.”
Jake was listening intently. “So what happened?”
“I saw a hooded figure standing in the shallows. It turned as if it knew I was there. It turned and beckoned. I didn’t know if it was male or female…or even human. But the air was sweet, and cool. It smelled like a spring meadow. I had to find out who or what it was. That’s when I stopped, just a few feet from the lakeside. The figure turned and pulled down its hood. That was when I saw his face. It was Darren!”
Jake frowned. “Darren?”
Jenny nodded. “I called his name. My voice seemed to echo through the woodland, returning over and over, repeating in my head. He smiled and took off his jacket and shoes.
“I screamed at him, asking what the hell he was doing. He didn’t answer and moved forward. I saw the ripples across the surface of the water. I called again—‘Darren, please!’
“He didn’t take any notice. I watched helplessly as he waded further in. Then, quite suddenly the water seemed to swallow him. He just disappeared! There was no sign of any struggle and seconds later, the lake was still again.”
Jenny stopped, catching her breath. “I was praying that he would surface, but the waters were so dark. I had to save him so I stripped off and waded out towards the place where Darren had disappeared. I had all these voices in my head. Where was he? Why had he surrendered so easily? Then I felt it, an ice-cold hand gripping my ankle. Suddenly I was falling through the depths. It was too late.
There was nothing beneath me but the murky water and the light was fading as I sank. I was falling further—almost as if it had been air. And then there was the mud. The mud that had covered Amelia’s bones.”
Jenny paused again. Her heartbeat was slowing. “I felt myself pass through the bed of black sludge. It was like a plane passing through a cloud, and I found myself surrounded by crystal waters. The most colourful, exotic fish I’ve ever seen, all diving amongst the coral. And the rocks…they seemed to glow. Darren was waiting. His eyes were wide and he took my hand and told me that we were dying.”
Jenny closed her eyes for a moment. “I told him I couldn’t die. I couldn’t leave you. Darren lo
oked so sad and told me to take his hand. ‘We still have time but we must be quick,’ he said. I knew. His fingers locked around my wrist as he pushed himself upwards. He said we had to fight and I asked him who had brought us here.”
Jenny shivered. “It was horrible. Darren didn’t answer. His eyes were fixed on something beneath us. I remember the panic in his voice. There was no time. We had to be quick.”
Jake took hold of Jenny’s hand. “What happened? You looked so frightened.”
“That’s when I saw him,” she replied. “Caden Reece. His eyes were lifeless, like white marbles, and this thing—a rotting arm—came out of his mouth. There was a claw on the end of it, like a scaly hand. It grabbed my ankle. I remember screaming as this grotesque-looking head broke through Reece’s stomach. It was like some kind of demon and it broke free. It just shed Caden’s body like a skin. ‘If you die in your dreams,’ it shrieked, ‘then you die in your bed!’”
Jenny took a deep breath. “I told the thing it wasn’t real and this was just a dream. Darren was pulling at my arm but I couldn’t free myself. I kept repeating, ‘It’s just a dream! It’s just a dream!’
But the demon kept screaming, telling me I was dying. It was awful! I saw the terror in Darren’s eyes and I cried out for help.
“Then suddenly, the hand slipped from my ankle. Darren was pulling—pulling. I looked down, but it wasn’t Reece’s demon I saw. It was my father. He called out, telling us to get away—time was running out.”
Jake pulled a face. “I thought your dad would have been happy to feed Darren to the demon.”
Jenny ignored the comment. “The creature was distracted for just a moment, but it was long enough. I was free, out of reach. I screamed at Dad, telling him to come with us. But then I saw that he was trapped by the hand that had pulled me beneath the surface. I was rising up through the waters and then the cloud of mud.” Jenny shrugged. “Before I knew it we were back in the lake—me and Darren. But it was just the two of us. That was when I woke up—screaming for Dad.”
Jake pulled back the duvet. “Well, it was just a dream so why not get a shower? I’ll make us some breakfast.”
Jenny threw her sweat-soaked nightdress into the laundry basket and walked naked to the bathroom. Her heart began to race again as she stepped under the shower. She could still see the face of Caden Reece and still feel his demon’s icy grip. Had she escaped death in that dream? Those beautiful crystal waters…those colours. Was that some kind of heaven?
When she arrived downstairs, Jake was on his second coffee. Breakfast was cereal and toast. Nothing fancy, but Jenny was hungry.
“So how do you think your dad will feel about saving Pascoe’s life?”
Jenny gave him a look. “It’s not funny,” she muttered, pouring herself an orange juice. That’s when her phone rang. It was Josie.
“Babe! Thank God you’re up.” Jo sounded on the verge of tears. “It’s your father.”
Jenny froze. “Oh my god! What’s wrong?”
“I’m with him at the hospital, Jen. He’s had a heart attack.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
“We need to keep him in for a few days.” The doctor addressed Jenny with a sympathetic smile. “But he’s stable.”
At least he’s alive, she thought, gazing at tubes and wires they were using to monitor everything that was going on inside her father’s body. He was awake. That was a good thing. And he was smiling, too. But a heart attack? Her father? There had been no warning. No pains, no periods of breathlessness. Just—bang!
“He woke up, moaning and groaning,” Josie told her. “I thought he’d just twisted something in his sleep!”
“I felt like I’d been kicked in the chest,” Rob interrupted. “It’s a good job I wasn’t driving…”
Jake stood at the end of the bed, his hands pushed deep into his jeans pockets. “You’ll be up and about in no time, Mr. Adams. Don’t forget, you have to walk my fiancée down the aisle.”
Jenny smiled. “Yeah, so don’t be going anywhere, okay?” She caught that look in her father’s eye. The one that said ‘I love you’.
She swore that Kayla saw it too. “It’s gonna be a great day!” she said. “I can’t wait!”
Jenny thought how easily it could have all gone wrong. I’m sorry, he’s gone. She was cold. The lonely walk down that aisle, on whose arm? It would hardly matter. No one could replace her father. No one.
“You need to look after yourself, Dad,” she said. “Start eating healthy.”
Rob nodded. He wasn’t into salads and vegetables—or fruit, for that matter. But if it was going to help keep him alive then he’d have to cut out the sugar and starch. He wasn’t going to let that Gordon Huxley take her arm on the big day; Jenny knew he’d be there, even if they had to carry him.
They sat talking about the wedding for a while. It would be good if they had something they could all focus on, but Jenny could tell her father’s mind was elsewhere.
“What’s up, Dad?” she asked. The conversation stopped.
“I had a dream last night,” he said, staring into space.
Jake, who was scrolling through his phone, looked up.
“I dreamed you were drowning.”
Jenny let out a gasp. Jake’s mouth dropped open.
“Reece was there. Some kind of creature had pulled Darren under the water. You went in to rescue him.”
“Holy shit!” Jake gasped, staring at Jenny.
“And he pulled me under too.”
Jenny shuddered. It was all happening again. “Oh my god! What happened?”
“I went to save you, and beneath the mud at the bottom, there was this beautiful reef. That thing had hold of your leg, and Darren was trying to pull you free.”
“But he couldn’t, could he?” Jenny said, wondering if she was still dreaming.
Her father shook his head. “No. I picked up a rock and smashed it against the thing’s skull. I had this strength, the water was like air.” He paused. “He let go, and I called to you.”
“I know, Dad. You said, ‘Quickly, time is running out. Both of you!’”
Her father looked stunned. “How…how did you know that?”
“Because I had the same dream.”
Josie and Kayla stared in disbelief.
“I woke up this morning,” Jenny said, “and I was soaked in sweat. In my dream, I thought you’d died!”
Jenny’s father rested his hand on her arm. “I nearly did, sweetheart. I was fighting my way through the mud, the water filling my lungs—the pain, I felt the pain. That’s when I woke up.”
Josie looked as if she were about to collapse. “And you were having a heart attack.”
Jake shook his head. “I’m sorry, this shit is freaking me out.”
Jenny nodded, pleased she’d not mentioned what had really happened to Reece when he tried to rape her. She kept her eyes on her father. A tear trickled down his cheek.
“What is it, Dad?”
He squeezed her arm. “Darren was trying to save you,” he said. “It may have been a dream, but it meant something. I knew I had to save him too—the both of you.” Another tear escaped. “It’s hard for me, but I have to accept that he’s your brother, sweetheart. It doesn’t matter how I feel about him. He’s your brother.”
A lump rose in Jenny’s throat. “What are you trying to say, Dad?”
“When I get out of here, we should all have a meal. To celebrate. And maybe you should ask that boy if he’d like to join us.”
***
Sebastian studied the letter. He had read it through several times without a word.
“What do you think, Uncle Seb?” Jenny asked.
He was wearing his ‘professor face’, considering his words carefully. “We had this debate often during my time at the university. Does evil exist within all of us?” He paused and turned over a page. “We have no record of Caden’s life before his father rejected him. We don’t really even know why he was rejected. Perhaps he
was a difficult child.”
Jenny shrugged. “We’ll never know, I guess.”
Sebastian took a sip of brandy and glanced back at the letter. “Then, of course, there was the rape. I imagine, having been rejected by both his parents, he’d have had no one to confide in.”
“So you think that’s why he turned out the way he did?”
Sebastian nodded. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“You don’t think he was possessed?”
The old man smiled warmly. “No, dear. We are shaped by our past, and many disorders can stem from trauma, particularly in our childhood. Psychologists are generally unwilling to accept that evil exists. It is considered to be a religious term, and they argue that it is antiquated. They believe that people can commit acts of evil without actually being evil.”
“But what do you believe?”
Sebastian shrugged. “I think Reece has a personality disorder with psychopathic tendencies. He talks about the evil rising within him, almost as it were a tangible experience, and, of course, it was real to him. But the brush with the Satanists will have left him believing that he was possessed and everything he did subsequently was down to his demons.”
“But you believed that the spirit of Amelia was controlling me.”
Sebastian smiled. “Yes, I did. But Reece is different. Amelia was a restless spirit, and although there are spirits that we would generally refer to as being evil—in other words, spirits of the dead who practised evil—demons are considered by many Christians to be the servants of Lucifer. I’m afraid I can’t accept that. Reece admits he was unable to empathise with anyone and that allowed him to behave in the way he did.”
Jenny nodded. “But if he couldn’t empathise with people, how could he have had feelings for Kayla?