by David Pinner
Now pedalling with an even greater sense of urgency, he raced past his wife, who was taking Bella to see Scarlet and Mary. As he cycled on, Sue and Bella called out to him, demanding to know where he was going, but his obsessive mind-set blanked their questions out. Obliviously he pedalled onwards, heading for the cliff-path that overlooked the beach.
Minutes later, with wet pebbles zipping out from either side of his tyres, Vince free-wheeled along the winding path down to the beach. And then…because of the witch’s recent image-making in his head – and just as he had expected – he spotted Lulu in the middle distance, and she was walking beside the sea in the rain.
When his front wheel sheered onto the wet beach, he jumped off his bike, and he discarded it beside an upturned rowing-boat. Despite being hindered by the slushy sand slurping over his shoes, and the rain spattering into his face, Vince hurried after the retreating Lulu.
As he urged himself forwards, the rain became even heavier. This prompted Lulu, who was wearing a scarlet raincoat, to pull her hood further down over her eyes, which made her look like Little Red Riding Hood. Then she stopped abruptly, and after glancing to her left, she moved away from the sea.
Relieved that Lulu hadn’t spotted him, Vince watched her as she headed across the rain-swept beach towards the cliff. He noted the towering columns of rocks that were jutting out in front of the cliff like an army of giant cacti. Beyond the rocks, and half-hidden behind them, he could just make out the shadowy entrances to several caves. As there was no sign of a footpath, Vince surmised that Lulu was planning to go into one of the caves. And although he couldn’t understand why she would want to do such a thing, he was determined to discover her motive. With the rain lashing into his face, he veered to his left in order to follow her, while he still maintained his discreet distance.
When Lulu stopped again by a rock-pool, Vince was even more bemused by her actions, and for a moment, he thought she was about to turn round and discover him following her.
Despite having raindrops dripping off her hood, inexplicably Lulu crouched down beside by the rock-pool. After she had gazed steadily into the rain-stippled water for what seemed several minutes, she stood up again. With a relieved smile on her lips, she went on towards the caves.
Vince continued to shadow her because he was determined to make her pay in kind for what she had done to him night after night. In anticipation, he sucked on his bitten tongue as if it was a delectable sweet. Then he blinked in disbelief.
Without warning, Lulu had disappeared behind a huge, lichen-stained rock, which loomed close to the cliff like a Neolithic monster. A moment later, Vince was relieved to glimpse her scarlet raincoat as she paused in the mouth of a cave.
Yes, and for what I’ve got in mind to do to her, a cave is as good a place as any, he fumed as he set off in pursuit.
As his shoes were weighed down by wet sand, he was only able to break into a lumbering run. When he reached the monster-like rock, he increased his pace towards the cave.
He was running around the escarpment, when, out of nowhere, a fist slammed into his midriff, doubling the postman up, and catapulting him backwards. His head hit a rock, and blood erupted onto his bald pate. Then as Vince slumped to his knees, clutching his bleeding skull, he realised that he was gazing up into the maniacal eyes of…Paul Hopkins.
‘You’ve been stalking Lulu again, haven’t you, you bastard?’
‘No…’
‘Don’t lie to me, you godless sonovabitch!’ Paul snarled, drawing his fist back as he prepared to punch the postman again. ‘What’s more, if I ever catch you near Lulu again, so help me, I’ll beat you to death.’
Then Lulu appeared beside the threatening figure of Paul.
‘Enough, Paul! You’ve hurt him enough.’
‘I only did it protect you, Lulu.’
‘How many time do I have to tell you, Paul? I don’t need protecting. From anyone! ‘ Lulu protested. ‘So, for Heaven’s sake, leave me be, and take the poor man home.’
‘Why the hell were you going into that cave, anyway, Lulu?’ Paul demanded, without moving.
‘Yes,’ murmured Vince, pushing himself to his feet, and ineffectually daubing his bloodied skull with his rain-soaked sleeve. ‘Whatever were you going to do in the cave?’
‘That’s none of your business, Vincent,’ Lulu said. Then she turned to the writer, and she waved an admonishing finger at him, ‘And it’s none of your business, either, Paul. So now – as you’re always claiming that you’re such a devout Christian, Mr Hopkins – for the first time in your life, you should stop demanding “an eye for an eye”. But, instead, as Your Saviour proclaimed; “You should love your enemy”.’
‘How do you propose I’m going to “love” a rapacious bastard like Vince Townley?’ Paul snorted, gesturing at the bloodied-and-staggering postman.
‘Paul, you only have to look into Vincent’s eyes, and you can see that he’s not himself. So now be a Good Samaritan, and take him home. And once you get him there, the very least you can do is to bathe the nasty wound that you’ve inflicted on him.’
‘I don’t need help from him, Lulu,’ Vince said, after examining his hand, which was wet with the blood from his forehead.
As the rain stopped, the postman gazed at her with his imploring eyes.
‘You see, Lulu,’ he whispered. ‘I just need…’
Raising her finger, she cut him short, ‘I know what you need, Vincent, but you cannot have it. Now go home, and make things up with your wife, and your daughter. And, furthermore, you must never come near me again,’ she ordered as she turned back towards the darkened cave amidst the rocks. Then she called out to Paul over her shoulder; ‘And the same goes for you, “Saint” Paul. You, too, must stop shadowing me because I don’t want to see you ever again, either. Well, not until you are ready to confront the infernal secret in your soul.’
Decisively turning away from them, Lulu headed for the cave, while Vince nodded pathetically. Then he charged off in the opposite direction.
Nonplussed, Paul watched the postman ploughing his way through the rain-soaked sand towards his discarded bicycle.
When Paul turned back, he could see that Lulu’s red coat still was framed in the cave’s awning.
‘Lulu, can’t you at least tell me what you’re proposing to do in that cave?’ Paul asked hesitantly.
‘As you insist on knowing; in one of the cave’s rock-pools, I am going to contemplate the crustacea.’
‘You’re going to do what?’ Paul said, laughing in disbelief.
‘I’ve just told you,’ Lulu retorted. ‘And you should find your own cave, Paul, and then you should do the same. But do ensure that your cave is on the other side of the village.’
‘You’re unbelievable!’
‘Indeed. So now, Paul, “Stay not upon your going, but go”,’ Lulu commanded as she advanced into the confines of the cave.
‘OK, OK, I’m going,’ he shouted after her retreating figure. ‘But whether you like it or not, Lulu, I will always be there for you.’
Grimly Paul turned back to watch the bedraggled postman, who was now pushing his bike laboriously up the steep cliff-path.
‘And very soon, Vince Townley, you will come back again to take from Lulu what you think is yours by right – because I saw the satanic lust in your eyes,’ Paul whispered to himself. ‘But as I live very close to you, Townley, when you next try to stalk my beloved Lulu – as you assuredly will – I will be right behind you. And then “Vengeance is mine,” saith the Lord’.’
*
As Vince clambered off his bicycle, and wheeled it towards his garage, he realised that he was trembling. It wasn’t simply because of his rain-sodden clothes. He was shaking because he had been cycling furiously around the countryside for the best part of an hour, while he tried to come to terms with what had happened to him at the witch’s cottage. And his agitation was further compounded by Paul Hopkins attacking him on the beach.
As the writ
er’s Victorian house was only a few hundred yards away from Vince’s house, tentatively the postman peered down the road to see if Paul had returned. But as Vince was still unsure as to whether his attacker was home or not, he decided to go ahead with his plan, and he unlocked his garage door. Once he had propped his bike against the asbestos wall, with his hands still trembling, he shoved his cycle clips into his pocket. Then in a trance-like state, he switched on the light, and glanced around his garage.
Behind his old Volvo, he noted his workbench was littered with tools that he always meant to put away, but he never did. Smiling ironically, he focused on a glass-cutter, which he’d used two months ago; when he had to replace his daughter’s broken bedroom-window, after he’d accidentally kicked a football through it.
That’ll teach me not to show off in front of Scarlet, he thought, chuckling. Almost instantly his good humour faded as he pondered dispiritedly; But gone are those good old days when I was a proper Dad. So what chance have I now of being a proper husband again?
Shaking his head dolefully at the tragic turn of events, he switched off the light, and locked the garage. Gloom-ridden, he let himself into his house. As he stood uncertainly in the hallway, he touched his forehead. He realised that the cut on his forehead was still bleeding. Although he was uncertain as to whether he should go into the kitchen because Sue and Scarlet would be in there, having their lunch.
No, I can’t go in the kitchen like this, or my blood will scare Scarlet, he thought. ‘Fact I’d better go upstairs to the bathroom first, so I can patch myself up.
Still shivering, he held onto the banister, in order to pull himself up the stairs. When he was in the bathroom, he bathed his wound with Dettol, and then he taped some lint onto his forehead.
As he came out of the bathroom, he was confronted by his wife on the landing. Scarlet was standing beside her mother, and she was clutching her snugly Panda-bear. With her enormous, worried eyes, his daughter stared at the sticking-plaster on his forehead.
‘Scarlet, go downstairs, darling,’ Sue ordered, patting her daughter’s dishevelled, red hair. ‘See, I need to talk to Daddy.’
‘I need to talk to Daddy, too,’ Scarlet said, waving her Panda at her father’s forehead. ‘Well, just look at him! Daddy’s got a big plaster on his head, so he must’ve hurt himself. You have hurt yerself, haven’t you, Daddy?’
‘No, sweetheart, it doesn’t hurt very much,’ Vince said, stooping and protectively hugging his daughter. ‘’Fact it looks much worse than it feels. See, I just accidentally skidded on a patch of motor oil in the rain, darling, and then I fell off my bike.’
‘Well, all I can say is; Lulu Crescent is some bloody patch of oil!’ Sue yelled as furiously she prised Scarlet out of his fatherly embrace.
‘What the hell are you talking about, Sue?’ Vince protested.
‘I’m talking about a phone call that I just had with Paul Hopkins, and he told me that he caught you stalking that whore, Crescent. And then, quite rightly, Paul fucking-thumped you.’
‘Don’t say that kind of thing in front of the kid.’
‘It’s nothing compared to your shitty behaviour, you sick bastard. ‘Cause I’ve had all your pervy goings-on up to here!’ Sue snarled, clenching her fists. ‘I can’t take no more of it.’
‘Look, Sue, stop swearing in front of Scarlet,’ Vince insisted, turning back towards the bathroom.
‘Get outta here, you shit-head’ Sue screeched, snatching the Panda away from Scarlet, who was crying.
Then Sue started to beat Vince’s head and shoulders with the stuffed animal.
‘Now get the fuck out of this house, you lecherous sod, and never ever come back!’
Vince lurched away from his manic wife as she continued to flail at him with the Panda. Then he lost his footing on the landing. The next moment he was falling precipitately down the stairs. Then half way down, he managed to grapple both hands onto the banister, and instead of breaking his neck, he only bruised his knees and thighs. Scarlet started to weep uncontrollably.
As Sue was in her own demented world, she ignored her daughter’s fearful distress. Furiously she pursued Vince down into the hall while he was wrenching open the front door. Before he could leave, the sobbing Scarlet ran down the stairs, pushing her mother out of the way. Then she flung her arms around her distraught father.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll come back, my darling,’ Vince whispered, with tears in his eyes as Scarlet clung to him. ‘No, no, really, sweetheart! I will come back, I promise you, baby.’
‘Oh don’t go now, Daddy. Please don’t go. I love you so much.’
‘And I love you, dearest.’
‘Leave her alone, you monster!’ Sue cried, pummelling his back with her fists. ‘Just get the fuck outta here.’
‘OK, OK, I’m going,’ Vince said, cradling his tearful daughter’s head against his chest. ‘But please don’t make things worse.’
Sue wrenched Scarlet from his clinging embrace, and she pushed Vince out through the open doorway onto the front step. As he turned back to try and comfort his inconsolable daughter, his wife banged the door shut in his face. Then she drove home the bottom bolt.
Vince was only left with the heart-wrenching sound of his beloved daughter, who was still wailing behind the locked door.
If I try to get back into the house, he thought. I’ll only make things worse.
Sorrowfully he headed towards the garage to collect his bike. While he was opening the garage door, he was relieved to see that the rain clouds had dispersed.
What the hell am I going to do? Wherever can I go until Sue changes her mind? And what’s going to become of us all if she doesn’t forgive me?
Then licking his swollen tongue over his lips, Vince climbed onto his bike, and he pedalled along the front path. As he cycled down the street, two of his neighbours waved at him. When he passed them, they noticed the large plaster on his forehead, and they shouted at his retreating back, ‘Hey, Vince, you alright?’
Unaware that his neighbours were calling to him, forlornly the postman continued cycling past their houses because Vince knew that he needed to come to terms with what had happened with his embittered wife and his adorable daughter.
Then, within minutes, his mind leapfrogged back to his obsession with Lulu, and, once again, he found himself cycling along the cliff as he still needed to see her desperately. He wanted to beg her to forgive him, so he stopped at the top of the cliff path, leading down to the beach. For several moments, he peered at the distant cave into which Lulu had disappeared, but there was no sign of her.
Abruptly his mood changed again. As he’d eaten very little breakfast, and he’d drunk two glasses of the witch’s lethal wine, he began to feel inordinately hungry. Nodding he turned his bike around, and he cycled to Babbits’ Grocery store because it was the only shop in Thorn. However, when he braked outside of Babbits, he realised his mistake. It was Sunday, and the shop was closed.
‘Bugger,’ he spluttered.
Still grimacing, he cycled the three miles to Idlethorpe, where he bought himself a sandwich and a soft drink, both of which he consumed within seconds.
While he was cycling back, he noted that the dusk sky was cloud-free, and the heavens were pricked with the first stars. Also it was becoming much colder, and soon it would be fully dark.
As he rode his bike under the skeletal trees, he realised that it was the darkness of night, which he had been waiting for. Suddenly Vince shivered because he sensed that ‘something’ was awaiting him…in the dark.
17
Although it was only eight o’clock, already the raindrops had started to freeze on the stone crosses in the graveyard, and the new moon glistened like a scimitar above the clock tower of St Peter’s Church.
Despite the throbbing wound on his forehead and the bruises on his body, Vince seemed immune to the intense cold, while he sat on a gravestone in his damp clothes. Inanely he stared at his bicycle, which was propped up against a Victor
ian tomb.
A moment later, Bob White, the carpenter, and Dave Biggs, the horse farmer, were passing by the churchyard on their way to the pub. As they were engrossed in their conversation about the village’s latest scandal, they failed to notice that their friend, Vince, was sitting on a gravestone.
While the men were crossing the road together, Bob shook his angular head in Dave’s direction.
‘Well, let’s face it, Dave, it’s not surprising that Sue’s chucked Vince out, is it? And under the circumstances, you can’t hardly blame her, for telling everyone in the village why she did it.’
‘Right. It’s why we’re so bloody lucky, Bob, that we both saw sense about Lulu when we did. Otherwise our wives would’ve chucked us out on our ears, too. So now I can groom my horses, without having the shakes,’ Dave added, with a satisfied smile as he patted his rotund stomach.
‘You bet ya. ‘Fact the night after Jimmy hanged himself, Dave, I was right back to my normal self. And ever since then, I’ve never had any more of them…well, them succubus dreams about Lulu. So now things are pretty good between me and Rachel.’
‘Yeah, and after Jimmy topped himself, exactly the same thing happened to me, Bob. So now me and Tina are…well, we’re slowly beginning to…well, to love each other again,’ Dave said, patting his rubicund cheeks with his callused hands in order to reassure himself.
‘So you don’t think about Lulu any more, then?’ Bob asked uncertainly, raising his bushy eyebrows.
‘Well, I don’t think of Lulu very often. Unlike Vince, the poor bastard! But now let’s get a move on, Bob. See, once we’ve had our drink at the pub, I’ve got to get back to my horses,’ Dave urged as he lumbered after his lithe friend, and they headed further into the village.