Left for Dead

by Paul J. Teague

  Will picked up the two mixed grills and headed out of the kitchen.

  ‘Well, everything is fine here,’ Isla reassured her. ‘I know what I’m doing. And the guests think your refurbishment is delightful.’

  Charlotte praised the gods for sending them the gift of Isla.

  ‘I’m just going to take this bin bag out to the back,’ Isla continued, picking up a trade waste bag and heading into the corridor.

  Will returned. Seeing Isla was no longer present, he could contain himself no longer. He tore into Charlotte, keeping his voice low, to avoid being heard by the guests.

  ‘For Christ’s sake Charlotte, what were you thinking? Olli said you’d been hauled in to see the head teacher because of some disturbance at the school gates. I get back from my first day in a new job to find our first two guests standing on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell and trying to check-in. And to top it all, Lucia’s not home yet; she’s an hour overdue. And you just swan off and leave us to it! I’m beginning to wonder if we should ever have bought this place, it’s already turning into a nightmare…’

  Will and Charlotte turned, hearing a small cough behind them. It was one of the guests.

  ‘Sorry to disturb you. You don’t have any ketchup, do you?’

  Chapter Twenty

  Present Day - Morecambe

  Will paused a moment before rushing after Charlotte. They’d been here before; this had all the hallmarks of another breakdown. He wasn’t sure the family could weather this again.

  ‘Olli, take care of the guests if anyone needs assistance,’ he called up the stairs. There was a grumble from Olli’s bedroom.

  Charlotte was clearly horrified that the guest had heard their altercation in the kitchen. Will had stayed calm, reaching out for a bottle of ketchup on the worktop, handing it over and smiling, as if nothing had happened. But it was too much for her right now.

  ‘I’m sorry Will, I can’t do this tonight…’

  She walked out of the kitchen, through the hallway, then out of the front door.

  Will knew his wife’s sanity was balanced on a knife-edge. And he was feeling guilty about pushing her back into work so fast. He’d thought she was ready for it, but it looked like he’d been wrong.

  ‘Olli!’ he called.

  ‘Okay, okay!’ came the begrudging acknowledgement from behind his door.

  ‘And try and raise Lucia on her mobile phone. Tell her I want her back here straight away!’

  Isla was returning from the back yard as Will made for the front door.

  ‘I’m so sorry Isla, I just need to make sure that Charlotte’s alright. Olli will be down to help; can you cope on your own?’

  ‘Go and make sure Charlotte is alright. Olli and I will be fine here.’ She smiled, looking at Olli as he made his way down the stairs. ‘Won’t we Olli?’

  ‘I’ll be back shortly,’ Will said, then headed out the door to locate his wife.

  The traffic along the sea front had calmed, now the back from school and work rush was over, so it didn’t take him long to cross over to the other side of the road. Standing on the long promenade, he looked up and down, trying to pick out Charlotte among the dog walkers, joggers and hardy tourists. He couldn't see her anywhere.

  Will took a chance. He guessed that Charlotte would walk towards the town, rather than away from it. She wouldn’t have gone far; he knew that much. She’d take half an hour on her own, then it would all be over. Until the next time.

  It was beginning to get dark now. Will checked his phone to see if there was any news from Lucia. Maybe she’d made a new friend, headed off into the town and forgotten to let them know where she was. It was great if she was making friends, but they’d told her about checking in at home before. She was old enough now; she should know better.

  He jogged along the sea front, checking each bench, hopeful that Charlotte had found somewhere to get her head in order.

  It wasn’t long before he found her. He should have known. The pier wasn’t there any more - it had been demolished several years previously - but she was sitting on a bench at the place where they’d been dropped off on their first day out together. Where the pier had once stood. The day when everything started.

  Will sat next to her, saying nothing. He loved her for coming to this spot, and he loved that she remembered, just as he did.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’ve just had a hell of a day.’

  Will waited, saying nothing. It was best coming from her; he’d learned that much, at least.

  ‘Do you remember that first day in Morecambe?’ Charlotte asked. ‘We had such a brilliant day, I never wanted it to end…’

  ‘It wasn’t all fun…’ Will began, stopping himself. ‘But yes, it was a great day.’

  ‘How long has this pier been gone?’

  ‘It burned down; don’t you remember? Years ago now. It’s a real shame. They knocked it down after the fire damage.’

  ‘Yes, nothing stays the same, does it?’

  ‘We do,’ Will chanced.

  ‘Not really,’ Charlotte replied. ‘We’ve changed too. I’m sorry I’ve put everybody through all this, Will. I just wish I could get my head straight. Every time I think I’m close, something comes up and I’m back where I started.’

  ‘Olli told me what happened at the school. Well, he told me part of it. What on earth were you thinking?’

  ‘I thought I saw somebody… Lucia told me something at breakfast. It was troubling me. I had to make sure…’

  ‘Olli’s horrified,’ Will said gently. ‘He reckons they’ll never live it down. He said he was walking out with some girl he’s met, and there’s his mum, in trouble with the head teacher…’

  Charlotte laughed.

  ‘Damn it, Charlotte, what’s going on? We’ve been through this before. You’re away from teaching now - it’s over, and you never have to go back. I thought you were getting better. Now, all of a sudden, when we’re hundreds of miles away from where it all happened, we get this. What’s going on?’

  ‘I thought Lucia was in danger. I just did what any concerned parent would do.’

  ‘But how is Lucia in danger?’ Will pushed. ‘She’s perfectly safe at school; this town is completely safe. She’s at less risk here than she was in Bristol, and Bristol was perfectly safe too. You’re getting paranoid again.’

  ‘Why did you go back to the holiday camp?’ Charlotte asked, suddenly on the offensive. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that’s where the mud came from on your shoes?’

  ‘I - I…’ Will was on the defensive now, he hadn’t expected an attack. ‘I just felt like I wasn’t done after you rushed off the other day. I wanted to take a proper look around. For old times’ sake.’

  ‘And why couldn’t you tell me that? Why did you lie?’

  ‘I didn’t lie about it…’

  ‘You said you’d picked up the mud going to the cash and carry. Why did you lie to me, Will? Do you think I’m too fragile?’

  ‘I didn’t say that. But you have been behaving…’

  ‘How, Will? How have I been behaving?’

  ‘Well, erratically.’

  ‘Erratically? You mean like a mad woman, that’s what you mean!’

  Charlotte was raising her voice now. A jogger looked at them as he passed, clearly wondering if an intervention would be required.

  ‘No, I don’t mean that.’

  Will did his best to calm things down. This wasn’t the way he’d meant it to go.

  They sat in silence a few moments.

  ‘Coming back here has brought it all back, hasn’t it?’ Will ventured.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Charlotte was calm again now.

  ‘Me bringing you back here. I thought we’d moved on from all that. I thought coming back would be good for us. It’s over, Charlotte. Bruce Craven pissed off years ago. He can’t touch you anymore.’

  He felt her tense the moment he mentioned Bruce. They hadn’t talked about him for years. It
was like a silent pact, a place they never went.

  ‘He’s back.’

  ‘Who is?’

  ‘Bruce. He’s back.’

  ‘Is that what that scene was all about at the school gates today?’

  Charlotte gave a small nod.

  ‘You think that Bruce Craven is back?’

  Will was raising his voice now. He was exasperated.

  ‘How can Bruce Craven be back? In this place and after all these years? We were done with Bruce Craven in 1984. He walked away, he left you alone. He’s gone, Charlotte. How can that man still have a hold on you after all these years?’

  ‘He’s back, I’m telling you. I don’t care what happened at the school gates today. It wasn’t Bruce Craven that time, but he’s come back for our daughter. And he’s come back for me. I know it’s true. I know you think I’m crazy. But I know it. It’s him!’

  Their voices were getting louder now.

  ‘Is everything alright here?’ a dog walker asked.

  ‘It’s fine!’ Will snapped.

  ‘Are you sure, luv?’ the man checked.

  ‘Yes, it’s fine, honestly,’ Charlotte reassured him.

  The main hovered a while, trying to decide whether to stay or not. He could see that they had calmed down, so he moved on.

  ‘Why do you think Bruce is back?’ Will asked after a long period of silence. ‘How can he be back after all these years? Why would he even care about you after all this time?’

  ‘Because he tried to rape me, Will!’ Charlotte exclaimed. ‘He tried to rape me, and I hit him on the head with a stone from the beach. I thought he was dead! But the next morning I found out he was alive, and he just left the holiday camp. I thought he was gone forever…’

  ‘He was,’ Will replied. ‘How can he possibly be back? It’s years ago now.’

  ‘He’s connected with me on Facebook. He has the necklace that I lost on the beach.’

  ‘What necklace?’ Will asked.

  ‘You know - the one I used to wear when we first met. I told you I lost it. I lied. I left it on the beach that night when Bruce tried to attack me. And now it’s back. Bruce is the only one who could possibly have that necklace. I’m telling you Will, Bruce Craven is back in this town …’

  ‘He can’t be back in Morecambe!’ Will shouted. ‘Listen to me, Charlotte. It’s a physical impossibility for Bruce Craven to be back in this town. Listen to me, will you?’

  ‘How then?’ Charlotte screamed back at him. ‘How does somebody have a necklace that I lost on a beach three decades ago? Why are they messaging me now?’

  ‘Bruce Craven can’t possibly have sent you that message.’

  ‘Why, Will? Why can’t it be him? How can you be so sure?’

  ‘Because I had a terrible fight with Bruce after you left the pub. If he’s really come back for revenge, he would have tried to make contact with me too. I was the last person to see him before he left the holiday camp. I left him there, thinking he was dead. I had to Charlotte, he was trying to kill me.’

  Chapter Twenty-One

  1984 - Sandy Beaches Holiday Camp

  The toasties were long cold by the time they were ready to think about eating them.

  ‘He hasn’t hit me.’

  Charlotte was doing her best to reassure Will, but it didn’t look like she’d convinced him.

  ‘But he’s working up to it, isn’t he? He’s treating you roughly, pushing you around. It’s not normal, Charlotte. People don’t do that. If he does anything which leaves any kind of a mark on you, that’s not normal.’

  ‘I know,’ she replied, looking down, ashamed of the corner she’d painted herself into. ‘He was charming at first. I was flattered. The guys I mix with normally, in sixth form and university, they’re so damn… well, polite. I don’t mean that nastily. It’s just that sometimes they’re so careful with not pushing their luck and behaving like gentlemen that… I’m embarrassed to say it. Sometimes you just want to know that someone fancies you. I’ve never met people like the staff who work here. Not the students, they’re just like they are back at college. I’m talking about the people who haven’t gone through the whole ‘O’ levels, ‘A’ levels and university thing. I feel like I’ve been living in a bubble all my life. Bruce was so confident, so flirty. He made it very clear what he wanted from the moment I met him. And he kept telling me how gorgeous I am and what a stunning body I’ve got. The men I mix with don’t talk like that. I know it’s all a lot of nonsense, but I fell for it. It made me feel great about myself. And I just thought, it’s a summer fling - I’ll never see him again when I leave this place. It seemed harmless at first.’

  She liked the way Will didn’t judge. He just listened. He didn’t offer any solutions. He allowed her to get it off her chest. It felt like a massive relief to be able to articulate it at last. The tears wouldn’t stop. It had been bottled up inside her for weeks, an impending sense of something nearing crisis point. She didn’t know how to get away from it.

  ‘Can I get you more tea?’ the waitress asked. ‘You look like you need it.’

  Charlotte smiled, wiping her tears.

  ‘It’s okay, honestly. I’m just getting a bit emotional about something.’

  ‘If it’s a bloke - and I’ll bet it is - give him a swift kick in the bollocks and send him on his way. Don’t take any nonsense!’

  ‘If only it was as simple as that,’ Charlotte replied. ‘I will have that second pot of tea, if that’s alright. Thank you.’

  The waitress headed for the small kitchen at the back of the tea shop and Will played with a small leakage of molten cheese that was solidifying at the edge of his toastie.

  ‘You see, we’re so polite and scared of everything,’ Charlotte said, once she was gone. ‘We live in this educated cocoon; I’m not sure that it helps us in the real world.’

  ‘Has he ever threatened you?’ Will asked. ‘I mean directly. Has he ever said he'd hit you?’

  ‘No. It’s just the way he talks and the things he says. And how he pushes me when he’s angry. It wasn’t like that at the beginning. After we slept together…’

  Charlotte stopped. She was moving into new territory with Will, treating him like a friend or confidant. She hesitated before committing to that course of action.

  ‘He was sweet and polite until that first night. But after then, it crept up on me, bit by bit. He was rougher with me, less gentle. He wasn’t violent or anything. It’s just that it was different. It felt like he cherished me at first. Then suddenly it was like he resented me. But he wouldn’t end it. He never spoke about ending it. It was like he felt caught in a relationship with me, and he hated me for it. But it’s just a summer fling Will - he can walk away any time. I can walk…’

  ‘I told you, a kick in the bollocks and a punch in the face. It’s sorted out a lot of my exes.’

  The waitress was back, dropping off two new pots of tea and a topped-up jug of milk.

  ‘Don’t leave those toasties too long, they’re disgusting when the cheese gets all rubbery!’

  She was gone, having dispensed her wisdom like a fairy godmother who knew how to throw a punch.

  ‘You know, she’s partly right,’ Will said, picking off the blob of cheese and popping it in his mouth. ‘People like me and you tend to be the ones who suffer at the hands of bullies. I’ll bet you were bullied at school, weren’t you?’

  ‘Yes, for a short time.’

  ‘Did you ever confront the bully? Did you ever resort to violence?’

  ‘No, that’s not how people like us do things. We use the official channels. We try to sort it out by talking.’

  ‘Exactly!’ Will said, filling his empty mug with the newly arrived tea. ‘Why can’t they make these things so they don’t dribble all over the tablecloth?’

  ‘Yes, I spoke to my teacher, who did nothing. She just suggested we shake hands and make up. That made the bullying worse. Eventually they moved onto someone else. And I was relieved. Can you believ
e it, I actually rejoiced the day they found somebody else to torment? How scummy is that?’

  ‘I hit a bully once,’ Will said, trying to absorb some of the spilt tea with a serviette. It was going to leave a stain on the white tablecloth.

  ‘Really?’ Charlotte asked, taking another serviette and helping with the clean-up operation. Their hands touched on the table. Neither was in a rush to move away.

  ‘Yes, he just kept hassling me. He didn’t even have a gang; it was just him. He pushed me so far that I just decided, one day, sod it! So I started a fight with him. It wasn’t really a fight, it looked more like an epileptic fit I think. I don’t think I even landed a blow on him. It looks so easy on the telly, but nobody ever teaches you how to fight. Anyhow, he was so shocked that I’d done anything, he never bothered me again. He just ignored me.’

  ‘So what are you saying? I should hit him?’

  ‘No, no, don’t do that, not with Bruce. I think perhaps you just need to stand up to him. Maybe even in public. Let him know what is and isn’t acceptable.’

  ‘But that’s just it, Will. It creeps up on you. It erodes normality bit by bit.’

  ‘Do you want to stay with him?’

  ‘No, of course I don’t. I want to end it. I want to end it now. But somehow the words never come out. I feel paralysed when he’s there.’

  ‘Should we tell the police?’ Will suggested.

  ‘But that’s just it, isn’t it? What do I tell them - Bruce makes me feel bad? He’s not very nice to me. There’s nothing to tell, that’s just the point. And he’s got me caught in a place where I don’t feel like I can walk away. I’m just… stuck.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ Will blurted out. ‘I’ll come with you for support. I’ll make sure he doesn’t threaten you or hurt you. And if he does, at least you’ll have a witness.’

  ‘What if he goes for you?’ Charlotte asked. ‘He’s already hurt you once.’

  She reached out to touch Will’s hand, examining what was left of the scald marks.