by Power, Max
Again he paused while Cathecus took it all in.
“In return, I shall keep these four stones in a safe place.” He waved his hand across in a gesture to indicate he was talking about the grave stones with his name and the names of his wife and children. “I shall have no need for them except as a guarantee shall we say.” Cathecus couldn’t help himself.
“A guarantee?”
“Yes my friend, a guarantee that you will complete the work I request in the timeframe I have outlined.”
“And if I refuse?” It was a stupid question for he already guessed the answer but he asked it nonetheless.
“Do I really need to explain that Cathecus? There is nothing more annoying than a stupid man. You are not stupid Cathecus, that much I am sure of, so please do not play the fool nor take me for one either. If you value your family and clearly you do, then we need never meet in circumstances like this again.”
He paused and looked at Cathecus for a reaction. The deflation was palpable.
“If I need to return, if you ever meet me again in the flesh, it will not go well. I had hoped that you had learned a valuable lesson in the power I wield but maybe I was wrong. Perhaps I should go now and not return tomorrow for the head stones? Maybe instead you should wake again tomorrow and find that instead of rising from their slumber, your lovely wife and children pass beyond the place of sleep and you can find good use for the grave stones you have so carefully crafted? Do you understand now Cathecus?”
“No wait, please, you…you can’t…”
“Oh but I can Cathecus Flincher. I can do whatever I please.” His voice was trembling and angry. Cathecus feared he had made a fatal mistake.
“Please…” But Wormhold cut him off.
“Do not beg. It is unbecoming. There is no great mystery to be solved or discussion to be had. You simply do as I request and you can carry on as though nothing had ever happened. Deny me my request and I shall return with vengeance that you know will take all you love away forever.”
There was a dark anger in his voice now and Cathecus knew he meant every word.
“But why? What purpose is there in this madness?”
Wormhold had listened to enough. He was not about to explain his intentions.
“Enough! I will go now and in the morning you can believe your troubles to be over, in which case you will do as I have asked. If you wish them to continue, believe me, they will have only just begun.”
He turned and walked away with a dismissive wave of his hand and Cathecus had already made up his mind to do as he was asked. Wormhold knew he would. There was never any doubt in his mind.
That night, he believed he would never sleep. Every creak, rattle and shuffle outside was potentially Wormhold returning. He watched over his wife and children hoping that what Wormhold had promised would come true and believing in his heart that he would never sleep.
His conscience plagued him, knowing he had buried a good man beneath his property and it was Henry Healy that brought him to the realisation that he had ultimately fallen to sleep. Somewhere in the night he nodded off and it was a realistic dream, more a nightmare in truth about Henry that woke him from his slumber.
His first thought was of his wife and children on the bed beside him and he jumped from his chair almost in panic. There was a change in their colour for sure and he reached to touch his beautiful wife, to be met with a turn of her willing cheek and her eyes opened.
That he should praise the Lord, Cathecus was sure, but he had met the Devil and done a deal with him, so his side was well and truly chosen. The Lord was no longer an option. Finius and Petunia woke too as though from a normal night’s sleep and when he later checked, their headstones were gone.
That Wormhold would return with demands of new headstones was something to be counted on. Cathecus was set to lie in the bed he had made and his only wish now, was to never set eyes on that vile man again. In order to make this a reality, Cathecus Flincher would do whatever was asked of him.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE – MIRROR-MIRROR
It would be impossible for anyone there to know who was the most confused. Daisy looked from one boy-beast to the other. Holly looked at her mother then at the woman she instantly recognised from photos as her Grandmother and Rose was completely bewildered by the whole scene.
Who would blink first? The multiple levels of confusion and fear meant that not one of them seemed to know what to do or how to react. Certainly the two wildest creatures of the bunch, the two most threatening and feared creatures, dictated that no one should move. It was bad enough that Daisy, Rose and Holly faced down one beast, but two became impossible to predict. None of the girls made a move and it was Woody, or at least the Woody that was Daisy’s pursuer who made the first move.
The moment he saw the other creature, everything stopped for him. Not being a beast of consideration, instinct was all he had to go on and his instinct told him that danger lurked across the clearing. He wasn’t afraid but he was aware that everything had changed and his focus shifted from Daisy and Rose to this new creature. Holly barely registered on his radar. Very slowly, he moved in a wide arc, almost away from the new creature and as if the boy-beast was attached to him by some invisible cord, he too began circling.
Sensing their distraction, Daisy May took her daughter’s hand and slowly encouraged her to walk with her across the centre of the clearing towards Holly. It was a terrifying and dangerous gamble, but Holly had her Grandmother’s instinct and when she saw her mother and Grandmother slowly move in her direction, she moved towards them in response. A delicate ballet was being performed as all five moved at once. The two creatures became completely absorbed by the presence of each other, beguiled by discovering their mirror image. The women moved at a snail’s pace as they tip-toed between them.
When they met in the centre of the clearing, there was no exuberant, excited, relief filled hug or indeed gesture of any kind. The three women, simply joined hands and very slowly faced outward to watch the strange dance that was evolving around them. Although they now stood united together, none of them felt safe. Daisy May looked at her beautiful Granddaughter and instinct took over. She let go of her daughter’s hand and gently ushered both of the younger women behind her. As a shield, Daisy May Coppertop appeared decidedly ineffective. She looked about, trying to see a potential escape route but Daisy had been here before and she knew how treacherous Darkly Wood could be. It deceived and tricked you and as one of the very few people to have escaped its clutches, she knew that haste was to be avoided, despite the urgency of their predicament.
The twin beasts circled the clearing making it impossible for the girls to make a run for it. They stayed exactly the same distance apart, moving clockwise, forcing Daisy to usher her family in a tight circle as they moved to keep an eye on them. But it seemed they only had eyes for each other. They were caught in a spiral of uncertainty. Mesmerised by each other, they simply moved in unison, each one copying the steps of the other and it soon became clear to Daisy that they had become almost invisible to the creatures.
To her right she could see a track of sorts, certainly a break in the tree line and she decided that it was time to make a move. She spoke softly to her daughter.
“Rose, take Holly’s hand and when I say move, walk very slowly towards the break in trees over there.” She pointed and Rose looked at her like she was mad. Daisy felt her fear but had to make it happen if they were to survive.
“Do it. You have to trust me. I will stay behind you. Once I say go, start walking, don’t look back and keep moving whatever happens.”
Rose was about to object when Holly spoke up.
“I see it, just say when.”
Her Grandmother smiled despite their dire circumstances. Holly was far more like Daisy May than she knew. Rose didn’t want to move but Holly had prepared herself and took her hand, ready to lead her mother. Daisy watched and timed the motion of the two Woodys to give them a maximum window.
�
��Now.”
She gently pushed Rose and Holly immediately started walking. With her mother in her wake, the young girl made straight for the gap. She didn’t look left or right and Daisy let them gain a little ground before following. If anything were to go wrong, she would stand her ground and give the others a head start. It wasn’t something she had to think about. Daisy May Coppertop had long ago discovered her courage in Darkly Wood. She had no need to go searching for it in her moment of need. Courage is a hard thing to shake off. It left her vulnerable but being brave in that moment was all she had.
It was almost too perfect. They moved slow and steady and soon reached the break in the trees. They were outside the invisible circle created by the creatures who were entranced by each other. When they reached the break in the trees, they stopped and waited for Daisy who quickly caught up. For a moment they watched the dance-off that was happening before them, but Rose was particularly anxious to move on. Rose had yet to test the depths of her courage. She was no more fearful than her daughter or mother, but she was the most uncertain when it came to making choices. This one was easy.
“Let’s go, let’s go, come on.”
They stepped slowly at first along the narrow track, but as soon as the clearing was out of sight, they began to pick up the pace. It wasn’t long before they were running, Holly at the front, Daisy bringing up the rear. They hadn’t gone more than maybe three hundred yards when the track opened up into a clearing ahead. Holly urged her mother and grandmother to keep up.
“Quickly, keep up.”
She had gained a little ground on the older women and disappeared as the track bent left before opening up into the clearing ahead. When Rose and Daisy almost stumbled into the new break in the wood, they literally ran into the back of Holly. She had stopped quite suddenly at the entrance to the clearing.
The three of them stood there panting, gasping for air that had somehow turned stale and putrid. Holly was crying and she turned in terror to face her mother. She latched onto her holding on in fear and Rose wrapped one arm around her daughter and the other hand slapped to her mouth. She whipped her head around and Daisy May saw the fear and confusion on her face.
There in the clearing ahead, were two, circling boy-beasts, just as they had left them moments before, oblivious to the presence of the women, but impossibly there in the new clearing before them. Daisy wrapped her arms around both girls.
She had experienced the same trick that Darkly Wood played on the mind before, but this was too much. Once more she was trapped in that place. This time however, she was trapped with the two most important people in the world to her. She knew there and then that she couldn’t be afraid. It was up to her to protect them and she would do that no matter what the cost.
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR – WAKING CHARLIE
Charlie’s mother called him a waste of space. His father beat him when he was drunk and at school his teachers supported wholeheartedly the notion that he would never amount to anything. It didn’t take him long to decide that he would give them what they wanted.
Even as a small child he was bothersome. While he was only craving the attention he was denied, his attempts to gain approval and love were met with dismissal and anger, so poor little Charlie acted up.
He acted up at home, in school, everywhere and at every opportunity. As he grew older and wiser, acting up only caused him pain in the form of punishment. He changed his tack, becoming more rebellious than impertinent. Cutting his hair or leaving it long, whichever irked his parents the most that was ultimately how he made choices. They didn’t notice. He started to smoke and while that caught him a good beating, once the violence was over, neither one could be bothered policing his smoking so they pretty much let him get on with it. For Charlie it was all very confusing.
Eventually he ran away and was brought back to his parent’s attention when they were asked to travel to the much bigger town of Drapewater a good fifty miles away, in order to collect him from the police station there. He had been missing for over a month and they hadn’t even bothered to report his absence to the police. The police caught him after he broke into a supermarket. They found him asleep using a rucksack full of food for a pillow. He was passed out in the toy section, drunk from the half bottle of whiskey he had consumed.
Charlie was a different boy when he returned. No one knew what had happened during those weeks he was missing. He refused to talk of it but there was a darkness about him that even his inattentive parents noticed. Then he met Holly and his world changed. He had never met a girl quite like her. She seemed to care about nothing and feared nobody. Most people steered clear of Charlie but not Holly. She never asked him about his past or why most people didn’t like him. As far as she was concerned Charlie was alright.
He had no memory of what happened in the wood that night. There was a fuzzy muzzy cloud that descended over him. He woke up slowly and realised he was lying on the flat of his back, looking up at blackened tree tops. Charlie lay there staring at the trees. They had no leaves but they were dense and clawed at each other to block out the sky. There was an eerie half-light and he sat up. Everything ached.
When he looked around, everything seemed strangely familiar. He could remember nothing but at the same time, he seemed to be comfortable with his absent memories. There was an odd sense of nothingness. He wasn’t hot or cold, hungry, thirsty, tired, happy, sad, nervous, excited or indeed anything. Not that he even noticed his lack of feeling. Charlie basked in the emptiness and when he turned around there was a strange man just standing there looking at him.
Charlie looked at him and something registered but he wasn’t sure what that was. Perhaps it was familiarity. He looked away and studied the forest. He savoured its smell. The odour was not altogether pleasant. It was fetid, an old wasted type of scent that was comfortable and familiar and he sucked air in through his nostrils and felt safe.
He walked about a little and felt the damp earth beneath his feet. It was squidgy and cold but that was fine by Charlie. There was no sound except the sound of his breathing and he was at peace with the world. Charlie couldn’t remember his parents in that moment. There was no Cranby. In his mind, gone were the bad memories of what had happened to him when he ran away from home. Not even Holly Coppertop registered in his wayward mind.
When he turned again, the strange man was still standing there quietly observing him. He was tall and wore a strange hat with a big long scarf wrapped around his mouth. The man was unimportant to Charlie, but then he reached out his hand and beckoned the boy to approach. Not knowing why, Charlie approached.
He stopped when he was standing directly in front of the big man and looked up at him. Still there was nothing. No recognition, no sense of familiarity, no interest whatsoever. Wormhold leaned forward and whispered something into Charlie’s ear. It was just noise to Charlie and it made no sense. He looked at Wormhold and something stirred.
When he opened his arms to invite Charlie for a hug, Charlie willingly accepted the invitation without thinking about it. Wormhold wrapped his arms around the boy, his massive frame and coat, swallowing up the skinny lad and he squeezed him tight.
Charlie felt something. He felt good. It was like the first feeling he ever had and he heard the whisper now long after it had been spoken.
“Good lad.”
No one called Charlie a good lad. Even if he couldn’t remember that now, the words felt special. They were words carefully chosen and Wormhold knew how to choose his words.
It made no sense but it also made him feel good. But then he heard something else. At first he wasn’t sure if it was a sound or a feeling but either way, it wasn’t such a pleasant sound. Wormhold released him from his embrace and already Charlie missed it, but the sound grew louder in his head and he pressed his hands to his ears to stop it. He squeezed his eyes shut as if that might somehow help but he sound got louder and louder.
When he opened his eyes, Wormhold was gone and he was left with the awful growing
, strangely familiar noise in his head. Thump…Thump…Thump… it went. Thump…Thump, louder and louder and Charlie Callous Colson knew what he had to do.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE – CHRISTMAS
One side of the barn was white with snow and there was a hum in the air that broke the country silence. She didn’t look back but had she done so, the crimson trail in the pure white would have told her nothing she didn’t already know.
Cold is the heart that feels nothing in such a moment, but her heart was not cold. Her heart was broken. For a moment she paused just a few feet from the barn. Looking to her left without any real sense of why, she stared into the distance as something shifted in the deep drift along the hedgerow. Her bare feet sunk a little as she stood silent and still.
The distraction was fleeting and she adjusted the bundle that she carried so very carefully in her arms before continuing on, the cold air clawing to her bones on that crisp Christmas morning. It would be a Christmas day like no other for the woman who never wore shoes. It would be her last.
Claudette reached the barn and the air inside felt instantly warmer. She walked to the far corner and sat down on the heaped golden straw. For a few moments she was silent and stared out into the snow, her breath clouding the air. When she looked down at her baby, a tear broke free at last. It was a solitary tear as though that was all she had.
“It’s not your fault you know.”
Her beautiful, perfect baby lay still and quiet in her arms, its tiny eyelids shut to the world. Her pale cheeks a stark contrast to her tiny purple-grey lips. Claudette snuggled her close as though keeping her warm could bring her back.
“I was going to call you Millie. That was my Grandmother’s name. I liked her. I know she would have loved to see you.”