by Park, J. R.
‘Can you really let them get away with all this? Can you?’ the Devil began. ‘You have been beaten, humiliated and crushed when you have done nothing wrong. You have been punished when you are wholly innocent.’
‘They have broken me,’ he answered, ‘what is there left for me in this world?’
The Devil’s tone became more animated, ‘Are you really going to let them get away with that? Are you?! They have taken your love, your life, your pride and dignity.’
‘But what can I do?’ Mr Punch asked.
‘Make them pay, Mr Punch,’ the Devil encouraged. ‘I have opened the cell door for you. And don’t forget this,’ the head of hell picked up Mr Punch’s bat and handed it to its rightful owner. ‘Make them pay.’
‘Martin!’
Grete called out as she walked to the pier, her voice swallowed up by the wind that gusted down the beach. She held on to Kaspar’s hand tightly as they made their way to the prearranged meeting place. The rain had got heavier since the sprinkling at the start of the carnival and Grete shielded her hand in front of her face to keep it dry from the spray. Had the weather not begun to turn so bad then maybe the crime scene tape would have still been fixed into position, instead of crumpled on the floor lying in a puddle of seawater and sand. The mother and son walked over the trashed and muddied tape without realising it was even there.
Pippa’s private show continued. The prison backdrop had gone and in view were the puppets of Mr Punch and the boxer.
‘Hello Mr Boxer,’ Mr Punch called out, ‘hit me will you? Punish me for a crime I am innocent for? I’m going to make you pay. Yes that’s right.’
The puppet took his wooden stick and hit the boxer, thwak after thwak, until he lay down dead. The puppet hung over the side of the tent, his long arms hanging past his head.
No sooner had the boxer been disposed of than a crocodile appeared eating a string of sausages. Its jaws snapped as they opened and closed.
Mr Punch eyed the reptile, ‘Oh no! You mean to punish me too? You won’t get in the way of my revenge! Take that!’
With mighty swings of his bat the crocodile didn’t stand a chance. He dropped his sausages and hung over the edge of the tent next to the boxer.
A clown puppet appeared and observed the carnage.
‘Oh Mr Punch, what have you done?’ the clown was given a high-pitched voice much like that of Pretty Polly.
‘Hello Jo,’ Mr Punch spoke to the puppet, his voice beginning to quiver from a simmering rage of insanity, ‘you’re going to get it too!’
‘But I haven’t done anything. It wasn’t me.’
The voice of the clown was spoken in singsong manner as the puppeteer mocked her words.
‘It wasn’t you,’ the contempt spat from his voice, ‘it wasn’t me. It wasn’t any of us was it? Take that,’ he swung his bat, hitting the clown, ‘and that and that. That’s the way to do it.’
Mr Punch beat the clown a few more times. Instead of draping the play dead puppet over the side of the tent like the others the puppeteer seemed caught up in his anger and threw it wildly across the room.
‘Jo!’ Pippa mouthed as she began to understand the significance of the last scene.
‘All these lovely dead bodies.’ Mr Punch surveyed his puppet massacre, ‘Revenge is so much fun! But I must find the one that caused all this mess. Who spread the lies in the first place? Ah yes, Pippa, that evil little girl.’
Kaspar and Grete took shelter from the rain by the dodgems stand. The pier was empty and all the lights were off. Grete began to doubt the arrangement. Perhaps Martin had found better things to do than put on a private puppet show tonight.
‘Martin?’ Grete called out into the storm.
‘Where is he Mum?’ Kaspar asked as his patience began to wear.
‘I don’t know,’ she replied.
As they waited in the rain Kaspar noticed something across the pier. It was hard to make out due to the flock of seagulls that had surrounded it. The young boy moved closer to get a better look.
‘Have you seen Pippa?’
The show had become increasing sinister as the Mr Punch puppet asked a puppet of a plate spinner for the whereabouts of the girl.
When he failed to answer, the hook nosed anti-hero bashed him with his stick until the plate spinner’s neck broke and he was thrown to the floor.
‘There you are Pippa,’ Mr Punch said as a detailed puppet of girl dressed in a black and pink basque appeared.
Pippa looked at herself sat in the chair wearing the same costume.
‘Get away from me Mr Punch!’ the Pippa puppet cried.
‘I’m going to get you,’ Mr Punch warned.
‘Kaspar, come away from there,’ Grete scolded her child.
‘What is it Mum?’ the boy asked, ignoring her telling off.
As he got closer to the flock he could begin to make out the object. It seemed to be roughly the size of a football, but much more solid. And what was that smell?
Intrigued he shooed the gulls away.
‘Now I have you!’ the Mr Punch puppet had found his finale in tonight’s performance and caught the Pippa puppet. ‘You have been a naughty girl haven’t you? Telling lies about Mr Punch.’
‘Please Mr Punch,’ pleaded the Pippa doll, ‘I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to-’
‘You had ten years,’ Mr Punch screeched in a furious frenzy, ‘ten years to tell the truth. I rotted in prison all that time. Did you know the other prisoners found out what I was convicted for? And once they’d found out I didn’t stand a chance. They beat me. They raped me. They broke me!’
Pippa subconsciously shook her head and a tear ran down her cheek.
Mr Punch continued, ‘Can you imagine what that was like for me? Can you even begin to comprehend the complete humiliation I suffered every night? I can’t close my eyes without fear of being attacked. My dreams are plagued. You could have freed me at any time. YOU could have stopped my torment.’
The Pippa puppet answered back with a mocking whine, ‘I didn’t want to Mr Punch because I’m a vile, stuck up little bitch! I’m nothing more than a whore that deserves everything I get. I walk around town like I own the place. I had everything when I was a child but still I had to steal money from you. And when I was caught red handed I couldn’t just accept responsibility, no, instead I had to shoot my stupid mouth off. I had to fill the town’s ears with evil words. Tell them you made me touch you. Tell them you told me not to tell. Tell them you made me promise. Tell them you were a dirty pervert.’
‘And for that you must suffer!’ screamed Mr Punch as the puppet beat the Pippa doll with his bat. The beating became more violent and exaggerated as he screamed each insult, ‘You must suffer and die! Bleed and break! Bitch! Die! Die! Fucking, Pippa, die! That’s the way to do it!’
The puppeteer threw the doll across the room in fit of rage.
Mr Punch’s voice suddenly became eerily calm, ‘That was fun, but it’s no substitute for the thrill of real life. Where is the real Pippa?’
The puppet scanned around the room before fixing his sight on the girl sat in the chair, his beady eyes aimed straight into hers.
‘Oh yes,’ he began with a smug tone that raised to a crazed call, ‘there she is!’
The Punch and Judy tent was torn to shreds as Punch exploded from it and swung his bat, the nails shredding the fabric as he made his dramatic entrance. He lunged at Pippa but she dodged, the chair that had been beneath her smashed into pieces as the bat crashed down. She tried the door again but it still wouldn’t budge. With cat like reflexes she jumped against the wall, narrowly missing another swipe of Punch’s weapon. It caught the door handle, breaking the knob clean off and destroying the lock. His next swing was not so lucky for Pippa as it managed to catch her. The nails pierced her calf muscle, tearing chunks of flesh from her leg. She screamed in pain, only metres from the exit.
Blood pumped from her wound as she held her injury. Unable to escape from the murderous lunati
c all she could do was watch as he raised the bat above his head, ready for the deathblow.
The gulls were not giving up their secret easily, but with a little bit of bravery and a little bit of persistence Kaspar scared them away. Although he might have wished he hadn’t. As the birds flew away they revealed the crushed and broken head of a woman. Her eyes and nose had been devoured by the hungry birds and they had pecked through the torn neck wound, pulling brain matter across the wooden decking.
The woman’s feathered earrings shimmered in the wind.
It was the head of Polly!
Grete screamed in horror.
Her scream was so loud it startled Punch. Pippa used this momentary sliver of confusion and dived towards the door. Punch swung but missed. His bat hit the ground with a huge thump, driving the nails deep into the wooden floor. Wrestling with his weapon he pulled and twisted, trying to free it from where it had stuck fast.
Pippa opened the door and found herself on the pier. She had been in one of the storage huts all this time! She tried to run, but the pain from her leg was too great. Falling to the floor in tears she called for help. The police were stretched with sorting out the mayhem at the carnival. Pippa soon realised she would not find a saviour here.
‘You can’t run from me you naughty little girl!’ Punch screamed as he freed his bat.
Getting back to her feet Pippa’s legs began to wobble, unable to support her weight for any length of time. It was no use running, he’d be on her in an instant. Hearing his footsteps getting closer she knew her only chance was to hide.
Half running, half crawling she forced herself through the pain and got to the nearest attraction. She dived inside and hoped to hide.
The entrance was painted in faded red and yellow stripes and framed in a row of red light bulbs that flashed in a random sequence, revealing a number of them to no longer be working. Above the doorway a sign proclaimed in letters that ended in tails like lightning bolts: The World Famous Maze Of Mirrors.
Pippa stumbled into the maze with its labyrinth of reflective walls and dead ends. Immediately she fell into a mirrored wall and banged her head. She held her hands out and hobbled round the corridors unsure of where she was going. The more lost she could get the better chance she had of hiding. It wouldn’t take long for Punch to track her down, the wound from her leg left a gory trail of blood like a scene from a nightmarish Hansel and Gretel. The pain seared up her leg with each step but she gritted her teeth and willed herself forward.
‘You can’t hide from me forever,’ the voice of Punch echoed round the maze, ‘this is my domain, little girl.’
Suddenly Pippa saw the reflection of Punch bounce off the mirrors, causing a vision of multiple maniacs as each reflection produced another on its adjacent wall. She jumped with fright. The images disappeared as suddenly as they came. Pippa turned in all directions. Where was he?
Quick glimpses of the crazed killer appeared and disappeared again as he strode through the attraction casting reflections all around her.
‘There is no escape from me,’ he taunted.
Pippa fell to the floor; the agony of her leg was proving too much. As she crawled along the floor his reflections appeared again, the evil, twisted face reproduced countless times.
‘I’m going to enjoy killing you the most,’ came his sinister threat.
The terrified girl crawled into a corner pushing her back against the wall. She couldn’t stand the pain any longer and hope deserted her. Pippa buried her head into her knees to hide the sobbing and prayed that when he found her the end would be quick.
As she awaited death a voice floated down the twists and turns of the maze.
‘The trail goes off in here.’
‘Pippa? Miss Starr?’ another voice called out. ‘Are you there?’
PCs Knew and Rawlings had made their way back to the pier in a search of Pippa. Cautiously they made their way into the Maze of Mirrors calling out for the missing girl.
‘Are you looking for me?’ Punch responded as countless images of him walking by filled their view for a second.
‘We’re armed,’ Rawlings shouted back, hoping to call his bluff. He took hold of his canister of PAVA ready to spray it, should they get close enough.
‘But where am I?’ Punch taunted. ‘Am I here?’
Punch appeared down the end of a corridor. The two officers ran down the end and sprayed the canister, only for it to squirt onto a mirrored wall. It was just a reflection!
‘Or here?’ Punch sneered.
PC Knew turned to see Punch next to him. He squeezed on his PAVA nozzle but again it just hit a mirror.
‘I could be anywhere.’
With that the corridor erupted with images of the most wanted man in Stanswick Sands. Every wall looked like an exit, and in front of every exit stood the evil Punch. Knew and Rawlings turned in circles, looking at each image in a state of frightened bewilderment.
Hearing the two officers Pippa had regained her courage and staggered round the corner, trying to find her would be saviours. The moment she clocked them she called out.
‘He’s behind you!’
Punch swung his weapon to reveal he had been stood next to PC Knew. Knew was hit in the stomach and thrown against the wall opposite, shattering the mirror. The nails in the bat tore open his belly and as Knew fell to his knees he watched his own intestines spill from the wound, landing in a gory mess by his feet. He looked to PC Rawlings with an expression of sadness as he toppled forwards, collapsing face first on the floor.
Rawlings spun round looking for Punch, but again was confronted by a host of images. Most were reflections, but which one was real?
In anger and hatred he threw his canister at one of them. It struck the mirror cracking it in several places, distorting the reflection and making the image of Punch look even more twisted and malformed. Punch laughed manically at the policeman’s frustration.
Revealing his hiding place to be in plain sight next to Rawlings, Punch swung his bat. He hit the officer square on the head, crushing his skull and piercing his brain. PC Rawlings was dead before he hit the ground.
Punch turned to Pippa who cowered in the corner.
‘No more messing around,’ he bellowed, ‘I’ve had enough of your time wasting!’
His crazed insanity bore an even deadlier edge of frustration as he marched towards his prey. He swung his bat left then right as he made his way down the corridor, smashing each mirrored wall as he went. Reflective fragments rained from the cracked mirrors like a downpour of stars, whilst fury ignited the air. Lost in the maze, Pippa had nowhere left to run. At last he would have his blood soaked revenge.
Pippa closed her eyes and covered her face with her arm for protection. Even the police couldn’t save her, what chance did she stand alone? Punch’s vile bloodlust had seen no bounds on his quest for vengeance and she was the main prize. A prize that had been cornered and lay only a few feet from his grasp.
Seemingly from out of nowhere a small hand tugged at Pippa’s wrist.
She opened her eyes to see a small boy looking up at her.
‘Follow me,’ Kaspar said.
Grasping her hand Kaspar led the limping girl through the maze with expert precision. His playtime on the pier was put to good effect as he guided her through the twisting corridors and fake exits. Looking back Pippa saw Punch give chase, his destructive onslaught continuing as he destroyed each mirror he passed.
‘Come on,’ Kaspar pleaded, pulling at her arm, ‘hurry up.’
It wasn’t long before the small boy’s navigation took them through the exit and back outside, onto the pier. But the murderous peril was right behind them and gave chase until eventually they found themselves backed against the railings with nowhere left to run. The only path off the pier was being blocked by the devious Punch.
Kaspar took to his heels and ran headlong at their pursuer. Pippa screamed for him to come back but the boy did not care for her concern. Such big bravery from th
e young child was not rewarded however as Punch swung his fist at Kaspar and swatted him to the floor. The strike had connected hard and knocked the boy unconscious. Punch walked over to where he lay and raised his bat above his head, ready to deliver a mortal blow to the helpless child.
‘You’ve been a naughty boy haven’t you? Time to be taught some manners,’ he shrieked.
‘Over here!’ shouted Pippa waving her arms. ‘It’s me you want. I told all the lies. I destroyed your life.’
The distraction worked as Punch left the child and headed towards the wounded girl.
Pippa could still only hobble, but there was no way she was going to let that evil bastard kill the young boy. Her escape route back to dry land was still blocked but desperate to get away she made the painful dash a few metres to the big wheel and began to climb its structure.
The metal framework was wet and slippery. It was cold to touch and gradually turned her hands numb making it much more difficult to grip, but still she climbed. Fearing to look down in case the height made her dizzy she trained her eyes upwards. The wheel rattled as she felt Punch put his feet on the support beams and begin his chase up the attraction.
Punch pulled himself up and made short work of the distance between them. Within a few moments he was only metres away and by the time they’d climbed three quarters height of the wheel he was able to reach out and grab her foot. Pippa’s hands slipped as he pulled her back. She fell a few inches before clasping hold of another beam, her hands stung with the impact. She kicked wildly and screamed hoping to draw attention from anyone that might be passing by. Her thrashing legs shook Punch’s hold of her foot and knocked him off balance. He fell a few feet but caught himself and continued to climb back after her.
Pippa looked down at the dizzying height they had achieved and watched Punch crawl up the big wheel towards her. He made another grab but she scurried up the wheel a little more, putting her feet out of reach. Punch clumsily swung his bat, however his action and aim were hampered as he tried to hold on in the wind that blew about them. Throwing her legs to one side Pippa dodged the strike. The bat hit the framework hard and vibrations shook through his weapon causing him to lose grip of it through his gloves.