The Broken II: Tainted Trail

by A. L. Frances

  A husky male voice at the other end says, “Who is this?”

  “You’re calling my phone. I’m sure you’re supposed to know who I am, not the other way around,” she snaps back.

  “My name’s Matthew Honey,” the male voice replies abruptly. “Listen, you have left five missed calls on my phone and a voicemail stating you know where my daughter is. Is this some sort of sick joke to you? My life is not a game.”

  At the mention of his name, the penny drops and Dorothy begins to panic. She doesn’t know what to say to this now angry man. “No, not at all. I’m glad you called back, Matthew.” Sitting up and trying to wake herself properly, she continues, “Erm, I don’t know how to say this, but I believe your daughter might be living at my daughter’s house.”

  “What… Where? Tell me, and I’ll be there right away. Who is she with – Jess, Jezebel?”

  “Well, I don’t really want to give out my daughter’s address as there are other children in the house.”

  “You need to get those children out of that house NOW!” he shouts. “You don’t understand what you’ve let in.”

  “What do you mean ‘let in’?”

  “Listen to me, you will lose every single one of those children.”

  “Matthew, you’re scaring me.”

  There is a pause. Dorothy hears Matthew take a deep breath. When he speaks again his tone is lower. “Sorry, I don’t mean to scare you. What’s your name?”

  “Dorothy.”

  “Dorothy, ah, that was my grandmother’s name. So, listen, Dorothy, you don’t want to tackle this situation alone, okay?”

  “Erm, okay.”

  “What I need you to do is give me a location where we can meet up and we’ll approach this together, is that alright? Honestly, there’s no need to be afraid, I want to help.”

  “Thank you, Matthew. I think we should meet up in my local town centre.”

  “Okay, and where might that be, Dorothy?”

  “Wythenshawe Civic Centre. Do you know it? It’s in south Manchester.”

  She hears Matthew tapping on something, then, “Dorothy, is that near Manchester airport?”

  “Yes, that’s it.”

  “Right, so my GPS is saying I’m currently forty-five minutes away. I’m going to drive to you now.”

  “Okay, I’ll get ready. There’s a coffee shop in the middle of the town centre, I’ll be waiting outside there. I’ve got red hair and will be wearing a black leather jacket.”

  “Okay, Dorothy, I’ll see you soon.” There is a slight pause, then Matthew says, “Oh, and Dorothy – make sure you don’t tell anyone I’m on my way, okay?”

  “Okay, I won’t.”

  As he ends the call, Matthew’s heart is racing. He has no clue what he’s going to do when he sees his daughter, or Jess, for that matter. All he does know is he’s going to ensure that he’s armed and ready to take her back! His daughter will not be taken from him again. Reaching inside his trouser pocket, he pulls out what he thinks is the cross from Reverend Andrew Read, but when he looks in his hand, he sees it’s actually the heart-shaped locket. Taking a deep breath in, Matthew tries to stay in control of his emotions. He had completely forgotten that he had this. Not wanting to look at the tainted trinket, and paranoid that it might somehow be feeding information back to the sadistic owner, Matthew wraps the bloodstained bandage from his hand around it and shoves it back inside his trouser pocket. Reaching inside his other pocket, this time he pulls out the cross from Reverend Andrew. Kissing it, he prays internally for support and protection. He then says out loud, “I need you now more than ever.”

  Putting the cross inside the internal pocket on his jacket so that it is resting against his heart, Matthew is ready! Pulling out of his parking space, he sets off on what is hopefully his final journey without his daughter.

  It’s past three in the afternoon and Lewis is just waking up, hung-over. His arms around Eve, he is deep in thought whilst she’s sleeping. Placing his hand on her stomach, he still cannot believe the life-changing news. A life is being created inside of Eve. But not just any life– his own little miracle. The thought of becoming a dad at the young age of sixteen truly scares him. He has no clue how his mum is going to react to the news and he hasn’t even thought about how he will financially support his child. All he does know is he’s one hundred percent going to be there every single day for his prince or princess.

  Lewis breathes in the scent of Eve’s hair. He’s so in love with her. As Lewis kisses Eve on the neck, she slowly begins to wake. Looking over her shoulder, she says in her quiet morning voice, “Hello, cheeky.” Kissing him, she continues, “So, you’re still here, then?”

  “Of course I’m here, where else would I be?”

  “Thought you might have tried to disappear in the night. Don’t worry, though, I’d have found you.”

  Smiling, he replies, “Look, don’t get me wrong, I totally thought about it, but how could I just abandon you both? I haven’t got a dad anymore – there is no way my child is growing up without a dad. And your mum not being around… I’m sure you’ll never let our child be without his or her mum, will you?”

  “Never! This child, our baby, I will forever protect.” Turning her body, Eve continues, “Look me in the eyes, Lewis.”

  “Why…?”

  “Just do it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Should anything go wrong, and I mean anything, promise me, no matter what, you will put our child before anything or anyone?”

  “Eve, that’s a given.”

  “Even me.”

  “What do you mean ‘even you’?”

  “Just promise me.”

  “Eve, you’re making me nervous. What do you mean ‘even you’, where you going?”

  “Lewis, there’s a lot you don’t know about me and you’ll never know about me. I don’t know my eternal fate, I just know I have no choice, I’m stuck. Should you ever have to choose, choose our child.”

  Feeling more and more confused by the second, Lewis says, “Eve, baby, where’s this coming from?”

  “Please, Lewis, don’t ask questions, just tell me that you’ll always put our baby first.”

  “Okay, okay, I promise, I will put our child before anyone, even you.”

  “I will take you with me, but I don’t know what the end result is going to be for us all. If I change and those who want me come after me, please save our baby.”

  Baffled, Lewis says, “Eve, maybe I should get you something to drink?”

  Saying no more, Eve cups Lewis’s face in her hands and stares intently at him. Their eyes lock together and Lewis drifts into a trance, frozen stiff...

  She wants to know whether her nightly visits have been effective, whether Lewis’s soul has accepted its fate. She delves deep into Lewis’s inner existence. Almost instantly, she gains full reign over his sight and his mind. Satisfied that her hauntings in the night are taking effect, she gazes through the windows of his soul. Travelling deeper and deeper, she sees Lewis’s spiritual essence is, as she hoped, trapped. The evil she has planted within has taken rule. Her premeditated possession has overpowered Lewis’s soul. The dark entity lurking inside this young boy’s physical form is patiently waiting for her final command. Only then will this destructive energy surface. Content with her findings, she slowly retreats from his mind…

  Choking, Lewis shakes his head. “What was that?”

  “What…?”

  Still coughing slightly, Lewis continues, “I feel like I just blacked out.”

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Confusion spreading fast across his face, but not wanting to create any sort of rift between him and the soon-to-be mother of his child, Lewis says, “Oh, erm, probably nothing, then.”

  With a somewhat deceitful expression upon her face,
Eve playfully replies, “You’re silly sometimes, Lewis, but also soft and caring. These are the things I love about you the most. Never lose that.”

  Smiling, he tucks Eve’s hair behind her ear, gazing at her as he says, “You’re so beautiful. We’re going to have one good-looking kid, thanks to you.”

  Blushing she replies, “You’re not so bad yourself, Mr Parkinson.”

  Feeling slightly weird as he’s not been called this before and the last person he heard referred to by that name was his dad, Lewis decides to get off the lovey-dovey subject before he really does show his soft side and burst out crying. Breathing deeply and pulling away he says, “Come on, let’s go civic. I think we should cook dinner for everyone this evening. We need to sort our chef skills now that we’re going to be parents. Don’t you have to, like, cook actual food for them?”

  Laughing, Eve replies, “Yes, Lew, you have to cook actual food for children, but we’ve got plenty of time for that.”

  “Well, let’s just get out the house for a bit, then. I’ll message the lads, see if they fancy a civic trip.”

  “Sure, let me just get dressed.”

  Leaning over and kissing Eve on the head, Lewis smiles. As he turns to get off the bed, he becomes tangled in the covers. He makes a desperate bid to save himself but it’s too late, and he falls off the edge of the bed. Eve howls with laughter. Completely tickled by what has just happened, she rolls round the bed, chuckling loudly. A few seconds later, Lewis manages to free himself from the entrapment of the bedsheets and jumps up. He’s in a fluster and his hair is sticking up. Looking across at Eve and hearing her beautiful laughter, he too begins belly laughing. Wiping the tears from her face, Eve says, “You absolute wally!”

  Putting his head down as he continues to chuckle, Lewis shakes his head. “I know, but that’s why you like me enough to have a baby with me.”

  Raising his eyebrows in a cheeky manner, Lewis gives her one final smirk and then makes his way out of the room, leaving Eve to continue cackling away to herself as he closes the bedroom door.

  Lewis is met by Jesse in the hallway. He is completely unsure if he should approach Jesse about Eve’s current situation. Not feeling brave enough, instead of speaking out, Lewis decides to simply smile at Jesse and then put his head down. But then Jesse speaks. “So, Eve told me that you now know of her situation.” Sternly looking Lewis in the eye, Jesse continues, “You’re ready to be a father now then, Lewis?”

  Lewis was not expecting this to be Jesse’s opening statement. “Erm, yes, I suppose I am,” he replies. Lifting his head and attempting to be a big man, Lewis looks Jesse in the eye and continues, “Jesse, I haven’t got a dad, as you know. I do not want the same for my child. I promise I will forever look after Eve. Yes, I’m scared, who wouldn’t be at sixteen, but I won’t give up. Wherever they go, I’ll be there.”

  Smirking, Jesse simply replies, “I know you will. There’s no getting away now, Lewis, your fate is aligned.”

  Just then, Jesse is distracted by the sounds of Freddie, Terence and Rupert who are roughhousing downstairs. Jesse says nothing further and slowly makes his way down the staircase. Relieved as he has just escaped a very awkward conversation, Lewis goes into the bathroom and locks the door.

  Lewis places a hand on either side of the sink. He has no clue who to turn to or what to actually do. The only person he wants advice from right now is his dad. Closing his eyes, he whispers, “Dad, why did you have to go?”

  Without an answer to his question, Lewis opens his eyes and turns on the tap. Steam flows up, clouding the mirror on the cabinet above the sink. Splashing the water on his face, Lewis gasps as it almost burns his skin but at the same time wakes him up. Examining his reflection, he silently assesses his ability to be a good dad, or in fact, a dad at all. Looking himself directly in the eye, Lewis is psyching himself up for the unknown.

  As he continues to stare at his reflection intently, the steam flowing up and the hot water gushing down the plughole, the energy within the bathroom suddenly changes and Lewis feels as if he’s no longer alone. A pungent stench manifests and circulates inside his nostrils, hitting the back of his throat, making him gag. His stomach churns as this vile taste grows stronger and stronger. Wanting to run, Lewis discovers his legs are frozen. From nowhere, Lewis hears a familiar nursery rhyme tune. He closes his eyes and wiggles his finger inside his eardrum, but no matter how hard he tries to get rid of the sound, the repetitive rhyming song continues on a loop. As it gets louder and louder, Lewis suddenly hears, “Your soul is mine...”

  No sooner have the words travelled into his mind than a huge bolt of intense pain shoots through his eyeballs. Screaming out and quickly opening his eyes, he looks at his reflection in the mirror and sees that his eyes have turned jet-black. Not a hint of his natural colour or white can be seen. Not only this, his intuition was right – he’s not alone. She’s back! The taller of the two demonic entities from his nightmares is standing right behind him.

  Unlike Lewis, her eyes are blood red. Her body is lacerated with black rips, the wounds oozing a sinister thick black substance. As he attempts to adjust his sight to the image before him, Lewis’s skin turns a deep shade of grey matching the image of this evil entity. Feeling an excruciating pain all over his body, Lewis screams out as rips erupt across his flesh. The transition is horrific. Seemingly pleased with his transformation, the demonic figure places her finger to her mouth and mimes, “Sshh…”

  Apparently satisfied, she suddenly disappears. Lewis’s soul is released, for now. Falling to the ground and choking, Lewis curls up on the tiled floor and gasps for air. Feeling as though he’s dying, he places his hands over his face. Lewis experiences a pins and needles sensation in his eyeballs. This same pain then travels around his body. But no sooner has it started than the pain magically begins to ease. Still gripped by anxiety, feeling as if he’s losing his mind, Lewis is struggling to understand why this is happening to him. Slowly regaining his strength, he looks to his hands and sees that they’re no longer grey. Feeling relieved to have full control over his body once again, but still weak and struggling to catch his breath, he slowly pulls himself up with the support of the sink and turns off the tap. As the steam clears a bit, Lewis hesitantly looks in the mirror. He wipes away some of the condensation. Thankfully, his reflection looking back is normal. He’s no longer grey and his eyes are back to their normal shade. Adrenaline surging throughout his body and his senses on high alert, Lewis is a nervous wreck. He places his hand gently around his throat. His breathing is becoming somewhat erratic and he desperately tries to regulate it once more. Overcome with anxiety, this young lad suddenly feels as if he’s about to faint. Hearing a bang on the door, Lewis jumps.

  He hears Freddie shout through the bathroom door, “Lewis, is that you? Are you okay in there?”

  Jumping with fright, Lewis knocks the pot containing the whole family’s toothbrushes off the side of the sink. The ceramic pot smashes into multiple pieces on the floor. His heart racing at one hundred miles an hour, Lewis tries to say something to reassure his brother, but the words won’t come out. All he can do right now is make growling noises as he tries to clear his throat. Hearing muffled voices coming from outside the bathroom door, Lewis curls up on the floor. As he catches his breath, Lewis’s adrenaline levels slowly deplete to a semi-normal level.

  He hears another knock on the door and this time Eve shouts, “Lew, you okay?”

  “Yeah, sorry,” Lewis replies hoarsely. “Tell Freddie I was just choking on some water. I’ll be right out.”

  Feeling weak and swaying slightly, he sits on the toilet to catch his breath. Gathering his thoughts, Lewis cannot help but become confused as he begins to question why these traumatising episodes keep happening to him. Questioning his sanity, Lewis gets ready to leave the bathroom. As he stands he looks back into the mirror. Other than a lot of condensation, all is as it should be.
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br />   No sooner has a huge sense of relief sunk in than something begins to change. Squinting his eyes, Lewis sees the following appearing in the condensation on the mirror: “7/7 at 7”. He unlocks the bathroom door, rips it open and bursts out onto the landing, almost knocking over Eve who is standing right outside the door.

  Matthew waits nervously in the coffee shop for the woman with red hair and a black leather jacket, but she is nowhere to be seen. His hands are shaking and he almost tips the cappuccino he has just ordered. Suddenly his phone dings and he jumps. This time he does tip the hot drink over himself. Not caring about the soaking wet patch burning away on his pants, Matthew pulls his phone out of his pocket. He sees it’s a text from Marilyn: Where did you go? I had fun last night, you wanna do it again tonight? M x.

  Frustrated that it wasn’t Dorothy, and not wanting to get involved with anything else right now, Matthew deletes the message and puts his phone on the table. He breathes deeply, feeling sick with worry and nerves. No sooner has he allowed these emotions to take full reign over his mind, his inner critical voice begins feeding him destructive and cruel words.

  “Ha! You thought she was going to help you... How stupid do you feel? Help you? Pfft, who’d want to help you? Hang your head in shame, Matthew Honey. You don’t deserve help, you don’t deserve your daughter back. Why don’t you go and do the world a favour and kill yourself?”

  Trying not to get agitated, and desperate to distract himself from the taunting words, Matthew takes in his surroundings. There are people everywhere. From newborn babies in prams to elderly people with supportive walking apparatus, this town centre has a vast range of personalities. Each person is rushing around at their maximum capacity, as though they’re running short on time. Holding bag, after bag, after bag, they’re all juggling their items. From single people to loved up couples, to huge oversized families, and all the bits in between, Matthew’s eyes are seeing it all. Hearing shouting coming from behind him, Matthew turns to see a kick-off between two individuals. Not wanting to get involved, he quickly turns and picks up his phone. Not a single missed call or message. With a great big sigh, Matthew’s almost ready to accept defeat and leave. While he watches the moving bodies surrounding him, Matthew fails to notice two people who are watching his every move.