The Broken II: Tainted Trail

by A. L. Frances

  “Well, what if everything’s okay?”

  “If everything’s okay, I’ll shout you. But if I don’t, do not enter the house, promise me.”

  “Okay, okay, I promise.”

  Not believing a word, Matthew says, “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you go and sit in the car.”

  “But how will I hear you shout if everything’s okay?”

  “I’ll come back to the door and wave. Honestly, I think you should just go and sit in the car.”

  Rolling her eyes, Dorothy does as he asks and makes her way to the car.

  Matthew breathes deeply, his heart pounding in his chest. As he unlocks the front door and pushes it open, his nostrils are awakened by a pungent stench. But not just any pungent stench – this smell is all too familiar to Matthew. Covering his nose with his sleeve, Matthew gags as his stomach churns. He takes a step inside the house and slips on a thick substance on the floor. Looking down, he sees a huge puddle of blood. Closing his eyes and trying not to vomit, Matthew lifts his foot out of the dark red smear.

  Walking through the hallway, he peers into the day room. It’s pitch-black. Closing his eyes and once again bracing himself for what might be hidden in the next room, Matthew heads towards the dining room. A powerful energy is radiating from this section of the house and it’s not the welcoming kind. Reaching down the back of his trousers, Matthew grabs his pistol. He holds it in the defence position, his hands shaking. He’s nervous about what’s on the other side of the closed door.

  Breathing deeply, Matthew gathers his strength and pushes the door open. The curtains are pulled tightly shut and the room is overcome by darkness. Reaching for his phone, he puts the torch on as he searches for the light switch on the wall. He finds it and light fills the room. Horrified by what he sees, Matthew runs back the way he came. Bursting out into the garden, he instantly throws up on the grass.

  Dorothy flings the car door open and runs towards the house screaming at the top of her voice, “Noooooo!”

  Matthew tries to stop her in her tracks, but with the vomit continuing to surge from his stomach he is unsuccessful. He can’t stop throwing up. The frantic woman runs straight into the house. Within seconds Matthew hears Dorothy’s screams.

  “Nooooo! Alice, my baby, Alice.”

  Hearing her heart-breaking cries, Matthew makes his way back inside the house. Running into the dining room, Matthew grabs Dorothy and attempts to pull her out of the house. Like a deadweight, Dorothy falls to the floor. At the top of her voice she cries, “Why God, why? My baby. My beautiful baby girl.”

  Crying silently as he holds Dorothy in his arms, Matthew looks across at what has disturbed them both so much. Swinging from a rope is Alice Parkinson. Her eyes are bulging from their sockets and a pool of blood is on the ground beneath her. On the wall, smeared with this thick red bloody substance, are the words “You were warned, her fate is your fault”.

  Broken, Dorothy shoots up off the ground and rushes towards Alice. Grabbing her daughter, she’s frantically attempts to remove the rope from round her neck. Screaming, she says, “Matthew, help me. We might not be too late, we can still save her. Help me get her down.”

  Kneeling on the floor, aware there’s no undoing what has been done, Matthew is holding his head in his hands. Struggling with the bodyweight of her daughter, Dorothy screams once more, “Matthew, help me!”

  Matthew stands and makes his way to Dorothy, but instead of helping her get Alice down, he attempts to pull her out of the room. Resisting, Dorothy reaches out for her daughter as she screams at the top of her voice, “Let go of me. Alice… Alice… I’m sorry!”

  Not wanting to leave Dorothy alone with her deceased daughter, Matthew says, “Dorothy, it’s okay, I’m here, shhh… I’m so sorry.”

  “Why was she even here?” Dorothy questions as she’s crying. “Matthew she should have been at the hospital. Why Alice? Why…?”

  Inconsolable, Dorothy tucks herself into Matthew’s arms. He says nothing as he holds her tightly. Kissing her on the head, as the time passes, he says, “Dorothy, I’m going to search upstairs. I think you should go and sit back inside the car.”

  Dorothy pushes herself out of Matthew’s arms and screams at the top of her voice, “You sick bastard, where are you? Come on, take me as well.”

  She gets up and runs up the stairs, seemingly ready to tackle the evil that has ruined her life. Following her with his pistol in his hand, Matthew runs up the staircase. They search every room and discover that the house is empty. They’re too late. The beds are all neatly made and there isn’t a child in sight.

  Suddenly, Matthew and Dorothy hear a male voice shout, “Hello?” It’s coming from downstairs.

  Matthew makes his way to the top of the staircase and yells, “Who’s that?”

  “Is that Matthew?”

  Now even more concerned, Matthew runs down the stairs and Dorothy’s quick to follow. When he gets halfway down, Matthew sees a smartly dressed man and woman standing in the doorway. They each have their noses covered and are desperately attempting to shield themselves from the stench that’s circulating. Their faces look familiar. Confused, Matthew says, “Do I know you?”

  “Yes, Matthew I’m DCS Terry and this is my colleague DC Flores. We’ve been following you for some time. Can we ask what’s going on in here?”

  “Wait a minute – you’ve been following me? What gives you the right to do that?”

  “You’re the Police?” Dorothy cuts in.

  DC Flores replies, “Yes, is everything okay?”

  “No! My daughter’s dead in that room and my grandchildren have been kidnapped. Someone needs to help me!”

  Seemingly mystified at her words, DCS Terry looks to his colleague.

  “Sir, we need to call this in,” DC Flores says.

  “Sorry, where’s your daughter?” DCS Terry says to Dorothy.

  Hysterical, she points to the dining room.

  “Okay, you stay here. I’m going to have a look with my colleague.”

  Making their way across to the room, DCS Terry and DC Flores struggle to hold down their vomit. The stench circulating is taking over. Slipping and losing his footing, DCS Terry looks to the ground. He sees a thick black substance smeared across the floor.

  Looking to her colleague, DC Flores says, “Sir, you okay?”

  “Yeah, Flores, I’m good. What is this on the floor?”

  She sees the thick black substance and follows the tainted trail with her eyes. “I don’t know, sir, but it’s taking us into that room.”

  They cautiously make their way to the dining room. As they enter, the stench becomes unbearable. Burying their noses into the sleeves on their jackets, DCS Terry and DC Flores try not to vomit when they see a woman hanging from the ceiling. DC Flores retches, turning her back on the swinging corpse. Making his way towards the deceased body, DCS Terry begins calling Chief Inspector Lamont.

  As the phone rings, suddenly he sees a twitch come from the fingers of the deceased body. He concentrates, getting closer and closer, when suddenly the female body springs to life and throws herself at DCS Terry and attempts to grab him. Screaming, both he and DC Flores run out of the house and into the garden.

  When the two detectives emerge, Matthew and Dorothy run into the dining room. Seeing nothing but Alice swinging from the ceiling, once again Dorothy breaks down. Sobbing, this broken woman is on her knees. Suddenly both Matthew and Dorothy hear DCS Terry say, “Excuse me, you can’t go in there. Oi, are you listening to me?”

  Hearing a familiar voice, Dorothy looks up.

  Responding to DCS Terry this male says, “Don’t tell me I can’t go in here. Alice?”

  Walking out of the room, Dorothy can’t believe what she’s seeing. Wiping her puffy eyes, she’s convinced she’s seeing things. Staring at her, the man says, “Dorothy, where’s Alice and
the children? What’s going on? Who are all these people?”

  Gobsmacked, her eyes are pinned open wide. In disbelief Dorothy says, “Phil?”

  Even though he isn’t dressed in his usual smart, cool, surfer dude attire, there’s no getting away from the fact that this is Phil Parkinson standing in the doorway. With his full beard and scruffy appearance, Phil is looking at Dorothy with tears in his eyes and his hand over his nose. As Dorothy remains silent, he appears more and more alarmed by the second.

  “Dorothy, please, where are Alice and the boys?”

  Still, Dorothy says nothing as the tears fall down her motionless face. Putting his head down, Matthew whispers, “I’m sorry, we were too late.”

  “Too late… too late for what?” As the silence continues Phil once again raises his voice, “Will someone give me answers. What is going on?”

  Keeping his head down, Matthew says, “We couldn’t save them.”

  “Save them?” Seeming confused he says, “I’m sorry, mate, but who the fuck are you? And what’s that smell?” Looking to his mother-in-law Phil continues, “Dorothy, I need you to tell me what’s happened.”

  Crying her eyes out she says, “Tell you what’s happened? You’re supposed to be dead. Why and how are you even here? None of this would have happened if you were here and hadn’t abandoned them leaving them to fend for themselves. Where the fuck have you been, Phil?”

  Trying to dodge the swinging fists, Phil grabs Dorothy to restrain her as he says, “Dorothy, please calm down. I had to do it. I had to do it for the family. We can talk about that later, please just tell me where they are.”

  Crying and throwing herself to the floor Dorothy points to the dining room and says, “She’s in there.”

  Pushing past Matthew, Phil runs into the dining room. Within seconds he screams, “Nooooo!”

  Standing in the garden DCS Terry is on the phone to Chief Inspector Lamont. He’s trying to explain what’s currently happening. DC Flores is consoling Dorothy in the doorway and Matthew has made his way back into the dining room. Struggling, Phil is trying to get his precious wife down from the swinging rope. Helping, Matthew grabs her legs so that Phil can release her from the rope. Lying her on the ground, a mess, Phil can’t stop crying as he cradles his deceased wife.

  The house has been cordoned off with police tape and the streets have been taken over by multiple ambulances and police cars with flashing lights. Government officials are swarming all over Shayfield Street. Sat in the back of an ambulance, Dorothy is howling as her heart breaks into a million pieces. Rocking back and forth, she’s screaming, “Why God, my baby, why my baby? Please give her back… please, not my baby… I have nothing.”

  Sitting on the kerb outside the house with his head in his hands, Phil’s struggling to piece together the realities before him. Matthew sits down next to Phil. “Sorry, pal,” he says.

  “Sorry for what? Did you do this?!”

  “No, no! Good Lord no!” Holding his hands up Matthew continues, “I lost my wife and daughter to this same sick individual.”

  “So what are you sorry for?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t piece it together sooner. I might have been able to stop her.”

  “Stop who? Where are they? Do you know where they are?”

  “God no – I’ve been trying to find my daughter for almost a year now.” Matthew can’t hold back any longer. “I’m sorry, but Dorothy said you were dead. She said you killed yourself.”

  Hanging his head with shame, tears uncontrollably welling in his eyes, Phil tells the truth. “I faked my own death. I was in too much debt and was worth more dead than alive. I couldn’t have Alice for a second believe that I was still living, she’d go to prison and I wasn’t having that…”

  “Wait, so what did you think – you could just pop up one day?”

  “Yeah – I don’t know, my head was in bits and all I could think about was the brand-new baby girl that was going to grow up with nothing. I was sick of the debt, the threats, the constant chasing, so I decided the only way it would all go away was if I did.”

  “I… I mean… how did you even… I-I’m sorry, I’m just so confused.”

  “Believe me, I’m so ashamed. I’m a coward, I know. For months I’ve been across the road. You see that derelict building there?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve been keeping my eye on them all this time. When I saw Alice with a new man and a daughter it just seemed impossible to come clean. The lie got too deep.”

  “So what, you just let your family believe you were dead, your children grow up without a father, your wife live without a husband?”

  But before Phil can answer the question, Dorothy appears from nowhere and hits him over the back of the head with her fist. She screams at him, “You bastard, you should be dead, not her. You should have been taken, not her and my kids. You bastard. You better go and kill yourself for real.” The police come over and restrain Dorothy. Screaming one final time she spits at him and shouts, “I’m going to kill you.”

  Phil is crying his eyes out. “She’s right. Dorothy’s right. I should be the one that’s dead. I left my family broken, vulnerable and weak for the sake of money, debt and pride.”

  With the private ambulance outside ready to transport the deceased’s body, the coroner begins wheeling the trolley which is carrying Alice out of the house. They’ve placed her inside a zipped black bag in order to conceal her lifeless corpse, which was already turning blue. Seeing the trolley, Phil runs over. Throwing himself on top of the body bag he cries out, “I’m so sorry. Her name is Help. Our daughter’s name is Help. Hope is HELP – Hope Ella Lia Parkinson. I thought one day you would work this out. I thought you’d find my notes in the house and come to me.” As the tears stream from his eyes and fall rapidly off his face, Phil cries his final words to his wife, “I am so sorry, my queen, I’m coming for you.”

  Reaching over to Phil, Matthew pulls him away. Holding this broken man’s face in his hands and looking him directly in the eye, Matthew says, “I will find her. She will pay for this. I will get our children back. But right now, you need to man up, you need to change, you need to stop being a coward by running away at the first hurdle.”

  Phil looks back a Matthew, his face is swollen. Sobbing, he replies, “We will find her, and when we do, I’m going to kill the bitch by pulling her fucking heart out with my bare hands.”

  The two broken men stare at one another intently. They’re oblivious to the commotion surrounding them. They’re ready to team up and kill the demonic entity who has ruined their lives and claim back what’s left of their families. But the question is, who will win control of their souls…?

  Will Matthew and Phil work out the tainted trail before them? Or will Jezebel and Eve cunningly continue to build their empire and take control of not only the world, but the universe and all that lies within? And so, just like that, the hunt continues…

  About the Author

  A.L. Frances is a thirty-two-year-old, British Author.

  The Broken II – Tainted Trail is the second book of a four-part series and marks A.L. Frances’ debut in literary fiction.

  Born in Wythenshawe, South Manchester, she is the product of a broken home. Her formal education was cut short before she could gain any qualifications and she became a mother to three children by the time she was just twenty years old. At twenty-one A.L. Frances suddenly finds herself cast in the role of a single parent, destined to repeat the cycle of her own difficult upbringing.

  Determined to give her children a better start in life, she moved to the countryside village of Hollingworth, and eventually settled into a career in law. It was during this transition that she found herself on a journey of self-discovery. Attending multiple mindset enhancing seminars in England, America and Canada, she was exposed to the tutelage of inspirational speakers such as Bob Proctor
, Tony Robbins, and Mel Robbins among others. A.L. Frances was eventually introduced to Peggy McColl, a New York Times Best Selling Author. Standing on the stage, Peggy said the words that would inspire her into action. Peggy said, “Everyone has a book in them.” as she pointed into the crowd. It was at this point that A.L. Frances fell in love with the idea of writing her own book and telling her own story; one that would address one of her biggest fears: the vulnerabilities of broken homes.

  At the age of twenty-nine, A.L. Frances decided it was time to start the next chapter of her life.

  What follows is the continuation of her journey…