by Cora Clark
Bodies. Who were they? What happened?
Did my father do this?
Hayden let me inside and we both sat down on his couch. I buried my face in my hands, leaning with my arms on my knees.
“Okay, what the fuck was that?” Hayden asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“They were…. People!”
“I know. Dead people.”
“Who did it, Octavia?”
I looked up at him. “Do you really think I know what happened?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. You are telling me your dreams told you to check out the hatch?”
I nodded. “I know it sounds strange. I must have seen the hatch when I was little.”
“Seen it from the outside, or on the inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is that why he hit you in the head and tried to drown you?”
I swallowed. “What?”
Hayden buried his face in his hands, my heartbeat sped up. “You keep telling me you think you might have been hit in the head, right? And your dad was with you on the boat. He could have hit you because you knew what was in the cellar…”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand…” Tears broke out of my eyes and I sobbed. Hayden got up from his seat and placed himself next to me, holding me close and stroking my cheek.
“I’m sorry I thought you were…”
“Crazy?”
He sighed. “Not crazy, just… confused. You are remembering things, Octavia.”
I nodded and wet the sleeve of my shirt on my face. “Did he really do that? Kidnap girls and keep them under our feet?”
“How do you know they were girls?”
I leaned back, resting my back on the couch. “Hair. Long hair. Not quite gone yet.”
“Do you remember anything else?”
I shook my head again and bit back a sob. “The man. The strange man. That’s all.”
“Do you think he was like an… an accomplice or something?”
“Maybe he made my dad do it.” I quietly prayed that was the case. My mind was racing.
Hayden let out a sigh sounding more like a grunt as he got up from the couch and began pacing the room. “What do we do now?”
I kept my gaze locked on the TV remote on the table in front of me. “We call the police.”
“Yes. Yes of course.” Hayden picked up his phone and left the room as he called.
I didn’t hear the conversation as my sobs intensified.
Chapter Fourteen
Investigation
The questions drove me insane. The whole situation at the police station was a blur. I forgot what time it was, and I woke up shocked multiple times after I had been moved to the hospital, not knowing where I was.
Did you know they were there?
What do you mean you lost your memory?
Did he hit you in the head?
Would there be any reason your dad would want you dead?
What did you see?
What do you remember?
Who is the mysterious man you keep dreaming of?
Who was the woman looking into your windows?
How did you know the girls were in the cellar?
I didn’t know the answer to most of it. I just kept telling them I was trying to recover my memories, and that I was told to try hypnosis, and that was how I remembered the cellar.
The police seemed pretty sure about him hitting me in the head. It wasn’t an accident. I was still trying to wrap my head around it.
Dad did something terrible. The man was part of it. And I had walked in on them.
I wondered how much my mother knew, if anything at all. Then my thoughts went to our neighbours, to Hayden’s family. Did they know? Did people keep quiet for him?
The crying wouldn’t stop once I finally was left alone in the hospital room. Shock they said. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the rotting bodies and smelled the horrible odour of faeces, flesh, and mould.
I was living in a nightmare, and it was all part of my past.
Who was I? And who was my family?
I jumped to the knock on my door.
“Tavia?” It was Hayden’s voice.
I placed my hand on my heart, feeling it beat wildly. “Come in.”
He carefully opened the door, then silently closed it behind him. “How are you doing?”
I sighed as I watched him sit down on the chair next to my bed. “I don’t know.”
He touched my hand. “It’s been a crazy day.”
“I know. How are you doing?”
“I am fine. I don’t think I have let it really get to me…”
Without thinking, I leaned forward and kissed his lips. He flinched at first, but then returned the kiss. I felt my insides warming up.
“I asked the hospital if I could stay with you,” he whispered after our lips parted.
“And?”
“And they said I could, because of the circumstances.”
I smiled. “Will they get you a bed?”
“Yeah, should be here soon.”
A single bed was made and placed next to me in the hospital room, but Hayden lay next to me on my bed. The lights were out, and the sun had set. I felt his strong arms around my body as he held me. I wasn’t sobbing anymore, but tears still silently left my eyes as I lay there, wondering how a father could do what he had done to me.
“I need to find out who she was,” I whispered.
“Who?”
“The woman who looked into my window.”
Hayden began stroking my arm. “Do you think she knows something?”
“Yes. I think she knows a lot more than I do. Information I can give to the police. I need them to put the pieces together.”
“They will. You gave them a description of her.”
I shook my head. “They won’t find her.”
“How do you know?”
“Just the way she snuck around. I don’t think anyone in town would recognise her.”
He moved my hair from my ear and kissed my neck. “Let’s just rest for a while now. Let the police work. Maybe you will remember more if you don’t force it.”
I sighed. “Maybe.”
He kissed my neck again. “You know what?”
“What?”
“I love you, Tavia. I have always loved you.”
My heart jumped, and I turned to face him. “What did you say?”
He chuckled, then kissed my lips. “I love you.”
His eyes shone in the darkness. A sweet aura of safety, love, and calmness surrounded me. It was how I always felt when he was around. Safe. Loved. And calm.
I felt the soft skin of his cheek in my hand. “I… I love you too.”
He leant forward and kissed me again. This time, we didn’t stop for a good few minutes. We both fell asleep tangled together in bed, our skin touching, our hearts beating as one.
Chapter Fifteen
The Woman
I was cleared from the hospital the next morning, but the police promptly told me I couldn’t go back to the house yet. I must say I was quite relieved by that, anyway. I didn’t even want to see the house again. Now it just made me think of me lying in bed as a kid while Dad kept women in the cellar, locked up, starving, and dying.
And I had no idea.
Hayden took me back to his place, stopping at the grocery store first, stocking up on good food and supplies.
“Everyone in town is going to talk about this,” he said. “If we don’t have to go into town for a while, that’s a good thing.”
I completely agreed. The last thing I wanted was for people to ask me questions. Did I know about it? Was that why I came back?
I was way too clueless to talk to anybody about it.
I got a glimpse of the house as we drove up his driveway. The snow still lay thick on the ground, apart from all the footprints going all around the house. Yellow police tape told people to stay away, multiple cars stood parked
at the front.
I sighed as we got out of the car and shot it one last glance. “I can’t believe it.”
Hayden touched my back and ushered me inside. “Come on, it’s cold out.”
Hayden turned on the lights, then the heater. He went above and beyond trying to make me feel comfortable in his home. I did, even if I might not have shown it.
He cooked a lovely lasagne for dinner and served it on the table under candlelight. We had a couple of glasses of red and ate mostly in silence.
It wasn’t until after dinner when we were holding each other on the couch, watching some Scandinavian police drama, that Hayden spoke up. “Are you going to go back to Brittain?”
I looked up at him. “Why are you asking me that?”
He shrugged. “I just assumed you might want to, after all this.”
I kissed his cheek and smiled. “I am not going back yet. I still want to know what really happened, Hayden.”
He nodded. “I know. But you will, eventually.”
“Do you want to come with me?” I really meant my question. I silently prayed he would say yes.
He bit his lip. “I have been here my whole life…”
“So that would be perfect then, for you to change it up a little!”
He chuckled. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
I ran my fingers over his knee. “We don’t need to talk about it just yet.”
He pulled me even closer, and I could hear his heartbeat through his chest. I closed my eyes and breathed him in, wondering what I would have done if I had discovered those poor girls alone. I would have left on the next plane, even if the police urged me to stay.
I got up to go to the bathroom and walked past one of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the way. I wasn’t expecting to still see people working around my house, so I stopped as I noticed one person walking near the lake.
I moved closer to the window and squinted. It was a woman. Dark hair. I gasped as I realized it was the woman.
“Hayden!” I called out as I pulled on my boots and my coat. “She’s here.”
“What? Wait!” Hayden’s voice drowned inside the house as I rushed outside. I cursed as the icy wind hit my exposed face, running down the driveway. Once down, I slowed down and did whatever I could to make sure the woman didn’t see me approaching.
She looked out over the lake, motionless, her hair flowing wildly in the wind.
Hayden grunted as he caught up to me. “Is it her?” he whispered.
I nodded. “Be quiet.”
I managed to get all the way up to my front door without her noticing, evading the police tape around me. I signalled for Hayden to stay behind as I walked around the corner.
“Don’t run,” I said.
The woman’s head snapped around, and her hand went to her chest as she got a fright. “Who are you?” she asked in a broken accent. It wasn’t a Swedish accent, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
“Who I am? My question is who you are? What are you doing around my house?”
Her gaze flickered like she was considering taking off running. “Your house?”
I nodded and folded my arms across my chest. “Yes.”
She looked at the house behind me. “I knew she was here all along.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “Who?”
“My sister. She met a man back home in Russia, and she left to live a different life in Sweden. I didn’t trust the man she left with, so I followed. I made sure she didn’t know I was here as well, and then she disappeared, right after visiting this house.”
I felt my heart stop. “She was… one of the girls?”
The woman nodded, knowing exactly what I was talking about. “Why didn’t you tell the police earlier?” I asked.
She scoffed. “I have been watching a lot of different places where I thought she could be. I had no proof.”
“I am truly sorry for your loss. How long have you been coming here?” I stilled against the cold creeping in through my layers of clothing.
“I stay in town. Keep to myself. Then I saw you come back, and I thought maybe the mystery would finally be solved.”
“Do you know who did it?” I felt my stomach twist.
“What do you mean?” she laughed. “You did. Your family did.”
“I can appreciate you being angry,” I said, “but I can assure you, I had nothing to do with it. I don’t think my mother did either.”
She raised her eyebrow. “What about your father?”
I bit my lip. “I don’t know. He was seen here with another man. I think that man is to blame.”
“It would have been him. The man who took her away.”
Hayden walked up to me from behind and placed a hand on my waist. “We should probably head back.”
I looked at him, then back at the woman. “What’s your name?”
The woman scoffed again and began walking off.
“Hey!” I yelled out as I followed her. “What’s your name?”
She didn’t respond, instead, she quickened her pace. I sighed as I stopped, now feeling my feet slowly getting wet from the non-waterproof boots I was wearing. I looked down at the snow covering my feet and sighed again, running my fingers through my hair.
“Come on Tavia, let’s head back,” Hayden said as I caught up to me.
I looked back at the house. “I can’t believe she knew…”
He didn’t seem to be listening. He placed his arm around my back and almost pushed me towards his house. I didn’t object. I was so caught up in my own thoughts. I watched as the woman disappeared around the corner, looking back at me.
Chapter Sixteen
Dreams
The next few days was like living inside a nightmare. While I managed okay throughout the day, having Hayden around to cheer me up, I suffered badly at night. I heard whispers in my head, the girls in the cellar whispering to me, telling me I should have helped them.
I stopped going to sleep when Hayden did and stayed up for as long as I could, drinking wine while staring out at the lake below. I didn’t want to sleep anymore.
I was sitting on the low window seal on the third night, sipping my wine and watching the snowfall in the dark, when the whispers entered my mind again.
“Help us!”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“You knew we were here!”
“You killed us, Octavia.”
I closed my eyes and saw the face of one of the girls. Dark-red hair, round, pretty face, no older than fifteen. She had tears in her eyes as she looked at me. Her dark eyes staring as she opened her mouth and screamed. I placed my hands over my ears and ran back up the stairs, closing the hatch behind me.
As I turned, I saw my Dad standing there. His face was white as snow, and he grabbed me by the shoulder, shoving me up the stairs.
“You cannot tell anybody!”
I snapped back to reality, realising me cheeks were soaking wet. I dried them and took another sip of wine.
“Come to bed,” Hayden said from behind me.
I turned. “I don’t want to.”
“I’ll be there, right next to you. Nothing can hurt you here.”
I pushed out a smile as he came and sat down on the opposite side of me on the window seal. “I know, but the dreams…”
He reached out and stroked my cheek. “Shhh, don’t talk about the dreams. The more you think about them, the worse it gets. You need to get some rest.”
I took his hand in mine. “Do you have anything to help me sleep?”
“What? Like… pills?”
I nodded.
He sighed, rubbed his head, then got up and walked into the bathroom. “I might,” he yelled out, and I turned my gaze back to the window. It was so dark now, I could see my own reflection. I placed a finger on the glass where my head was. It was all coming back, and I didn’t even know if I wanted it to anymore.
I lived such a normal and boring life before. No memories of my early childhood. No wo
rries. No stress. But now, all I could think about was what had been going on in my house.
“Why did they take the girls?” I asked out loud as I heard Hayden’s footsteps coming back.
“Tavia, don’t think about this now.”
“I just really need to know. Why did they take them? For what purpose? Just to kill them? Let them starve to death?”
He took my hand and placed something inside it. It was a bottle. “How old are these?” I asked as I turned it, looking at the Swedish writing on it.
“It’s mine, and probably about a year. I don’t know if they will still work.”
I smiled and popped the lid open, then placed one of the pills on my tongue, washing it down with wine.
“You probably shouldn’t drink when you take these.”
I handed him the rest of my wine. “Take it, I’m done anyway.”
He placed the glass on the kitchen bench, then took my hand. “Come on now, let’s try to get some sleep.”
I nodded and followed him up the stairs, telling myself the pills would work. I would have a long, peaceful night’s sleep.
We got in bed, and my brain shut off straight away. I felt Hayden’s gentle touch on my back. I felt calm, but also scared, dreading the dreams.
Just before I dozed off, Hayden’s room started spinning and I nearly threw up. But the dreams wanting to take over were stronger. It was like I didn’t have control over my own body anymore. I wasn’t me anymore.
I wake up to a noise coming from downstairs. Feeling my heart pound in my chest, I get out of bed and tiptoe to my door. I place my ear against the wood, listening. Nothing is coming from the other side.
I open the door and get met by darkness. I am not afraid of the dark, Mum always told me there is nothing hiding in dark, so I decide to go downstairs. Maybe Mum is still up watching TV. Maybe she fell asleep on the couch.
I walk down, and it is just as dark down here. I jump as I hear another noise. I stare at the door to the cellar and wonder what could be making that noise. I hear the very faint sound of the TV still on, and I move into the living room. Mum is asleep on the couch, an empty wine glass on the table. The TV is playing some old black-and-white show, and the volume is down almost all the way.