Promised
Land Lane
By Marcus Brown
Junction Publishing
New Zealand
Copyright © 2017 by Marcus Brown.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Marcus Brown/Junction Publishing
Waihi
New Zealand/3610
Promised Land Lane
[email protected]
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the address above.
PLL/ Marcus Brown -- 1st ed.
ISBN
I dedicate this book to the most amazing lady who ever graced my life. You were called to be an Angel, but I still feel your presence every day. Your love fills my heart even on my darkest days and for that I am eternally grateful. I love you, Mum.
Always have, always will!
Also, to Jonathan, the most handsome man in the entire universe. A man who makes me laugh as much as he makes me cry. I hope you know how much love I hold in my heart for you. Forever and a day!
Prologue
One Hundred Years Ago
The night was pitch black and mist had descended on the lane.
A crowd of men and women from the neighbouring properties and farms stood by and watched as Frank Wilson and Harold Edgar dragged David kicking and screaming from his home.
“You will burn in hell for eternity,” said Lawrence, the Village Elder, as he walked behind the crowd holding the Bible to his chest.
The two men dropped him in the dirt and then allowed him to scramble to his feet. He stood staring at them, confused as to what had caused his friends and neighbours to behave this way.
“Tell us where the Whitmore girl is, David,” Frank roared.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Lawrence pushed through the crowd and stood in front of David.
“Don’t try and fool us with your lies. We know what you’ve done and may God forgive you.”
“You’re mad,” David said, addressing his accusers. “I would never harm that little girl.”
“Tell us the truth,” cried a female voice from the crowd.
He buried his head in his hands in despair. “I am telling you the truth. Why won’t you believe me?”
”We found the body of Samantha Whitmore earlier this evening,” another voice said. “And we know you had a disagreement with her two nights ago.”
Several women in the crowd stared at him, clutching at their Bibles, muttering prayers. They had already condemned him.
“But I didn’t harm Samantha. Please don’t do this to me!”
“Confess your sins and the Lord will be faithful and just. This is your last chance!” Lawrence said.
“I won’t confess to something I haven’t done. I didn’t harm her, I swear it, and I don’t know where Maisie is.”
“Will you lie right to the very end?” Lawrence asked
“I’ve not told any lies. Please listen to me! I’ll help you look for Maisie. I’ll do anything, but you have to believe me.”
David suddenly realized that he was standing in the Whitmores’ front garden, but in his distress did not remember being pulled up the lane. The front rooms of the house were lit up and he noticed the familiar face staring out of the downstairs window. The crowd had surrounded him once more, and he glanced around for a way to escape.
“If you have any decency left inside of you then you must tell us where the girl is. You can’t imagine the suffering her father is enduring right now. Confess your sins to us while you can.”
David tore at his hair in frustration. Why wouldn’t anybody listen to him? “I don’t know where Maisie is. The last time I saw her she was playing in the front garden. I said hello as I always did and gave her chocolate just as I do with all the children.” He gestured to the crowd.
“I’ve heard people say you have an obsession with little Maisie. Is that true?” Lawrence asked.
“You mean you’ve heard Samantha say that?” David couldn’t imagine why his friends would suspect him of harming either Maisie or her mother.
“Is it true?”
“No! It isn’t true.” The anger rose in his voice. “I care for her. You know as well as I do Samantha is cruel to her daughter. She’s a sweet little girl and deserves much better than that witch as a mother.”
“Enough!” Harold roared. “Tell us where she is.”
“I’ve told you I don’t know. Why don’t you speak to her father and ask him what he knows? They’ve never cared for Maisie. How many times have we all seen her playing alone in this very garden or seen her mother drag her down the lane? I’m the only one who cares for her. I’d rather die than harm her.”
“How the Whitmores discipline their daughter is no business of ours. What concerns us is what you have done to Maisie. If you tell us, this will go much easier for you.” Harold’s voice softened and he shook his head.
“I don’t know where Maisie is. I swear to you all. Let me go and I’ll help you search for her. She’ll come to me, I know it,” David said.
“It’s too late to help, Samantha. You know that already, but please tell us where the little girl is,” Lawrence said.
“I didn’t harm either of them,” David whispered, shaking his head as his tears began to fall.
The crowd muttered amongst themselves.
“You were seen at the bottom of their garden looking down the well.” Harold stepped forward and spat at David’s feet.
“I heard Maisie crying.”
“You pushed Samantha Whitmore’s body down there after cutting off her head, didn’t you?” Lawrence accused.
“No, no. I didn’t do anything to Samantha. God help me, you have to believe what I tell you. I went to the well because I heard Maisie crying. I wanted to make sure she was okay, but I couldn’t find her. I called out to her many times. She never answered me, but I swear I heard her crying.”
The voices surrounding him began to rise in frustration.
“No more lies, David!” Lawrence yelled. “You knew she wasn’t there and have concocted this tale to try and hide the despicable acts you have committed against this family.”
David shook his head. “I swear to you and before God Almighty, I’ve done no harm to anybody. This is madness! You’ve known me all of your life. I could never do the things you accuse me of.”
“Then where is the Whitmore girl? Tell me now. This is the last time I will ask you,” Lawrence roared.
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know. I’ll never confess to harming Maisie or her mother.”
“Then you leave us with no choice, David, and may God forgive us for what we are about to do.”
“What are you going to do?” Terrified of what the answer would be, David struggled to stay upright as his legs threatened to give out on him.
“You know our ways an
d what we do to people who harm innocent women and children.”
“But you can’t do this. It’s wrong.” David knew what the villagers did to people who were accused of such crimes. He began to panic.
“You have heard that it was said, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” Lawrence quoted directly from the Bible he shoved towards him.
David stared at the page of the Bible Lawrence had read from. “Please, I’m begging you. Think about what you’re about to do. You cannot do this! Your Bible tells you to turn the other cheek.”
“Don’t you dare use our Holy Book as a means of avoiding punishment for your evil crimes,” Lawrence shouted.
“You all know I’m not capable of such evil,” David cried.
The first blow struck the back of his head.
The villagers began to strike him with anything they could lay their hands on. The pain was immense. David fell to the ground as the kicks and blows rained down on him. Blood poured from a wound.
Suddenly, he had the sensation of being lifted, as though he was floating out of his body. He realised the villagers had lifted him off the ground and at that moment he knew what they intended to do to him. He no longer had the strength to fight them and could feel his life slipping away.
David turned his head as he was carried off, noticing how Mark Whitmore clutched the door frame as he watched the events unfolding, tears running down his grief-stricken face.
David closed his eyes. He pictured Maisie playing in the front garden with her doll, cradling it and talking to it as though it were a real baby. Wherever Maisie was, he prayed she was safe. He loved the little girl and hoped Mark Whitmore would believe he had never harmed her.
The villagers carried him through the passage at the side of the house that led to the rear garden. David struggled, but he was not strong enough to fight them. He knew where they were taking him and amidst chants of “rot in hell” they pushed him over the edge and into the heart of the well.
And there was darkness.
***
David opened his eyes to an eerie nothingness. He had no perception of his surroundings. There was nothing definitive he could see or hear to suggest where he was. Although he was able to see a slight mist, there was nothing beyond that.
He frantically surveyed his surroundings as his heart hammered inside his chest.
A man walked slowly out of the darkness towards David and with him came a blinding light.
“You now have a choice to make, my child,” he said as he approached. The man’s voice was gentle and surreal.
David gasped. “Who are you?”
“It is not important who I am, but you’re safe. No harm will come to you here.”
“Am I dead?”
“Technically, yes, but your soul will never die. It has simply moved on to the next part of its journey.”
“Where am I?” he asked, looking around. He could see nothing except the blinding light surrounding the figure in front of him.
“Right now you are at the crossroads between Heaven and Earth, and you have a choice to make.”
“A choice? I don’t understand any of this.”
“An innocent soul, once filled with love, has been twisted into something evil. Only you can protect those who cross her path.”
“What soul? What path? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” David always hated riddles.
“Think, my child, as you already know the answer.”
The answer came to him in seconds. “Maisie?”
Through the blinding light, David felt sorrow emanating from the man.
“The choice is yours alone to make and I’m unable to help you. If you decide not to return you will move into the light with my blessings for you have lived your life well and without sin. You will find eternal peace and be reunited with the family you have lived without for so long. All I ask is that you think carefully before you decide. You will not be able to change your mind.”
“I have to know what happened to Maisie before I make my choice.”
“For you to understand what happened to her you must open up your mind, for evil exists in many forms. It is woven around the very fabric of life, and whilst you may not have seen it with your own eyes, it is everywhere.”
“This makes no sense. I need to know what happened to her. Whoever you are, please stop talking to me in riddles, and tell me what happened to Maisie Whitmore or I’ll do nothing to help you.” He felt anger building inside him, and his tears began to fall. “I cared very much for her and need to know that she is safe. Please tell me.”
The man reached out and wiped away the tears that ran down David’s face. At his touch, a tingle travelled through David’s body.
“Very well. The least you deserve is the truth. Her life was ripped away by the person she should have trusted the most. That one despicable act tainted her once beautiful soul. Maisie now belongs to the dark and can never be welcomed into the light. She will not remember the person she used to be, and will harm anybody who crosses her path.”
An agonizing wail ripped from David’s throat. How could this be? He couldn’t imagine Maisie as anything but the sweet little girl he had known.
He choked on his words. “And if I go back, what will I be?”
“You will be the same man you always were, but you will never grow old. You will exist in the shadows until the end of time, and only then will you take your rightful place in Heaven.”
“Will I be able to care for her?”
“She will not want to be close to you, but from a distance you can watch her and protect those she will wish to harm.”
“Maisie will never forget who I am.”
“You delude yourself, David. The child you speak of no longer exists. What remains is dark and twisted and if she could she would harm you too.”
“Why would she harm me?” David didn’t believe Maisie would ever be capable of hurting him.
“She will try and harm anyone who stands before her, but touching you will cause her pain.”
“But why?”
“You are pure of heart, my child. That is the simple truth,” he replied serenely.
“I’m just a man. There is nothing special about me.”
“This was always your destiny, David. It is meant to be. Only you can protect the innocent, but never underestimate her. After all, she is her mother’s daughter.”
“Maisie would never harm a living soul and is nothing like Samantha Whitmore.”
“Believe me when I tell you the child you remember is no more. In life, she had the soul of an angel, but all that remains in death is evil.”
“I don’t know what to do,” David said, putting his head in his hands.
“Search your soul, David, and do what you feel is right. That is the last thing I will ask of you.”
“If I stay, what will happen?”
“She will take life as if it means nothing and will never stop. Even with all my gifts, I cannot stop her, but I can ensure that with your help, she remains bound to the place where she died.”
“Where did she die?”
“Why, the very place your mortal life ended, of course,” he responded, sounding surprised by the question.
“Are you telling me that Maisie died down that well?”
“She lies in wait and it will fall to you to keep her at bay and protect those she intends to harm.”
“How will I be able to stop her if you can’t?”
“You will never be able to stop her completely, David, but you can watch and lessen the devastation she would cause if left alone.”
“But I’m just a normal man. Why me?”
“You were kind to the child when she lived, and whilst she will not remember who you were, she will sense you mean her no harm.”
The man reached forward and touched David’s forehead with his index finger.
David felt the energy surge through his veins, encompassing his entire being.
“What did you just do to me?�
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“I am preparing you for what lies ahead. The future is not set in stone, but what I am asking you to do will not be easy.”
“What are you asking me to do?”
“You are the only one who can keep her bound to the place where she was cursed.”
“But how do I do that?” David wailed.
“You will not be alone, my child, of that you have my word. You will know what to do when the time comes.”
“Then I have no choice but to return.”
“I know the enormity of what I ask, but there is little time left. I must know what you have decided.”
David said, “I’ve already made my decision and will go back, but before I go, please tell me, will I ever see my family again? Are they happy?”
“They are very happy, David, and are always with you. Fear not. They will be here waiting and at the end of time you will all be together again. Of that I promise you.”
“I need to see my family before I go,” he pleaded.
“The decision is yours, David. I can reunite you with your family, but only for the shortest of times.”
“Yes. I want to see them.” David felt a surge of emotion – he had waited a long time for this moment.
“Very well, but I must know your final decision.”
“I’ve already told you my decision. Now please let me see my family before I go.”
Through the blinding light, David could see the man wave his hand and out of the distance the figures of three people appeared.
A familiar voice echoed all around him.
“David?” his sister called.
“Susan, is that really you? I can’t see you properly.”
The man waved his hand again, and the figures drew closer.
David could see his family’s faces smiling back at him. Tears of joy ran down his face.
“Yes. We’ve missed you so much.”
“Are you all well?” he asked, walking towards them. “I’ve missed you, too.”
“Don’t worry about us. We’re happy here. Mummy lets me ride my pony every day.”
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