by Matt Shaw
Jeff pulled a pen from one pocket of his jacket and the form from the other. He handed the pen to Cathy before holding the paper out for her. He put his hand behind the part which required a signature so Cathy would be able to sign without pushing the nib through the sheet. She hesitated a moment, a quick glance towards James, before signing her name. Jeff beamed a smile as he took the pen from her and walked over to James. James was in the process of losing consciousness as the loss of blood (and the pain) started to take their toll on his body. Jeff slapped him in the face a couple of times to get him to focus.
“Are you ready to sign?” Jeff asked. “I just need a little scribble and then that’s it - you’re on your way to getting help and starting your new life with an easy family to manage. We’ll take the girls tonight, whilst they sleep, and get our friend to act as the witness for this exchange tomorrow…”
James looked at him through fuzzy eye-sight.
“How can I sign,” James concentrated hard in an effort to get the words out through the pain he was in, “when my hands are tied?”
“Well - yes - clearly I’m going to have to untie you but I need you to know that - if you try anything - I’m going to kill you. And I won’t stop there. I’ll kill your pretty little wife. You do understand that, don’t you?”
Just as he’d taken Cathy’s earlier silence as an understanding, he did too for James’. He pulled the knife from James’ leg (another scream) and cut the ropes holding his wrists together behind the chair. James moved his hands round to his front and rubbed his wrists. They too had been cut - no doubt caused by trying to pull himself free. Jeff handed him the pen.
“Try not to get blood on the sheet,” Jeff said as he held out the paper for James to sign, tucking the knife under his own arm for safe-keeping.
James didn’t hesitate to sign the paper. As soon as the ink (albeit rather scribbled) was on the paper, he dropped the pen. Jeff took a step away from both Cathy and James; a broad smile on his face. He had what he wanted; two signatures confirming the adoption process. All he needed to do now was put the girl’s names and get his solicitor friend to sign it the following morning to say he’d been a witness to the proceedings. It wasn’t the twins Dawn had wanted but it didn’t matter… They had their girls. They had their family.
A single tear of joy spilled from his right eye and trickled down his cheek until he wiped it clear with the back of his hand.
“Thank you,” he said. “Seriously - you two have no idea how happy you’ve made my wife and I. I know it might not sound a lot now but I promise you both; I promise you we’ll look after them. We’ll give them both an amazing life. They won’t want for anything; toys, books, games, holidays… Whatever they want… They’ll get. And our love - of course. We’ll never raise our voices to them, not out of frustration or anger… We’ll never give them reason to hate us or be upset with us…” He looked down to the sheet of paper in his hands and stopped talking. Cathy’s signature was there and clear to see but James’ signature was missing; in its place were the two simple words “Fuck” and “You”.
Jeff screamed and pulled the knife from between his arm and body. In a fit of rage he lunged forward with it. James put his hands up to protect himself and screamed as the blade passed through his palm. Cathy screamed, unaware of why any of this was happening, as Jeff pulled the blade back from where it’d stuck. He slashed forward across James’ face, cutting him wide open and allowing more blood to flow freely. James screamed out in pain.
“You think that was funny? You think this is a fucking joke?!”
Jeff screamed as he raised the knife up in the air again. Cathy cried out, begging him to stop, but he didn’t listen as he brought the knife down again in a series of flurried attacks. The knife went through James’ cheek and into his mouth, it pierced his eyeball, it slashed his nose, his lip, it cut through his small finger, and finally rested in his open mouth and through the back of his skull. Jeff stepped back and wiped his forehead clear of the sweat he’d managed to work up through his frenzied attack. He watched as a raspy bubble of oxygen and blood slipped from James’ mouth before he went deathly silent. Jeff realised that - as James’ life slipped away - so did his chance of adopting the children. He took another step back until his back was against the wall; a look of shock and horror on his face that he’d not been able to control his temper to get what he needed. He looked at Cathy who was screaming for her husband; her eyes fixed upon his still body - tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry,” Jeff whispered.
He slid down the wall until his arse was on the floor. A defeated man.
“This isn’t what I wanted,” he said. “This wasn’t meant to play out like this. I thought you’d be happy we were helping you out. I thought you’d like the peace and quiet it would have afforded you. I’m really sorry.”
The door slowly opened; Dawn was standing there. She’d come downstairs again to investigate the screams. They’d changed in tone from the screaming that had been happening when her husband was giving Cathy the chance for another child. They’d become from frantic, more desperate. She didn’t say anything. She just stood there with her mouth agape. Her eyes wide with shock - fixed upon the bloodied remains of James.
“What have you done?” she asked.
She looked at Jeff who did all he could to avoid eye contact.
She asked again, “What have you done?”
“I made a mistake.”
“Tell me we got our children,” she said. “Please tell me they signed.”
She saw the piece of paper on the floor and bent down and picked it up. Even if it had been signed properly it wouldn’t have been usable. Blood - from James’ body - had spilled across it and spread from one corner to the other across the top. She dropped it back into the puddle when she realised they didn’t have what they needed. She started to cry.
“I can fix this,” said Jeff.
“How?” Dawn turned and looked at him, “How can you fix this?”
“I can fix it. I promise. I can. I can make it all okay.”
“How can you do that?” she asked again.
Jeff jumped to his feet and rushed over to where Cathy still lay. He took a hold of her head and turned it until her eyes were fixed on him instead of the rotting body of her husband. He repeated the words, “Did you hear me? I can fix all of this. I can give us what we want still…”
“Jeff what are you doing?” Dawn asked from behind him.
Jeff turned around and dashed over to James’ body. He grabbed the knife protruding from his mouth and gave it a short, sharp yank - ripping it from the skull with a loud crack. James’ head flopped forward as Jeff turned to his wife.
“You have to trust me. I can make everything better. I can fix this.”
“What are you doing?” Dawn asked. The look in his eyes, the way he was standing there with the knife pointed at her - she felt her pulse quicken as panic began to set in.
He looked her dead in the eyes, “I do love you,” he said.
She didn’t smile but it didn’t lessen the sentiment when she said, “I love you too.”
3:10 AM
Jeff looked down at Dawn as she struggled for air, the knife sticking from her belly where he’d stuck it in with a twist. God only knows what was happening under her ripped skin; the mess the blade had made of her insides. Maybe it had missed all the vital organs? Or maybe it had pierced her stomach lining and the contents of her gut were spilling into the rest of her body. He wiped a tear from his eye; a single lonesome tear as he struggled internally with how the events had turned to this. He loved her but he didn’t have a choice. Not after what had happened with James. This was the best thing he could have done and not just for his sake. Dawn had wanted children and this was his final chance of providing those youngsters for her. He’d failed. He didn’t want to have to explain to his wife how he’d let her down. He didn’t want to see the disappointment in her eyes. He couldn’t stand to
see her upset and - more than that - he fretted that it would spell the end of his marriage.
Dawn was looking at the knife sticking from her. She was at the horrible stage of knowing she was going to die but having to lie there, waiting for the Grim Reaper to come for her as her blood leaked from the wound. The fact Jeff had left the knife in her just made the process that little bit slower with the blood not flowing as freely as it could have been. A blessing in most cases as it meant there was more time for help to come but she knew there was to be no help. She knew he wouldn’t call for help. She was a dead woman breathing. She looked from the knife to her husband; the man who was supposed to love her. She wanted to ask him why he had done it. She wanted to ask him to finish the job. She opened her mouth but no words came out. She couldn’t speak, nor could she move. She could but lie there and wait to die.
Jeff mouthed the words I’m sorry to her before turning his back on her. He walked over to Cathy who was watching him with fearful eyes wondering when her turn was and hoping that it was to be quick and as painless as possible. As he approached, she struggled against the ropes that bound her. Jeff reached out and put a hand on her stomach, reaching underneath the tee-shirt she’d chosen to wear for bed. Her skin felt warm. Soft. Jeff smiled. He smiled wider when he looked at her face.
“Do you think my little guys are working their magic in there yet?” he asked.
“Just kill me,” Cathy said.
Jeff frowned, “Kill you?” He shook his head, “I’m not going to kill you.” He pulled his hand away from her stomach and put it into his pocket as though trying to emphasise he wasn’t a threat to her. “I’ve made a mess of things tonight. I realise that. But,” he continued, “it doesn’t have to be a complete waste. I can still fix this. I mean, we can still fix this…”
Cathy started to cry again, “What are you talking about?” Her head was spinning; she’d been tied up, watched her husband get tortured and killed, she’d been sexually assaulted and the mind games… The mind games were messing her up too. She couldn’t take anymore. She wanted the world to swallow her up; take her away from all of this.
“I’ve let my wife down. I’ve failed her. I wasn’t able to give her what she wanted; a family. And I know I’ve let you down too. I let my emotions get the better of me and I… Well… Let me make it up to you. Let me help you. You have something I want and I have something you want…”
“You have nothing I want.”
“I want to be a father. I’d be a good father. And you need a new father for your children now. Well let me be that man. Not just that, I’ll make a good husband too. I’ll learn to love you just as I loved my wife…”
Cathy craned her neck round to look at the stranger’s wife. She was still alive albeit a lot paler now. Her breathing was shallow and there was a sheen to her skin. She was looking at her husband - too close to death to have much of an expression on her face but Cathy imagined her to be both shocked and disgusted by what he was proposing; similar feelings to which she felt herself.
“You’re out of your mind,” said Cathy.
“No I’m not.” Jeff’s face changed to one of anger. “I am offering you the chance for something you’ll likely never find again. The love of a man who’ll not only take you on but your children too.”
“Fuck you!”
Jeff continued, “You really think any other man is going to want to try dating a woman with five fucking children? It’s hard enough for single mothers with one child to find someone to love them and their children. You honestly think you’ll be able to find someone to take five? Trust me when I say I’m your last chance for happiness…”
“I’d rather live alone with my children,” Cathy hissed. She didn’t care what she said now. If she angered him enough to make him lash out, she hoped it would be quick. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen now. There was nothing she could do from her current position. She couldn’t save herself and she couldn’t protect her children. It was all in his twisted hands and she wanted it over with - one way, or the other.
“You stupid whore! I’m offering you the chance for…”
“I don’t want it!” she shouted, interrupting him in the process.
He paused a moment. Cathy could see he was visibly trying to calm himself down.
He looked her dead in the eye and asked, “What about our baby?”
Jeff took his hand from his pocket and placed it on her stomach. She flinched at his touch, not that she could get away from it.
Cathy laughed, a further effort to speed along whatever was coming, “You honestly think I would keep it even if you managed to get me pregnant? I’d take as many fucking pills as I could to kill it inside of me. And if that didn’t work - I’d use a coat hanger and scrape my insides out,” she spat.
Jeff didn’t say anything. For a split second it looked as though he were about to flare up again but he managed to hold it in. He shook his head in an effort to shake the feelings of the brewing anger.
“You realise what I’ve done for you?” he said, desperately trying to remain calm.
“You killed my husband!” Cathy shouted.
“I killed my wife for you! I took her out of the equation so we could be together!” he screamed in her face. “You ungrateful cunt!”
Cathy shouted back, even lifting her head off the table to get closer to Jeff, “You really want to do something for me? Take that knife from your wife’s stomach and pull the blade across your throat!”
Before Jeff could respond, Loki barked from upstairs. Both Cathy and Jeff turned to the dining room door and froze.
A little voice called out, “Mum? I don’t feel very well…”
Cathy recognised the voice of her eldest daughter, Cleo. The medication injected into her by Jeff and his wife had worn off leaving her blurry-eyed and fuzzy headed, just as it had left Cathy when she had woken up from it.
“Mum?”
Cleo was standing at the top of the stairs.
Cathy struggled against her restraints and frantically whispered to Jeff, “You can’t let her see us like this!”
Jeff panicked and reached for the knife. He yanked it from his wife’s stomach. Her body slumped forward before falling to the side. She was gone now. Jeff wiped the blade on his jeans.
“What are you going to do?” Cathy asked. The fear was obvious in her voice.
It was clear from Jeff’s expression that he had no idea what he was going to do. The whole evening had gone from bad to worse. In his head - when he initially had discussed the plan with his wife - it was all relatively simple. He expected a little resistance but, after putting forward his case, he honestly believed Cathy and James would have given up a couple of children for them. Had they done so - everyone would still be alive and everyone would be happy.
Loki barked again from upstairs - still too nervous to come down; a sixth sense telling him that something was wrong - just as it had done so when he first saw the couple.
“Please don’t hurt her…” said Cathy.
Jeff turned to her with an eyebrow raised, “I’ll untie you,” he said. “And you can go upstairs and tell her that everything is going to be okay. You can tell her that and you can put her back into bed. Once you’ve done that, you’ll come back down here and we will talk like adults… We’ll talk and we’ll make this work… Deal?”
“Okay. Yes. Please. Let me talk to her, let her know everything is okay and get her back into bed… And then we will talk. Just please don’t hurt her.”
Jeff hurried over to the table and - quick as a flash - slashed the ropes that were holding Cathy down. With the ties severed, Cathy shrugged them up and sat up. Jeff took a step back and tightened his grip on the knife.
“Don’t forget,” he said, “you have five children up there. You might be able to save yourself and the one out there but that leaves four more up there that I can get to… I guess, what I’m trying to say is, don’t try anything…”
Cathy didn’t say anyt
hing. She looked down to the knife and then to the body of her husband and the stranger’s wife. She wiped her eyes and hoped they didn’t look too raw from the crying. Jeff took another step back giving Cathy room to get to the door without having to get too close to him. She hesitated a moment, another quick nervous glance to the knife, and then made a move for the door. She stepped through and saw Cleo standing at the top of the stairs.
“Why aren’t you and dad in bed?” she asked.
Jeff listened at the door with the knife tightly resting in his palm. He had nothing to lose now. If Cathy made one wrong peep… If she said anything he didn’t like or trust… At this stage, he had no qualms about slicing her throat wide open - even if it were to be done in front of her daughter. Out on the stairs he heard Cathy and Cleo talking; Cleo was saying she had a headache and didn’t feel good and Cathy was telling her that sleep was the best cure. As they got further away, their voices become fainter. Carefully Jeff peered out of the room. Loki was standing at the top of the stairs staring at him. He growled and ran away; back towards Cathy’s own bedroom where he’d been hiding since she had found him on the stairs whining.
Still with the knife in his hand, Jeff ran through to the living room. If he and Cathy were to talk things through, like grown ups, he figured it would be best done out of sight of the two bodies in the dining room. He sat down on the sofa and leaned back. It had been a long evening. He put the knife down next to him and waited Cathy’s return.
3:35 AM
Cathy appeared in the doorway.
