Dark Winter: Trilogy

by Hennessy, John

  “As you wish,” said Curie, rising up slowly. “I will leave you to your fate. You and Beth will soon join the bones of the dead.”

  Tori-Suzanne’s hands could no longer keep hold of Beth, and their bodies tumbled into the marsh, with skeletal arms and hands partly covered with flesh and overgrown nails pulling them ever downwards into the freezing water.

  The last thing Tori-Suzanne heard as her head disappeared under the marsh’s surface was the calm, inhuman, mocking tone of Don Curie.

  “Pretty girls….la la la,” he said, laughing into the night.

  Peace in My Time

  Beth had been correct. Leaving Gorswood didn’t really change anything. The Demon was staying with me, and I knew that trying to placate it wouldn’t work. I concluded that it was biding its time, for some evil purpose, no doubt.

  Leaving Gorswood wouldn’t change me, no. But it would give me a chance to regroup, to think things through. Isn’t that what Toril believed in?

  I was a bad friend. I was running out on Beth at a time when perhaps she needed me the most. Still, my many phone calls went unanswered. I had thought to visit her grandparents, but with crucifixes littered throughout the place, there was no way that the Demon would let me go there.

  It was best not to anger this thing. Eighteen months ago, its actions could have been described as playful, but this was no longer the case. The Demon could anger at any moment, with the slightest of provocation.

  As I lay in the hospital bed, priests would sometimes pass by. I could feel the Demon’s hatred, its malcontent. It was killing me, just a little, day by day. I had recovered enough for Troy to secure my discharge, but still, the doctors were not happy with him.

  “A bunch of ball-fumbling bastards,” barked Troy, as we were leaving. “Sorry Rom, but they are. I fucking hate doctors.”

  “It’s okay, calm it down,” I said, as we bumped along the pathway, with me in a wheelchair. “Did you hear anything?”

  “From Beth? Toril? No.”

  Troy tried to hide it, but he was more than a bit agitated. I knew him well enough to know this about him. I had to believe that whatever Toril was doing, it was for the best. As for Beth, I just prayed for her safety.

  It was 4pm, and reasonably bright for April. But the ground was stubbornly icy, and the wheels on my chair locked sometimes. Troy would issue more expletives, followed by more apologies until we arrived at his car.

  I could stand up by myself, but I allowed myself to be chaperoned. I felt happier than I had been in a long time, and there was no doubt that spending time with Troy, that is, spending exclusive time with Troy, had aided my recovery.

  I felt bad, extremely bad about Beth and Toril presumably dealing with the demons themselves. Beth was right that my running away from Gorswood would change nothing. It would only serve to delay the inevitable.

  In my vision from eighteen months ago, I saw it so clearly. Everything and everyone I knew would be gone. I was to grow old, just me and the Mirror of Souls, the oddest of couples staying at Rosewinter.

  I couldn’t accept that it would turn out like that. If I never had children, who would I bequeath the Mirror to?

  I didn’t care if the Mirror would help to give me long life, as it appeared to have given to Nan. She had managed to keep the evil at bay without it all kicking off. Yes, Dana Cullen had been a casualty. In her own way, Nan had been a casualty of the Mirror as well. I did not want to end up succumbing to the Mirror. This would not be my fate.

  All the same, I needed to recover. The Demon seemed to be going nowhere, and the hospital discharge papers were something that Troy grabbed from the doctor and hurriedly stuffed it into his pockets.

  He was irritated by what the doctor had written on the discharge papers. I didn’t need to read it to know what was on it. But Troy could be very persuasive, and he felt that getting me out of there was the best thing to do.

  ‘Of course he wants to get you away from here, Romilly,’ piped up the Demon. ‘He’s already discarded his girlfriend, doesn’t give a damn about Beth. As for you, well, he’ll probably strap you down on a table like he did before, and when he’s had his way with you, he’ll crack your skull open. You can see it on his face.’

  The Demon was getting worse. If it wasn’t physical abuse, it engaged in mental torture. My eyes were pretty much bloodshot all the time from the lack of any quality sleep. If only I could get rid of it. I wish I had asked Toril about borrowing her book; Demon Co-Habiting Issues? Kick It To the Kerb but of course, no such book existed.

  Troy was driving rather sensibly considering he and Alix pretty much used to tear up the town. He hadn’t mentioned Beth much, and certainly hadn’t mentioned Alix, not since we had met in the Forest. Toril was also excluded. I had that sinking feeling again in the pit of my stomach. The feeling that the Demon could be right.

  Okay, so Troy hadn’t blindfolded me this time, but I had gone with him willingly. I had no other plan, except to get away from Gorswood.

  “Where are we going, Troy?”

  “Hobs Hole. Your folks and mine knew it. I think we’ll be safe there. It’s far from Gorswood.”

  I was mortified. “You know my folks met their end there? You know Dana was involved don’t you?”

  “Rom,” said Troy kindly, “Your folks were closer to Gorse than the Hob when it happened. Remember?”

  I sat quietly whilst working through Troy’s words in my head. I also relied a lot on my gut instinct. I didn’t feel that Troy was tricking me. I didn’t believe he was under Diabhal’s control, and yes, I could accept that going to Hob’s Hole, a country village some four hours drive away, would be a good idea. At least for now.

  I had to ask him. Once we found ourselves on a long stretch of road, a quiet stretch of road, I just had to ask him.

  “Troy, are you over those events in the void, and also what happened you in the Forest?”

  “Yeah.”

  Typical male. Short, sharp answers. I needed more.

  “Really? You don’t have any nightmares or anything?”

  “No. No Rom. Why do you ask? Am I acting strange or something?”

  Troy uttered a self-deprecating laugh. It wasn’t fooling me.

  “You were being controlled by Curie, remember? When you brought me to that cursed house? You remember that, right?”

  “Sure I do, though I really want to forget it Rom, you know?” Troy spoke earnestly, and then pulled over, rested his arm on the back of my seat, and leaned in towards me.

  “I am sorry, Romilly, I really am. I didn’t know what I was doing. That time….it’s all a blur to me.”

  Troy sighed heavily. If he wanted to forget, he wasn’t handling the expulsion of this memory well at all, and I felt I was adding to his problems. But I hadn’t asked the right kind of questions before, back when Nan was alive. I had to ensure that Troy could answer whatever I asked him. I could not spend time working out why he was back here now. I just had to believe it was a good thing, and that he would not hurt me.

  “Do you really believe that Toril is dead?”

  Troy bit his lip, the same way I did when asked something awkward or distressing.

  “Um-hmm.”

  “Is this why we are going far and away from Gorswood?”

  “Yeah, Rom. Away from Gorswood, away from my folks, Toril’s folks, Beth’s grandparents. I want no reminders, you hear me?”

  But I was a ten-foot tall flashing neon sign of a reminder.

  “I’m involved, Troy, I’m central to all this. So why didn’t you leave me, back in Gorswood? Why?”

  Troy turned back to the steering wheel, and restarted the engine. I grabbed his arm.

  “Why? Look at me, Troy. Why? Why didn’t you leave me?”

  Troy did as I asked. He sat back in the seat, put his hands to his eyes, and rubbed them. I couldn’t tell if he was crying, or just really tired. Finally, he rested his hands on his lap, and looked at me. He really did look exhausted.

  “
Because I just couldn’t leave you there, Rom. I…I care about you, see?”

  My heart quickened, but that could have been a combination of the hospital drugs, the Demon messing around, or….or it could be that this is what I’ve wanted to hear all of my young life. That Troy Jackson cared about me.

  I threw my arms around him and held him close. I could feel his breath on my neck. My heart pounded. I thought I wouldn’t be able to stop it from bursting from my chest.

  Troy used his very strong hands and cupped them around my cheeks, which pushed my hair to the side. He then gave me the most passionate feeling I had ever experienced, as his mouth closed over mine, and I felt all of his warmth, his passion, and yes….his love for me.

  I pulled away, not because I wanted to, but I had to tell him what was in my thoughts. Instead, he got there first, and saved my blushes.

  “Toril would like to think I am good for her, but the truth is Romilly, I’m not that good a man. I’m utterly, totally and, in the most devastating way - completely in love with you.”

  There was no time to process this new information. We kissed for what must have seemed like forever, but in reality it was just a few moments. My cheeks burned with happiness, with pleasure. Troy was making me forget all about the Demon.

  He had made me forget that Toril had existed too, and up until then, it was she that had been his girlfriend.

  “I’m ready to move on, Rom,” said Troy. “I hope I convinced you just now. I miss her, you know? But I’ve got to move on. You say it’s only been eighteen months, but for me, that time in the void was like a hundred years. I’ve moved on. I want you to move on with me. Will you?”

  Now it was Troy asking the difficult questions. If I said yes, I really would be saying goodbye to my life in Gorswood. It would be goodbye to Beth. I had to consider that even if Toril was somehow alive, to Troy, she was dead. He’d moved on. Would that mean that he would move on again, if something were to happen to me? Was it that easy for him? Or was I judging him too harshly?

  I decided that I would give the grown-up answer.

  “We’ll go to the Hob, but I may still want to come back to Gorswood. I still have a home there, and I would like to check on the Mirror from time to time. If Beth is there, I’ll want to see her too.”

  I guessed the spell protecting the Mirror of Souls would have been broken if Toril was really gone. I believed she wasn’t, that the spell really was in place, and that Toril was on a mission of some kind. She had said that she wanted to get Troy out of the void. What if it had been by her actions that Troy had found himself released?

  We were all safe, for now. The Mirror, had it been claimed by Diabhal’s minions…we would know. The whole of Gorswood and the surrounding counties would have been covered in the kind of darkness Diabhal specialised in. The long dark winter would never end, not under his rule. I began to tense up again.

  At that moment, I felt a wave of peace come over me, and I could hear my Nan’s voice.

  “Romilly, be kind to yourself for once. Enjoy this experience. Stop hurting yourself because of all the little complications in the world.”

  I wanted to ask her out loud about Toril’s whereabouts, but decided against it. Oh, I felt like the smallest person in the world. It was Troy that had strapped me to that table, and it was Toril who had saved me. How could I be kind to myself? If I was Toril, I would want to kill me. Yes. That’s what I’d do in her position. Whatever Troy says, I still feel like it is me who is betraying Toril. Why do I do this to myself? Why can’t I find peace within myself anymore?

  I sucked both my lips in, bit hard, but not enough to draw blood, and stifled an urge to cry out.

  Okay. I decided I would be kind to myself. I allowed myself to relive that moment. Those kisses from Troy were intense. I could not wait to experience that feeling once again, or maybe something more. A lot more.

  I would have to find a way to live with this.

  We drove on and on, and I fell asleep, the slight bumps in the country lanes as we approached the Hob stirring me slightly, before I would fall into a deep sleep once again.

  Finally, we had arrived at the Hob. I went in the bathroom, and washed my face. I had covered the bathroom mirror with my tee shirt, so I wouldn’t see anything.

  Something made me look around as I rinsed the suds from my skin, and I saw that my tee shirt was on the floor. I picked it up and even though I thought I secured it around the frame of the mirror, as I stepped away, and back towards the basin.

  Flump.

  The tee shirt had hit the floor again.

  My heart started to pound, but not in the pleasant way when Troy and I were kissing.

  The bathroom wasn’t exactly warm, but I could feel the temperature drop. I shivered violently as I bent my knees to reach the tee shirt. Again. As I picked it up, I could see a strand of hair attached to it. I recoiled in horror as I knew it wasn’t my hair. It was too short, and it was dark.

  As I lifted the tee shirt up into the light, I could see the hair was dark, greasy, and silver in parts. That hair belonged to a man, and it was not Troy. I knew who it belonged to.

  A rat.

  Oh my God. Curie, are you here? How did you find me?You’re dead. You’re supposed to be dead and rotting in Hell right now.

  I forgot all about drying my hair, and grabbed at the doorknob. My hands shook uncontrollably, and my fingers were unable to close around the doorknob. My hand kept slipping off as the demon forced blood from my fingertips.

  “Troy! Troy! I can’t get out! I can’t get out! Help! Help me!”

  I was trembling and my legs felt like they were about to go. Suddenly, my mobile phone started to ring. It wasn’t the sound of the song I had chosen for my ring tone. It was as shrill ring, like the telephones of the 1970s.

  “TROYYYYY!”

  But Troy was nowhere to be found, and he was not answering. Here I was, at the Hobs Hole country club, locked in a bathroom, with a mirror and a mobile phone for company.

  The doorknob turned, and I felt so relieved.

  That feeling was short lived, as the door opened slowly, so very slowly, to reveal a man.

  A man with an axe.

  “Aren’t you going to answer that? It’s rude not to answer the phone, Romilly.”

  The gruff, terrifying tone of Don Curie filled my ears.

  Nan. Oh God. Save me Nan. Please save me from this. Please. PLEASE!

  Don Curie let the axe slide in his grip until it hit the floor, cracking the floor tiles.

  “Answer. It.”

  I backed off slowly, keeping my eyes trained on Curie. On him, and that axe of his.

  I fumbled awkwardly for the phone, whilst Curie kept his black eyes burning into me.

  I didn’t check to see what the name was. I just slid to ‘Answer’.

  “Hel-Hello?”

  “You.” The voice belonged to a girl A girl with a strong, authoritative tone. I knew who it was. But if what Troy had said was true, plus my own attempts to get hold of her had previously failed, it couldn’t be her. It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t possible.

  “Hello?”

  “You. You couldn’t wait, could you? As soon as I’m out of the picture, you moved in. You just couldn’t help yourself. You bitch, Romilly. I saved you, and this is how you reward me? Well, you’re going to pay in full for crossing me. In full.”

  The voice was Toril’s. But this was impossible. I remembered my phone was out of charge. There’s no way it could be ringing.

  “Have a nice life Romilly, what’s left of it,” said Toril.

  With black blood gushing from his exposed skull, Curie swung the axe at me. I managed to duck the blade, but I waited for the inevitable return, knowing that in such a confined space, he could not miss a second time. I sank to the floor, and closed my hands over my head.

  “Rom! Rom!”

  Troy was shaking me by my arms. I had a wild look in my eyes.

  “Curie! He’s here! He’s here, T
roy! Don’t ask me how. My tee shirt has his hair on it. He’s going to kill me!”

  I was hyperventilating, so Troy went to leave me, but I pleaded with my eyes. Don’t leave me. Jesus, don’t leave me alone Troy.

  Troy went to pick my tee shirt up, but I screamed at him to leave it be. I hadn’t meant to shout at Troy, and I apologised.

  “It’s okay, Rom,” he said reassuringly.

  I don’t know why I was with Troy right now, but there must have been a reason. While I was thinking this, he lifted me into his arms, and carried me through. I put my arms around his neck, and reminded him what happened last time I was in his arms.