Ark Of Hope: Beyond The Dark Horizon

by Roger David Francis

  He remembered every contorted face as they snarled and threw him to one side to reach the lifeboats, their faces forever etched in his memory. And all this time he’d lived a half life in the shadowy underworld of Hell plotting and scheming to satisfy his burning desire for revenge.

  He hadn’t deserved to go to Hell in his opinion. A bit of petty thieving, what was that in the grand scheme of things? And he wouldn’t have done that if he’d known what waited for him on the other side. He bitterly resented the lucky souls who’d gone in the opposite direction, unlike him, who’d been hustled straight into the bowels of Hell. He’d not been granted the opportunity to prove his worth in Heaven, and though he suspected they were having a much finer time of it than he was he had no yardstick for comparison.

  How had they deserved to go to a better place when the bastards had trampled over him to get there? That’s what preyed on his mind, stuck in his gullet, gave him the impetus to carry out his plan for revenge.

  Now though, Gary felt worried. Nothing had happened. It had been sixty five years to this very day, so why was the Princess May still here, floating in the ocean, what had he done wrong?

  Gary smiled suddenly. Of course, the Princess May had sank just after ten o’clock in the evening, it was now only ten minutes to five. He still had over five hours for his plan to come together.

  There’d been no choice but to rock up on Sandy Island and dispose of the four unwanted guests, they didn’t belong on the ship; their presence could have ruined everything for him. Because they hadn’t been there in the first place, hadn’t played any part in his demise, it could have gone horribly wrong. He was only allowed to take down the wretches who’d wronged him that fateful night. So his Demon friends, who had been monitoring his progress, had allowed Sandy Island to become visible so he could off load the four of them. That left him plenty of time to carry out his plan, the plan that had taken him so long to bring to fruition.

  Not that he’d wasted a moment since arriving from Hell and stepping foot on the ship. His first job had been to untie all the lifeboats and leave them adrift in the sea; there would be no easy option for the passengers this time, no few more hours of a life that had been denied to him because of their greed and selfishness.

  They would suffer as he had. Gary felt the first stirrings of amusement, remembering. Rounding them up to return to the ship had been his greatest challenge. Most of them were on a higher plain, they’d obviously been a lot more cunning in life than him, hiding their guilty sins, but with the help of his Demon friends, spells and Black magic he’d managed to get them back.

  Of course they’d been reluctant but he hadn’t given them a choice. They’d never given him a choice when they trampled on him to get to the lifeboats, it served them right. All but a few escaped his spell, and they were mostly children, who were so high up in the Celestial plane he couldn’t reach them.

  Of course some of the passengers had landed in Hell with him but they’d scuttled off into the charred burning blackness, terrified and ashamed. He hadn’t bought them back, no point; they were already rotting in Hell, what could be worse than that?

  He’d known immediately there would be a problem when the two couples joined the boat. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He’d pretended to make them welcome but he knew he had to get rid of them before the Princess May sank. That was the only condition imposed upon him from the Dark Side; only those who died before must suffer their death again. To alter that he would change the course of history and even in Hell that wasn’t allowed.

  So he hadn’t been able to kill and dispose of the four young people as he would have wished. He hoped he’d done the right thing taking them to Sandy Island, but a nasty thought was creeping around in his head and he couldn’t shake it off. What if they came back before his work was complete? It would ruin everything. He knew how terrible the punishment could be in the shadowy world of Hell if he got this wrong and inadvertently sent four souls to that most hated of places, heaven. It was the ultimate sin he could commit.

  Torture that would last an eternity would await him and he didn’t want that for himself. As bad as things were in the bleak shadowy underworld, he had a certain freedom of movement and a few well chosen acquaintances, mostly minor Demons, who kept him amused. He shuddered at the thought of what would await him if he made a mistake. The quality of his death was on the line, he couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

  Because his eyes had become accustomed to the darkness in Limbo, when he’d first come aboard he’d been almost blinded by the light and sunshine, it had taken him several hours to adjust to it. The bastards he’d bought back from heaven didn’t have a problem with it though, it was all sunshine and light where they’d come from. Gary blinked, feeling his sore eyes water, hating them so much his body trembled with rage.

  The ship should have been somewhere in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle by now, where it would eventually sink without a trace, but it was still next to Sandy Island, almost as if it was waiting for the four young people to return. There was nothing he could do. Captain Livingstone-Bryson was useless; all he did was scratch the brains out of his head.

  Gary thought about the day he’d died. How he’d struggled to his feet after being sent sprawling. Most of the passengers were already floating off in their pathetic lifeboats which would sink in less than an hour. And he’d stood there, shaking, bewildered, and come face to face with Captain Livingstone-Bryson. The man had looked terrified but Gary had believed he would do the right thing. There was one small tender boat left, already filling up with screaming people.

  Now, thinking about what had happened next; Gary gripped the rail harder and then put his head in his hands, still after all this time hardly able to believe it. He’d managed to climb over the side of the ship, his foot on the first rung of the ladder when he found himself being hauled up by the Captain and flung across the deck and he’d watched in disbelief as the Captain, who should have been the last man standing, began climbing down the ladder, taking the last place on the lifeboat leaving him to go down with the ship.

  Tears squeezed out of Gary’s eyes. They had to be punished, all of them for what they’d done to him. Those last moments had been terrible as the bow of the ship had begun to tilt and he’d felt himself sliding, rolling along the deck, seconds from a sure death, no-one left to help him as he screamed to a God that wasn’t listening to him, would never listen to him even in eternity.

  He hadn’t been a good man; that was the problem; a petty thief, a wife beater, a drunkard. He owned up to all those things, but he hadn’t been ready to die so horribly and for that he mostly blamed Captain Livingstone-Bryson. The man who had robbed him of the rest of his life, however short it might have been. He had a special punishment for him, but not just yet.

  He’d been granted twenty four hours to carry out his revenge. It should have been long enough but now he wasn’t so sure. The blazing sun was already setting, he didn’t have long. Five miserable hours was all that was left to put right the wrong that had been done to him all those years ago. It wasn’t easy to rest in peace in Hell, he should know, but at least he’d have the satisfaction of a job well done.

  His mind kept turning to the four young people. What if they came back? Once the thought was in his head he couldn’t shake it off. If he couldn’t kill them while they were aboard the ship then his plan couldn’t go ahead. He tried to think and then his lips turned up into a smile. It was true they couldn’t die on the ship but there was nothing stopping them meeting their death on the Island. He still had plenty of time. He would follow them onto the Island and make sure they remained incarcerated but if not, he would kill them.

  Brett didn’t like the smell in the house. It was perfume with the underlying stink of sulphur. Cassie was screwing up her nose but he shook his head at her. Ahead of them were double doors that were open and they followed the small robotic figure through into a large living area. At first there seemed to be no one there and then a v
ery large chair swivelled around and an incredibly tall, enormously fat woman unfolded her body and stood up extending her hand. Behind her was a grand piano and Jade marvelled how her enormous fingers could manipulate the keys. She thought she’d never seen a bigger woman.

  Her bright frizzy orange hair was scraped back from a high forehead and hung down to her waist. She was wearing a robe that barely covered her bulging stomach, and the extended arm was a mass of sagging pink and purple flesh. She could have been any age between thirty and sixty, it was too hard to tell; the blubber around her cheeks filled out the age lines.

  Jade decided the woman must have been over seven foot tall, and wearing no shoes, her feet appeared huge and bloated. She thought of the giant footprints in the sand but couldn’t make the connection.

  “You’ll join me, won’t you?” The large woman simpered in a small girlish voice. “Cucumber sandwiches, my favourite. Please sit down and make yourselves at home.”

  Awkwardly the group sat down on an overstuffed sofa opposite her. There was a gigantic plate of sandwiches and a bottle of lemonade on a centre table that was set with cutlery for five people.

  Jade looked around the room. It was opulent, self indulgent. Several thick white fluffy rugs adorned the highly polished wooden floorboards and what appeared to be expensive antiques stood grouped together on the mantelpiece over the carved marble fireplace. On the walls were oil paintings, nothing she recognised and Jade thought they didn’t look particularly good, like something an uninspired child might do when he or she was bored. Slap the paint on, let it run and call it modern art. Not to her taste. There was one though that was beautiful. It depicted a plain glass vase that seemed to shimmer with a myriad of rainbow colours.

  “I see you’re admiring my artwork.” The tall woman beamed.

  “Your artwork? You painted them?” Jade was surprised. She pointed to the picture of the glass vase, “I really like that one,” She said.

  The woman scowled. “I don’t. It was painted by one of my servants, the rest are mine. You have poor taste in art.”

  Jade flinched at the insult.

  There was no subtlety in the woman’s paintings but there was a delicacy about the brushstrokes that had drawn the vase; she should have known the huge woman’s fat fingers couldn’t have created something so beautiful. She was beginning to think she didn’t like the overbearing woman very much.

  “You live here alone?” Brett asked politely. He was taken aback by the woman’s presence, she seemed to tower above them and he realised the strange mixed smell of perfume and sulphur was wafting off her body in waves every time she moved.

  She gave a small tinkling laugh. “With my little friends; I believe you’ve already met one of them. His name is Toffin, he’s my butler. He likes to be known as Wilson, very British, don’t you think? Do help yourself to a sandwich.” She sat back heavily in her chair and began squirming, adjusting the folds of her fat around her and sighed. “Where are my manners? My name is Queen Bebo, this Island belongs to me.”

  “Does anyone else live on the island?” Cassie tried not to stare as Queen Bebo lifted up one of her enormous breast and placed it in a more comfortable position on her lap.

  “I’m afraid I’m not allowed to tell you that. This is a very secret place, you understand. It’s not always here. It....visits, if you know what I mean.”

  “Not really,” Robbie said and took a sandwich.

  “Let’s just say it’s here when I want it to be. I suppose,” she went on, her small eyes suddenly turning crafty, “You’re here to find the Chalice of Truth?”

  Brett glanced at Robbie and raised his eyes. “Maybe,” he said, “Do you know where it is?”

  “I might but I can’t tell you. If you took it away from here then the Island would cease to exist, and that wouldn’t be fair, would it?” She crammed a whole sandwich in her mouth and chewed it down rapidly, taking a small swig of lemonade from the bottle. “You’re not the first to come snooping around, not that it will do you any good. You’ll never take the Island’s secrets away from here, you won’t be allowed.” She chuckled, a thick rolling sound in her throat, “No-one knows what the question is, you see, so there can never be an answer.”

  “Why is it called the Chalice of Truth?” Jade asked curiously.

  “Ah,” Queen Bebo stopped chewing, her arm halfway to her mouth, a cucumber sandwich clutched in her hand. “It is the destroyer of lies. It holds the secret of the universe. But as I’ve said, so far, no one has been clever enough to ask the right question.”

  “What’s that then?” Robbie enquired, helping himself to another sandwich.

  “Well, if I knew that I’d know everything, wouldn’t I?” Queen Bebo stared at him and frowned. “As long as the Challis of Truth remains contained on Sandy Island no harm will be done but if someone was to take it away...” She spread her enormous arms out and fluttered her hands, “well, let’s just say they would suffer a fate worse than death. Not worth it is it, to steal it and melt it down for a few measly pounds?” Her face had taken on a look of cunning.

  She’s lying, Jade thought, watching the woman’s fat fingers drumming on the arm of her chair. She wants the damn thing for herself, greedy old witch. It was obviously an object of power. Jade didn’t believe the nonsense the woman was saying but she knew about cults, and the rituals they performed, and she suspected the Challis of Truth was simply a focal point. She also suspected the woman and maybe others on the Island were messing with Black magic.

  She shivered slightly, vowing not to believe anything she was told or get dragged into some mind altering mumbo jumbo. It could just be that the Challis of Truth was made of gold, embedded with diamonds, worth a fortune, that would explain why it was kept hidden away. There was always the other possibility that it didn’t even exist, that it was a made up story for tourists to cluck over.

  “We’re not here to steal anything,” Cassie was saying to Queen Bebo, “we just want to go home.”

  “I see,” Queen Bebo’s voice suddenly turned brisk, “you’ll stay the night, of course? Anything you want just ask Toffin, or if you prefer, Dink.”

  “Dink?” Jade raised her eyebrows.

  “Toffin’s girlfriend; my girl Friday.” Her mouth pulled down, “She painted the vase. She’s a robot too, but why should humans have all the fun?” She paused, her small round eyes suddenly narrowing at Jade. “I don’t appreciate your disapproving stare, Miss, I’ve no doubt you’ll be wriggling around under the bed sheets with your boyfriend yourself later on.”

  Jade flushed. She poured herself a glass of lemonade and drank it down.

  “Where do the robot’s come from?” Brett asked.

  “That would be telling. You’re really very nosey, aren’t you?” And then Queen Bebo’s voice rose shrilly, all the girlishness gone from it, “I’m not answering any more questions. You may go now, I need to rest. Toffin!” She screeched.

  The robot tottered into the room.

  “Show these young intruders to the guest room.”

  In the hall Brett stopped. “I think we should leave,” he whispered. “I don’t like this, it’s wrong.”

  “Cucumber sandwiches and a decent bed for the night, really?” Robbie was still chewing.

  “I don’t like her, she’s not...normal.”

  “Did you see the way she kept moving her skin around as if she wasn’t used to it?” Jade said frowning.

  “If you were that fat you’d be fidgeting too,” Cassie told Jade.

  “Well, I say it takes all sorts,” Robbie said, “she’s just a rich big old bag and I think we’ve dropped lucky finding this place.”

  Jade grimaced. As far as she was concerned the obviously self appointed Queen Bebo was a very strange woman and not to be trusted. She had her own agenda, Jade thought she might be hoping they’d find the Chalice of Truth so she could get her fat grubby hands on it. If she was right and it was made of gold and covered in diamonds and rubies then it would pay fo
r a few more slave robots to be made.

  Halfway up the stairs there was a pounding on the door. Toffin stopped abruptly and turned.

  “You must wait here while I attend to business,” he said and made his way back down to the door. Brett watched in amazement as Toffin began dragging in several large sacks, stacking them up against the wall. He slammed the door shut and preceded back up the stairs.

  “What’s in the sacks?” Cassie asked.

  Toffin looked perplexed. “Cucumbers of course,” he said. “What else?”

  “There must be a year’s supply.”

  “Three and a half days, delivery twice a week.” Toffin blinked several times. “Queen Bebo enjoys her cucumber sandwiches.”

  “Where do they come from?” Robbie asked, intrigued.

  “A special farm. Now I’ve said too much. Hurry up, I’ve got work to do.”

  Either the so called Queen Bebo was as mad as a hatter or something very unpleasant was going on, Jade thought as she reluctantly followed the others up the wide staircase and into a large bedroom. There were two double beds with frilly white covers on, turned down as if they’d been expected. Two large lights hung from the ceiling making Brett wonder again where their source of electricity was coming from. There was one window that spread across the whole front of the room with no curtains.

  Brett walked over to it and peered outside. It was gloomy, his watch told him it was six thirty, and spits of rain were hitting the window pane. He could see the garden stretching down to the trees and he shivered wondering if they were doing the right things staying overnight. Darkness was still a few hours away, they had time to leave and find somewhere more suitable to rest.