by Kat Green
Jimmy covered his face with his hands, howling with despair. ‘I didn’t mean it. I am so sorry.’
‘Fucking hell, Dad,’ James, his younger son, snapped. ‘You killed a girl, for a joke. Shit.’ His hands balled into fists. He thought of his daughter just turning eleven. ‘She wasn’t much older than our Casey. How could you?’
‘I was a stupid messed up kid, I didn’t mean to kill her. I was going to go back, but I couldn’t get back. You know how my dad was. It was a complete fuck up.’
James jabbed his finger at his dad. ‘No, there is no excuse for this. You could have told someone. They could have found her, someone could have gone to her. You kept your mouth shut, three weeks that girl stayed tied to that tree. Fuck! That’s sick.’
Adam was too sickened by it that he couldn’t speak. He left the room, kept walking out of the house and drove home. His emotions all over the place, he just wanted to go home to his wife and sons. His dad, his hero had been a fraud all his life and everything he thought he knew and trusted had just been crushed. How would he explain to his children that Grandad wouldn’t be around anymore? It was hard enough thinking about him dying. Maybe that’s how they’d explain it, spare them the truth. But he doubted that would be possible. This would hit the news, and everyone would know.
*****
The silence in the room was deafening. James looked at his dad, bewildered, tears in his eyes. ‘Dad, how did you live with it?’ he asked, his voice weak, broken. They were interrupted for a few minutes when a carer came in to check on Jimmy giving him a chance to think about his answer.
Once they were alone again, Jimmy sighed heavily. ‘I have hated myself ever since that day. I hated myself before then. More so after. You boys and your mother were the only happiness I ever knew. I didn’t deserve it, but you made life worth living. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me.’
James got up from his seat and patted his dad’s hand. ‘I need time to process it, but I know you never intended to kill her. I’ll see you soon.’
As he watched his son leave, he knew there was a chance he wouldn’t see either of his sons again. He hoped he was wrong, but he felt the connection with his sons breaking. He stared at the door for several minutes hoping his boys would return. As he shifted position he felt the cold, heard the rattle and the cracking, and smiled at Nancy.
‘I’m ready to be punished now. I accept my fate.’
Nancy’s face peered into his, her expression sad, and she touched his cheek. Her fingers so cold and yet gentle. ‘Jimmy, there is something you need to know.’ Her lips brushed against his ear and his eyes widened as she spoke.
16
Peter walked through the park, the rain soaking his skin. Finally, he was free from the guilt. He’d told his family. His daughter had been upset, of course, but had understood it wasn’t intended. She’d promised to stand by him whatever happened. The chance to tell his wife had ended years ago, when a heart attack had taken her one cold December morning. They had all prepared their families the previous week, allowing them time to process everything before they handed themselves in at the local police station. This was the last few hours of the normal life he’d lived. Brenda wouldn’t take their calls and was still refusing to come clean. But they had followed through and it was over.
This could be the last time he walked in this park, felt the freedom, but it was time to face his mistakes. His phone vibrated in his pocket, but he didn’t recognize the number.
‘Hello.’
‘Peter, it’s Adam, Jimmy’s son. You have to run, she’s coming. Nancy is coming for all of us.’
The terror in Adam’s voice gripped Peter. ‘What? We are doing what she asked.’
‘My dad’s dead, Peter.’
Peter stopped in his tracks, and his heart missed a beat. ‘What?’
‘I don’t know what happened. A care assistant found him this morning. He’d hung himself. Only I don’t think he’d do that. He could barely get out of bed.’
Jimmy couldn’t have done that. He needed help to go to the toilet. Adam was still talking and Jimmy homed in on a few words. ‘He’s an eight-year-old boy, and he says a girl was in his room last night, a girl with no eyes.’
Adam had heard his son screaming in the early hours. His room was empty, but his son was in a terrible state. He claimed a girl had been crawling along the floor, she had no eyes and was telling him horrible things about his grandad.
‘What the hell is happening?’ Adam bellowed down the phone. ‘My son won’t leave his mother’s side. He’s asking about it all. How do I answer him?’
Peter couldn’t think straight. This wasn’t what he’d expected. Nancy going for a child. ‘Adam, listen to me. It will be fine, I just need to sort something out. Go and be with your family. I’ll call you.’
Adam hung up and Peter found a bench to sit on, his legs like jelly. He needed to rest before he fell down. A few boys were kicking a football around. A few girls watched and checked their phones and giggled. Normal scenes that you take for granted, and he wished life was that simple for him.
17
The crash, followed by a painful sounding groan, made Brenda jump, making her stomach churn. Her son was upstairs fixing her bathroom tap. He’d always been good at fixing things, which helped with costs over the years.
‘Dennis!’ She rushed up the stairs two at a time, calling her son’s name. At the top she found him sprawled on the floor, clutching his arm. ‘What happened?’
Dennis looked confused, as he rubbed his arm again. ‘I’m not sure. I think the bloody cat must have run between my legs and tripped me.’
He cursed again and picked himself up, shrugging his mum off. ‘Mum, I’m fine. Sodding cat.’
Brenda looked around but there was no sign of the family cat. ‘Are you sure?’
Dennis shrugged. ‘I didn’t see her, but something ran between my legs. I was looking at my phone. I tell you she’s lively today.’ He laughed as he said he’d heard her running around the bedroom, knocking things over. ‘It’s cold in here today,’ he commented. ‘Have you had the heating on?’
Brenda felt a chill in her bones. It couldn’t have been the cat because when she’d heard the crash, Daisy had been sitting outside in the garden watching the birds and had been out most of the day. The cat loved being outside and had grown out of knocking things off shelves. She was an old cat, and napping was her main pastime. In fact, when they returned to the kitchen to check his arm, which he insisted was fine, Daisy was still in the garden.
‘I’ll put the heating on.’ Brenda went to the wall control, but the heating was already on. The house remained cold. She swallowed the dread and returned to her son, a smile plastered on her face.
‘Daisy, you dozy fluff ball,’ Dennis was calling through the window. The cat turned her head to look at them, pulling her ears back, before returning her gaze to the birds. Dennis got over his fall as his mother made them lunch, followed by coffee, and he relaxed.
‘Tap’s fixed, Mother. Is there anything else you want me to look at while you have me here?’
‘Thanks, son, but no, I’m fine.’
Brenda sat opposite her son and sipped her tea as they discussed recent news updates.
As they chatted Dennis shivered. ‘Good job you’ve put the heating on. It’s bitterly cold in here.’ The hairs on his arms were raised and there were goose pimples. He took a sip of his tea and quickly spat it out. ‘What the…’ The tea was now ice cold. ‘Bloody hell are we in the Arctic?’
The scream caught in Brenda’s throat. As Dennis had moved his head, Nancy’s face appeared behind him, staring back at her, her mouth open and hissing. Those empty eye sockets and her hands held out ready to choke her son.
‘You have to tell the truth.’ Nancy’s hands moved nearer her son’s neck. He was unaware of the vision his mother was seeing, but he knew something was wrong.
‘Mum, what’s up?’ He leaned over and grabbed her hand. ‘Mum?’
&nb
sp; ‘No, no, no!’ Brenda screamed, scrambling up from her seat. ‘Get away, it wasn’t my fault.’
Dennis tried to calm his mum down, but she backed away, screaming at him to get out of the house and to run. Dennis looked behind him following the terrified looked of his mother. ‘Talk to me, Mum!’ The punch to his back sent him crashing to the floor. ‘What was that?’ he asked his mother.
‘Dennis, go. Go now. Oh god, I’m sorry. She is going to kill us.’ The tone of her voice told him she meant it.
18
Amy looked over at her gran trying hard to see the woman she’d known all her life. The one who had been there with cuddles and kind words. The remorse was real, Amy knew that for sure, but the whole thing made her stomach churn.
‘Now what do we do?’ Amy asked.
‘I have to go and hand myself in. It’s what she wants.’
Amy nodded and took hold of her gran’s fragile hand. ‘It’s the right thing to do. I’ll come with you.’
Edith didn’t want that, it wasn’t something Amy should have to do. ‘No, darling, thank you, but I don’t want you to go through it. This is my mess. You can do one thing for me instead. Tell your parents. I can’t tell my son, I just can’t.’ Amy agreed; she just needed to find a way to break the news.
In the meantime getting her gran prepared for her visit to the police station was her priority. They played Scrabble, what would probably be their last chance and drank tea. As they played Amy pretended just for that hour that nothing had changed, it was just a normal day. Keeping her sadness inside was hard. Part of her wanted to hide her gran’s dark past and carry on as if she didn’t know, but that was the one option they didn’t have. Nancy wouldn’t allow it and deep down coming clean was the right thing to do.
Edith focused hard as she tried to find a word with the highest score and Amy noticed how her face had aged even more over the past week. Suddenly she felt the pain of losing her gran creep into her heart. The hour passed, and Edith won the game. Amy slowly packed everything away and washed their mugs.
Then the phone rang. ‘I’ll get it,’ Edith called.
Amy busied herself in the kitchen and didn’t give the phone call a second thought until she heard a sound, like an animal in pain. It took a few seconds for her to realize it was her gran. She raced to the hall and found her collapsed to her knees, the phone pressed to her ear.
‘No, no, please, no,’ Edith cried down the phone. Amy went to her asking what had happened but her gran was shaking and verging on hysterical. She had gone into shock, unable to speak.
Amy took the phone and didn’t expect to hear her mother on the other end sobbing too. ‘Mum, what’s happened?’
Amy gripped the phone as her mother cried. ‘I don’t know what happened. He was fine this morning. Everything was going to plan.’
It was Amy’s turn to scream as the news beat into her brain, and her entire body felt like it had shattered into pieces. Her parents had planned a surprise visit, landing late last night and staying in the airport hotel. The plan had been to arrive this afternoon to surprise them both. They had some news and wanted to tell them in person, but when her mother had woken she had found her dad not in the room. She had assumed he’d got up and gone down for breakfast. He always woke hungry. Only soon after, she’d heard a commotion, people talking and rushing down the corridors. Her mother hadn’t expected to go and see what the fuss was about to find that her husband had thrown himself off the roof.
Her mum was alone, and they needed to get to her. Amy dragged her gran to her feet and screamed in her face. ‘This is your fault. He didn’t kill himself, did he? This was Nancy.’
It wasn’t long before she was racing to her mother. Her calls to Lee went unanswered which worried her, but her mother was now her priority. How she arrived at the hospital was a miracle, driving without thinking too much about what she was doing. It was just the shock of her dad being dead. As she ran through the doors she searched for her mother.
The lady at the reception area greeted her with a smile. ‘How can I help?’
‘My dad. I think he killed himself this morning. I need to find my mother.’ Her words came out in a torrent, her whole body shaking.
The lady looked at her sympathetically and asked for some details. After a search she looked confused. ‘Are you sure it was this hospital?’ Amy was positive her mother had given her this name. Another search gave her the same answer, nothing matching her parents had been recorded at this hospital.
‘I’m sorry. Perhaps try the others in the area.’
Amy left the hospital and sat in her car, in a daze, to call her mum.
‘Amy. How are you, sweetheart?’ her mum answered cheerfully.
‘Mum are you OK?’
‘Yes. Why?’
Amy gripped the phone, her knuckles going white as her mother chatted about her morning.
‘How’s Dad?’ Amy asked.
‘Oh, you know your dad, he’s always OK. He’s interviewing for new staff today. We’re so busy at the moment.’
Amy was confused, but relieved. She could have cried but she held it back, not wanting to alert her mum to the fact that anything was wrong. Her dad was alive and right now that was all that mattered. Once the call finished she drove out of the hospital car park and headed home.
Ahead of her a car slowed and came to a stop, and a man got out of the car, cautiously, and turned to stop her.
‘What’s wrong?’ she called from her window.
The man looked back and then scratched his head. ‘I swear there was someone lying in the road.’ He went to check the road again while Amy got out. The road ahead was clear.
‘Maybe it was just rubbish, and it blew away.’ Amy assured him.
‘No, it was a young girl, I swear to god.’
Amy went cold. Nancy, she thought. ‘Well, there’s nothing there now,’ Amy said and smiled to hide her distress.
The man shook his head and muttered under his breath. ‘I must be losing my mind.’ Finally he returned to his car and drove off.
Amy waited a minute for him to disappear then went back to hers. She didn’t see her at first, but as she started the car the air turned cold and the windows iced up. As she turned to the passenger seat, the flash of those eyeless sockets was quick, the movement even quicker. Amy’s head smashed against the window and everything went black.
19
The three old school friends stood in the woods, their lives in tatters. Their secret was not staying dead, and it was taking those they loved with it. Jimmy’s grandson, Amy, Dennis and Peter’s grandson were missing.
‘If you had just done as we asked,’ Edith snarled, jabbing a finger in Brenda’s face. ‘You did this. If anything happens to my Amy I’ll kill you.’
Brenda didn’t flinch at the threat. ‘If she’s hurt my Dennis, you can go ahead.’
They had gone back to the scene of that night. The tree still stood as if nothing bad had ever happened. They could still picture it, Nancy tied up and scared out of her mind.
‘Why didn’t he go back,’ Edith sobbed. She hated that Jimmy had broken his promise. ‘He promised me.’
‘Jimmy was a selfish bastard, that’s why,’ Peter snapped. ‘I’m glad he’s dead. It’s all his fault.’ His voice was different.
‘It wasn’t all Jimmy’s fault,’ Edith snapped back.
Peter glared at Edith. ‘Don’t you dare feel sorry for him. He ruined our lives.’ He moved forward, a look of pure hatred on his face. ‘He treated you like shit and you just let him.’ He spat as he spoke, his usual calm, kind manner gone. ‘Even after what he did, you still idolized him. No matter what he did you wouldn’t have it. It made me sick.’ The anger in his eyes made her skin crawl.
Edith stepped backwards scared of her friend, he was acting so out of character. Then Peter swung at her, slapping her hard across the face. ‘Peter,’ Edith yelled as she rubbed her cheek. ‘What is wrong with you?’
Brenda was frozen to the
spot gazing beyond her arguing friends, tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched Nancy crawl towards them, the cracking, rattling sound coming from her, and she knew this was it. Everything was about to come to a head. Nancy was rage personified.
‘She’s here,’ Brenda screamed.
Edith and Peter stopped fighting and stared. They were rigid as she approached. It was a grotesque sight. But worse was to come, as light lit the trees behind Nancy and sobs caught in their throats. Their families were tied to trees in the same way. Eight-year-old Matthew’s scared sobs were pitiful. He was squirming and crying out for his mother. Amy’s head hung limp, blood dried on her skin and clothing.
Peter let out a gasp as he saw his grandson Dean’s lifeless face. ‘Dean,’ Peter called, but there was no response.
Edith looked at Peter, her mouth agape. ‘Dean’s your grandson?’
Peter nodded and hung his head. ‘He doesn’t know me. He’s my daughter’s son. The one she gave away as a baby.’
Edith had never known this, but asking questions about his family history would have to wait. Their loved ones were in danger.
The rattle from Nancy’s throat got their attention. ‘You took my life away, I’ll take yours.’ Her voice vibrated around them then the grass beneath their feet began to frost over. ‘So cold,’ Nancy’s voice rattled, her head cracking as it turned to each of them. Brenda sobbed, unable to break eye contact with Nancy as she moved towards them. The floor turned to ice, and frostbite took hold.
‘Nancy, stop,’ Edith begged.
Each movement of Nancy’s body sounded as if it would snap off. It was a horrendous sound. ‘I’ve been cold for so long, I just want it to stop.’
From the tree where she was tied Amy began to mumble, then panicked as she realized where she was.
‘Amy, it’s OK, just stay still,’ Edith called out. Nancy spun round and charged at Amy, circling the tree. Then she did the same to Dean then Dennis.
‘Tell them the truth.’
