The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

1

Cass curled up in her cardboard home and tried to put the storm out of her mind. She needed get some sleep but she couldn't. There was danger close by. How close, she couldn't be sure but she could sense it.

That poor kid, she thought to herself as she rolled over, trying not to disturb her fury housemate. She knew that she had to help her – she was the only one who could – but she didn't know how. The curse always worked in different ways. Sometimes she would be given all of the facts; sometimes just the roughest of outlines and other times just a series of dots which would only begin to make sense when the time was right.

2

A figure dressed in heavy waterproof clothing had followed the homeless woman, at a safe distance, back to the arch where she lived and waited for the right moment to advance. There were rumours that she was a witch; that she knew things before they happened and if this was true, there was no such thing as being too cautious.

A flash of lightning lit the entire area. The figure crouched down low – rock in hand – knowing that at the next flash it would be time to close in.

3

Cass thought back to the time when she was a little girl. Things had been so normal then. She remembered one day when she had returned home from school. At the time there didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about this particular day. Her mother made a light tea of jam sandwiches and milk and both of them settled down in front of the television and waited for her father to return from work.

He usually got back between six-thirty and seven o'clock so when he hadn't returned by nine they had started to worry. That was the first night Cass had gone to bed without her father there to tuck her in and say good night. Her mother had tried her best to do everything just the way he did; she dimmed the light, read her a couple of chapters from her favourite book, cuddled and kissed her but it was not the same.

That night she found it difficult to sleep. She tossed and turned and even dipped her head under the blankets but nothing worked. At one point she had heard her bedroom door open and close again and when she looked out from under the covers she saw her father standing by the side of her bed.

"Daddy," she beamed. "Where have you been, we've been so worried about you."

He smiled down at her and said in his deep, soft voice. "You don't have to worry about me darling, go back to sleep, there's a good girl."

Cass smiled and closed her eyes. This time she had no problem sleeping.

Later on that night she had awoken to the sound of the doorbell she heard footsteps rush past her door and down the stairs. She walked over to the bedroom door, opened it and walked along the upstairs passage towards the top of the stairs. She tip-toed down the first five steps then peeped over the banister to see who was calling at that time of the night. A uniformed police officer stood in the doorway and spoke to her mother for a little while. For a moment her mother had just stood in the downstairs hall, not saying a word. Then she collapsed. The policeman caught her before she fell too far and helped her along the hallway and into the living room.

"Mummy, what's wrong?" cried Cass as she ran down the stairs, almost falling down the last couple.

She ran into the living room to find the constable helping her mother to sit down in the chair by the fireplace where the embers were still smouldering away behind the metal guard.

"Mummy?" Cass said, watching the scene before.

The policeman looked at her for a second but he couldn't keep eye contact. "I'm very sorry."

Cass ran to her mother and held her tight. "Tell me what's going on."

It was a long time before her mother finally told her, "It's your father... he was knocked down by a car on his way to work. Cass dear, daddy's gone to heaven."

"But he's here, he came into my room tonight and spoke to me."

Her mother held her at arms length and looked deep into her eyes. "No dear, daddy's gone," was all she said before she held Cass again and started to rock her.

4

The next flash of lightning had taken so long to come that the figure had almost given up hope. Now the signal had been given and the move forward had begun.

5

Cass heard a bang from outside and froze to the spot. She tried to concentrate on the sound but the raging storm outside her box was too loud. It's probably just the wind, she told herself. The next bang was even louder. Next to her Jasper sprang to his feet and spat into the darkness.

"You stay here Jasper; I'll go and see what's going on."

Cass crawled out of the relative warmth of her box into the downpour where someone was standing right at the opening. She looked up just in time to see the rock come crashing down towards her head.

Author's Note

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