The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

1

Alan Stephens awoke on the living room floor, his head spinning, mouth and throat completely dry. The room was a total tip. He arose shakily from the carpet and made his way over to the door. Fuck, my head's killing me. What the hell did I get up to last night? He walked out into the little hall and saw that it was in much the same state as the room he had just left. On the stairs he saw a pair of black trousers and a red T-shirt and smiled to himself. Oh yes, I remember now. He climbed the steps two at a time. It was time to play again.

2

When they reached the locksmiths, Penny and her mother were surprised to find that it was already open. The same young man whom they had seen the day before looked at them with a puzzled expression and then smiled.

"Hello," he said, "I was just about to send someone out to you. Change of locks, wasn't it?"

"Is it too late to change our minds?" asked Penny.

"Sorry?" The look of puzzlement came back to the man's face. "You mean you don't want the work done now?"

"I'm afraid that's right," said Penny's mother. "If that's not too inconvenient."

"It's not inconvenient at all," said the man as he looked through a stack of papers for the appointment sheet. "Mrs. Stephens of 153 Granger Street, is that right?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Tell you what, why don't I keep this sheet to one side for now just in case you change your mind?" The smile returned to the young man's face.

Penny watched her mother nod to the man and she saw him put the sheet to the back of the other appointment sheets. After saying their goodbyes Penny and her mother turned and left the shop.

3

Stephens climbed out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist and smiled at his reflection in the mirror. You've still got all the moves; he winked to himself before he turned away from the mirror and walked out of the bathroom.

Sarah lay with her eyes closed, naked on top of the bed sheets. Her left eye and bottom lip were puffed and bruised; her long, fiery red hair looked like a mass of tangled wires. In the ten minutes it took him dress back into the only suit of clothes he now owned, she had not moved an inch. Stephens knew that the sleeping pills he had forced down her earlier would keep her out of action a good while but just to make sure that she didn't get any funny ideas about running off before he returned, he decided that he had better be on the safe side.

He looked at the few remnants of Donna's clothing left about the bedroom floor, picked up the single stocking and the belt from the bathrobe and used them to tie the girl's wrists and ankles together. He needed something to make sure that she couldn't cry out if she woke up before he came back and found just what he was looking for in Penny's room. Stephens tied the long black sock around Sarah's mouth, carried her downstairs and locked her in the cupboard under the stairs.

Now that he held Sarah captive he knew that he could not risk bringing attention to himself. He spent an hour tidying up around the house and bringing his wife and daughter's things back in from the garden. Then he walked to the front door, took one last look behind him and walked out into the warm morning sunshine.

Stephens was just about to climb into his car when he realized that it was probably the only thing keeping Donna and Penny away from the house at the moment. As long as they saw the car there they would think that he was in there waiting for them and the last thing he wanted was for them to come back too soon, not with Sarah inside.

"Alan," said the middle aged woman. "What the hell was going on at your place last night?"

Stephens shut and locked the car door then turned to face her, his eyes were filled with mock sadness. "Er... yes... you mean all that noise I take it?"

"And the other stuff," replied the woman.

"Sorry about all of that Chris, I'm afraid Donna and I had a little bit of a domestic." Stephens looked away as if he was embarrassed.

"What happened, is Donna all right?"

Stephens could see by the look on Christine Taylor's face that his neighbour was going to need some more convincing. "Don't worry about Donna, she's gone and she has taken my daughter with her." He rubbed his eyes as if he was trying to ward off his tears.

"But why?" asked the woman. "Donna wouldn't just walk out on you for no reason."

"She didn't, I made her go."

"What!"

"Last night Donna told me that she was having an affair."

"What? But Donna would never do anything like that."

"Well that's what I thought. Apparently..." he broke off and took in a deep breath. "Apparently it's been going on for the past month or so."

"But... who?"

"I don't know, someone from work I think." He looked down at the ground again.

"Oh Alan, I'm so sorry."

Stephens could see by her expression that he had won her over. Now there was just one last passing shot to be played. "Look, I'm sorry Chris but I can't talk about this right now. I really must be going." He allowed the tears he had managed to muster to roll down his cheeks as he looked right into the woman's eyes.

"Of course, but if there is anything Sheldon or I can do you only have to ask, all right?"

Stephens hugged Christine. "Thanks, I'll remember that." He broke the embrace, turned away from her quickly and walked along Granger Street in the direction of the town centre. When he was far enough away he wiped away the tears and smirked. Now I'll just leave it up to that gullible bitch to spread the word around and nobody will be too surprised if there's a little more entertainment tonight.

Author's Note

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