Burnington Gaol

F O R T Y - S E V E N | Frank

A dark-haired guard stood outside Frank cell and he knew his time had come.

He recognised the guard as Adeline and Billy's father, Officer Wilson. He offered a small smile as he moved from his bed towards the cell door, where he fed his hands through the slot and felt the familiar, cool steel slip around his wrists. Some guards, like Tony, didn't mind barging in to put the cuffs on, but Ed was a by-the-book type of guy. Frank smiled, thought of Adeline, stepped back as the door opened. When he saw his face in full view, not only could he see Adeline in Ed's eyes, but also the teeniest, tiniest hint of confliction. It was as if he was unsure of himself, unsure if what he was doing was just.

"Ready to go?" Frank asked him.

Ed blinked, snapped out of it, pulled him along. They walked along the pathway where Jimmy was buried, past the damp, grainy walls and honeycomb bricks, and he wished that he could see the grave one last time, but it was too far and in the wrong direction. Ed instead led him to the Hanging Tower, which Frank craned his neck to look at. It looked much like the watchtower in which Adeline and Billy lived, and it reminded him of them. A part of him hoped they were inside – a final friendly face to gaze upon before Death took him away.

When the door creaked open, the first thing Frank saw was the trapdoor. It stared at him menacingly, cruelly, laughing at him. Above it was a heavy wooden beam with a hook, where the rope fed through and the noose hung still. The light shone onto the rope through the window behind it, where the circular brick wall which encompassed the small room parted.

The reality of such a sight caught Frank off guard and his body suddenly froze. In that moment, he realised how afraid he was to die. His eyes found the hangman's, standing beside the trapdoor, and Ed pushed him forward. The hangman, with his face covered in black cloth, grabbed the noose and slipped it around Frank's neck. When it was tight, Frank felt the knot hanging just above his left ear. He looked deep into the hangman's piercing jade green eyes with his lips curled into a sneer.

"Show me your face, you coward."

The hangman ignored him and stepped away. When he did so, Frank finally laid eyes on the handful of people present, ready to watch him die. Much to his disappointment, neither Billy nor Adeline were present, but both Ed and Tony were, along with a man in a suit and another guard he didn't recognise. He looked at them all with bitter disdain and a burning hatred in his eye, and yet he couldn't truly blame any of them either. Like he'd told Adeline, he knew that after all the lives he'd taken – even though each one had deserved it more than the last – he'd had this coming for quite some time. So, he accepted his fate gracefully, and his face softened.

A man stood up and began to recite a passage from the bible. Frank paid it no mind. Instead, he closed his eyes and pictured young Susie. Her beaming smile, the light in her eyes, the way the sunshine played with her auburn hair. He saw Jimmy, too. His warm brown eyes and soft grin. The freckles he had as a boy. Even Adeline, and the tears she would shed for him. All the ones he loved and was loved by played out behind his eyes, and the pain he felt soon vanished. There was peace in death, Frank realised, even if there would be no justice for Susie's killer.

The man stopped talking and in the distance, Frank heard the large bell ringing from Turning Centre. Ding, dong. Ding, dong. Ding, dong. Ding... He tapped his finger to it, eyes closed.

But then something happened.

Something that ripped out the peace Frank felt and tore it apart.

Frank looked down at his hands, at his tapping finger.

That's what the tapping was – that was what Adeline was trying tell him. Frank thought back to the meeting, to the rhythm. He played it out, tapping along to it. It was Morse code. Tap, tap, tap...

His eyes snapped to attention and met Tony's with a look of horror on his face. Tony remained motionless, but immediately saw the revelation in his eyes. However, he didn't panic or run, he only sat there, his lips curling into a disgusting, frightening smirk. That look filled Frank with a dark, wild anger that made his hands shake.

The hangman stepped forward, and Frank made his move.

With his cuffed hands in front of him, he grabbed the masked hangman by the collar and head-butted him hard. The man reeled back in shock. Another guard was on Frank in half a second and in one, swift motion, Frank ripped his walkie-talkie off his belt and bludgeoned him with it, before turning and throwing it out the window. The glass shattered with an ear-piercing smash, and jagged shards were scattered across the room.

Suddenly, the suited man was on him, and Frank grabbed him by the tie and yanked him downward, where he delivered a solid knee hit to his jaw. Frank had barely a second to look up and see Ed pull the lever before the floor gave out and the trapdoor swung open. Frank fell but, thinking quickly, reached for one of those shards of glass.

Then, the fall ended, and all the weight of Frank's body seemed to land upon his throat, where the noose was pulled tight and the air was trapped. He opened his mouth in a desperate gasp but nothing came. His eyes bulged as the pressure and heat hammered against his skull. With a growl, Frank reached up and cut the rope with the glass. Grabbing the severed end, the noose went slack against his neck as he clung to the rope above with both hands. He looked up and saw Ed watching, terror and shock on his face.

"Wilson!" He screamed. "Where's Grayson? Where's Adeline?!"

Ed's brow furrowed.

"Please! Where is the other guard?!"

Ed turned away for half a second, paused, his confusion growing.

"H-he's gone."

"He's the one – the one your children have been hunting. He's going to do terrible things to them."

"What?"

"Listen to me!" Frank screamed. "He killed my daughter, and he framed my brother and I. He's been here, with your children, and if they keep digging, he'll go after them too. He probably already has!"

"No," Ed said. "You're wrong – "

"Listen to me!" Frank begged. "If you don't get me out of this hole and take me to your kids, then they will die. You hear me? He'll kill them both!"

Ed paused for a moment, and Frank's hands began to burn.

"You're not lying," he whispered.

"If I was lying, don't you think I'd come up with something better to say?"

Then, something in Ed's eyes shifted, and he reached down and pulled Frank out of the hole.

© A.G. Travers 2018