Burnington Gaol

F I F T Y - T H R E E | Frank

Frank shut the door behind him, locking it quickly before Adeline could get in. Her yells soared above the rest of idle chatter, but he could barely hear her over the beating of his own heart. That dangerous black rage began to swell inside him again. He could feel it growing, bubbling up like hot tar, and he welcomed the feeling. He wanted to feel all those awful things that he had kept buried for so long as he took Tony's life in his hands.

When the door locked, Tony paused mid-step. Frank studied the back of his head, shoulders tense and ready to attack. After a slight pause, Tony slumped and let out a sigh.

"I'm surprised they let you out so fast," he said, turning around slowly.

Frank eyed him, lips curling into a sneer.

"They didn't."

"Ah," he said. "Rookie move, Frank. You should've stayed. Once Addie and Billy got the evidence together, they probably would've let you go scot-free anyhow. But now you've escaped, well. They'll find you again, and now they'll lock you up again."

"Maybe," Frank said. "But they'll find you, too. And I don't think life in prison will cut it when it comes to murdering a thirteen year old girl."

"And what of the hundreds you killed? And what about the woman your brother took from me? Where's my justice?"

"You lost your right to justice the moment you killed Susie. And now," Frank said, stepping closer. "Now I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done to me."

Tony smiled bitterly.

"We'll see about that."

Frank lashed out first, his fist so fast and precise that Tony barely dodged it. Tony grabbed his arm, using it to twist him around so his back was facing Tony. He was just about to kick Frank in the back of the knees when he managed to get his other arm free and elbow Tony in the jaw. He stumbled back, caught by surprise, and that moment was all Frank needed.

He got in one swift punch to Tony's jaw, sent him flying into wall behind him, his legs barely keeping him up. As they tangoed, Frank felt the sweat on his skin, the dampness of his clothes. That anger in him kept climbing, spreading, until all he could see when he looked at Tony was Susie's rotten corpse, the blackness of her skin when he found her that day lying in the canola field. He saw her face again, how it had been frozen into a silent scream. Her mangled, twisted limbs entwined with the yellow weeds...

Frank grabbed Tony by the collar and threw him to the floor. Coughing and spluttering, Tony looked up at Frank with blood flowing from his split lip, a smile creeping onto his face. From his right pocket, he pulled a knife – and it wasn't some dodgy, homemade shank. It was a real, thick, sharp blade, shiny enough to see one's own reflection. Frank eyed it for a second, felt his chances declining.

Tony was on his feet in a second and he lunged towards him, slicing into the air. It quickly became apparent that even though Tony had the blade, he didn't how to use it. Frank, despite himself, smiled as he sparred with the crook officer, his movements graceful and deadly. Tony swung, the blade in his hand, and Frank caught his wrist. With a slight twist, Tony let out a cry and dropped the blade, which fell to the tiled floor with a metallic thud. Frank snaked his arm around Tony's throat, locking him there in a choke hold.

"You want to know something, you fucking bastard," Frank spat. He leaned in close, his lips right beside Tony's ear. "You are going to be my last kill."

Frank reached down, grabbing the silver knife off the tiles. He kicked the back of Tony's legs, making him hit the ground on his knees. With a handful of Tony's blond hair gripped firmly in his fist, Frank reefed his head back, reached around with the knife in his hand, pressed the blade to his throat...

Then the door burst open.

"Frank, don't!"

It was Adeline's voice. It shrieked across the room, echoing off the white walls. Frank looked up. She stood there, trembling, with her eyes wide and fearful as she drew in deep, adrenaline-filled breaths. The world seemed to stand still as he looked into her eyes, saw the pure terror that burned there. She was scared both for him and of him.

"Frank, please."

Frank grinded his teeth, felt the blackness tingle in his veins, swallow him whole.

"I have to," he said, voice raw as he looked into Tony's cold blue eyes.

"No, you don't. Look at me."

He let out a strangled breath, turned up his eyes.

"All you have to do is stop," she said softly.

"I... can't."

"Yes, you can."

She stepped forward, hands shaking.

"Susie wouldn't want this."

"Susie doesn't want anything anymore," Frank wept, the tears running down his cheeks. "Not since he took her from me."

"I know," Adeline said softly. "He deserves to be punished, just... not by us. We can't be the ones to call the shots here."

She approached him slowly, sunk to her knees at his side. Frank didn't move, didn't look at her, until her felt her delicate hand touch his arm.

"If you kill him now," she said, "they will lock you up. You'll stay in that prison for God knows how long, and you won't get to see all the things Jimmy would've wanted you to see."

Frank thought back to the letter, to Jimmy's scribbled handwriting.

See things you've never seen, meet interesting people. Explore. Travel. Run away with a circus, for all I care. But do it for all of us. Because you're the only one who can.

I died so you can live, so don't waste a minute.

Frank let out a choking sound, the sob catching in his throat.

"Come on," Adeline said gently, her fingers running down his arm, closer to the blade. "Just hand it over, and all this can be finished."

Slowly, carefully, Frank released his grip, and Adeline's fingers wrapped around the handle. It took everything in him to let it go, and when he did, he let out a deep breath – one he hadn't known he'd been holding.

Adeline slid the blade across the tiles, out of everyone's reach. Ed suddenly appeared in the doorway, Billy at his side. Frank didn't know how long they'd been standing there.

"Tony Grayson," Ed announced, stepping forward. "You are under arrest for the rape and murder of Susan Dawson. You have the right to..."

Frank instead let himself lean forward, collapsing into Adeline's arms. The sobs that had clawed away at his insides for so long came tumbling out, the pain he kept buried finally surfacing, and Adeline, sweet and caring, held him there comfortably as he clung to her, never once shedding a tear.

© A.G. Travers 2018