Chapter 10: Murder

   Edward sat in the hallway, eyes closed, quite alone; just the way he liked it.  If he opened his eyes, he’d see three doors in front of him, each made from a different variety of expensive wood.  One door led to his room, one other was a bathroom…  The third door would open to reveal a second door, which in turn would reveal a third door if opened, and so on, until the seventh door is reached.  Each door was locked with a different key, and Edward had no idea what was behind them.

   He clenched the locket within his fist harder.  Where were the answers?  Where was the understanding he’d been promised?

   He threw the locket against the wall, thinking it would smash, however it only fell onto the floor with a dull thud, leaving a mark on the wall.  Edward swore.

   “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” his father shouted, from another room.  Edward opened his eyes, realising what he’d done.  He wasn’t shocked, only surprised.

   “ANSWER ME YOU UNGRATEFUL-”

   “I DID NOTHING!” Edward cried defensively.

   The answer seemed to satisfy his Dad, as there was silence once again.

   Sociopath, the psychologist had called Edward.  Not to his face, but the conversation was hardly the most secret.  It didn’t matter; it was only a name, such as Rat-Face, or Unlovable Freak… 

   “EDWARD CLARK!!!”

   “WHAT DO YOU WANT!” Edward shouted back.

   He heard thudding as his Dad advanced up the stairs.  He stopped three stairs early, his gaze upon the locket.

   “Where did you get that?” he asked.  After no reply, “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT!!!!”

   “I found it…” Edward muttered.

   “To Hell with that, you stole it didn’t you?” His Dad snarled.

   “…Does it matter?”

   “Depends.”

   Edward knew what that meant. 

   “She’s still alive, but couldn’t possibly have known…”

   “Oh, she?” his Dad asked, changing the tone of his voice.  Edward hated when he did that.  “Was she pretty?”

   “She was young…” Edward continued muttering.  The replies sounded better in his head…

   “Pity, you need an accomplice.”

   “I’m fine on my own!” Edward raised his voice.

   “YOU’RE A FAILURE ON YOUR OWN!!  YOU COULDN’T EVEN ESCAPE BRISTOL WITHOUT MY HELP!!”

   “SHUT UP!”  He grabbed the knife that never left his side, and plunged it into his father’s icy heart.

   “Y… y… you…” His Dad stuttered, gasping for breath.  He tumbled back onto the carpet, hitting his head on the banister with a slight crack �" not that it mattered now �" and desperately tried to form words.

   “I…Noh… Mm……… Son…” His gasping stopped, but the blood continued to endlessly ooze onto the carpet.

   Edward smiled; relieved of the endless taunts, and began clearing up the mess.  He would leave some bloodstains however, as a reminder.  It was fitting, to kill his Dad outside the series of rooms he had been so proud of.  Edward glanced at the locket, lying at the side of the hallway.

   “Thank you,” he said to it.

  

   “How will you find him?” Carrie asked, while sprinting to catch up with Rebecca through the trees.  “And slow down!”

   “He told me his name!” Rebecca called back, without slowing down.  “Edward Clark!  I don’t know how old he was, but if I can find a phonebook…”

   “We have one at my house…” Carrie said, and stopped.  Rebecca looked back at her.  She could find a phonebook anywhere, but Carrie was obviously worried about her parents.

   “That’s a good idea,” she replied.

   They walked in the direction of Carrie’s house.  After over twenty minutes, Rebecca said “Did you really run all this way… barefoot?”

   Carrie nodded.  “So would you, if you were being chased…”

   They continued in silence, for a few more minutes, until reaching Carrie’s house.

   “I can see them!  Look Rebecca, in the window, they’re alive!” she cried.

   “Must feel great,” she muttered in reply.  “Carrie, if you go in they won’t let you leave again, and I’ll have to go on without you.”

   “I… no!” Carrie said.  “Rebecca… please… stop this…”

   She began crying.

   “That man has the, the locket!  Why do you need it?” she desperately whimpered.

   “Stay here then,” Rebecca said while turning, and began walking.  “I’ll go to my house for a phonebook.” 

   Which was a lie.  She could never return there now.

   “Rebecca!” Carrie called after her.

   “I’ll let you know when I kill the Knight!” she bitterly shouted back.

   Carrie sighed.

   “Rebecca… I’m… I’m coming with you!”

   She wiped away tears, and ran after Rebecca, who’d made no acknowledgement that she’d heard.

   “Rebecca…?” Carrie asked, having caught up.

   “What happened to Billy and Paul…?” Rebecca asked herself.  “They can’t be dead.  They just can’t!”

   “Paul last went to the police station…” Carrie reminded her.

   “As did Billy…” said Rebecca.  “The Knight could have attacked them!”

   “Do you want to go look for them?” Carrie asked.

   “No,” Rebecca said instantly.  “I’m going to find a phonebook, you can get them in the library!”  And she stormed off once again.

   Edward closed the door.  His Dad was smart; there was no denying that.  And just as every little bit uncaring as he was.  But then, at least Edward wasn’t sadistic.  It wasn’t his fault if people deserved pain.

   But that was more than he’d expected, even from his Dad.  He’d always thought his Dad was, although evil, a coward, and hired people to do his dirty work.  Like dealing with his own wife…

   The seventh door in the seventh room…  His Dad had always gone on about the number seven.  He’d had seven bodyguards, who Edward had naturally disposed of.  His Mum and him had been together for exactly seven years, before her “accident”.  He’d told Edward he’d performed his first murder at the age of seven. 

   He pulled the Locket out of his pocket.  He had it to thank for everything, for giving him the courage to continue.  It must be a gift of some sort…

   Edward tucked it back in his pocket.  He had lots of work to do.  Yet… the locket felt too vulnerable in his pocket.

   “Dominic!” He called, to the family servant.  “I’m going out on a… business venture.  I want you to have found my safe by the time I return!”

   A small balding and hunchbacked man waddled into the room.

   “Your safe sir?  Don’t you already know-?”

   “It is somewhere in my old room, but I don’t have time to look for it.  Find it for me!”

 

   The library always opened very early, and that day was no exception.  Rebecca walked inside, and retreated to the back.  After hiding in the forest that night, being somewhere public felt very different.

   She found the phonebooks, and picked the top one up.

   “No… that’s two years ago,” Rebecca muttered.  “They’re all two years ago!  Carrie, help me look.”

   After a couple of minutes they found the right phonebook.

   “Cl… cla…” Rebecca muttered to herself.  Carrie stood, shaking.  She desperately hoped there was no Edward Clark in the phone book.

   “It’s not here!”

   Carrie could barely hide her happiness.

   “Now how will I find him?  Did he use a false name, or…?”

   “Rebecca, if he’s not there-” Carrie began to say.

   “Please shut up, I’m not stopping,” Rebecca said simply.  Carrie sighed, but silently followed Rebecca as she stomped around the library.

   She stopped, and said, “It may not necessarily be registered under his name, he may have a father or someone else living with him.  He didn’t look much older than twenty.”

   “Or maybe they don’t have a phone,” Carrie suggested.

   “Also possible, though I hope not,” Rebecca said nervously.  “I’ll have a look at the other Clarks in the phonebook.  If necessary I’ll phone them all and ask for an Edward.  You could help!”

   “I…” Carrie stuttered.

   “Although no, you might muck it up.”

   Carrie looked at her sadly.  With anyone else she’d be mad, but Rebecca wasn’t herself.

   “Sorry, lack of sleep,” she explained, then yawned.

   “I’ll just help you look through the books,” Carrie muttered feebly. 

   Rebecca found the phonebook and opened the right page on her first attempt.  She skimmed through it quickly.

   “Yes, we’ll need to call each one.  There’s only… around forty Clarks here.”

   “ONLY?” Carrie shouted.

   “Do be quiet miss,” the librarian said while walking past into a nearby doorway.

   “And that’s only in the area near the forest,” Rebecca sighed.  “But unless he was there for a specific reason, and not just going for a walk, I think he would live nearby.”

   They took the phonebook and walked to the counter to ask if they could use the phone, to which the receptionist kindly said yes.

   “Okay, I’ll dial the first one, a Nick Clark,” she said.  After a few seconds of dialling, Nick Clark picked up the phone.

   “I don’t recognise your number…” he muttered immediately.  “Who are you?”

   “Is there an Edward Clark there?” Rebecca asked?

   “Oh… no… there isn’t…”Nick sheepishly answered, and hung up.

   Rebecca dialled the second one, with no luck also.  The third began asking about some deal, and the fourth rambled on about shapes in the sky.  Why were there so many nutcases in Manchester?  Or was it just something to do with the surname Clark?

   She dialled a fifth time.

   “Hello?  Claire Clark answered.

   “Hi, is there an Edward Clark there?” Rebecca asked.

   “Uh… yes, there is, I’ll get him,” Claire said.  “EDWARD, SOMEONE ON THE PHONE…-”

   Rebecca gasped.

   “Him?” Carrie mouthed.  Rebecca nodded.

   “Hello?” Edward asked.  Rebecca’s heart sank �" he sounded nothing like the man she’d met.  She put the phone down.

   “It’s not him!” she cried, thumping the wall.  “He used a false name, he must have!  The sort of person that carries a knife around would use a false name.”

   “Are you going to go through all the numbers?” Carrie asked.

   “I’ll have to,”

   Twenty minutes later, they still had no luck.

   “What now?”

   “I don’t know!” Rebecca snapped.  She stopped, and thought.

   “I’ll have to go back to the forest, he might have dropped something, or-”

   “You won’t find anything even if he had!”

   “But what else can I do?”  There was a definite hint of desperation in her voice.  Carrie couldn’t answer, and said nothing.  She gazed out the window, thinking.  This was getting harder and harder by the minute.  Not only did they have to destroy an indestructible locket, avoid being killed by a Knight, and kill the Knight, but also they now had to find the Locket, and steal it.  It wouldn’t be easy.  Why wouldn’t Rebecca just give up?

   “I’ll recognise him when I see him,” Rebecca was saying, though Carrie was barely listening.  People walked along the street, unaware of the massive burden they had, while continuing their carefree lives.  Well, not all of them.  In the shadows of an alleyway stood two men, leaning close, buried in a discussion.  One of them seemed violent, as if he were threatening the other.  He pulled off his cap �" to point at it, for some various reason �" to reveal his bright red hair.

   “If only he’d-” Rebecca continued.

   “Rebecca, look.”

   Edward Clark, having shoved the man against the alley wall, turned and stormed away into the shadows.

   “Come on!” Rebecca cried.  She sped through the phonebook to the ground and sped out of the library.

Reviews

[Riding the Rainbow]

this chapter was scary and really cool! Edward killing his father(not as good as I thought) and Rebecca's mission to find him?? I CAN just say..MOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE