Paga

Henry and his mother Lisa cover up the murder of Luca, Henry's stepfather and Lisa's husband, and Henry is plagued with terrifying nightmares and visions. Horrifying truths about Luca soon surface.

 

Paga

By Dillon McFarlane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paga - He/She/You      pays/pay         �"         from the Italian verb pagare (To pay)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All scans of handwritten content in the form of a diary or journal are completely fictitious and were written for the purpose of putting them into the book for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real life events or people, alive or dead, is completely coincidential.

 

Popsavic County Sheriff's Department Evidence Log

Item No: #463572

Case No: #75485

Previous Owner: Henry Lloyd

Victim: Luca Calabresi       

Item Description: Personal entry from journal/diary of Henry Lloyd

Date of entry: 06/30/2016

Other details (optional): Language: English/Italian

Method of Importation: Electronically Scanned

Original Method of Creation (If known): Handwritten by Suspect

Transcription: Available

Transcribed: Yes/No

Transcription (If Needed):

 

 

 

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START OF TRANSCRIPTION

Sunday, June 12 2016

He hit her again. That uomo[1] with the Italian accent.  I can hear it. I can always hear it. I can hear her sobs, her tears bottled up, only cries of physical pain being heard. Still, her physical pain is what she tries to hide also, but the pain in her heart is and will always be there, held in until she is alone, when she lets only some of it out. I can hear him laughing at her. That sick human. I want to do something but I don't want to interrupt his ritualistic activity. I hate him and I want him gone. I don't tell anyone because I don't want to be taken away from my amazing mother. She makes me silent, because she wants the same as me, to stay together. She takes it from him; she is weakly strong, and she loves him and I apparently don't understand what it is like at my age, 15. I don't want to hear them but they don't produce music loud enough to block out the slaps and screams and punches and spits. I feel horrible for her, as I cannot do anything. I want it to stop. I want him to stop.

END OF TRANSCRIPTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter One

                 -Boys will be boys

"Henry, it's 7 o'clock, come on get up!" Lisa Lloyd, shouted from the bottom of the stairs, cradling a crying bundle in her arms, her four-month old son Johnny. His mum was great. She had four people to get organized in the morning. Henry was already awake, and was aware of the time, but was waiting until 7 before getting changed. He was waiting for his alarm to sound, alerting him of the time, but it didn't go. Piece of crap. Once he was dressed, he grabbed his bag and his lunch card and left his bedroom, stumbling to the kitchen where he grabbed a cup of coffee freshly served from the machine. Walking towards the dining room, he heard a grunt from inside. S**t. Henry continued to walk in, and saw it sitting at the table, swiping through Facebook on his phone. Henry didn't want to speak to Luca, as he hated his guts, in fact, he hated every cell. Johnny was sitting at the table too, in his high-chair. Johnny was smiling, as usual., and waving at everything. Henry smiled at his little brother.  Luca glanced over at Henry and smiled.
"Hey, Henry, come sit down."
He didn’t want to, but he did anyway. It had been a long night. He didn’t get any sleep. The repeated banging noise from his mother’s bedroom kept him up. He knew what it was, but Johnny didn’t, and Darren would, but he would probably be passed out from some new drug he discovered or made himself. There was a sniffle as �" speak of the devil - someone else entered the room. Darren, Henry’s 18-year-old cousin walked in. He was a disgusting human being, but nothing like Luca. He and his girlfriend were planning on moving out but they would have a terrible life. They had nowhere to go but were desperate to leave. Henry’s Aunt Linda had been taken into a home full time after her accident. Darren had then come to live with them. Lisa hated the idea of such a slob living with them, and she couldn’t say she loved him dearly, because she didn’t. He usually kept to himself, going out only to buy cigarettes or hash, and his own alcohol. He used to go to school, but left as soon as possible. Darren’s girlfriend Shelley came around to the house a lot, to see Darren, and she, too, sometimes wound up staying for a few days at a time. Luca’s job paid well. Their family was never stuck for cash. Johnny wailed at the table.
“Now, shush, bambino[2],” Luca Calabresi hushed Henry’s younger brother. Johnny was only being playful, and didn’t really need the attention he sought.
“Morning, junkie,” Luca smiled at Darren. A*****e.
Darren made a sarcastic laugh and picked up Johnny. Something was different about Darren today because he smelt good, and he looked smart. He had shaved and his hair had been trimmed. He looked very different.
“What’s wrong with you, man?” Henry asked him.
“Don’t be rude, I’m job hunting, OK?”
Henry laughed.
“Seriously? You won’t get a job around here, nobody will hire you!”
“That is why I’m moving to the city. I swear, I’m going to change. I’m stopping the drugs, and changing my life!”
Darren turned and left with Johnny, leaving an awkward silence for Henry and Luca to enjoy.
Henry wanted to leave, but he felt awkward if he did leave. However, he was saved by the angry mother, who rushed into the dining room and asked Henry to hurry. They both went through to the kitchen where there were thousands of tiny glass shards from a broken plate.
“Was this you, Henry?” Lisa asked.
“No!” Henry shot back a reply. “It wasn’t me, mom, it must have been Darren, OK?”
“Fine, but grab your bags, we’re going to be late.”

The boy walked up to Henry. Henry didn’t get on with this kid, but a bully and a non-bully are bound not to work together.
“Hey, Hen,” the boy, Martin Ferguson, was a cocky boy. Everyone knew him. At school there were two types of kids, smokers, druggies and alkies, and sensible, hard-working, innocent, well behaved pupils. Henry was the latter, and Martin certainly wasn’t.
“Hi, Martin,” Henry didn’t want to start anything. There was no point being rude, just because they didn’t get on.
“I saw you in town with your mom on Saturday,” he said to him.
“Yeah, so?” Henry replied. Everyone knew Martin was a perverted young man, and all his past girlfriends were disgusted when they discovered the real him.
What Martin continued on to say made Henry furious. Nobody said that to him. Nobody. Henry stood up.
“What did you just say?”
“Wow, big man!”
He repeated it, making Henry even more angry.
“F**k you!”
Henry raised a fist. He tried to hold back. His conscience told him, ‘This is your last chance, drop your fist and everything will be OK’. Henry didn’t listen. He swung. Martin wasn’t ready for this. Henry’s fist hit Martin on the nose, and the cracking sound was tremendous. At this time in the morning, just before school started, everyone was tired. Everyone in the pupil social area looked as Martin slumped to the ground, clutching his nose.  Henry watched the blood drip from his nose into his hands as he scurried away to the toilet, totally embarrassed.

The journey to schools was rather hectic. First, Lisa had to drop Johnny at his childminder, then take Henry to school, then, if he was going, take Darren to the city. She worked hard each morning getting the kids to school and then she had to get herself to work. She didn’t hate her job. It wasn’t the best job in the world, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either. The money was good. Lisa was a manager of a stationery supplies factory. It was good money because of all the clients they got bought many stock all at once. It sold stock all over the world. Lisa sat in her office, adding up invoices and sending letters. Frankly, she was bored of this boring job. When she got pregnant the first time, she hoped that the baby would get further than her in education. She didn’t go to college. She stopped when she was 16 and left to start work straight away. When she lost the baby, she wasn’t going to try again, but her husband gave her the confidence to try again. The second time was more successful, and she proudly gave birth to baby Henry. Throughout her first pregnancy, Lisa had a name for her baby. James. When Henry was born, she wasn’t sure about the name. She wanted to call him James, but she didn’t want James to feel replaced, so they changed it. It was a happy change. Then, almost fifteen years later, she gave birth to another beautiful baby boy, and they called him Johnny. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Three sharp, loud taps woke Lisa up from her daydream, although it was more of a nightmare; all these sad memories and feeling coming back to her.
“Erm…yeah come in,” Lisa sorted her hair quickly and looked to the door as the person came in.
It was Sandra Smith, the b***h from reception.
Get lost, Sandra. I have no time for your s**t.
“Miss Lloyd, we’ve received a call from your school.”
Surely, the school would phone her, but then again her phone is turned off most of the day, so they wouldn’t get through. But Sandra could have forwarded the call to her office phone surely.
“Well, what did they say?” Lisa asked, getting worried over probably nothing. Henry was a perfect student. Straight A’s in all classes but Maths, but he was trying his best.
“It seems he has been in a fight with some other boy, Miss Lloyd,” Sandra looked embarrassed.
“Ok, Sandra. Thank you for telling me. I’ll phone the school, thanks.” Lisa smiled as Sandra backed up, smiled and closed the door behind her as she left. Sandra was so beautiful, but clumsy and had little common sense. Lisa picked up her phone.

The school conference room smelled fresh. The oval table she sat at had a hole in the middle. Quite fancy, but it didn’t at all look any good. The woman across from her kept staring, with a snide look on her face. Mr. Hanson, the depute head, smiled at both of us, then our two sons.
“So, let me get this straight, boys. You both started the fight at the same time? Nobody started it?” he asked.
“No, he started it, but I was just defending myself,” said the cocky little teenager sitting across from me. His mother too looked like she had come from work. She was wearing some sort of security pass, or a fob, and was smartly dressed.  The smug little kid held a bloody tissue to his nose. He pretended to look hurt. A nose bleed didn’t hurt. She would know.
“Ok, Henry do you agree with Martin?” Mr. Hanson asked him.
“Yeah. I started it. The little creep was saying some horrible stuff to me!” Lisa looked at Henry and internally frowned. She was disappointed in him.
“Ok, and what kinds of things?” Mr. Hanson continued with his questioning.
“About my mom.” Lisa was shocked. She was getting angry. That little s**t better not have said anything about me.
“He called her…” Henry stopped and looked at his mother, then sighed.
“He called her a MILF and that if he ever got her alone he would, erm…do things to her.”
The other mother’s eyes went wide. She turned and looked at her son, with a dropped jaw.
“Did you say these things, Martin?” Mr. Hanson asked him, his voice beginning to become a little harsher.
“No,” he said, shyly, his face reddening like crazy.
“Yes you did, Martin! Just tell the truth and we can both get out of here!”
“Fine, yes I said it but I didn’t mean it, obviously!” Martin cried.
“Ok, Martin. Mrs. Ferguson, I am going to have to suspend Martin for three days for his behavior. And Mrs. Lloyd…”
He was interrupted.
“It’s Ms.”
“Apologies, Ms. Lloyd. I’m going to have to suspend Henry, too, for his behavior. For three days. I hope the five of us all agree that this is the correct punishment?”
“Yes, sir,” Martin replied under his breath.
This is all I need.
Lisa grabbed her bags. She looked at Mrs. Ferguson, Martin’s mother, and gave her a dry smile and walked out, knowing that Martin was in the wrong and not Henry. She was proud of him, for sticking up for her. But now he was suspended. Great. This will be going on his record, probably. When they got to the car, nobody spoke, and as she left the school gates she lightly chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Henry finally spoke the first word since they left the school.
“Nothing. Just…thank you for sticking up for me, Henry. Jesus, you really got him good, huh?” She laughed, and Henry turned away to smile, not wanting her to see him. When they go home, Luca was there. He was sitting at the kitchen table, with his phone in his hands. When the door opened, he jumped up, and seeing it was her, he got angry.
“Where…the…hell have you been, Lisa?” He spat as he talked.
“You been with some other guy, have you? You w***e, I knew it!” He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the sink. Henry walked in, and saw him holding her.
“Luca! What the hell are you doing?” Henry shouted, and ran to them, pushing him off of her.
“I was at the school with Henry, Luca. He punched some kid!”
Luca stopped, and let go of Lisa. She held her arms to her chest, and stepped away.
“Why, Henry?” Luca asked, with a slight smile.
“Well…because…” he looked at his mother behind Luca and she shook her head furiously.
“Because he was annoying me and he kept saying things about my work in class, and threatened me that he was going to ruin it!”
“Mamma mia[3], Henry, you’re an animal!” Luca laughed and patted his back, as he left the room, with no apologies. Henry went up to his mother and hugged her.
“Are you OK?” He asked.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” She wasn’t. She never was. She never will be.

 

 

 

Chapter Two

           -The Fear

 

 

 

It wasn’t long till it happened again. He heard a slap and it woke him up. Luca was peculiar. He was a horrible, abusive person, who treated women like garbage, but when he was with the kids, he treated them like his own. They went on holidays together, and whenever they are all together as a family, everyone gets along and its lovely. He took them out for dinner some nights, and bought them gifts frequently. Henry didn’t love him at all, but he had lived with him for 2 years, but still wasn’t used to him. He was a bully when he was alone with his wife, and Henry hated it. But as soon as Henry walked in, it all stopped, like it never happened. Henry checked his alarm clock, and it was 7:34. Then he remembered that he had no school today. He wanted to relax but the thought of his mother being abused downstairs made him get up and go down. Luca hit Henry too. He didn’t do it as brutally as he did to Lisa, but he still hit him. When he misbehaved or if he got involved with him and his mother, he would get a slap or a kick. It was horrible. Henry didn’t hate anyone as much as he hated Luca. Lisa hadn’t changed her name, and to everyone she was still good little Lisa Lloyd. She never changed the kids’ names either.  Lisa was pregnant with Johnny when she met Luca. She instantly fell in love with him. Unfortunately, she didn’t know what he was like when they were alone together. It escalated after they were married, which was six months after meeting. Henry’s dad was well and truly out of the picture. Jail was the best place for him. He was sentenced to six years for drug possession. Henry’s father, Roy Lloyd, was a drug dealer, but, he wasn’t a drug user. He was an amazing father, and Henry hated that he was no longer here with him. Lisa and Roy broke up when she found out about his drug dealing job, and got a divorce. She kept the name, and moved swiftly on. He never met Johnny, but Henry hoped that he would meet his son. One evening, she met Luca in a bar, when she was out with some of her friends. They exchanged numbers, then six months later, they were married. The first time Henry met him, he seemed so nice. He was foreign, and had a cool accent. He was from Italy. Henry knew some Italian, and would frequently speak to him in Italian whenever he came around to the house.
“Ciao, Luca, come stai?[4]”
“Bene[5], Henry, grazie[6]!”
It was fun, but when he saw the way he treated his wife, he was horrified. He found out one night, when he came down for a glass of water. He walked in and saw Luca holding a sharp knife to Lisa’s throat.
“Mom?” He said, shyly, and when they both turned to look, Luca hid the knife and smiled.
“We were only pretending, weren’t we Leese?”
Lisa nodded and smiled at Henry, and he didn’t get his water, instead he went back upstairs and lay scared in bed. He was only 13, but was able to understand what was happening.
It seemed like they were always pretending. Now, at 15, he knew exactly how he felt about him, and what he was doing to her. Lisa was strong, but she didn’t fight back. She was too scared. She loved him, unbelievably, and this is the reason she couldn’t let him go. No one knows what would happen if she tried to break up with him. He would probably kill her. He didn’t want to think about that, and he got dressed. He was hoping to take the bike out, and clear his head. He could go down to the castle, and take a ride down there. When he was dressed, he got some toast from the kitchen, where the arguments had stopped. Luca was in the dining room, with Johnny, and Henry could hear the baby laughing. Darren was in the living room, half naked, with a bowl of cornflakes in his lap. Henry shook his head at this. Lisa walked into the kitchen.
“Erm…where do you think you’re going, young man?” she asked, seeing him dressed.
“I…I’m going for a ride on the bike, is that a problem?”
“No, you are not! You’re coming into work with me, you can help me with stuff, OK? Actually I was thinking about this last night, and I think you could be quite good at it. Come on, we’re leaving in five.”
“Come on, mom! I don’t want to go to your work!”
“You can get free pens if you want, or something!” she replied, walking out of the kitchen. Luca replaced her presence, with a darker, and more unpleasant one.
“Morning, Henry,” he said, pouring half a cup of tea into the basin in the sink. Why do people do that? Why not pour it down the drain? Other dishes need to be washed too, you know!
“Buongiorno!” he replied in Italian.
Luca smiled at this.
“Where are you going today?” Luca asked.
Luca was 37. He was quite tall, and quite thin. He was, like the stereotype of Italians, extremely hairy. He was a handsome man, and always dressed smart for going to work. Right now he wasn’t dressed, but waiting for Lisa to iron his clothes. He was barefoot, and had no trousers or shirt on, his bare chest on show. His hair was wet from the shower he had come from half an hour before. He didn’t dry his hair. He let it dry naturally. Weirdo. Lisa came through with a shirt, tie, trousers, and socks. He took them, and thanked Lisa with a kiss, and left the room to get changed.
“Ok, we ready?” Lisa asked and they left for the factory.

 

 

 

Chapter Three

-      Taking the blame

 

It was around about eight when they arrived at the factory. Lisa was the manager, so nobody would care if there was a child there. He was almost old enough to be working anyway, so no one would mind. He just wasn’t allowed in the actually factory where everything was manufactured. His mother promised him some free stationery, so he didn’t refuse when she asked him to come.
“So Luca’s taking us out for dinner tonight, ok?”
“Yeah, ok. Sounds nice,” Henry replied.
Henry was sitting at the second desk in the office, folding letters and putting them into envelopes. It was fun. He felt like he was helping, which he was. He took a bundle of twelve letters to the franking machine, where twelve stamps were put on them. It was fun, but soon got incredibly boring. The mail sack got full, and it was a huge sack. He couldn’t believe the number of letters he had folded that day. Lisa was proud. When he thought he was done, Lisa pointed to the photocopier, and he watched as pages began pouring out of the beast of a machine.
“More letters?” He asked her.
She nodded.

It was a long day but good. He managed to snag lots of pens, and got some binders. He was a very organized person, especially at school, and put all of his different class work in different folders. This system soon got boring, and he ended up leaving all his binders in his bedroom before going to school. It was nearing exam season, and there was no more class work to complete as the courses were all done. As they arrived home, Henry noticed Luca’s car was in the driveway. They parked next to him, and got out of the car. Henry pulled out his phone and checked his messages, walking inside the house. Luca was at the window watching them come in. He was dressed smart. He was still going out for dinner, then.
“Ciao, guys!”
Lisa smiled and kissed him.
“It’s lovely that you’re taking us out, Luca,” Henry said to him, smiling.
“It’s no problem, Henry, we don’t do it often, so it’s nice to do it once in a while!”
Darren was also coming and Luca arranged for Johnny to stay at his grandmother’s house that night so they would have a family night. Nobody really new about the real Luca. Everybody saw him as an amazing person, who treated his family amazingly. His other family lived in Italy. They came over one year, and there was a huge fight. Luca did start it, and the family knew. They seemed scared to say anything. Henry noticed, and everyone was shocked. They soon forgot about it and everyone played a huge game of Trivial Pursuit. The ride to the restaurant was fun. Luca wasn’t going to drink that night, as he was the driver, but he would definitely drink when he got home, depending on his mood. The restaurant was quite fancy, and not many places were left. Tables in this place were booked weeks prior to their meals, and you had to pay a booking fee to make sure you would actually go. Luca must have been planning this night out for a long time.
The Diamond Horse was a well-known restaurant in this part of the state. The food was delicious but super expensive. They sat down at their table. For once in his life, Darren looked sensible and tidy, and he also did yesterday when he went job hunting. A young waitress came over to the table, with a mini iPad and asked if they were ready for drinks. She was very well manner.
“Could I just have a coke please?” Henry asked, smiling at the waitress.
“One coke,” she repeated.
“I’ll have a diet coke please,” Lisa asked, and Luca also added.
“Make that two, please.”
“And could I have a glass of water.” Darren’s voice was low and phlegmy. He had no manners at all.
The waitress went away and came back a few minutes later with the drinks. Laying them down on the table, Henry caught Darren staring at her breasts. He couldn’t help but smile. Lisa sipped at her straw. Henry sat next to Luca, and heard him moaning before he even opened his mouth.
“I wish they wouldn’t put ice in the drinks,” he groaned.
“Honey, they just want to keep the drinks cool,” Lisa smiled, trying not to offend him. That night at The Diamond Horse was Curry Night. When the waitress came back over, she was smiling again.
“Hey, guys, can I get you any starters?”
They ordered some Indian themed starters from the Curry Night menu and then ordered their main courses simultaneously. Henry picked the Jalfrezi curry, as he liked spicy foods, but normally regretted ordering as soon as he started eating. He found that most places that sold the Jalfrezi didn’t even cook it hot, spicy-wise. He enjoyed it anyway.  His mother ordered a korma. She liked mild foods, and kept herself boring. Darren got chicken tikka. Luca got another boring choice of bhuna. Henry didn’t judge anyone’s poor choice in meals, but if that’s why they liked, then so be it. They started talking about Darren, and what he was going to be doing job-wise.
“You know what? I’m thinking of starting a business,” Darren said to them, prompting Henry to almost choke on a piece of chicken he had just swallowed. An old couple at the table next to them looked up, as if someone choking on a small bit of food was like seeing a flying pig. He was slightly embarrassed and continued with the discussion.
“What’s so unrealistic about this aspirination?”
Darren asked.
“Darren, do you mean aspiration?” Henry asked him, and he got a look of disgust in reply.
Luca made a growling sound. Henry turned to him. He held, in his fork, a piece of chicken. It didn’t look like there was anything wrong with it, but looking at it, Henry noticed it was slightly red on the inside. It wasn’t bhuna. It just wasn’t cooked correctly. Luca’s face turned tomato colored, and he dropped his fork. Spitting out the food he had already in his mouth, he jumped up and shouted for a waitress.
“We need someone over here right now!” He barked. A young man in a suit rushed over.
“Is everything ok over here?” He clasped his hands. Luca lifted the fork and showed the man the raw chicken. The man looked shocked.
“I don’t know how this has happened, sir, but I can organize a full refund, and a free…”
Luca interrupted, making the man start.
“I don’t bloody care about a refund, I’m more worried about your business!” he growled.
“Sir…”
“You know what?” Luca asked. “This is a family night. Just get me a drink, please. Cider.”
Bad idea, Henry thought. This was going to end badly.
Lisa also looked worried.
The man in the suit looked terrified but relieved.
“OK, sir, certainly. I’ll be right back with your complementary drink,” he emphasized the fact that they were getting something for free. Many pairs of eyes burned them all, and Henry felt extremely awkward.
“Are you sure you should drink and drive, babe?” Lisa asked her husband.
“Lisa, please, I have been driving for 28 years, I can handle a few drinks, OK?”
She nodded and stopped talking.
It wasn’t just the one drink after all, that he had. He bought another two when the deserts came. They all had ice cream. Henry looked behind him and caught eyes with two different groups. They were talking and laughing, looking over every few seconds, showing they were talking about Henry’s stepfather.
God.
To make it worse for Lisa, she had just spotted someone she hoped she would never run into again. Nadia Ferguson, with the same snide smile she pulled in the school conference room, looked at her. She was with her husband. Lisa felt like throwing her glass of diet coke over the room at her, and embarrass her. She felt humiliated.
“Do you think we can go now?” Lisa asked, feeling like a little girl. “Shall I get the bill?”
“No!” Luca raised his voice again. Nearer people began to look.
Please not again.
“I mean, no, because we’re not paying the bill, remember?”
Luca stood up.
“Come on then, let’s get out of here!” he said, grabbing Henry’s arm and helping him up, they all walked away from the table. He put his arm around Lisa’s back. She thought he was being nice, but he was actually falling. She kept him up.
“You’re drunk, Luca!” She cried. “You can’t drive like this! Shall I drive?”
“I’m fine! And no, you’re not driving my car, Leese!” Luca looked straight at Lisa and smiled.
He looked fine, not drunk. But he kind of swayed a bit when he walked. The manager came back up in his suit to let them know the bill had been deleted and they didn’t owe anything. Lisa thanked them and they left. Luca got into the car, but he was clearly drunk. Henry was worried, but Luca was a good driver. Hopefully they would get them home safely. He started the car and backed up, out of the space. They were soon on the man road, and they drove quite steadily. Henry was texting one of his friends from school when he heard a car horn blaring and they swerved off the road. Henry dropped his phone but he didn’t care. He was more interested in his life. Looking at the front windshield, all he could see was trees. Then they crashed into a fence. There were a few minutes of stunned silence, before anyone said anything. It was Darren who spoke first. Technically, screaming isn’t talking, but he was the first one to do anything vocal.
“My f*****g leg!” Darren wailed.
“Oh my god! Darren, you ok, baby?” Lisa shouted to the back seat. She unclipped her seatbelt but a hand grabbing her wrist stopped her from getting out of the car.
“Lisa!” Luca, the man who caused this, was trying to avoid jail.
“What?”
“You have to climb into my seat, now!” Luca unclipped his belt.
“Luca, what? Why?” Lisa asked.
“Because if you don’t, the police will investigate this and I’m going to jail! You haven’t been drinking!”
They exchanged seats and it all seemed terribly wrong. Darren was still screaming. Lisa got out her side of the car and ran to Darren’s door.
“Hey, there, you guys alright?” An old man, probably about seventy years old was walking down the hill they drove off, and was asking if they were ok. Luca was also out of the car, and ran up to the man.
“Hi, thanks, we’re going to be ok. You can go now,” Luca said to the man, who looked offended, of course. He turned around, saying goodbye, and left. Luca rushed back to the car. Lisa was on the phone to emergency services. An ambulance arrived five minutes later, and Darren’s leg was a mess. It was clearly broken from his screams. Darren was put onto a stretcher and put into the ambulance. The paramedics took large clothing scissors and cut the leg of his trousers, revealing a bloody trunk. Darren saw it and must have fainted because his screams died down and he lay on the stretcher making small whimpering noises. Henry was panicking. He hoped he hadn’t hit his head in the crash, and he was worried for his mother also. Darren never wore his seatbelt, probably the reason for his injury. Luca and Lisa were speaking to a paramedic. A police car then pulled up, and parked on the hill. Two officers, one male and one female, walked down to them. Another paramedic came over to Henry, who was standing, looking slightly dazed.
“Son?” He asked, looking at him closely.
“Erm, yeah?”
“You don’t look too good, you OK?” he continued as a second ambulance pulled up and came down the hill.
“Oh, yeah I’m fine, really, nothings broken,” Henry replied, smiling to the paramedic.
“Ok, well sometimes you feel fine, but you are actually just in shock. Do you want to come into the ambulance and we can check you out?”
“Sure.”
The police woman who began talking seemed like she was in learning. She always looked at her colleague for a nod of the head to see if she was doing it right. In his hands, the male police officer carried a box which probably had a breathalyzer in it.
“So, erm, who was driving the car when it crashed?” the female asked. She was blonde. Quite pretty and quite young. She seemed like she would make a good cop. Lisa gulped.
“I was.” Lisa replied. “You see, my husband here was drinking, so he couldn’t drive. It’s his car, and I’m insured to drive it, so I was driving home.” She stopped, not wanting to say anything else, in case they somehow found out the truth.
“Ok, well what made you crash the car?” The cop asked her.
“There was a…a bird. I saw it coming and tried to swerve slightly to miss it, but I swerved too much and slipped off down the hill,” she continued with her lie.
“Ok.” The cop stopped for a second to write some details down.
“And who was in the car with you?” She asked, looking at the ambulance.
“My son, and my nephew. And my husband,” she answered.
“Ok, and are they OK?” The woman continued.
“Well, I hope so, and I would like to check but you are hammering me with questions. It was a simple mistake, no one is badly hurt and nobody else on the road was harmed, so what is the problem here?” She sped up with her answers, agitated.
“Ms, I am very sorry for the questions but we need to make sure no one consumed alcohol before driving or while driving the car, OK?” She was calm throughout the whole thing.
“Ok, sorry.” Lisa said.
The male police officer lifted up his box, and unclipped it open. Inside the breathalyzer machine was there. The police officer set it up, and asked Lisa to step forward. She stepped forward
“Ok, now breathe out into the straw please,” the officer said, and Lisa obeyed. After a few moments, there was a beep, and the police officer looked sad.
“You’re clear, miss, sorry for the inconvenience. Now for you sir?”
“And why are you testing me, I’ve already admitted that I was drinking?”
“Well, we need to test the volume of alcohol in your blood, so, please, if you don’t mind, step forward.”
The machine was setup again, and Luca stepped forward and blew into the straw. After a few seconds, there was a BEEP BEEP BEEP sound, louder than Lisa’s reading.
“Yes, there is a large amount of alcohol in your blood. If you were driving, you would be losing your license, sir.”
The policeman smiled, and pulled off the straw, placing the machine back into the box.
“Thank you, sir,” said the policeman and walked back to the car.
“There is no need for an investigation.” The female officer explained. “We don’t want to keep you from your family.”
“Thank you so much,” Lisa said and began running to the ambulance to see Darren.
“We’re going to get to the hospital, miss, would you like to come with your nephew?” the paramedic asked.
“Yes, please.”
“Henry!” Lisa shouted to the second ambulance.
“Yeah, mom, I’m ok,” he shouted back. The paramedic let him go, and he ran to his mother.
“Mom, you OK?”
“I’m fine baby, but your cousin isn’t. I’m going to go to the hospital with him.”
It was getting dark and it was freezing.
“Honey, Luca’s going to go home with you, OK?”
“OK, mom. Is the car OK?” he asked, smiling.
“Yeah. Luca’s gonna be pissed, though. See you soon baby, we’re leaving.”
Lisa turned and hopped into the ambulance. Its sirens wailed as it sped off. Luca appeared behind him.
“Hey, Henry, we’re going to get a lift home with the police, come on,” Luca grabbed Henry’s shoulders.
They walked towards the police car, and they were put into the back seat. Henry was angry. He didn’t want to look into this eyes, he didn’t want to be near him. He made his mom take the blame for the crash. He wanted to kill him. Henry could have easily said that Luca was driving the car, then they would open an investigation and find the fingerprints on the wheel, or security camera footage from the restaurant. But he kept quiet. The ride home was awkward. Henry felt like a criminal, sitting in the back seat. He decided to take a selfie in the police car. Then he was bored.  When they finally got home, it was almost pitch black, and many lights in the house were on.
“Where’s Johnny?” Henry asked Luca.
“He’s in the house, with Sam,” he replied.
That’s why the lights were on. The police officers got out of the car and opened the back seats and let them out of the car. Henry thanked the officers and rushed inside, Luca following behind him.

 

 

 

Chapter Four

-      A gaping wound

 

Henry rushed inside, and saw Samantha, Johnny’s babysitter, sitting on the carpet by the fireplace, playing with Johnny in her arms. She looked comfortable; her shoes were off, and she looked very happy with the baby. She was a young girl, maybe 26 or 27. She had told Henry once, but he had forgotten by this stage.
“Hey, Sam. Hello Johnny!” Henry said as he rushed over to greet them.
“Oh my god, Henry! Are you ok? I heard you were in an accident, what happened?”
“Erm…Lu---Mom was driving the car and swerved to hit a bird, and she slipped and crashed into a metal fence. I think Darren broke his leg or legs.”
“Jesus Christ!” Sam gave him a hug. They were all rather close to Sam, and enjoyed her company. Mom wrote Sam a cheque every week for her work. It changed often from less to more, but Sam never complained.
“Grazie, Sam. It means a lot,” Luca said, walking over.
“Well erm...de nada[7], Luca! See you tomorrow!”
“I’m Italian, not Spanish, Sam!” he called and she apologized.
“Bye, Sam,” Henry called. Johnny was sat on the couch, laughing.
“Hello, little man,” he said in baby voice and picked him up, putting him on his knee.
Henry heard Luca grunting, and he sat on the couch across the large room.
“Henry, we need to talk about tonight,” he said, his hands clasped.
“What about it? What do we need to talk about? The fact that you’re a freaking idiot?” Henry replied. He wasn’t scared of him tonight. He was fuming.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me! You knew you were drunk and that you could have crashed the car, which you did! You could have killed us; you know that?
Henry stopped now. He didn’t want to go too far, but he wanted his view to be put forward.
“Henry! I think you should go to your room before I…”
“Before you what, Luca? Beat me up, like you’re going to beat mom up tonight, yeah? Ok fine, but it won’t change the fact that you are an abusive, disgusting human!”
Suddenly, Luca jumped up, grabbing the remote off the table and throwing the remote control straight at Henry, with all his strength. Henry closed his eyes, and heard the sharp thud, and the ping of springs as the cover fell off and the batteries fell out. But there was no pain. Then he heard the screams. They were so loud. He opened his eyes again, and felt a wriggling bag in his arms. That bag was actually Johnny, writhing in pain.
“Johnny! You f*****g b*****d!” Luca’s face went pale white.
“Johnny.” He said softly. “Come to me, baby. I’m sorry!”
Luca tried to move forward to hug the child but Henry pulled him away.
“Get. The. F**k. Away from him!” Henry felt like gouging out Luca’s eyes there and then. Instead he turned around and ran towards the staircase. He could feel a drop of liquid from the squirming bag, and as he looked down it was a dark red liquid. Blood.
“Johnny, hold on!”
“Henry! Come back here!” Luca screamed at the top of his voice. He began to chase after the two boys. Henry and Johnny were halfway up the stairs when Luca hit the first one. They came to the landing, and heard a scream as Luca lunged to catch Henry’s foot. He snagged it successful, and Henry fell to the floor. Before he hit the floor, Henry swiftly swirled himself around so Johnny wouldn’t be harmed anymore. Johnny’s wails were phenomenal, and heartbreaking. Henry kicked twice before kicking Luca in the face, prompting him to let go of his ankle. Henry jumped up and ran as fast as he could to the bathroom. When he was inside, Henry slammed the door as fast as he could just as Luca tried to shoulder slam in the door. Henry switched up the lock and placed Johnny on the toilet. His face was red, because of the blood. Henry was panting. He grabbed a roll of toilet paper, and ripped half of it off into a ball. He lightly pressed it onto Johnny’s face. He wailed louder. Luca was still slamming into the door. He wouldn’t get in. He was sure of it. This was the worst thing that had happened so far in Henry’s life with Luca. Most of the blood was wiped from the baby’s face, but the gaping wound on the right side of his forehead was till dripping with blood.
“Johnny, I’m so so so sorry, I’m gonna get a bandage, OK?” Henry made sure the bleeding had slowed down before throwing open the bathroom cabinet, and grabbing a handful of green packets from the shelf. He ripped open one. It was an antibacterial wipe. Johnny had to get to A&E right now. He started to wipe the cut with the wipe and held it there. He took a packet to his mouth, and ripped it open. The bandage was folded into a small square, and Henry shook his hand in the air to unravel it. He twisted it around Johnny’s head, over the cut, and it looked like it would stop the bleeding for a while. He picked Johnny up and kissed his head.
“We’re getting out of here!”
Henry only now noticed the room had stopped shaking, and that Luca was no longer at the door.
Terrified, Henry bent down and looked under the door, seeing no feet. Lifting Johnny, Henry reached for his phone in his back pocket, and found that it had been swiped, or it had fallen out. They used to have an emergency phone in the bathroom when the house was built, but it only called the kitchen phone, and didn’t call out of the house line. It wouldn’t have been any use anyway. Henry unclipped the lock on the bathroom door, and stepped out into the hallway. He hoped Johnny would stop screaming, but he wouldn’t, so he went back into the bathroom and lay Johnny in the bath.
“I’ll only be a second, baby, wait here, OK?”
He put a finger to his lips, as if that would help. Johnny needed stitches, and Luca wouldn’t let them leave. He tiptoed to the stairs, where he heard shouting, and smashing of glass. Darren’s room had a balcony, and it had a ladder for when he used to sneak in and out of the house. That was a possible route of escape. He ran back to the bathroom, stopping halfway there to remember to tiptoe, and rushed back into the bathroom to take Johnny. He lifted him up. Henry realized that Johnny had had an accident in the bath, probably due to fright so he would be crying more. He put him back into the bath, figuring it would take longer to open the window and figure out how to get down if he had a baby with him, and Luca would be alerted of the screams of Johnny. Henry ran, but as soft as he could to Darren’s bedroom. He swung open the door and hated the smell that invaded his nostrils. He ran to the balcony door, desperately trying to escape with Johnny, and from the dreadful stench of the room. He tried to open them but they wouldn’t budge. With a few strong pushes, something cracked, and the doors flung open. The balcony was small, and rather ugly, but the ladder was still there. Henry could no longer hear glass being smashed anymore, and hoped that Luca was gone.

The ladder looked strong enough, so he went back into the room, where the breeze of tonight’s air would help the room, and rushed back to the bathroom. What he found in the bathroom made his heart sink. Johnny was still screaming, but he was no longer in the bath, but in the hands of Luca, who had snuck upstairs and into the bathroom.
“Luca! He needs to go to the hospital. Please, Let’s not fight over this, please, please, don’t harm him anymore, please!” Henry pleaded with him.
“I would never hurt him, Henry, you know that!” Luca screamed back.
Poor Johnny. He would probably remember this forever.
“Yes, of course not, and it was an accident,” Henry lied. “So we need to get him to A&E. I don’t want you getting into any trouble so let’s go and say that he crawled down the stairs or something.”
Henry hated that he was saying this.
“Shut up, Henry, you don’t mean that! I’m gonna take him to a doctor, and you are going to wait here!”
“No! I’m not going to wait here, I’m coming with my baby brother, you psycho!”
Luca seemed to dislike this word, because he picked Henry’ chest with the bottom of his shoe. Henry fell back onto the ground. Luca put Johnny down and ran to Henry. He grabbed his arms and pulled him down the hallway to Lisa and Luca’s bedroom.
“Let me go, a*****e!” Henry desperately tried to squeeze out of Luca’s grip, but he was too strong. Luca lifted Henry up to the bed, and slapped him to stop wriggling for a second while he un-tied his tie and looped it around Henry’s wrists. He quickly tied the tie to one of the poles in the headboard, and Henry struggled to get out, pulling at his hands and kicking nothing but air.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because you can’t come with me, because you’ll blab. And if you ever do blab, your mom will pay the price!” Luca grabbed a pair of socks from the drawer, and stuck them into Henry’s mouth. He quickly ran back to the bathroom and picked up Johnny, who was still screaming. Henry was crying. He didn’t want Luca taking Johnny with him. He kept pulling and twisting at the tie but the knot was fantastically tied, and was impossible to loosen. He relaxed, on his mother’s bed and tried to scream.

 

 

 

Chapter Five

-      Luca’s Accusation

Luca had taken Lisa’s car. In the car, Luca was getting frustrated with Johnny’s continuous cries.
“Please shut up, Johnny. PLEASE!” He screamed at the top of his lungs
“Why couldn’t you just knock out? Huh?” Luca cried. He was panicking. Luca knew a doctor friend who was only a few minutes away. What was his story? Did he fall down the stairs? Did he fall and hit his head on the corner of the table? S**t. S**t. S**t. Merda[8]! Arriving at the house of the doctor, Johnny was still wailing. The blood was beginning to come through the bandage. Luca rattled on the door and it opened a few seconds later,
“Luca? Oh my god, what happened here?”
“Please help me, Shaun, I know what’s happened between us, but my kid, he’s…he needs help. He’s cut his head, please!” Luca was crying, something extremely rare that rarely ever happened to him.
Shaun ushered Luca into the sitting room, where a tray of food lay on a foot rest. The television was off. It was a cozy little house.
“What happened? Is he ok?” Shaun, a 65-year-old doctor asked Luca. Luca knew Shaun since childhood, since he moved to the USA, and he always used to help him.
“Luca, this looks serious, why haven’t you gone to A&E or the hospital?”
“Because…you don’t understand, they would open an investigation and everything. Please, Shaun, you have to help me!”
Shaun left the room and came back with a case, presumably containing medical supplies. Johnny screamed as Shaun put the needle into his face.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, baby. You’re beautiful. Is this your son, Luca?” Shaun asked him.
“Erm…no…not mine, he’s my wife’s,” as Luca said this, Shaun’s face dropped.
“You erm…got married?” Shaun asked, carefully putting the needle back into Johnny’s face, the wailing of the poor baby blocking out most of the conversation. It was hard to hear Shaun.
“Yeah, I did, Shaun. She’s lovely. We’re very happy together,” he replied. Shaun and Luca weren’t always so kind to each other. Luca and his family moved from Italy to the USA and a family friend was Shaun, a psychiatrist from Kansas. Luca’s childhood wasn’t so great. He was always so great at school, but it was his extra-curricular activities that were worrying. Luca’s father, Andrea Calabresi was a very well-known man in Italy. He spoke four fluent languages that didn’t include Italian, and taught his sons English, and they moved country, after the incident. They got their names changed when they moved. Nobody heard from them again. Andrea found Luca beating an old woman with a baseball bat. He had become curious of what was happening to him after school, and he followed him to find out where and what he was up to every night. It was horrifying to discover, and Andrea had the money and the people to be able to save his son from going to jail. The old woman died of her injuries, but the murder was framed on someone else, a drug-fueled man that hung around in alley-ways in the streets. It was made to look like a robbery gone wrong, and the guy got put to jail with a life sentence, as well as his drug charges. The police never found out about what happened, but there was always the chance of Andrea’s men snitching to the police about the real criminals of the crime. Moving to the USA, Luca was made to see a psychiatrist, going by the name of Dr. Shaun Flynn. After a few meetings with Dr Flynn, who was also a trained nurse and veterinarian, Luca was diagnosed as a sociopath. After a meeting with Dr Flynn, Luca, at the age of 16, found out that his long term girlfriend Sabrina, was pregnant. Sabrina was 17, a little older, and she had already left school. She wanted the baby, but Luca didn’t, and he was embarrassed by the fact he made someone pregnant. Because of this, he attempted to kill the baby.

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

31^st October 1994

                    

“What!” Luca screamed at Sabrina, her tears and her runny nose making her look slightly less attractive.
“Baby, I’m sorry. We’re…going to be parents,” Sabrina bubbled.
“No! You’re lying! You’re not pregnant, you’re just being a stupid lying b***h!” He barked at her.
“No, Lukey, I’m not. Look!” Sabrina picked up a letter and shoved it his way. He grabbed it. They were standing in the sitting room of Sabrina’s house. Their parents were super rich. The baby would have an amazing life. Sabrina wanted to go to university in Scotland. She had her whole life planned out for her. A kid would ruin this.
“S**t. And do you want to keep it? Are you crazy? What about Scotland?”
“Well, I guess a baby comes before that. Do you want the baby?” Sabrina hated the way he spoke to her. He got pretty aggressive.
“Of course not, Sabrina! I’m 16! My parents will kill me!”
Sabrina frowned.
“You a*****e! You’re already a father, it’s alive inside of me! And I’m having it!”
“No you’re not!”
Luca ran to her and shoved her to the ground.
“Luca! No, what are you doing, Luca?” She punched at him. One of her punches caught him, and he fell to the right. Sabrina stood up and ran to the kitchen, to defend herself. The kitchen door was locked. The only place she could go was the basement. She swung open the door as Luca shouted her name. He appeared behind her and he pushed her down through the door. Her ankle gave and she was tumbling down the basement. Her body cracked on the concrete floor, and she took a large breath before blacking out.
“S-S-Sabrina?” Luca called to her. But there was no answer.
“Oh my god, Sabrina!”

Sabrina’s father broke the bad news to him.
“Son, the baby’s dead,” he said. Luca pretended to be sad. He wasn’t. He was the one that killed it. He was allowed to see Sabrina. There were police officers at the side of her bed asking her questions. Luca listened.
“Sabrina, what do you remember before your fall?”
“Well, I was with my boyfriend. I was telling about our baby, then I remember arguing with him, so I think I must have gone to get something from the basement, and I probably just...tripped.” Sabrina burst into tears. Luca’s parents were in Prague. They would phone him tonight, when he was alone in the house, to see how he was doing. He wouldn’t tell him. They would probably find out, and that wouldn’t be good. He would just tell them. He finally got her alone.
“Sabrina, I’m so sorry. Our baby…it’s gone,” he started to fake cry.
“I know. I know you didn’t want it, so I guess you got what you wanted, then, huh?” Sabrina looked away from him.
“Do you know what happened before I fell?” She asked, finally looking back at him.
“I’m sorry. No, I don’t, baby,” he lied. “You went down to get something from the basement, and I heard you screaming, then I went to you and phoned 911,” he lied again.
“OK, thank you.”
They kissed, and then a doctor entered and told them she needed to rest. He left the hospital relieved.

After this unfortunate incident, Dr. Flynn desperately wanted to speak to Luca.
“So, Luca,” Dr Flynn asked him.
“Yes, Dr Flynn?” Luca replied.
“First of all, I’m so sorry about you losing your baby, it must be hard for you and Sabrina, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, she’s really upset,” he replied, his answers very simple.
“I have noticed you’ve just said she’s really sad, but you didn’t mention your own feelings. Why is that?”
“Maybe because I didn’t want to be a father at this age, Dr Flynn,” he answered.
“OK, Luca. Thank you. One more question, though. Did you cause the death of your unborn child?”
There was silence.
“Why do you ask me this, Dr. Flynn?”
“Did you or didn’t you, a simple yes or no answer,” he replied.
“Yes, I pushed her down the stairs,” Luca replied. “And if you tell anyone, I’ll tell everyone you touched me, saying that it is part of your little sessions, sound good?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28^th June 2016

Present Day

 

 

 

 

 

This is how Shaun lost his license as a doctor. It probably ruined his life. Shaun had to tell the police about what he was told. He was wrong about Luca. He was wrong about telling himself that he wouldn’t spread that rumor, but he did. He didn’t make it to the police station, because he was mugged right outside. Luca had gone home and told his parent about Dr. Flynn’s sessions. Andrea had paid a man to beat Dr. Flynn up so badly he would be terrified of ever going to the police. They did, and nobody found out about the real thing that happened to Sabrina and the baby. Sabrina and Luca broke up soon after this happened anyway, and hadn’t spoken since.
Johnny was wrapped up, sleeping. Shaun had given the baby some painkillers, that knocked him right out. Shaun’s supper was cold.
“Shaun. Thank you so much for everything. I really appreciate this.”
Shaun smiled, but tried not to look at him. He was terrified of him ever since he left his office twenty-two years prior.
“It’s OK, Luca. I would never not help a child. He is lovely. You can take the stitches out after a week on your own. Please don’t come back, Luca.”
“Doctor, thank you. I’ll be on my way now. Goodbye,” Luca carefully picked up Johnny and let himself out. He clipped Johnny into his baby seat in the back of the car, and drove home, forgetting all about what had happened.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Six

-      The bottled anger shatters

 

 

 

As Lisa drove home, she was tired. The taxi driver kept sneezing, and it was annoying her. Every little thing was getting to her. She needed a glass…no a bottle…of wine, if Luca would let her. She hoped the boys were getting on with one another. Poor baby Johnny. She didn’t want them all falling out if they did. As she neared the house, she noticed an empty driveway. The cars were never in the garages, as Luca liked them to be on show. F**k off Luca. She got panicky. Where was her car? She threw a twenty dollar note into the front of the car, just as the taxi stopped and she jumped out, saying thanks to the driver. Running to the house, she almost tripped on the stairs. She opened the door, and kicked them off.
“Guys? I’m home. With bad news, unfortunately,” she shouted, fishing a wine glass from the dishwasher, seeking the nearest bottle of wine.
“Darren’s broken his leg, and he’s drugged up so he couldn’t talk to me, but he is going to be OK.OKis anyone here?” she shouted.
“Mom!” A muffled scream, she heard from upstairs.
“I hear you honey,” she smiled, oblivious.
Up in the bedroom, Henry was struggling with the tie, and the dreadful knot that kept him to the bed. He continued shouting for his mother, who couldn’t hear him. He took his shoe off, and tried to throw it with his foot at the door. It hit it forcefully, but Lisa wouldn’t hear it.
“Mom! Help me!” He screamed for his mother again.
In the living room, Lisa heard the shouts, but was too stressed to investigate.
Then Henry had an idea. If Lisa found out anyone was in her room, she would go mental. She knew Luca was gone, so it couldn’t be him. Henry pried off his other shoe, and got prepared to throw it at his mother’s dresser. He tried to aim, then threw his leg forward, propelling the shoe towards the dressing table. Most of Lisa’s nail polish fell to the floor. They clattered to the floor and sounded like rain on the floor. The force was so hard that the mirror toppled over and sounded like it shattered on the floor. It made a huge banging noise. The mirror was quite large, a family heirloom, Henry thought. Shame.
Lisa heard the banging. It came from right above her, where her room was situated.
“Henry! Are you in my room?” Lisa ran to the bottom of the stairs and climbed a few stairs when she heard his screams clearly.
“Mom! Help me! Luca’s taken Johnny!”
“Oh my god!” Lisa shouted, and started to run up the stairs, but someone grabbed her from behind, and pulled her down.
“Where the hell are you going”
Luca.
He had put Johnny into the cot in the sitting room, and he was sleeping peacefully. Lisa screamed as he pulled her back to the kitchen. She was pulled to the ground, and Luca clawed at her chest, trying to grab her throat.
“Henry!” She choked.
“He’s tied up to the bed, he’s not getting down here!”
She started crying.
“You know what, b***h, you have been so distant to me lately! You’re going to give me something to make up for that!” Luca shouted as he unclipped his belt, and pulled down his trousers. He clutched at Lisa’s skirt and ripped it down. He stood up, grabbing her, and shoved her onto the table. He pulled down his boxers as Lisa cried.

“Mom!” Henry screamed as he frantically pulled at the tie. It looked like it was coming loose, and this gave him a burst of adrenaline, and he went faster. His wrists started to blister as the tie became looser. Then, lifting himself onto his shoulders, he put his feet onto the headboard and pushed. He could hear the tie’s stitching ripping and it came looser. Another big pull and he was free from the bed, but his hands were still locked together. He fell onto the carpeted floor, then he lifted himself up and ran as fast as he could from the room.

“See, maybe if you were more generous, I wouldn’t have to do this,” Luca said, as he continued to abuse Lisa. She wasn’t trying to escape from him because she couldn’t move at all. Suddenly, it stopped, and he dropped to the floor behind her. She could move again. Without looking at what happened, she quickly lifted her underwear and turned around.
“Oh my god!” Lisa was crying a river. She put a hand to her mouth when she examined the scene. Luca lay on the floor, his trousers and boxers down to his ankles. He lay on his stomach on the floor. With his two hands, Henry held a non-stick frying pan, and was examining Luca.
“Oh my god! What did I do?” Henry dropped the pan, and it clattered to the ground, and he fell to the floor.
“Henry! Look at me! It was an accident,” Lisa said through gritted teeth, looking at the lifeless body.
“Mom, what did I do?” Henry put his hands on his head.
“Oh my god, where is Johnny?” Lisa cried, and wiping tears from her eyes, she ran to the living room and looked into the cot at where her son lay, sleeping due to the painkillers. Lisa saw the stitches in his little head and screamed, waking him from his wail-less slumber.
“My baby!” She lifted him and ran to the stairs. Henry followed her, leaving Luca’s body in the kitchen.
“Mom!” Henry rushed up, the stairs, crying and his hands still tied. She had run into Johnny’s bedroom. He followed her in. She lay Johnny in his bed, then turned to face Henry.
“What happened to Johnny, Henry?”
He told her everything that had happened.
“Where did he go to fix him up then?”
“I presume A&E?”
“Henry. What are we going to do? We killed him!”
“No, mom! I killed him. You weren’t part of this!”
She started to walk out of the room.
“Mom, we need to do something. We need to…I don’t know…call the police. They’ll understand!”
Lisa turned around. They were in the hall and looked at him.
“Mom, he raped you! They would put him away anyway!”
“Henry, darling. You killed him!” she said, putting her hands on his cheeks.
“I’m going to help you get away with this, OK?” she said, turning around again. Then, out of nowhere, there was someone screaming. From the corner, Luca came, holding a broken bottle.
“You…you…tried to kill me!” Luca tried to scream. There was dried blood on his forehead.
“Oh my god! Luca!” Lisa screamed.
Henry felt relieved that he was still alive.
“You raped my mom! You should have died!”
Luca looked at Henry, pulled a sinister smile and said:
“The b***h liked it.”
Those four words made Henry the angriest he has ever been in his whole life. Everything went silent. His blood boiled in his veins, and he started running. The long hallway led to the banister of the upstairs. The staircase was in the middle of the two banisters and Henry ran straight for them. He screamed as he grabbed Luca. Luca didn’t have any time to raise the broken bottle and as soon as Henry hit him, he fell straight back. He flipped right over the banister and let out a small squeak as his neck broke on the floor below. Henry looked down, grabbed the broken bottle Luca had made, and ran down the stairs. Lisa followed.
“Henry!” She screamed.
Henry lifted the broken bottle and stabbed Luca again and again. Each time he raised the broken bottle higher and higher. Blood spurted from all the stab wounds, although Luca was long dead. If someone was to look in the window right now, they would be able to see the carnage ensuing right now. Lisa ran to Henry, but didn’t touch him. She was too scared.
“Henry! Stop it, please!” Lisa screamed, and was almost sick. There was blood pooling from Luca’s wound created in his head when it smashed against the floor. Henry dropped the bottle, and stood up. He was covered head to toe in blood. He was still fuming mad at Luca. But he was certainly dead.
“Mom?” Henry said questioningly. She backed away from him and ran to the windows. Henry used the bottle to rip the tie from his hands. He dropped the bottle. Lisa pulled the curtains across the windows, so that nobody would be able to see in. Lisa was scared. What were they doing? They couldn’t go to the police now! Self-defense wasn’t an option. And they would need an amazing attorney.
Oh, Henry, what have you done?
“Mom, what do I do, I’m scared, oh my god! What have I done!” Henry was screaming.
“OK, baby, listen to me. He deserved it. We need to get rid of him. We can’t go to the police now, we’ll both go down, OK. Listen to me!” Lisa shook him, as he continued to stare at the bleeding corpse of his stepfather. Henry was in shock, and realizing he wasn’t listening, she ran to the kitchen and grabbed the paper towel rolls from under the sink. Luckily for Lisa, she bought items such as paper towels in bulk. She brought as many as she could carry. She knelt on the floor by the blood pool, and ripped a huge chunk of paper towels and pushed them down onto the blood. The laminate floor was probably leaking. It would have to come up. Only some of the blood was being sucked up into the paper towels. Henry was swaying. He looked like Carrie but instead of pig’s blood being poured on him it was human blood, and he poured it on himself.
As she slid the wet paper towel mound around the floor, she realized she needed other things.
“Henry! Get me the bleach, please. Under the sink!” Henry looked like understood and he walked slowly to the sink. Bending down, he forgot what he was getting, so just picked some random bottles, and brought some sponges too.
“Thank you baby,” Lisa said, as she twisted off the cap. Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door, and Henry gasped and turned around.
“Mom!” Henry whispered harshly at her.
“It’s ok, help me!” She stood up and grabbed Luca’s arms. Most of the blood stopped spurting, and the flow out of the body was not so strong. As the body was dragged along the floor, more blood was spread across the flooring, as they pulled him into the kitchen. Henry was about to answer the door, when he realized the state he was in.
“Henry, get the hell away from the door! Hide in the closet for now, OK?”
Henry snuck inside the closet while his mother, looking like crap, opened the door a crack, so it was impossible to see past at the bloody mess.
“Hi!” she tried to say with a smile, but ended up looking suspicious.
The same male officer from the crash stood opposite her, with a handsome smile on his face.
“Evening, ma’am, I think I may have something that belongs to your son?”
“Erm…what is it?” She asked.
The officer held up a silver iPhone, passing it to her.
“You see, it was left in my car tonight,” he continued. “He must have left it because more was on his mind about his cousin, huh?”
“Yeah, he must have. Well thank you for stopping by. He’s actually in the shower, getting ready for school tomorrow,” she smiled and was about to close when he spoke again. Her heart dropped.
“Yes?” She said, opening the door again.
“Isn’t your son Henry Lloyd?”
“Why yes, he is, why?”
“You said he has school tomorrow, but I am actually a school monitor on most days, and a Henry Lloyd was suspended for three days. So surely he isn’t at school tomorrow.”
There was an awkward silence for Lisa to get her story straight,
“Oh! Yes, of course. He’s coming into work with me, so…” she tried to end the conversation.
“Are youOKmiss?” the officer looked concerned.
“I’m perfectly fine, but I need to get back to my baby son, if you don’t mind,” she replied snidely.
“Oh, yes, of course. I’m sorry for interrupting, Ms. Lloyd, have a good night!”
She slammed the door and ran back to the kitchen.
“Henry, come out!” Henry shot out of the closet quickly and ran. Lisa was knelt down again, scrubbing bleach into the floor. It was working surprisingly well, and it was almost gone. She kept looking back at the bloody sack of blood in the kitchen and almost puked. What were they going to do? It was 11:25. It was incredibly dark outside. No one would notice if they were to dump the body. But where would they dump the body? And they would have to report him missing as well, but that would be easier than dumping his body.
“Henry, you have to have a shower. Go up, hun,” she told him and he just kept staring at Luca’s body.
“For crying out loud, Henry, come on!” She cried, and stood up. She pulled off his T-Shirt, and she unbuttoned his jeans. She didn’t pull them off him of course because that would indeed be inappropriate. There was blood on his body, too. He had to wash.
“Go on up, Henry. NOW!” She screamed the instruction that seemed to wake him up. He ran upstairs and into the shower. Lisa finished with most of the blood by the stairs. Now she had to go into the kitchen and figure out what they were going to do with Luca’s body.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seven

-      Covering your tracks

 

Henry lay on the floor of the shower, curled up into a ball. He wasn’t crying anymore. Most of the blood had been washed off his body. It was terrifying to see all that blood coming off his body. The metallic smell was still in his nostrils and the crunch of Luca’s neck still in his ears. He tried to pinch himself to check if he was dreaming or not, hoping he would wake up. But he wouldn’t wake up. The shower was scalding. He didn’t care, he didn’t even notice. It felt weird on his skin, and soon there was no feeling at all. He cried again, terrified of what was going to happen. This wasn’t meant to happen. But he did deserve it, didn’t he? Yes, he did.

Lisa stripped Luca’s top off, and pulled down his trousers and socks. She grabbed a black bag from under the sink, and shoved the clothes, covered in blood, into the bag. She then had an idea. A terrible one, but a workable one. She rushed to the fireplace, and grabbed the square carpet her mother had given to them as a housewarming present when it was all built. A disgusting old thing, passed down from many generations, something her mother loved doing. She rolled it up, and rushed through to the living kitchen with it. She rolled it out on the floor. Once it was out, Lisa rolled Luca over onto it. There was a large smudge of blood on the kitchen tiles. She would have to clean that too. When he was in, she rolled the carpet and him at the same time. He was snug in the carpet now. She shoved it over the room by the stove, and she got to work on the blood on the floor.

Henry came to his senses, and started to get out of the shower. He grabbed a towel, and going past Darren’s room, he remembered the patio doors were wide open. He went in and shut them. It didn’t shut properly because Henry had cracked it to get out, so he used some duct tape he found by Darren’s bed to lock the door. He walked down the hall, a towel around his waist, to his bedroom. He rushed to get changed, and dressed himself in a black hoodie and skinny jeans. He ran back downstairs, and saw that his mom had brought through grandma’s old carpet, and Luca was gone.
“Mom?” he asked, walking into the kitchen. “Please tell me you’re not…”
“Henry! How else are we going to do this? Huh?” she looked angry.
Luca’s bare feet popped out of the end of the carpet. His head didn’t pop out, or that would have been bad.
“Mom, you can see him,” Henry told her.
She told him to hold the carpet, and she pushed his feet up into the carpet.
“Oh my god,” Henry said.
He let go. Luca could no longer be seen.
“We need to get him into the car,” Lisa told Henry.
“Well, where are we taking him?” Henry replied.
“Henry, I don’t know, honey. The forest?”
Popsavic County had a large forest on the outskirts of town. It wasn’t a long drive, and since the stories of The Green Lady of Popsavic were popular, nobody went after dark to the woods. It was the perfect place.
“Henry, get Johnny. We’re going now!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eight

-      Ashes to ashes

 

Johnny was sleeping again when Henry picked him up. His eyes seemed to ask “What now?”
Lisa had drove the car to the back door, as there was a mini parking space there, for loading things faster. Their house was surrounded by a large fence, but the front of the house wasn’t so people could park and come in if they needed to. The neighborhood was brilliant. A beautiful bunch of neighbors. The car trunk was open, ready to slide Luca in. Lisa shouted on Henry. He came rushing down with Johnny.
“Mom, what if Johnny starts crying?”
“Then we’ll deal with that when it comes, OK? Now help me, put Johnny down at the highchair, please,” she asked.
Henry helped lift the carpet, and they slid him into the boot of the car. Slamming the lid down, Lisa looked both ways to make sure nobody was walking down the street.
“OK, go get Johnny now!” Lisa whispered and she got in the car again. Henry got in the front after quickly hooking Johnny into the bumper seat in the back. He fell back asleep again. They sped off. The kitchen floor was bleached clean, and if anyone had come in they wouldn’t find anything. Then she thought of something.
The bottle.
“Henry, did you pick up the…erm…the bottle?” she felt like it was an offensive swear word…the bottle...but it wasn’t.
“No, I thought you did, mom. We’ll just get it when we go back, no big deal, OK?”
She nodded, and turned the car.
“Henry, they’re going to find the body. We need to do something other than just drop him in the forest.
“Then what do we do? Dig him a shallow grave?”
Lisa looked at him, and turned her head back to the road.
“No, I don’t think so. But…well…maybe,” Lisa held back her idea.
“Mom. What are you thinking?” Henry asked her.
“I was thinking we should make sure the body isn’t recognizable.”
After everything that Henry had done, there was no damage to his face at all. But even if there was, there were biological identifiers such as teeth and hair, and there was lots of blood on his face. She brushed away the thought, and looked at where they were.
“In what way? I mean…how should we do it?” He continued to pry.
“We need to burn him!” Lisa cried.
“S**t!”
“Language.”
“Sorry.”
They stopped outside a gas station and Lisa parked the car by a pump. She was about to go into the trunk to get a petrol bottle to fill when she remembered. She went back to the window and tapped it. Henry put it down. Inside the gas station, the clerk gazed out of her window, as if she was suspicious of something.
“Henry, you need to go into the trunk. I can’t open it, OK?”
In the back of the car, there was a door that allowed access to the trunk. Henry sighed.
“OK, fine!” He crawled into the back, and pulled at the hatch. The door dropped down, and then the plastic door looked at him. He raised his hand to the handle and pulled down the door. Gazing into the blackness of the trunk, he put his hand in and raked about for the green bottle. Pushing his hand in further, he touched something that felt like a wig. He felt his hand surrounded in material. He had shoved his hand into the carpet. He could feel Luca’s face; his closed eyes. He yanked his hand back out with a cry of fear. He looked in the front seat and found a flashlight. He clicked it on and used it. He saw the green bottle at the far end of the trunk. He reached in and grabbed it. He struggled to get it out. He pulled and it came out of the hole. Johnny made a soft whimper. Probably nightmares about tonight. Poor baby. His head looked swollen. He got back into the front seat, and put down the window again, passing the bottle to his mother. Lisa ran around and filled up the mini tank with petrol. She opened her car door and put the petrol in. Unfortunately, this gas station didn’t offer card payments, so she had to face someone. She told Henry to stay in the car, but he didn’t want to stay. He was terrified. There was a body in the trunk. Johnny was closer to the body, though, and he was oblivious.
“Evening,” said the cashier.
“Hi. Just pump 1 please,” replied Lisa, looking away as much as she could.
“Cash or card?”
Lisa shoved her card into the machine. She was told to enter her pin, and she did. Her purchase was completed and she walked back to the car. Getting back in the car, she asked Henry if he was OK. Lisa carried matches in her car. She took them from the glove compartment and put them in her pocket. They continued driving. The forest had a parking lot but they were just going to drive through and dump the body. It was one of the largest woodlands in the state, so not many people would see or hear anything, including the smoke. Approaching the car park, Henry felt sick. They were really doing this. And it was his fault. He didn’t want his mother to be a part of this. He should just go into the police station and surrender, and admit to all of it. But his mother was now an accomplice. They would both go down. He wouldn’t go to a prison; he would go to a juvenile prison. His mother would go to prison, though, and she would die in there. Or at worst, she could get the penalty.
Please, God no!
They continued driving through muddy floors. There was no road, just an empty line of mud. When they were a few minutes in, they turned, into a non-road, and began bumping over fallen logs and trees, going deeper into the forest. When they found a good spot where they could do it, they stopped the car, but left the engine on.
“Henry, you have to be strong, OK? We’re going to get through this, honey,” she hugged him. She then began to cry. It was too dark to see anything, but the car lights were on. Lisa opened the boot of the car.
“Henry, help me please!”
Henry ran around to the trunk to help his mother. The carpet was so heavy, yet Luca on his own wasn’t that bad. They moved him about ten metres away from the car, where there was a slight ditch in the ground. Lisa rushed to the car, grabbed the green basin of petrol and ran back to the shallow grave.
“Ok, let’s get this over with, Henry,” she said, opening the lid of the basin. Henry grabbed her hand, and took the petrol from her.
“Mom, let me do it. You’ve done enough.”
She smiled, and let go of the basin. Henry poured the liquid all over the carpet. He tried to space it out, and used most of it up. It seemed to much, and he tried not to make a stream of petrol anywhere, that could lead back to the car and blow it up. Henry dropped the basin. Lisa took out the matches that were in her pocket and lit one. She hesitated throwing the match.
“Stand back, Henry,” she said to her son, who loomed over the body wrapped in the carpet. He obliged and stood back. Lisa exhaled then threw the match. It seemed like time had slowed down as she watched the match fall. The carpet and Luca ignited in seconds, and a little explosion was created. Lisa screamed and fell back. Henry had a look on his face. A look of amazement and a look of horror. The carpet would burn, then Luca’s body would burn. Johnny, back in the car, could now be heard wailing for his mother. They sat and watched the burning mound burn.

 

 

 

Chapter Nine

-      Dust to dust

 

As Luca burned, the night sky turned slightly blue. Lisa noticed, and stopped watching the mountain of fire. It was slowly burning out, but Henry remained watching, enchanted by the glowing flames of his cremated stepfather.
“Henry, baby,” Lisa said to him. When he failed to respond to her, she got up from the ground where she sat, and obtained a wet bum.
“Henry we have to go now, come on, before people come. Please, Henry,” she said to him, clutching his arm. Henry rose from the fallen tree which he sat. They were so close to the fire that they began to sweat. They could smell the smoke on them, and looking up, they realized the smoke would be visible above the trees. They hoped no helicopters or planes were flying overhead. They had to leave. Lisa ushered Henry to the car, where Johnny was now awake. His pacifier had fallen out of his mouth, and was sitting in his lap. They closed the door and were instantly hit with the smell of fire. Henry sniffed at his hoodie, and realized they stunk of smoke and death.
“Mom, our clothes,” Henry looked scared.
“Henry, don’t panic OK?” Lisa told him. “I’ll put them in the wash when we get home. Then we’ll go for a shower.”
Lisa’s hands shivered as she clutched the wheel and drove backwards, slowly turning the car around. They drove back through the forest, and Henry put on the radio. A cheery news presenter who sounded like he had just come on the air had his scripted speech ready.
“So, everyone, good morning and welcome. The time is five minutes past one in the morning. I hope you’re not too tired. And to all those people who are working the night shift and are going home right now, have a great sleep. So, to start off the 26^th June 2016, let’s put on a catchy tune!”
Lisa switched it off.
“Put it off, Henry. I need to think,” Lisa said and with one hand, she rubbed her palm over her face and scratched her neck.
“I have to text Sam to tell her not to come over tomorrow. I’m not going to work,” she said, looking for her phone on top of the radio. It wasn’t there. It must have been still in the house. She wasn’t supposed to use her work mobile for personal calls and texts, but this was kind of an emergency. Lisa usually left the work mobile in her car by accident and luckily tonight she had. She opened the glove compartment, and slid out the Samsung Galaxy phablet.
“God, I hate this phone,” she said, as she tried to use it with one hand. She slid up the messaging application and typed Samantha’s name in the ‘To:’ field.
“Hey, Sam, there’s no need to babysit tomorrow, as I am not going to work. See you soon ex.” Lisa had typed the text with her voice. The software took her voice and translated it into letters and punctuation. There was no way of putting a kiss in the text with the word “kiss” so she said ex to create an x letter, symbolizing a kiss. They were all very close to Samantha, and she even came around to the house for Christmas one year.

They drove home and got there around quarter to two in the morning. The lights were still on.
“God, I hope no one got suspicious of the lights!” Lisa whispered, as she pulled into the drive. As soon as the car was parked, Henry jumped out and ran into the house, leaving Lisa to bring in Johnny, which Henry usually liked doing. Once they were both in the house, Lisa locked the door. She remembered to bring in her phone. The first thing she remembered to do was find the bottle. She had cleared up the glass that was created when Luca broke the bottle in the first place, but the other half was nowhere to be seen. After settling Johnny into his crib in the TV room, she soon found it. It had rolled under the couch when Henry had dropped it after the incident. She picked it up and took it to the kitchen. Lisa opened the bin and chucked the bottle into it. She then went up to get showered.

Henry had showered again, and twice as long as he usually showered. He didn’t even clean himself. He turned the water up to high and let it soak him, hoping to somehow wash off the guilt he had inside him. But the water only washed the surface off. Lisa also showered, and he cried as she showered. She couldn’t tell if there were any tears coming out of her eyes because of the water, but she hoped there were. She felt guilty that she wasn’t distraught about Luca being killed. She wasn’t distraught. She actually felt kind of free. But of course if she could have stopped it she would have. Wouldn’t she?

Once they were both showered, they went down to the kitchen to discuss what they were going to do. Henry dressed in his pajamas, and so did Lisa, acting normal, as if they had been home all night. Lisa had shoved all the clothes into the washing machine.
“We need to make some sort of plan,” Lisa said to Henry. His long hair was still wet.
“What do you mean? Let’s just say he’s run away or something, no?”
Suddenly there was an unfamiliar ringtone. On the kitchen counter, there was a mobile phone, an iPhone. Not Henry’s or Lisa’s. It was Luca’s. The strange thing was that Henry had never actually touched Luca’s phone or heard the ringtone. He went over to the counter and looked at the screen. There was a message from Andrea, Luca’s father. Henry thought Andrea was weird the moment he lay eyes on him. They were a rich family, but never seemed like it, except for the fact that they wore designer suits, and the ladies wore exceptionally high priced clothing. The text read ‘Luca. Dove sei[9]?’
“Henry, who is it?” Lisa asked him.
“It’s Andrea,” he replied.
“Well, what does he want?”
“It says dove sei,” Henry repeated the text in Italian. He thought he knew what it meant.
“Well, what does it mean?” Lisa asked. Lisa had tried to learn Italian, but she never understood anything to do with languages.
“What’s a tense?” she asked when Luca tried to teach her the present tense. She was hopeless. However, Henry took up online language lessons, and got used to a little bit of Italian.
“It means where are you,” he replied. “Why does he want to know that?”
Under the message, there were several missed calls, all from Andrea.
“Well, you know Andrea, he’s…shady. We need to reply,” Lisa suggested.
“He’ll know!” Henry told her.
“Well, reply in Italian then!”
“I don’t know how to speak Italian!”
“You know a bit!”
“Mom!”
“Henry, I know the code!”
This rally kept going for a few moments, and Henry passed the phone to his mother, letting her type in the code.
“What do we reply?” Henry asked.
“Just say, dad I’m fine, but I am very busy and I can’t speak or something,” Lisa suggested.
Henry went over it in his head.
Padre, sto bene, ma sono molto occupato e non posso parlato.
Henry was sure that was the correct translation. What if it was wrong? Andrea would know something was up if the fluent, native son, spoke Italian wrong.
Henry typed in the message, checking it over multiple times before sending it. He noticed that all of Andrea’s previous messages were deleted. Except the one that said where are you. Why would Luca delete all of the texts from his father? He looked at Lisa’s texts to Luca, and they were all deleted too. Then he looked at Darren’s, who weren’t deleted. Then he looked at his own conversations with him and they were all there. What the hell was Luca doing? Henry turned off the phone, just in case Andrea phone back. He put it back on the counter and sat down.
“S**t, Henry. What if Andrea gets worried about him, and comes to the USA. I know how he feels about his son, and it’s way too over protective!”
“He won’t, mom!” Henry told her.
“Henry, you know what, let’s get some sleep and we can figure this out tomorrow,” Lisa said to him, getting up from the table and starting to walk to the stairs. Henry waited for a moment before following her up.

When Henry woke up, he hoped that the whole of last night was a big dream. When everything came back to him, he felt like screaming, and his heart began to pound. He jumped out of bed. Running downstairs, he found his mother at the breakfast table, feeding Johnny.
“Morning, Henry,” she said, without looking at him as he came into the kitchen.
“Morning, mom,” he replied, grabbing a mug from the cupboard. He walked to the coffee machine and pressed one of its many buttons.
“We need to go and see Darren. He’s 18 so I’m not parentally responsible for him anymore, which means he---oh just get yourself ready, OK.”
Henry had his coffee then went upstairs to get dressed. Once he was dressed, he came downstairs to his mother on the phone.
“Oh, I know I said not to come but we need you now. Are you busy, Sam? Oh, great. Thanks so much! Henry! Sam’s coming now,” she shouted.
“Mom, how are you going to explain Johnny’s head?”
Johnny was back asleep in his crib in the living room.
“He fell down the stairs, and cracked open his head. The scar wasn’t too shocking. There was a lot of blood, but it wasn’t a gaping hole in his tiny head. It was probably about two inches long. The stitches would have to come off in about a week. Henry had no idea where Luca had taken Johnny, but wherever it was must have been curious as to what happened and where the parents were. Henry wondered what Luca told them.
“I’ve phoned work, they’re fine without me today. Bloody Sandra, the b***h, she really gets on my nerves,” Lisa sorted her skirt and turned around to face Henry.
“OK, now when Sam comes you know the story, yeah?” She asked. He shook his head.
“Oh, Henry. OK. We left the door open upstairs and he crawled and fell down some stairs. Or did he try to climb on his crib and hit his head on the floor?”
“Or how about he got a remote control thrown at his face at full pelt?”
“Henry!”
The doorbell went.
“Fine!” Henry said and went to the door. Before opening the opaque, wooden door, he exhaled and made a fake smile.
“Hey, Sam,” Henry smiled and let her into the house.
“Hey, guys.” Sam was happy today, but Lisa could tell she was angry she had to come babysit.
“Oh, Sam, thanks so much. Something came up and we have to go visit Darren in the hospital. I’m sorry,” Lisa apologized to her and gave her a hug.
“It’s OK, Lisa, really. And hey, I have a question for you, what were you doing in The Lair forest in the middle of the night?”

 

 

 

Chapter Ten

-  Getting rid of a witness

Henry and Lisa froze but kept a weak smile.
“Erm, what do you mean, Sam?”
How the hell did she know?
“You sent me a text and you must have had your GPS on and it came up sent from, you know, the forest.”
S**t, Lisa thought. She bloody hated that phone.
“Oh yeah, we were trying to get Johnny to erm…calm down, after his accident so we took him for a ride to see the trees, because you know, he likes…trees,” Henry said, the whole lie was said in a very awkward tone.
Sam nodded slowly.
“Anyway so what happened to him? Can I see the little baby?”
“Oh yeah sure, he’s in the living room, go right in. We have to go now, so thanks a lot,” Lisa told her and rushed out the door. Sam looked slightly offended.

The hospital smelled funny, perhaps it was just paranoia, but the smell seemed familiar to Henry, however he had never been inside a hospital for very long before. Darren’s leg was strung up on a suspended cast. He looked uncomfortable. Jessie, his 20-year-old girlfriend had been with him since the accident. Darren hated Luca as soon as the car crashed.
“I don’t care, but where’s Luca?” he asked, looking at his aunt and cousin with slit eyes due to his tiredness.
“We don’t know; he ran away after he got home. We suspect he’s at some motel somewhere,” Lisa laughed. Darren didn’t laugh.
“Anyway how are you, sweetie?” She asked.
“I’m fine, Aunt Lisa,” he replied.
Henry felt sorry for Darren, seeing him like that.
“Darren I’ve sorted insurance stuff, so you’re OK, darling,” Lisa said to him.
“Thanks, Aunt Lisa, it means a lot,” he replied, smiling at her. Jessie had gone to get coffee, and they wanted to leave them alone.
“Why did you take the blame for the crash, Aunt Lisa? What the fu…”
“Darren! Language! I took the blame because I didn’t want him losing his license, OK?”
Darren closed his mouth.
“Come on, Henry, we have to go, OK?” Lisa grabbed her bag and stood up. She bent back down and gave Darren a kiss on the forehead. 
“Bye, Darren,” Henry waved.
“Bye, cuz,” he replied.

When they got home, Sam’s bike had fallen down. When Henry exited the car, he walked to it, and picked it up, putting it back up against the patio wall. He walked into the house.
“Hey, Henry, I didn’t realise you would be back so early,” Sam said. She was standing over the stove with a pot boiling.
“Hey, Sam. Whatcha doing?” Henry asked her, squinting to see what was boiling. Johnny was bouncing about in his high-chair. He seemed happy. Henry envied his baby brother. He didn’t think he’d ever be happy again after what he’d done last night. None of his smiles were real.
“I’m just making some milk for the little guy,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Johnny.
“We’ve had fun all day, haven’t we Johnny-wonny?” She laughed.
“Oh, and Mrs Jenkins over the road came over. She needs to talk to you about something, I don’t know what or why. Probably about her TV or something,” she remembered.
“Really? Well did she say anything else,” Henry asked, and his heart started to pound. But why? Surely it was just a problem with her TV. Lisa walked in a few seconds later.
“Hey, Sam, thanks so much. Lisa took out her purse and pulled out a twenty-dollar note. She walked over to Sam.
“Hmm, what you making, Sam?” She saw the milk boiling in the pot.
“It’s for Johnny. Thanks so much, Lisa,” she said, taking the note. Sam took her bag from the counter and said goodbye to Johnny. His toothless smile was so cute in his high-chair. Lisa had told her she would feed Johnny. She got a bottle out of the drawer, and poured in the warm milk. It would be far too hot right now, so she poured some out, and replaced the missing volume with fresh milk and shook the bottle. She would still leave it to cool before feeding him; she didn’t want to hurt his mouth as well as his head. The doorbell rang.
“Who is that?” Lisa asked. Henry told her he’d go to the door. Before opening the door, he looked through the peep hole and wasn’t happy at who it was. Mrs Jenkins stood on the porch, looking straight at the door. She went to ring again, but Henry opened the door with a welcoming smile.
“Mrs Jenkins, hi!” He kind of sung.
“Hello, Henry, could I come in, please. I need to speak with you and your mother.” Her expression was incomprehensible. She wasn’t smiling either.
Henry let her in, and she followed him, making sure the door was shut behind her.
“Mom, it’s Mrs Jenkins, she needs to speak with us, come on,” Mrs Jenkins sat down on the couch, putting her bag on the table in front of her, and Lisa joined Henry on the one opposite her.
“So, Mrs Jenkins, how can I help you?” Lisa asked her.
“I saw you doing something last night. You were putting a rolled up carpet in your car,” Mrs Jenkins said.
“Yes, we did. We were taking it to the skip, Hillary, is there something wrong?”
Hillary Jenkins looked at Henry then Lisa, repeatedly.
“Was there something inside the carpet? You both looked terrified of something.”
Henry was getting scared, his heart was pounding again. He didn’t let it show, he just kept looking at Mrs Jenkins.
“Mrs Jenkins, maybe you should mind your own business and stop spying on the neighbours. We all know about your military grade binoculars,” this widened Hillary’s eyes, and she seemed offended. Good.
“Lisa, Henry. You are up to something, and I’m going to tell the police about this.” Mrs Jenkins breathed and her breath seemed to get stuck in her throat, and she began coughing like mad. She lunged for her bag, but didn’t grab it, and most of the contents spilled out onto the table. Another pair of binoculars fell out, and a small digital camera. And the thing she was looking for fell out. Her asthmatic inhaler.
“Mrs Jenkins, are you OK?” Henry asked her, as she fell forward and clawed for her inhaler. Henry was about to grab it and give it straight to her, but Lisa got there first, only she didn’t give it back.
“Mrs Jenkins, you’re not going to the police OK, because you do not know what we’re capable of,” Lisa scared both of them. Lisa and Mrs Jenkins caught eyes, and the suffocating old woman nodded furiously. Lisa smiled, and put the inhaler into her hand. She furiously pressed the button and breathed multiple times.
“Y-y-y-your cr-crazy!” She screamed and got up. She collected her belongings, and she was crying.
“I’m going to go now,” she said, locking up her bag. She seemed to skip to the door, but when she opened it, she ran straight out. Lisa and Henry stood up, to go to the door. As they watched her cross the road, they weren’t expecting what was going to happen next. A car slammed into the old woman with a deafening thud, and the windshield cracked. Henry saw as Mrs Jenkins’s head smashed against the windshield. Her limp body fell from the bonnet and landed on the tarmac road with a thud. The only person screaming was the woman driving the car. She jumped out and screamed louder when she saw the dead woman lying in front of her car. Lisa had her hand’s over her mouth and Henry stood with his jaw dropped, a look of horror on both of their faces. A pool of blood began to form around Mrs Jenkins’s head and he shoes had come off when she was hit.
“Oh my god!” Lisa screamed. The woman by the car had her phone out and looked like she was on the phone to 911. Lisa and Henry looked at each other.

 

 

Chapter Eleven

- We meet again

 

Of course the police would come to the house. Mrs Jenkins died after running from their house. The embarrassing thing was that the interviewing officer was the same officer from the crash, and the same one that returned Henry’s phone. Johnny was fed and put into his crib in the living room.
“So, we meet again, then,” he said, smiling. Except no-one was happy.
“I know you have just witnessed the death of your neighbour, Ms Hillary Jenkins,” he said to them, looking at a sheet of paper with Mrs Jenkins’s name on it.
“Yes, we have, and we would like some time to compose ourselves without police interrogating us all the time!” Lisa told him. Her eyeliner was smudged. Good. Make it look more like an accident.
“Of course, ma’am, we know it was an accident and there shouldn’t be any investigation, just a few questions.”
He wanted to continue, and Lisa nodded.
“OK, thank you. Can you tell me why the victim was running from your house, please? I don’t think a 65-year-old woman would run anywhere, do you? She must have been terrified of something to make her run.”
Without answering the question, Lisa snidely snapped back instead.
“You know what, did you know that Hillary spies…spied on all of the neighbourhood. “Isn’t that... illegal or something?”
The officer sighed.
“We know about Ms Jenkins’s…hobby now. Another person we interviewed told us about this, but it’s not illegal unless you feel uncomfortable and you want it stopped, so can you please answer my question, Ms Lloyd?” He asked her again.
“Fine, she was over and we were arguing about why my cars were making too much noise and how they should be put in the garages at night, it was silly. She then threatened to call you guys, so she ran out of the house to call you, but…she didn’t make it,” Lisa finally answered the question. The officer nodded and then looked at Henry.
“What about you Henry? Is this true?” He asked him.
“Well, she was definitely moaning about the cars, but I only came down just before she left.”
The officer nodded again, and closed his notebook.
“I’m just glad Mrs Jenkins didn’t have any family, though,” Henry spoke up again.
“Actually, she does. She has a son in New York, some painter. He’s pretty good. We’ve notified him, but he wasn’t close to his mother at all. He was left the house so he’ll be selling it probably,” the officer told them. He stood up.
“Thank you for your time,” he said to the both of them and let himself out. They both smiled as he left.
“Oh my god, we killed Mrs Jenkins!” Henry whispered and stared at where she was sitting before she was hit.
“Henry, it was an accident, OK!”
“I’m glad they didn’t ask where Luca was,” he said to her, and got up from the couch.
“So am I. But they will, Henry. His boss will be looking for him, too,” she said to him as he walked up the stairs.
“Henry, we need to go to work tomorrow,” she called before he slammed his bedroom door. She sighed, and exhaled, and got to work on dinner. She started setting the table. She had laid four plates out. Oops. She quickly took one away, somehow embarrassed at her mistake. She put the plate back on, just in case. Just act normal. Like’s he’s coming home from work tonight. Except Luca didn’t come home from work, the work technically came to the house. The house phone rang. Lisa rushed to the cradle and answered the phone.
“Hello?” Lisa asked.
“Hi, Mrs Calabresi?”
“No, my name is Ms Lisa Lloyd, but Luca is my husband.”
“Oh, apologies, my name is Jason Verne, I’m Luca’s boss. We...erm…haven’t had Luca in today, and we tried to phone and text his mobile, then we realised he had a home number. Is everything alright?”
What could she possibly say?
“Jason, you know what, I have no idea where he is. He’s been missing since last night. We don’t know where he’s gone.”
“Oh, my, well I am ever so sorry to hear that.”
“But I’m sure he’s OK. I have people looking for him. Just…maybe not expect him for a while,” Lisa said.
“Thank you, Ms Lloyd, I must get back to note this down,” he said and hung up.
Jesus.
Lisa walked back to the table with cutlery, laying them all out. The only people who would be eating tonight were herself and Henry. They hadn’t eaten in a while. Johnny would be stuffed.

In his room, Henry wrote in his journal. He had documented all the times when Luca had hit his mother. He was on his twenty fifth entry. Of course, there were more, but he decided to leave some out, because they were either too extreme or not worth writing about. There were many extreme cases. But he wrote what had happened. He didn’t want to, hoping nobody would read it and they would be caught.

 

Chapter Twelve

- Back to School

 

The next day, Lisa and Henry woke up almost simultaneously, as Johnny wailed at the top of his mini lungs. God, they were powerful organs. They got breakfast, and then called Sam. Lisa had gotten the day off, and she said she would work from home, but she had to see Darren, so she decided to stay right off. When Sam arrived, Lisa thanked her again and they both left.

 “I’m supposed to go back to school tomorrow,” groaned Henry, slumping in one of the blue and green hospital chairs next to Darren’s bed. He was still in his cast, had to do the toilet in a bowl and couldn’t move or walk yet.
“You gonna go?” Darren asked. He was a little less today. He probably had a long sleep between visits.
“I…maybe,” he said. He hadn’t thought of the answer yet. He felt like never going to school again.
“Henry, of course you’re going to school, I don’t want to be arrested for truancy,” Lisa laughed, texting on her phone.
“Really, mom?” Henry asked her. She nodded, not looking up.
“Hey, where’s Luca now? I want an apology!”
When Darren said this, Lisa suddenly looked right up.
“Oh, he’s still gone, babe. I forgot to ask you…you didn’t tell anyone about Luca driving, I hope,” she asked him.
“Wow, OK, erm well…no I didn’t. Maybe Jessie, but that’s it. And she won’t tell anyone, its’s fine,” Darren replied. He bent over to grab a glass of water with a straw in it. He sucked at his straw, put the glass down and winced in agony as he relaxed again.
“OK, Henry, we have to go. Darren it was nice seeing you. We’ll try to see you after work OK. Bye honey,” she kissed him on the forehead and she left with Henry, who also quickly said goodbye.
“Mom, you can’t possibly expect me to go to school tomorrow, can you?”
“Henry, you’re going. They will think something’s going on, and if you go, it looks normal, OK?” She had stopped walking to turn to him and tell him. She began to walk again, pulling her jacket hood over hear head, seeing the rain outside. Henry done the same with the hoodie he was wearing. When they were in the car, Lisa yelped as she was freezing from the rain. Henry also moaned in uncomfortableness.
“Henry check if there is anything behind us please,” she asked, pulling the sleeve of her jacket off of her arm. Henry sighed and checked the rear view mirror. He couldn’t see outside from the back. Not because of the rain, but because of a naked man sitting in the seat, covered in blood, staring at him. Henry tried to scream, but he felt sick and gagged as he tried. Luca was back, and he lifted what was left of his arm. The flesh had been burned to the bone, and he had no fingers. Or maybe one, but it was just a bloody stump.
“You killed me, Henry!” Luca screamed at the top of his voice. In his mouth, all the teeth were blackened, and sooty black smoke billowed from his dark throat. As he pounced, Henry shot himself back and screamed so loud he could have woken the real Luca in the forest. His mom also screamed, but she didn’t see what was there.
“What’s wrong, Henry?” she shouted, a hand on her chest.
“He’s there! In the back seat!” Henry screamed and cried as he pointed to the back, were his mother was now searching. Luca was now gone, but the stench of the burning ghost was still there for Henry.
“Henry!” Lisa started shaking him. “Henry listen to me! There is no one there, OK?”
He quieted and closed his eyes. His goose bumps settle back into the skin and he relaxed. His heart was still booming over 150 time a minute.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see anything. I mean…I thought I did, but…” Lisa shushed him and started the car.
“Let’s get you home, babe,” she said, pulling out in the rain. Throughout the whole ride home, Henry was a whole different person. A new person. He didn’t seem real. Henry hadn’t said a word the whole ride and he kept staring at the rear-view mirror to check if Luca was still there, ready to pounce again with his broken bottle, but he never showed. Henry was scared.

When they went in, Sam sat by the fire, cradling Johnny in her arms, reading a story to him, but he was fast asleep. Sam smiled at him, then she looked up and saw the two of them walking in. She slowly elevated and put Johnny in his crib. She wandered over to the kitchen, where they both sat. Henry sat at the breakfast bar, cradling his head in his hands.
“You OK, buddy?” Sam asked him, slightly whispering, trying to spot his face.
“Oh, Sam, he’s fine, just a bit sick, I guess,” his mother replied for him, making up an excuse for Sam.
“OK, well I’m just gonna let myself out, then. Bye,” Sam called and started to leave.
“Oh, Sam, wait,” Lisa softly shouted to her. Lisa jogged over to her and took out her pure.
“Oh, Sam, I know our payment plan hasn’t been working out this week. Let’s just start from tomorrow with a fresh start, OK, darling?” She smiled at Sam.
“Oh no, Lisa it’s fine,” Sam said, pushing away the money. “We’ll start tomorrow. I’m a businesswoman,” she laughed and continued. “This is unprofessional.”
The two women laughed and Lisa saw Sam out. When she shut the door, Lisa locked it and took off her shoes, and kicked them away over to the closet door. She spotted Luca’s trainers and frowned. She brushed away the thought and jogged over to her sleeping child in the crib. His eyes were slightly open, and he was relaxed. She didn’t want to annoy him, so she blew him a kiss and went back over to the kitchen. Lisa put on some dinner. Only two microwave mac and cheeses. Henry liked anything anyway, so he wouldn’t care.
“Henry, you should go up for your shower after this, please, you have school tomorrow.”
“I’ll go in the morning. I’m going to bed now,” Henry told his mother and left the room.
“But Henry, you haven’t eaten anything!” She shouted as he ran upstairs. Then she sighed, and put one of the frozen mac and cheeses back in the freezer.

It was a loud night, but Henry felt safe under his duvet. The rain rattled on the window, and Darren’s balcony door crashed as the duct tape came loose. He wanted all the noises to go away. And just as he thought that thought, they stopped. He felt scared and confused, so he opened his eyes, and saw his bedside clock read no numbers, just a blurry phrase of symbols. He painfully hauled himself up, and looked around his room, stopping dead when he spotted a dark shadow move in the corner of his room. Staring at it for longer, he thought of what it could be. An owl? No, his window wasn’t open. Luca? That thought scared the living daylights out of him, and he got scared. He reached for his bedside light with his six fingers and pressed the light switch. No light came on. He began to sweat, and pant as he looked back over at the corner. The figure moved again, this time it moved towards his bed. Henry stopped, and smashed his head down onto the pillow, and was frozen. He kept staring at the thing that came towards him, still hidden in the darkness of the room. He saw it smiling at the end of his bed, caught it wink at him. The white teeth and the white eyes made him realise what it was as soon as he saw them. It was Luca.
“Hi, Henry,” it said as it crawled onto the bedspread, not losing its stare. Henry wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn’t. Then he tried to move, to defend himself, but no. He couldn't do that either. So he stayed still, watching, waiting to be devoured by this terrifying dark creature crawling towards him. Luca’s sinister, smiling face came close enough to kiss him, but that’s the last thing it would want to do, unless it was going to rip off Henry’s lips or tongue. Finally, Henry felt a pressure drop in his throat, and he managed to scream.
“Mom!” he yelled over and over again. Suddenly, the door swung open. Luca kept smiling and began to cackle maniacally but when Lisa turned on the light, it was gone. He was no longer straddling his chest, staring at him with a terrifying smile. Henry felt relieved. His mother ran to him and hugged him.
“Oh, Henry, what is it? Did you see something again?” She asked him.
Henry nodded.
“Uh-hu,” he replied like a child.
Lisa didn’t realize that these were just the beginning of Henry’s night terrors.

The next day, Henry couldn’t stop thinking about his nightmare the prior evening when he slept. But was it a nightmare? Was it real? It felt too real to be a dream, but his mind had been terribly confused lately, so it was probably just a hallucination. Lisa brought Henry in through the school entrance, where students didn’t enter from. They entered from the pupil entry, where the buses stopped. They were meant to sign in using their fingerprints as they walked through the doors, but many people couldn’t be bothered, or just forgot. Henry did every day.
“I’m sorry he’s a little late,” Lisa said to the receptionist Mrs Limbkins, a chubby old woman with died black hair and a pair of circular red glasses. She was, however, surprisingly nice to everyone.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, he’s fine. It’s period one,” Mrs Limbkins said, pulling out a biometric scanner. After he was signed in, Henry said goodbye to his mother and left through the double doors, which Mrs Limbkins had to open from the reception desk with the push of a large green button. Walking down the hallway, he saw, to the right, the conference room, where he, Martin, his mother, and Lisa were being interviewed by Mr Hanson. He hoped that he wouldn’t be in there ever again. He took the small staircase at the end of the corridor to the left. It was a fast way up to his Design and Manufacture class in room 209. Swinging open the next set of double doors he came across, Henry caught sight of Mr Chalmers, who had just moved to the school from a Scottish town. Henry had heard that apparently in his last school there was a teacher who sent this student weird messages and stalked them then kept his family hostage and killed people, and then got murdered by the kid’s dad. The rumour was backed up with a news story about a Scottish school where this happened, but nobody knows the school Mr Chalmers had come from. Henry had read the news article, with much excitement and interest. The boy’s name was Jay Anderson, and he had twin sisters. The sisters and the parents were taken hostage in an old Scottish asylum where there were bombs on the windows and doors. The guy, Mr Timpson, or Thompson, something like that, was the guy who did it, and Jay’s father stabbed him in the throat with a piece of glass. Cool. As Henry continued to walk to the room, he still felt sick. He approached the locked door of the classroom. The computer suite was secured with a switch that had to be pressed from the inside to get in. If you had a fob, you could get in from the outside, but Henry wasn’t a teacher.  He knocked on the door of the classroom and a small girl rushed to get it. Rebecca Geddes was not much of a friend to Henry, but anyone would have unlocked the door for them.
“Thanks,” he said to her, sitting in his chair by the computer. Most the work done in this class was wholly computer based, and there was some essay writing, also typed.
“I know about it it’s fine,” Mr Sinclair told Henry as he turned to tell him about why he was late.
“OK, cool,” he replied and swivelled round to face his computer. Logging in, he opened the work he had been finishing the day before he was suspended. Everyone would have been way ahead of him, or even finished.
“Henry, you’ve been missing a lot of work, young man. But you’re good at working so it will be easy for you to catch up, yeah?” Mr Sinclair asked Henry, who nodded.
It was a short period, since the bell would go sooner, as Henry was late. Henry couldn’t do any work in the whole period; he was too worried and anxious. He felt sick all day. And he had another five periods left. The bell finally rang and Henry couldn’t wait to get out of that hot classroom. He rushed to the door and swung it open. Henry rushed to the stairs and felt like he was going to be sick. He skipped his period two class, and instead of running to English, he bolted to the bathrooms and barricaded himself inside the first cubicle. It smelled horrific in the toilets at all times, but Henry didn’t even notice. He sat down on the toilet seat with his hands over his ears and he began to cry. Henry saw flashes of images. From that night. He saw himself with the frying pan. He saw himself with the broken bottle, lifting it above his head, not wanting to stop repeatedly stabbing his stepfather. He saw the blood. All that blood. When he opened his eyes, he began to scream as Luca lay on the floor of the cubicle, blood splattered on his wide-eyed, dead face. Blood began hosing into a pool of dark liquid, which surrounded the toilet and Henry. Henry hoisted himself up onto the lid of the toilet and stood there, looking down, locking his gaze with Luca’s. Luca’s frown quickly changed into an eerie, terrifying smile as he stared at Henry. Then Luca was ablaze. It was a huge, living fire. The flames danced above the blue cave of the cubicle and bounced off the roof. The fire alarms didn’t sound. Luca’s arms flailed about in front of him and he too was screaming in pain. Henry screamed again and covered his eyes. He waited for ten seconds. He could still hear the blazing flames and the screams as he counted. Then when he reached ten he peeked out from his hands and then he was alone, nobody in the cubicle. No blood, or flames. Just Henry, crying, standing on a toilet bowl. There were five sharp knocks on the door which made Henry jump. He yelped and shouted.
“F**k off! I killed you! Why are you still here?”
“Henry, come out this instant, please.”
S**t.
Mr Hanson rapped on the door again.
“Sir?” Henry asked, unclipping the door from the latch. Mr Hanson stared at Henry as he wobbled out of the cubicle. There were four boys standing behind Mr Hanson, smiles on their faces, laughs held back inside of them. Henry didn’t care. His heard was beating a thousand times a minute and he felt like he was going to…

 

 

 

Chapter Thirteen

-      The Italian Job

 

Henry woke several hours later. Or at least he thought it was hours. But he was still in school. He lay on the medical room bed. He examined the room. He had never been in here before for any longer than five minutes, while he was stopping a nose bleed. The phone beside him was off the hook, and the cord trailed over to the chair at the corner of the room, where one of the school nurses sat talking.
“I believe it could have been a bad reaction to a drug, or some sort of hallucinogenic, yeah,” the nurse finished and saw him looking, and gasped. “He’s actually awake now, so I’ll have to go, OK?” The nurse put down the phone and walked over to the bed where Henry lay. His shoes were off and he couldn’t see them anywhere. Henry tried to slide to the side to get up but the nurse kept him down on the bed.
“No, honey you have to stay lying down, OK?” She asked him.
“What happened?” Henry asked her. He was very thirsty. The nurse walked over to an under-counter refrigerator to grab a bottle of water for him, reading his mind.
“Mr Hanson found you in the bathroom having some sort of attack. Can you tell me if you took any drugs before class?”
He almost choked on his water.
“Mm-mm,” he hummed and swallowed. “No, miss. Definitely not.”
“Then do you remember why you were screaming about something in the toilet cubicle. You were extremely terrified of something. You told Mr Hanson that you’d killed him or something, no?”
It all came back to Henry. He saw, or thought he saw, Luca in the toilet cubicle, and lots of blood. And Mr Hanson walking in and Henry told him about a murder. Was that what happened? He couldn’t remember any more. Then he got an idea.
“Actually, some of the guys made me take something before class. They said it would help my headache. Oh my god,” he made himself sound surprised and shocked.
“Really? Do you remember what it looked like?”
“Erm…yeah. It was a small circular pill. It was yellow I think, and had something drawn on it but I just thought it was from some pharmacy. They said it was a paracetemol,” he lied.
“Henry, I think what you took was an ecstasy tablet. Don’t be scared, it’s gone now. You’re going to be fine. Can you tell me the names of the boys?”
“I…I really can’t remember who they were. They were in sixth year. They saw I was in pain and offered me the pill. Then I went to class, felt weird and then went to the bathroom.”
Henry was terrified about the next question.
“What did you see?” The nurse asked.
“I saw erm…I saw…” Henry took a while to answer, putting together his answer. Then he laughed.
“It’s unbelievable to be honest!” He looked at her, getting more time.
“Well, try me, Henry.”
This was it.
“I saw a… a spider. A huge spider. I had killed it last night, and I felt bad because it didn’t die first time I hit it, and it was there in the cubicle with me, and it had huge fangs and I was in a web. Then it crawled under the door and it knocked and I thought it was it but it wasn’t it...” he stopped, hoping it would be enough.
The nurse nodded.
“Henry, you were just hallucinating. We’re going to have to let you stay off school for a few days, maybe the rest of the week to let you relax after this incident. We’ll be investigating it, OK? And the police might need to get involved, too,” she replied.
Henry sighed.
“I don’t want any more trouble with the police, please,” Henry told her.
“We know about your car accident and your neighbour and we know you’re stressed, so we need you to take a little time off.”
Henry nodded.

To be continued