Chapter Fifteen
1
Cassandra Blakely, or 'Mad Cass' as the locals of Eastlake liked to call her, was twenty-two but years of rough living had conspired to make her look older. Her long, black hair was stringy and unkempt and her skin was a grimy grey colour. Her eyes were dull and lifeless and the stink of stale sweat and dirt radiated from her. She hated her life but there was little she could do to change it.
It was yet another uncomfortably hot and cloudless afternoon when Cass finally climbed out from her cardboard box, under the Marington viaduct, just outside Eastlake. The disused, Victorian, redbrick structure had been her home for the past two weeks but she knew that it would only be a matter of time before the kids found her again and chased her away from this place as they had chased her from all of the others. The best place had been the lake. It was spooky out there with all the forest sounds at night and all of the lost ones that came to her looking for justice, revenge or just someone to understand them.
The young woman stretched, yawned and had a good scratch before she petted her cat.
"Hello, Jasper. And how are you today? Looks like it's going to be another scorcher, doesn't it?" He purred contently as she ran the back of her bony, filth-encrusted hand against his cheek and scratched behind his ears. "I suppose you'll be wanting your breakfast now, let's just see what we have in here then shall we?" Cass rummaged through one of the two white, plastic carrier bags, which contained all her worldly goods, and pulled out the remains of the cheeseburger that she had retrieved from one of the rubbish bins in town the night before. She ripped it in two, removed the meat from one half and held it out for the cat. Jasper wasted no time snatching it from her hand. Within seconds he had eaten the whole thing and was slinking back and forth against her knees and meowing for more.
Cass smiled sadly as she ate the stale bap from which she had extracted his meal. It was chewy like rubber and tasted awful but she was used to that now. She knew that she had to eat whatever she could scavenge and for the moment the stale burger bun was all she had. "Sorry pal," she stroked him again and popped another piece into her mouth, "hunting might not be too good today so we have to put something aside for later." With this, she rewrapped the other portion of the burger and put it back into the plastic bag. "Come on then you, I think we'd better get into town and see what the pickings are like today." She hid the soggy cardboard box, which served as her bed, in the dense undergrowth, picked up her two bags and started the long walk into town.
2
Tamicka sat on the bench in the garden, where she and Penny had rested the day before, and waited for her father or Mrs. Hughes to call out to her.
Things had been so weird in the months that had passed since her mother's death but they were beginning to get better now. For the first time in ages she felt as if she could finally see some light in the dark void which her life had been trapped for so long. Everything was good again.
Tamicka looked back towards the house and saw her father watching her through the open doorway. She held a hand out to him and, without a word passing between them; he walked towards her. With his long, steady strides it wasn't long before he reached her and sat down beside her. Tamicka still found it hard to believe that he had changed so much towards her. She rested her head on his chest and enjoyed the warm flutter that pulsed through her as his strong arm went around her shoulder and hugged her close to him.
"I love you, Bunny. You do know that, don't you?"
She nodded her head against him and closed her eyes. "I love you too daddy."
"I'm not going to make any excuses for the way I've treated you. I know that it was unforgivable, especially the other day when I..." He broke off when she put her small hand softly onto the arm that held her. "I don't know why I did it."
"It's okay Daddy, we don't have to talk about that. It's all in the past now."
"But I should never have done it. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you but that's exactly what I've done and I don't think that I will ever be able to forgive myself for that."
He was about to say something more but Tamicka pulled away from him and put her hand over his mouth to hush him. "I know that you miss mommy, we both do, but we still have each other. I'll always love you daddy. Always." She removed her hand and saw that he was smiling.
"You look more and more like her every day. You even have the same dimples in your cheeks when you smile."
She snuggled up to him and rested her head against his chest again, which rose and fell with each steady breath. Tamicka could hear the soft beat of the pulse in her temple as it kept pace with the easy rhythm of her father's heartbeat. She could not remember the last time she had felt so relaxed. "Daddy, I wish mommy was here with us."
"She is Bunny, she is."
At that moment, Tamicka believed him.
3
Mrs. Hughes stood in the shade of the kitchen, and watched as father and daughter clung lovingly to each other. Little Tamicka looked very happy as she sat with her eyes closed in Mr. Moon's arms. He was so gentle with her. He stroked her flushed cheek and her long golden hair as he spoke softly to her and, every-so-often, the little girl would look up into his eyes with one of the prettiest grins the old woman had ever seen.
Mrs. Hughes didn't blame herself for having thought badly of Mr. Moon. Based on his neglect of the poor child, which she had witnessed with her own eyes, and what Tamicka had told her last night how could she have thought otherwise? But perhaps he wasn't such a terrible father after all.
Even as she looked at the pleasant scene in front of her, Mrs. Hughes had the eerie feeling that she wasn't entirely alone in the kitchen. It was a sensation she had felt many times when she had been up at the Big House, almost like someone was creeping up on her from behind. She knew that it was impossible, of course but she frowned and slowly turned around anyway.
Just as she had suspected, she was alone, but the strange sensation didn't subside, if anything it became even greater. An ice-cold tingle went right through her and for a split second her vision became a blur, then an instant later everything was normal again.
"Well, I can't stand around here all day. I've got beds to change and rooms to air." The old woman told herself nervously. Something strange had just happened that she couldn't explain. It wasn't the first time it had happened and in all likelihood it probably wouldn't be the last.
4
Tamicka opened her eyes and looked towards the back door where her father had stood smiling at her only a short while before. Now the little, copper-haired girl from the painting stood there staring right into her eyes. Tamicka felt every muscle in her body become rigid. She tried to close her eyes but the lids were fixed open. She started to shiver uncontrollably. She knew that her father was speaking to her but the words seemed too far away for her to hear. He held her tight and kissed her head countless times but none of that did anything to comfort her. Then the girl turned and walked back into the house. As soon as she was out of sight Tamicka sucked in a deep gasp and felt her muscles relax again. Until that moment she hadn't even realised that she had been holding her breath.
"Bunny? Sweetheart, what's wrong? What's happening?"
Tamicka looked up at her father's face. And for a second it was almost as if she couldn't speak, she couldn't even move. She just sat there staring at him. Her head still spun from what she had seen in the doorway. She didn't know what the girl had wanted. She wasn't even sure if what she had seen was real. All she did know was that Munford House was a scary place again
"I'll tell you what, why don't we get old Mrs. Hughes and see if she's ready to go into town?" Her father smiled nervously.
Without saying a word, Tamicka threw her arms around his neck and hugged him as tight as she could. But all the time she couldn't shake the image of the girl from her mind.
5
The old clock on the war memorial read 1:30 p.m. by the time Penny and her mother exited the cinema, but everyone who lived in Eastlake knew that that particular clock was forever losing time. Penny tied her light woollen cardigan around her waist before taking a quick look at her watch for a second opinion.
1:51 p.m.
The film had been much longer than she had expected, and nowhere near as good, but she didn't really mind. She was just glad to be able to spend some time with her mother. It had been so long since they had last done anything in town together that Penny had almost forgotten what it was like.
"Well, that's the movie out of the way. What would you like to do now?" Asked her mother as she fished out a pair of sunglasses, with extra large, dark lenses from her shoulder bag and slid them on.
Seeing her mother hide her black eye behind the darkened shades suddenly made Penny self-conscious about her own battle scars and she instantly covered her mouth with her hand. She felt like everyone was staring at her. Even Mad Cass took a moment out from digging around in a green refuse sack filled with old rags, some of which had been strewn across the pavement of Suchet Street, to take a good look at her. Her mother had noticed her embarrassment and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry Penny, that lip really doesn't look as bad as you think."
Penny heard her mother's words but she didn't believe them for a second. She knew exactly how bad it looked; she had seen it in the passage mirror before they'd left the house. It hadn't bothered her so much then but now she just wished that she could hide away from everyone. "Mum, do you think that we could just go home now?"
"Don't be silly dear; we haven't spent nearly enough money yet." Her mother laughed. "Now then, what's next? A little shopping perhaps? I don't know about you but I could defiantly do with a new outfit."
"I suppose I am feeling a little peckish, why don't we grab a bite to eat somewhere first?" Penny replied. Her stomach let out an audible rumble right on cue.
"How can you still be hungry after all the popcorn you scoffed back there?"
"I'm a growing girl Mum, what can I say? I need my food."
"Come on then, you've convinced me. Where do you want to eat?"
Penny thought for a moment. She knew exactly where she wanted to go but she wasn't sure whether her mother would approve. "Why don't we try out that new place in The Mullen's Centre? I think it's called The Burger Palace."
"Burgers? Penny, I don't know!"
"Please Mum," Penny pretended to plead.
"I don't want you eating too much junk food; it's not good for you."
"Come on Mum, you know that you want one as much as I do. And just imagine; it will taste twice as good when you use his money to pay for it." Penny smiled, knowing that she had just made the winning move
Her mother was quiet in thought for a while before she finally conceded. "I think you might have a point there. Come on then you fast-food junky, lead the way."
They both giggled like a couple of mischievous children and, hand in hand, ran in the direction of The Mullen's.
6
The big, silver car pulled up and a pretty teenager, dressed in black baggy jeans and a red T-shirt climbed out of the front passenger door. To anybody who watched, the scene looked like a father dropping his daughter off at the shopping precinct for a fun day with her friends. Anybody, that is, except Cass Blakely. Cass knew things about people. She could see things in them that others couldn't. It was all part of the curse that she hated so much. It didn't always happen but, right at that moment; she could read the girl as clearly as if she was a word printed on a page. The girl was besotted with the man in the car. Cass couldn't see the man clearly enough to tell whether the feeling was mutual but something told her that it wasn't. For him it was just about sex.
"Hey, wait a minute." The man called out, still hidden within the confines of the car.
The girl's smile widened and she turned back and leaned through the open passenger-side window. Cass watched them a while longer before she finally lost interest and got back to hunting through the old clothes again. Jasper was hungry. He slinked around her, meowing while she hunted. "Look, how am I supposed to find anything nice for us if you're going to keep on distracting me like this?" Cass said. She reached out to stroke his mangy coat and Jasper started to purr.
Cass took a quick glance over in the direction of the 'lovers' again. Something the man had said had upset the girl. She quickly pulled her head out of the car and stormed towards Cass. The man had promised her money, twenty pounds, but at the last moment he'd told her that he had left his wallet at home. She didn't believe him. Cass saw all of this from the girl's perspective. She could even see the man, although she'd never physically laid eyes on him. He was married, with a child the same age as the girl. He had hurt them both earlier that morning, had left them both down on the ground in pain. He would do the same to this girl before the night was out, but he would pay for it too, in the end.
"Don't worry about him. He's not worth it." Cass said as the girl walked past her with the face of a child who couldn't have her own way.
The girl stopped in her tracks. "And what the hell would you know about it, you stupid, filthy tramp." She snapped at Cass.
"More than you think."
"Yeah? Well you can just keep your stinking nose out of my business, all right?" The girl spat.
"Okay, but believe me, you'd be better off without him."
"Fine... whatever!" The girl yelled. "Now don't let me keep you from the bin liner department store you mad witch." She turned away and started off towards The Mullen's.
"What are you trying to hide?" Cass called after her.
The girl stopped again. "What?"
"You heard me. What are you covering up?"
"Shit, you're bloody mental, do you know that?"
"Something happened in the woods last year, didn't it? Something that changed your life forever."
The girl just sighed incredulously.
"You and the others."
The girl's jaw dropped and her green eyes opened wide with fear. "But – how could you know?" She looked pale, as if all the blood had drained from her. "You can't know!"
"But I do. Not everything yet, but I know."
The girl quickly turned and ran without looking back. Nobody saw the strange blurred, shapeless thing that followed her, nobody but 'Mad Cass'.
Author's Note
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