Chapter 20 - Clover (flashback from Clover's past)
Clover's POV
I sat on the floral sofa reading the news paper and trying to ignore the sound of shouting and banging coming from the cellar downstairs. The dirty prostitute hadn't stopped screaming since last night and I was getting really agitated now, Mum wouldn't be home for a while though. She started keeping them for a day or two last month, she liked dragging it out, hearing them beg for days before we finally finished it.
I glanced up at my one and only birthday card, surrounded by vases of fresh flowers. Yesterday was my twentieth birthday. Mum made it special; we spent half of the day as a normal family but she couldn't keep it up long, by seven o'clock at night we were out on the street getting that screaming bitch downstairs.
The front door opened and I stiffened, she was home but not alone. I heard muffled screams and the sound of something smashing on the floor. I jumped up and ran out in the hall. My Mother was pushing another girl roughly through the house; she smiled almost warmly as she saw me.
"Deal with this, Colin," she said emotionlessly as she shoved the girl towards me and walked off upstairs, probably to bed.
The girl looked young, much younger than usual. She was crying and begging me with her eyes to let her go. I held her still and just stared at her for a minute, she was beautiful, surely she wasn't a prostitute? I pulled her into the kitchen and made her sit at the table.
"What's your name? And how old are you?" I questioned, standing above her in case she decided to try and run.
"H-Hayley," she whispered, "I'm seventeen." I clenched my jaw and tried not to show any reaction.
"Where did she find you?"
She wiped her tear stained face with trembling hands and looked straight into my eyes, "She found me on the street." She was a prostitute.
"What are you doing on the street at seventeen?" I growled, feeling the anger building. They're getting younger.
"I-I don't want to, he m-makes me." She was sobbing so hard I could barely hear what she was saying. I rubbed my forehead roughly. We couldn't hurt her if she didn't want this, if it was forced on her.
"What the fuck is she doing in my kitchen," Mum screamed, glaring murderously at Hayley. I unconsciously moved so I was blocking my Mum's view of her. Why do I feel so protective of her? Mum's eyes snapped to mine. "What was that?" she spat, her hands shaking in anger.
I held my hands up trying to calm her down so I could talk to her for a minute. "It was nothing. I just found something out, someone is forcing her into this, she doesn't want to. We can't do this, can we just let her go," I said pleadingly.
Her eyes seemed to turn darker. I ignored Hayley's crying and concentrated on my Mother. "She's still one of them, a dirty bitch! You deal with her," she said with an evil smile, knowing I wanted to let her go.
I turned and looked at Hayley who was crying and shaking her head. "Please no," she sobbed. "I won't tell anyone I promise, just let me go. I'll leave town, get away from him and I won't do it again I swear." I wanted that for her, I wanted her to get out but how can I get her out of here first? "Please, please."
"Stop begging," Mum shouted, slapping Hayley across the face making her cry out in pain.
"Enough," I said sternly. Mum looked furious that I'd spoke to her like that; I'd never answered her back or raised my voice to her before but I couldn't help it. I lowered my head so I wasn't looking at her; she was going to make me pay for that.
"Do it, Colin," she ordered, reaching over to grab a knife from the kitchen drawer and handing it to me. "Do it now." Hayley shrank back in the seat sobbing and begging me not to. "Can't you see what she's doing? She trying to take you away from me like that whore did with your father," Mum spat nastily. My eyes narrowed at Hayley and I felt the anger building again. "She wants to break us up, she wants to ruin us."
"N-no I don't," Hayley wept.
"She's lying, Colin. Finish it before she ruins us." Images of my Dad and his whore flashed through my mind. I didn't see Hayley anymore, I saw her. Ignoring her crying and begging I pushed her back in the chair and raised the knife, bringing down quickly and driving it into her chest. This was the first time I'd done it alone as I usually just help Mum, I felt indestructible, powerful.
"Colin, Colin!" My Mother's screaming voice brought me back to reality. I stood still breathing hard. It was only then I realised what I'd done. Hayley was slumped back in the seat, blood gushed out of hundreds of stab wounds all over her body. I stared at her with wide eyes. What had I done?
"Clean it up! Clean it up now. Dirty boy, dirty boy." Mum chanted over and over. I could just about see her shaking out of the corner of my eye. She hated the blood and for the first time I realised why. It was everywhere and the smell was so overwhelming.
I stepped back and dropped the knife on the floor. "Clean it now," Mum screamed again making me jump. I ran to the kitchen cupboard, grabbed a body bag and carefully placed Hayley's body into it, trying not to gag at the smell.
My hands were covered in her blood and Mum kept shouting about how many germs were crawling all over me, it made me feel sick. I frantically scrubbed the chair, table and floor. My hands were shaking where I was trying to clean faster so I could scrub the blood and germs off my skin.
Finally after two hours Mum was happy that the kitchen was clean again. The smell of lemon stung my eyes and throat but it was better than the metallic, rusty smell of the blood. My clothes were covered in red spots and it had dried on my skin. Mum made me go outside, strip my clothes off and throw them in the bin.
I quickly walked upstairs to the bathroom where Mum was waiting for me. First I showered, the water turning pink as the blood ran off my skin. I scrubbed all over my body until it stung. Mum pointed to the bath as soon as I stepped out of the shower. The steam was rising from the water and I knew it was going to be too hot.
Without exchanging words I walked past her and carefully lowered my foot into the water. Instantly the water stabbed at my skin. I got in completely and sat down, clenching my jaw and taking deep breaths through the pain. Mum grabbed a sponge and started scrubbing me all over roughly. She was good at this now and knew when to stop right before she broke the skin, she wouldn't come near me if I had broken, bloody skin.
As soon as she was satisfied that I was clean she left the room. I stood on the bath mat and let myself dry, there was no way I could use a towel it would hurt my skin too much. Finally once I was dry I went to my room and dressed in loose fitting tracksuit trousers and a baggy t-shirt. The material was soft but against my sore skin it rubbed painfully.
"Colin, dinner," Mum called up the stairs.
We sat at the dining room table eating pasta as if nothing had happened. She was looking at me proudly for the first time in fourteen years. I had finally done something right, it was an incredible feeling, I wanted to make her proud.
"Once we've cleaned up we need to dump the body," she said casually, stabbing the pasta and popping it into her mouth.
I nodded, "I can take care of it. You have an early night or something." She smiled at me, a real, genuine smile.
We chatted about what to do with the slut in the cellar, tomorrow Mum was going to kill her as she was too tired tonight. I would make sure I helped her properly and had all the cleaning products down there with us so I can get everything cleaned quicker.
I carried Hayley's body to the car and drove her to the river. They were going to be developing this area soon so we would have to find somewhere else to dump them. I worried a lot that they would find the bodies in the river but Mum was confident they wouldn't, we weighted the body bags thoroughly so they should just lay on the bottom of the river forever, I hoped.
I collected the biggest rocks I could find and filled the bag until it was full. I didn't look at her face as I worked. Part of me felt guilty for killing her, she didn't want the life she had but she was still one of them. Mum was right; the world was a better place without people like that, ripping families apart.
I rolled her body into the water and sat down, pulling a blade of grass out of the ground and rolling it between my thumb and finger as I watched her body sink to the bottom of the river. Once the water stopped bubbling I looked down, I wasn't holding a blade of grass, I was holding a four leaf clover.
"Clover?" The soft voice made me snap out of my thoughts. Rose was standing in front of me looking concerned, Poppy was behind her wiping tears from her eyes. Lily must still be in their room with Heather, well I guess she's not Heather, not if she's going to act like that, she's lucky she's still breathing!
"Yes?"
"Can I talk to you about Heather?" Why would she want to talk about her? 'Heather' reminded me of Hayley a little, or maybe it was just how much I lost it again. I gave into the anger too much, I lost control for a minute and that's not something I've really done since Hayley.
I nodded and sat down, waiting for her to start. "Well, what happened was an accident. She was confused; she thought you were going to hurt us so she tried to protect us. I've told her everything though and she knows the truth, she knows how you look after us. I promise you she won't do anything like that again. Please can you help her? She needs medical attention-"
"No," I growled, standing up and feeling instantly guilty when she flinched. I didn't want her to be scared, she was the perfect woman. I sighed and explained that I couldn't let this go, I won't have anyone disrespect me, especially when I'm trying to save them. Ungrateful bitch!
Rose practically begged for a full ten minutes, explaining how it was a misunderstanding and she was only trying to protect them. Could I let her have this one thing? She rarely asks for anything. "I promise you, Clover, nothing like that would ever happen again, not now she knows the truth," she said softly, taking my hand.
I smiled down at her. This clearly meant a lot to Rose and I could give her another chance for Rose and the other girls. "I'll leave her with you. I won't have anything to do with her until she proves herself. There will be no medical help; she needs punishment for what she did."
"But she needs help, she has-"
"No Rose," I said sternly, pushing her back. She knew better than to argue with me.
She dropped her head to the floor. "Okay. Thank you, Clover," she whispered. I nodded and walked back upstairs, locking the cellar door and moving the bookcase in front of it.
What would have happened if I'd given Hayley a chance? Would I have been able to get her out of the house without Mum knowing? She could have been the first girl, my girl. I sighed and walked into the lounge, picking up today's newspaper and smiling as I saw Lily on the front page.
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If you're confused!! The first bit was a flashback from Clover's time with his Mum, it's set after Clover beat up Heather/Louise, hopefully it's obvious though!
I wrote most of this a while ago so thought I'd finish it and upload! I've got a few other Clover chapters that I think I'm gonna add to the story until I start the sequel, I kinda like writing him...hmm I probably shouldn't!!
Anyway I hope you like it. If you did, please comment, vote, like and tweet. X