CHAPTER FIVE - THE BURIED TRUTH
(Part Three)
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Minutes went by as they looked at each other in astonishment, ‘She’s dead?’ Hogan muttered.
I looked away, nodded and with that, the silence was broken as Bridget let out a piercing scream and fell to the floor, ‘BRIDGET!’ Hogan yelled as he grabbed her head from the floor and shouted at me to get some water.
Splashing water on her pallid face bought her back to consciousness with a jolt, ‘Is Isla really dead?’ she cried.
Hogan pulled her up and sat her round the table as I cautiously pulled up a chair to join them.
More questions came from the tormented parents and more lies escaped my mouth, ‘So where have you been?’ Hogan asked suspiciously as he cradled a distraught Bridget in his arms and tried to maintain his own emotions.
I looked away from Isla’s pictures as I feared they were staring at me with judging eyes and continued, ‘I was sent to the games for associating with other beings. They didn’t listen to my reasons so I was thrown into the games and fought to get free. I made a deal with the Elders but now I need your help.’
Before they could ask more questions, there was a knock at the door and Hogan went to investigate, leaving me with a hysterical Bridget begging for her daughter to come back.
Hogan returned within minutes with fury written across his face, ‘So what do these men who you owe money to have to do with it?’ he asked through gritted teeth.
Bridget stopped crying and faced me with torture in her eyes, ‘I don’t care about the men you owe money to, I don’t care what you’ve been through; all I care about is getting revenge on those who killed my daughter. Now where are they?’ she said with a new icy, composed nature.
It shocked us both as we regarded her with concern.
Bridget was always the one who would see the good in a situation.
Never one to loose her temper or display any negative thoughts or feelings, she was warm, loving and forgiving, which is why this new cold, venomous woman sat before me frightened us.
Even when she morphed into her natural state, she never enjoyed her kill and eventually only morphed when the moon forced her to, training her body to ignore its urge for blood and fresh meat, to instead settle for human food.
Wiping away her tears, she smelled the piece of fabric that I had in my top pocket, in order to inhale the witch’s scent, ‘I’ll go pack some things together and you go get Lou.’ she snarled as her eyes began to glow yellow with anger and determination.
Hogan ran over to her and held her by the shoulders, hoping to reason with her, ‘You can’t go. You need to stay here with Lou. We’ll go and sort them out.’ he protested as she pushed past him and ran into the lounge.
We cautiously followed as the sound of smashing china and glass dominated the still morning, ‘What are you doing?’ Hogan screamed as he dodged the flying ornaments and pictures, ‘If I can’t take my anger out on those murderers, I need to do it somehow!’ she screamed as she stopped, mid-throw.
Lying beneath her feet was a smashed picture of Isla when she was ten years old, happily splashing her feet in the sea at the seaside, she beamed from ear to ear as she played with Hogan on the shoreline.
‘KILL THEM! DON’T LET ANY GET AWAY!’ Bridget screamed as she fell to the floor, picking up the shattered framed picture and began to cradle it in her chest.
Hogan backed away from her, unsure of what to do next, ‘Do you think Lou should stay with her?’ I asked with concern.
He looked at Bridget with alarm as though he was looking at a complete stranger and concluded, ‘We can’t leave Lou with her. I’ll call her sister to come and get her and we’ll have to take Lou with us. I’ll also call some friends to come along to help as we’ll need more than the two of us to get into their camp. Now go get some supplies, I’ll call her sister to get Lou, then we’ll set off straight away. Okay?’ he stammered as he tried to put on a brave face in front of his crumbling wife.
I did as I was told and within thirty minutes Bridget’s sister came and took a silently numb Bridget with her.
As I looked through the window, witnessing the pain that I had caused to a woman who had always showed me love, warmth and protection, the guilt quickly fled from my shaking body as I saw what it was all for.
Lou came running to the front door with Hogan behind and I heard the words I never thought I would hear ever again, ‘DADDY!’
Racing down the stairs, he leapt into my arms and squeezed me tightly, ‘Where have you been?’ he asked as he gasped for air as I refused to stop hugging and kissing him, ‘All will be explained soon, son.’ I managed as Hogan reminded me of the bigger picture, ‘Okay, I’m ready.’ I replied to his urgent whispers as he grabbed the bags, which I had thrown to the bottom of the stairs, and we made our way out of the front door.
Holding onto Lou’s hand, I looked down at my excited little boy and thought twice about taking him on this journey but I knew I couldn’t be without him again. No one was going to harm him as I knew I owed his mother at least that much.
Allowing him to jump on my back for a piggy-back reminded me of just how much energy he had as he chatted away about his friends at school and how he is maturely dealing with his special gift, ‘Grandad has been training me to be able to change whenever I want and he said that when I get older I will have more control over it. Were you like me at my age Daddy?’ he asked innocently.
Hogan looked at me with annoyance as I turned, smiled at my eager boy and replied, ‘I think I was worse than you because my Daddy wasn’t one of us so I only had my Mummy to help me understand what we are.’
We stopped at the main road and waited for the traffic to pass as I dropped Lou off my back to negotiate the busy road more easily.
As I looked around for any familiar faces that could reveal the truth; I didn’t notice the conversation had come to an abrupt halt.
I looked down at my son, who now had a solemn expression on his freckled face and wondered if it was something I had said, ‘Son, what’s wrong?’ I asked with concern as Hogan looked on in apprehension.
He took a moment to he pause and with a sigh he replied, ‘Will my Mummy ever come back to help me?’
I looked to Hogan for some help or support but there was nothing as he looked away and continued the journey, leaving me with those hopeful eyes piercing my soul looking for answers.
There was nothing I could do but continue the lie as all my guilt came flooding back, circling and attacking me as I concluded, ‘Mummy is with the angels now but we’re going to see if we can speak to some people to see why they put her there.’
Thinking he was too young to understand the concept of death, I assumed that answer would bide me a few more hours.
But I was wrong.
As we weaved through a new onslaught of traffic, we managed to make it to the other side of the road in one piece and continued the journey through the woods, deciding that being out in the open was too risky.
Gesturing Lou to run in front of us, I decided that I needed this time to speak to Hogan to come up with a better plan than to just get some more Lycan’s and ambush the camp.
However Lou had other ideas.
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