His Silence : His Silence - Chapter 86 by Jacob1395 Book of the Month contest entry |
Warning: The author has noted that this contains the highest level of language.
I shake my head. ‘This doesn’t make sense, you’re spouting nonsense.’ I can’t help but laugh, everything, all of this, Oliver being my dad, Mary being his therapist, it’s ridiculous. I think back to Mum’s diary extracts. She talked about Oliver having therapy sessions when she first got to know him and didn’t Oliver tell me himself the first time I came here? Mary rubs her hands together and her eyes glide around the room before they fix on me again. ‘Oliver had been having sessions with me on a weekly basis for some time, when he met your mother. He was deeply traumatised after his years growing up in the care system, and it was a complete shock to him to discover he had a half-brother, who his mother, who abandoned him, lovingly raised. You see, he had a bit of a mental breakdown. I had a practise in Southend and when he came he was so vulnerable, so sweet; he reminded me of my son I lost, they were a similar age. My son, Sean he . . . he was attacked one night in the street, stabbed to death, and they never caught the people who killed him. I couldn’t save him . . . I . . .’ She wipes her eyes. She pulls the medal I spotted the other day, out of her pocket. ‘This medal belonged to my father, who served in the Second World War, Sean was so proud of him, he carried it everywhere; now I do, I feel like, when I have this medal, I’m carrying a piece of Sean with me.’ She puts the medal back in her pocket. ‘I wanted to help Oliver so bad, I thought, at least, if I couldn’t help my son, I could help him, and then Oliver suffered the traumatic incident with his wife, it was too much for him.’ ‘Oliver was a suspect in her death,’ I say, thinking back to what Sarah told me. Mary shakes her head. ‘He was a person of interest, Danielle, not a suspect, and that was because some stupid person told the police they thought he’d been abusing his wife, which was not true; they never found any evidence to support that claim. I feared he would be beyond help after, that’s why I suggested to him he needed a place, a sanctuary filled with like-minded people he could call home. I told him he would find himself again and be able to live his life.’ I stare at her. ‘You suggested getting this place?’ I say. ‘I could see how strong Oliver could be if he had something to focus on. I knew we needed to find people in similar situations to us, people who’d suffered and needed fixing, my speciality. We couldn’t just accept anyone. That’s why I didn’t like having your parents here, they hadn’t suffered, and they didn’t need healing. You, Danielle, however, are different to them; you’ve suffered from a terrible incident in your past.’ I glance at Callum. He’s wrapped his arms around his knees; he’s staring at the door not staring at Mary. ‘Did Oliver’s brother live here?’ I ask. Mary nods. ‘He did, yes, of course he and your parents got on like a house on fire,’ she replies with a hint of bitterness to her voice. I wipe my eyes. ‘Did my father . . . did he ever suspect Oliver was my real dad?’ Mary purses her lips. ‘I’m not sure, Danielle, it hurt Oliver every day. Your mother forbad him from saying anything to you; he confided in me and broke down sobbing on more than one occasion. I hated her for not allowing him to be part of your life in that way.’ I run my tongue across the roof of my mouth. Mary hated my mother. ‘But why did they leave here?’ I ask. ‘I don’t understand why they would?’ Mary sighs. ‘Because I felt the only way to make Oliver happy would be to have your father out of the picture, and I think they cottoned onto that I’m afraid. Gavin suspected it first I think, he overheard me and Oliver talking one afternoon, I think. I should’ve been more careful. Oliver was so miserable, Danielle, and you have to remember that everything I put into this place, all of my energy was for him. I haven’t taken any credit here; I’ve let Oliver take it all.’ She wanted to kill dad. I swallow hard. The memory of Mum telling me to be quiet as we escaped this place flickers through into my mind again. ‘You killed Mum and Dad, didn’t you, you tracked them down?’ Mary shrugs. ‘Well, I had your brother to thank for that.’ I shake my head, curling my fists. I want to kill her. I want to fucking kill her for what she’s done. ‘He was so attached to this place, bless him; he was willing to go to prison to save it. He contacted me, I gave him my number; you’re not the only one who’s allowed to keep a phone here.’ ‘You bitch,’ I spit. Mary sighs. ‘I don’t appreciate that kind of language, Danielle.’ I shake my head, tears escaping my eyes. ‘Why did you kill Mum when Oliver loved her?’ ‘I never set out to kill your mother in the first place, Danielle. As much as I disliked her, I knew how much she meant to Oliver, and how much joy she brought him. Your father was only ever meant to have an accident. I killed your mother because . . . because I could see she was never sincere about being there for Oliver, she was never serious about their relationship. I killed her to save him from the pain I knew she would cause him later. She took you from him; you have no idea what that did to him. He was broken all over again. My hard work squandered in the blink of an eye.’ Her eyes shine with tears as she speaks; she wipes her eyes and takes in a breath. I let out a strangled cry. ‘You could’ve let us go; we would’ve lived our lives, no one would ever have found out about this place.’ ‘Well, I would’ve liked to have thought that at the time, but, unfortunately, that’s not how things turned out, is it, Danielle?’ she says. I eye the door again behind her, but then my eyes flicker to the knife. ‘What do you want from me?’ I ask. Mary sighs. ‘I’m going to give you a choice, Danielle, and I hope you’ll accept it, otherwise the consequences for you and Callum won’t be pretty, I’m afraid. I would very much like you both to stay here. You need to forget about the past, it’s quite clear to see it’s not doing you any good, and I would like, Danielle, for you to accept Oliver as your father. I believe it will be instrumental to his healing. He would love to have that father-daughter relationship with you, isn’t that something you’ve wanted all these years, yearned for?’ My heart thumps hard. ‘So that’s it, you just want us to continue as if none of this has happened?’ I flick my gaze to Callum. Why’s he not saying anything? ‘You’re going to say to Max you’ve had enough and decided to stop investigating what happened to your family. Let’s hope he takes the hint this time. I really don’t want to be responsible for any more blood loss. But I think I need to leave you for some time to stew this over,’ she says, getting up, her grip tightening on the knife. ‘I’ll come back in the morning, before everyone else gets up, I think a night down here in the dark will make you come to your senses and realise what’s at stake here.’ ‘Wait what about my family? When we don’t go back to them, they’ll realise something’s up. They’ll come looking for us.’ ‘Well, your family think you’re travelling in Europe, I can arrange for them to think that you’ve somehow met a tragic end, and that sadly your bodies couldn’t be recovered. You should really have thought about this before you came here, Danielle.’ My stomach sinks. Mary turns strides to the door and flicks a switch on the wall, plunging us into darkness.
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