Chapter 19
The click of the lock and slow, creaky opening of a door in the house sent cold, waking shivers down Marc’s spine. Jack was sitting very close to him, not wanting to leave his side… until this evil man shambled in and this time he was not alone.
“Mom!”
“Rachel!”
“Save your breath; she can’t hear you.”
He dragged her body behind him like she was a full-size rag doll. Her clothes were tattered, hair greasy and matted… he had done something unspeakable.
After pulling her across the rubble he tied her to some pipework in the corner of the room, where she lay in silence, waking an hour later to find her husband staring quietly into a void. Jack, still leaning against his father, also stared, but his gaze was fixed on his mother, his only movement being the slow blinking of his eyelashes.
The man was standing at the window, every pore oozing wickedness, gazing out onto an empty street. Not one person had walked by; they were alone.
Rachel tried to attract Marc’s attention by winking, the only way she could think of that would not alert Todd. But Marc had not noticed and his expression remained blank.
At length, Todd spoke.
“So, we’re all together, as one happy family!” he suggested, continuing to stare out of the window.
Marc snapped back into the present moment. He was tired of keeping quiet; he’d had enough.
“Look, why did you bring us here you sick asshole?”
“Oh, I sense some anger here…you want to know why all of…this, why everything is the way it is, huh?” Todd’s voice was calm and subdued.
Marc was indeed angry; of course he was and he wanted to know what was going on. He nudged Jack at his side.
“Jack, close your ears for me, please. You don’t need to listen to any of this.” He gave his son a second glance, confirming that he wasn't messing around. “Just do it.”
Jack clamped his hands to his ears; he didn’t hear anymore.
“Oh, that’s not necessary; he knows everything already.”
Marc frowned, unable to figure out how his son could know what he was about to say. He let it pass, but he just couldn’t make any sense of this situation at all.
“Well, now… oh, Rachel? You haven’t told your husband about… us? Never mind, I will explain it to him instead, huh?” He turned back to Marc.
“Your ‘wife’ and I have been seeing each other for many years now…” he paused, searching Marc’s face for his reaction and noted the disbelief in his eyes. He would have to be a little more convincing.
“Oh yes, we have spent many nights cuddled together, and well, not only cuddling, of course, but many other things also. Oh… you didn’t know? Then you will have a lot to think about, I guess.”
Then he left the room so that they could talk it over; his footsteps were heard running down to the basement.
“You’re a fucking liar!” Rachel found her voice; she had to speak up as this was all far from the truth, though she knew it was pointless to deny it as he would only twist her words around.
“Rachel! Please tell me this is not true… it’s not, is it?”
“No! Marc, honey, of course not. The truth is that we spent one night together, a long time ago, and it didn’t mean anything to me, I promise you. I was drunk and very depressed at the time; you were never there for me, and yet you still expected me to bring up Jack who was so young at that time. I was falling apart, but you couldn’t see that… or wouldn’t. You can’t put all of the blame on me…”
