A Dark Past

Bijlmerbajes

Kat was on a flight to Amsterdam not knowing that only a few days earlier Magalie had been in her place sitting beside Nathan for the first time. She nervously fiddled with her hair, in only a few hours she would be in Amsterdam. She had only been there only once before but under very different circumstances. This time she was travelling alone and with the sole purpose of seeing her dad again after almost 6 years without contact. She hadn't even known if he was alive. She remembered the anger pulsating in her mothers eyes if she so much as mentioned his name. She masked her pain with anger and rage and directed it at Kat. She had been only fourteen so naïve with so much hope that one day he would return into her life and they would all live happily once more.

Not a chance. All this time he had been in prison. For what? What could her loving gentle father ever have done for him to be locked up like that? She wondered what he would look like, would he greet her with open arms or not even remember her name. Would he think she had abandoned him to his fate? Little did he know she hadn't even known where he was, to her he was dead and after 6 years of reconciling herself to that fact it hadn't really hit home that he was alive and safe and soon she would see him again.

"We will be landing shortly please make sure seat belts are securely fastened" boomed the air hostesses voice through the intercom. Kat flinched waking from her dreamless slumber and looked out through the small window. It was raining lightly just like when she had come here before. She felt a lump in her throat and she had to breathe deeply to ward off the tears that would surely come with this feeling of Deja Vu. 

The woman sitting beside her looked concerned and she had to mentally pull herself together. "I just don't like landing" she explained to the woman beside her and she nodded offering her a sweet which she declined. She knew she was only trying to be kind but she wished everyone would just leave her alone. So what if she was feeling a bit upset? It wasn't any concern of hers it's not like she had to be dragged into therapy. She had tried that before and found it completely pointless not that it was her idea to go.

 Her stupid meddling mother had forced her telling her it would make her feel better to let the anger out and deal with all her issues. Issues? Who was she telling her she had issues? Well anyway she had given it a go trying to be open minded but no avail. The therapist (who she was welcome to call Michael apparently) had sat opposite her and told her she had been through a lot and now it was time for her to let go. How dare he? Let go, how could she? He was telling her to forget the past to forget everything but most of all to forget him and that was when she lost it. Standing up on shaky legs she confronted him "I don't care for your psychobabble or your nonsense, I'm not ready to forget and I never will be until I find out what really happened"

With that she wheeled out of the room not looking back. Her mother had been so disappointed in her, she didn't want answers didn't care about the truth she just wanted to leave it all behind her and that's why she would never be able to understand Kat. She could never leave anything uncompleted it just wasn't in her nature. When she started something she saw it through to the end. Once she had found out nothing made sense and that the pieces of the puzzle didn't fit together she made it her top priority to find out what really happened. Little did she know the closer she got to the truth the more Cul De Sacs she was running into.

Later in her hotel room she was reading a book called "Rain on the wind" by the Irish writer Walter Macken. She was only a few pages from the end, the bit where she couldn't help but cry even though she had read it more than 5 times it never got old. Suddenly she sat bolt upright in the bed no longer reading the text because at the side of the page were written the words

"Countless mistakes and many tears but still you seek an answer far beyond the wisdom of your years. Be not frightened we are not to be feared just ponder on these lines and remember we are always near"

This was her copy of this book this message was surely meant for her. She read it again and it sent chills down her spine. Remember we are always near, surely she wasn't being watched. She went over to her window closing the blinds with more force than was necessary. She sat back on the bed again deeply disturbed. Someone was trying to scare her from visiting her father and asking him too many questions but the question was who? We was mentioned more than once, a cult? a gang? or just put there for her to think she was outnumbered? Well whoever they were she wasn't going to be put off. She would see her father tomorrow come rain or shine and a silly riddle wasn't going to change her mind.

The next morning she woke with a terrible head ache and she again remembered the message. Putting it at the farthest corner of her mind she showered and dressed not bothering with breakfast. The sooner she got to the  Bijlmerbajes complex the far side of the city and had seen her father the happier she would be. After a long and painful trip on the bus where she was left alone with her creeping anxieties she had finally arrived.

 Taking a deep breath she manoeuvred her wheelchair out and found herself at the prison complex. Inside she knew was her father. She couldn't help be struck by the cold grey buildings and the gripping isolation of the place. This was where her father had to spend the last six years and again she wondered for what? Soon she would find out what he had done, why her mother was so secretive but most of all be closer to finding the next key to the puzzle. They thought they could stop her with their threatening message but they had no idea.

She went through the arduous task of going through security having to get out of her wheelchair to go through the metal detector. The prison officers looked at her curiously it was obvious they didn't get many visitors from other countries. "And you're here to see?" the prison officer at the desk asked her breaking her out of her reverie. "Simon Kane please"  "Very well just follow me, you have thirty minutes" She sat at one end of the glass and watched as the guards brought a strange man in. At first she didn't recognize him. He had grown a beard, his hair was dishevelled and he sported cuts and scars all over his face and arms.

He sat down at the other side and the guards walked away. He looked at her for a few uncomfortable seconds wonder in his eyes. "Kat my daughter you came at last" There were tears in her eyes as she said "Yes daddy I did, you have no idea how much I missed you" He stretched his hand out underneath the pane of glass and she gripped it tightly never wanting to let it go. "Me too baby me too" he said looking into her blue eyes nearly identical to his blinking back at him.