MAD MARY

💀 CHAPTER SIXTEEN | RICHARD'S LUNACY

Richard’s legs had started to ache as he walked farther into the forest. He wanted to stop and take a break but fear pushed him beyond his limits.

“I can’t stop now. I must not stop. Every time I take a step forward she takes two…well that’s if she’s still alive…She is…I can feel it and if she is, everyone living here is dead.” He muttered while he took in long breaths and sighed with the hasty minutes that went by.

Todd stared at his older brother.

Richard’s back was soaked by sweat and his pace grew shorter and slower.

He sighed every ten minutes and held unto trees while he walked.

It was so obvious he was worn out.

Why didn’t he take a break?

Why did he choose to roam the forest in the first place?

Todd did not like being eaten up by thoughts and unanswered questions. Unlike his nephew George, Todd hated mysteries and desired secrets exposed like the gold of the sun on a bright day.

Also, he had to stall his brother for as long as he could for George and Mary’s sake. However by the loud stomps in front of him, it seemed Richard was not going to stop for any reason. Still, Todd had to try.

“Hey bro, I have a question.” Todd told his brother.

“Sure. Shoot but I’m not going to stop. My ears work fine while I walk. So talk but make it quick. I don’t want to get distracted.” Richard said as he walked on without turning back.

“Why?” Todd asked.

“Why? What do you mean ‘why’?” Confused Richard asked. Still focused on the shrub-padded path ahead of him.

“I mean…What I mean is…”

“Spit it out lad!”

“Why are we walking into the forest, when it’s just a few hours from dusk? Why are you so desperate to find the person behind the bang we heard earlier? Why are you so sure it was a person? It could be an animal or a fallen tree? What did you want from that shed? How do you know about the it?”

Richard paused. Finally.

He turned to his brother and gazed at his eyes as though in search of something within the green pool in them.

“Todd I can’t give you all the answers you seek but some day you’ll understand. I promise.” Richard said.

“Cut the crap big bro! This isn’t like the time I asked you about sex when I was ten! I’m a grown man and this is worse than sex matters. I’m not stupid and I sense something similar to a life and death situation. I’m your brother! I’m the kid you took care of after dad left. The kid people called your first son…that’s me big bro…That’s me…So trust me when I say I’ll support you in whatever it is you’re doing, because you’re not the kind of guy who does things without a reason…but I’ve got to know what it is you’re doing…I mean…muttering weird stuff, keeping the family distant…the secret calls…a note in mandarin…arranged plans in preparation for your death…Come on, bro, talk to me…please…what are you up to?”

Richard took in a deep breath and looked at the sky as though the answers swam within the lazy white clouds above.

“Todd, remember when you were sixteen and you thought you’d gotten a girl pregnant? Remember how lost you felt and how your brain was crowded with terrible plans for the girl until she told you it wasn’t your kid?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“That’s how I felt three years ago. I felt that same way when I walked into the wooden mansion for the first time. Three years ago. I felt lost, troubled. I couldn’t talk to anyone. Not you, not Alice, no one. I had made a horrible mistake and here’s the difference between the mistake you thought you made at sixteen and mine…Mine was real…It wasn’t an error or a growing rumour. It really happened. The mistake had been done and there was no going back.”