Always: You'll Never Walk Alone (10 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Time went by. I don’t know if the screaming was in my head or down the corridor. Food came sometimes the plate was empty. Perhaps I’d eaten. I lay on the filthy floor, my clothes soiled, the blood on my back, sometimes dry, sometimes wet. I might have tried to stand. The dim light came and went. I was dying. Alone! If you die you can’t feel any more pain. Please, death, take me. The world turned black, my body went cold.

I heard a voice.

Leave me alone.

The voice was insistent.

“Stephen.”

Please don’t hurt me.

“Stephen.”

Let me die alone.

“Stephen.”

“Winifred?”

“Stephen can you hear me? Can you get up?”

“Winifred?”

“Stephen we’re taking you away from here”

Thank you…

Death.

Heaven was a low ceilinged room, with a soft bed. Someone was sitting beside me. I could hear the slow regular breathing. I struggled to turn my head to see God.

God was wearing a dirty wedding dress.

I tried to speak, but all I could manage was a croak. I tried to move but couldn’t feel anything below my neck. I closed my eyes and slept.

I woke up screaming. I was chained to the wall, my face rubbing against the stone. Sarah was chained next to me, dead. The strap was biting into my flesh and the guards were laughing. “PLEASE STOP.”

“Stephen, it’s alright. You’re safe.”

I opened my eyes. God was wearing the same wedding dress. She held me to her. “You’re safe Stephen.”

“Annie? You’re God?”

She laughed, “Well I’ve been accused of a lot of fings in me life, but no one’s ever called me God.”

“Am I dead?” My voice was just a croak.

“Well for a few days there we fought you was a gonna, but no you’re not dead yet.”

I tried to speak, but nothing more would come out of my throat. Annie poured some water, which I drank slowly. I lay back on the pillow exhausted, then the feeling started to return to my body. It started at my back then moved along my arms and down my legs, until the pain covered my whole body. I felt like I was laying on red-hot razor blades, every time I moved a blade would slice into my body. I passed out!

I slipped in and out of consciousness. Annie was always there. She had the gentlest hands, which she used to treat my wounds. She used a paste, which smelled of wildflowers and wet earth. As the coolness of the paste seeped into my body, the pain slowly dissipated, until finally I could move on the bed with nothing much more than a slight burning sensation and a dull ache. She fed me soups of herbs and vegetables, and as my appetite grew stronger, she added bits of chicken and rabbit.

Finally with my strength returning and the pain receding I managed to stand. Annie asked me if I would like to come down stairs. She had a surprise for me. I took her arm and made my way down the stairs and into a small living room.

“Stephen, how are you?”

Standing by the window was Jim. He came to me and took my hand. I jumped back grabbing my hand. “I’m sorry Steve. Are you alright?”

The pain brought tears to my eyes, but I assured him it was nothing.

“Well you’re probably wondering how we all got here.”

I told him I did. He told me to sit down it was a long story.

After I crashed the cart Ceec and Annie ran off. But they circled back and saw Mr. Mortimer accusing me, and the police taking me away. In all the confusion, they went to the cart and took away the two sacks. They found out where I was being taken, and followed me to the jail. Then they set about investigating Mr. Mortimer. He was living in a hotel in the centre of town, so they kept him under surveillance. He was receiving lots of visitors, mostly businessmen. They weren’t sure what to do next and that’s when Jim arrived in town. He and his passengers were staying at a coach stop just down the road from the hotel. When Ceec saw the coach, he remembered I’d told them about Mr. Mortimer accusing me on the journey down. So, they went to the coach stop and found Jim there. Jim remembered the Chisholms had lived in Exeter and had been friendly with Mr. Mortimer, so they set off in search of them. When they finally found them, at first they didn’t want to talk. But finally, they told Jim how Mr. Mortimer had swindled them out of a large sum of money. When they heard Mr. Mortimer was in town they insisted on calling the police. They told the police the whole story, including how Mr. Mortimer had unjustly accused me of stealing his money. The police went to the hotel, but Mr. Mortimer was gone.

Jim had to take his passengers on to Cornwall. So, he left and promised he would be back as soon as he could. He drove to Cornwall, dropped off his passengers, took on fresh horses turned right around and came back.

After the police had taken statements from the Chisholms and Jim, they had to be forwarded to the court in Salisbury. The police were going to take another week to get them there, but Jim managed to convince one of the constables to come with him to Salisbury on the coach. When they got to Salisbury, they presented the statements and affidavits to the judge who’d sentenced me. After an hour of questioning, he finally agreed to sign a pardon. The horses had been fed and rested while Jim and the constable were with the judge. As soon as they left the court, they raced back to Exeter. With the pardon in hand and the chief of the local police, Jim, Ceec and Annie went to the jail to obtain my release.

At first, the warden refused to approve the release, but with threats from Jim, and Annie threatening to lay a curse on him, he finally agreed, and two prison warders dragged me out. When they saw me, Annie burst into tears. Jim grabbed the warden and was only prevented from killing him by the chief of police’s promise to conduct an investigation into the prison and lay charges if necessary against the warden. An investigation was currently underway; the warden had been relieved of his job and was currently an inmate of his own prison.

They brought me back here. Here was a gatehouse owned by the Chisholms, who were so mortified by my condition and feeling somewhat guilty, had offered the use of it for as long as required. I had been here for a little over a week. For a while, they didn’t think I’d survive, but with Annie’s herbs, and day and night care I slowly recovered.

By the time Jim finished telling the story the pains in my body had returned and I thought I would pass out again. Jim saw the sweat break out, and the colour drain from my face, and rushed to get Annie, who took me back to my room and rubbed the herbs into my wounds again. As the pain began to recede, I fell into a deep sleep once more. I slept for more than twenty-four hours. When I finally woke, Jim had left. He had to go back to London, but promised to return within a few days.

My body gradually healed, but my soul would not recover. When Jim returned I just lay in my bed. I saw the concern on their faces whenever they came to my room, but it was all I could do to eat the food they brought me. Their expressions of concern, and questions about how I felt were met with nothing more than a grunt. Finally, Jim came to my room and sat down by the side of the bed. He took a hold of my hand and started to talk.

“Stephen I know you’ve been through a lot although I’m sure I can’t even start to know how much. I’m sorry I couldn’t have done more for you sooner. But I want to help you now. You set off on a very brave quest, don’t you want to finish it? Sarah still needs you.”

“Sarah’s dead.” I said, without emotion.

Jim was silent. After some time I turned towards him. His face was drawn in a tight mask. Finally, he asked what had happened. Then my tears came. He held me in his arms while I sobbed, and told him what the guards told me.

When I woke again it was dark. I got out of bed and went to the window. There was a strong wind blowing but the night was clear and I looked at the stars in the night sky. Was there any point in living now? Sarah was dead. I had failed. Not just failed, I’d taken five weeks and hadn’t been able to complete a four-day journey. What was left for me? I could return to the Fox and spend the rest of my life there. Not anymore! I’d grown beyond that, I couldn’t go back a failure. I can’t stay here much longer. I had no money, no skills and very few friends. Without Sarah, life wasn’t worth living. I returned to my bed to lie down and die.

I didn’t sleep the rest of the night. I watched the sky until the last of the stars winked out, and a hazy sun lit the day. Annie came in, brought me some breakfast and rubbed the herb paste into my body. Chattering away while she worked, I didn’t hear what she said. Finally, she left the room leaving me alone with my thoughts, the breakfast untouched on the bed. She returned throughout the day, bringing me snacks, telling me I had to eat if I was going to get better. Evening came, the house was quiet, my dinner lay cold on the bed. I heard bells in the distance striking ten. Annie returned to my darkened room, said something about not eating, and rubbed the herb paste into my body before leaving me alone once more for the night.

The night passed. The day passed. One day nearer to being united in death with Sarah. I watched the stars come out before the wind blew up and covered the sky in clouds. I listened to the thunder in the distance, moving closer, getting louder. Lightning pierced the sky as rain started to pound the windows. The hours passed. The rain continued, now heavy, now light, but never stopping. The roof started to leak and water dripped on the foot of the bed, gradually soaking the blanket there, then spreading further and further up, until the whole bed was wet. I lay there shivering.

I must have fallen asleep because I was woken by a loud crash. At first I thought it was thunder, but then I heard loud voices coming from down stairs, followed by heavy footsteps. The door flew open and banged against the wall as four figures tumbled into the room.

“Stephen! Wake up, wake up”!

“Ceec?”

Of course, of course. Who were you expecting, who were you expecting? The King… the King?” And he broke out into gales of laughter.

The storm was over and the sun was making its weak appearance for the day. In the faint light I could just make out the soaked figures of Ceec, Annie and Jim. The fourth figure was a man not much bigger than me. His face was battered and bruised and his head hung down. Annie ran over to me and threw her arms around me. “Stephen this man is ‘ere t’ see you. ‘E ‘as something to tell you.”

I looked at him dully. What could he have to say that would be of any interest to me?

He kept his eyes down, focusing on something by his feet, but not saying a word until Jim, who had a tight grip on his arm, gave it a twist and said, “Tell him.”

Staring at the floor, he mumbled something unintelligible. I didn’t believe Ceec could move so fast. His fist snapped out and hit the man squarely on the side of the head. The man stumbled. “TELL HIM! TELL HIM! Ceec commanded.

“Sarah’s not dead.”

I heard the words, but the meaning didn’t sink into my brain. Ceec’s fist snapped out again. “TELL HIM EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING”!

“Sarah’s not dead. I never met her. She was never at the prison. We just said that. I made it up.”

The words floated around the room, into my head, out of my head, they hit the ceiling, hit the walls, hit the windows then back into my head. But I couldn’t get them to stay there. They floated out again as I continued looking dully at the man. He continued staring at the floor. “I’m sorry.”

I didn’t understand, what was he saying?

“Stephen, did you hear? Sarah’s alive. You have to go after her.”

Annie was holding my arms. The words floated around again, slower this time. Sarah’s alive? Sarah’s dead. She died in that prison.

“Stephen.” Annie held my eyes with hers. “Do you understand? Sarah’s not dead. This man lied to you. She’s alive.”

The words settled in my brain. Sarah’s alive. That man lied. Who was that man? I’d never seen him before. As if in answer to my thoughts, Jim, still holding tightly to the man, said. “This is the prison guard who beat you. You called out Sarah’s name. So he used that to torture you with. He won’t be doing anymore of that though, not with what we have planned for him.”

I understood the words, but they couldn’t be true. The guards were much bigger than this man. He wasn’t there. Why is he telling this story?

“I’m very sorry. We were just having a bit of fun. We didn’t mean anything by it.”

Ceec’s fist struck out again and the man fell to the floor, blood running from his nose.

“I should kill you now you worthless piece of shit…”

Before he could go any further Jim grabbed him. “Not now Ceec.”

Sarah was alive!! I have to get to Cornwall. Why am I sitting here? I swung my legs out of the bed and went to stand up, but my legs gave way and I almost fell on top of the guard before Ceec grabbed me. “Slow down, slow down.” He sat me back on the bed.

“I have to get to Sarah.”

Jim smiled, “We’ll get you to Sarah. But, you need to get your strength back. First, we’ll get rid of this piece of garbage. Annie, will you get Stephen some food and clean him up?”

“As soon as you’re healthy we’ll go to Cornwall!”