‘Mum’ Lily cried as she shook with terror as she collapsed to the floor, looking at the body that lay there, looking at the man she just killed as the carpet soaked up the blood, she let the knife drop to the floor.

Eileen held her as close as she could,

‘It will be ok, ‘she told her.

She knew it never could be, not after this.

Eileen took her daughter into the bathroom, she ran the shower and stripped her daughter off and washed the blood from her, Lily still shaking in a trance like state, still trying to work out what had happened, Eileen then showered herself and she threw the both sets of bloodied cloths into the bath, they grabbed a towel each to cover their nakedness.

‘You need to go and get dressed’ Eileen told her,

‘I don’t want to walk past it mum’ she pleaded,

Eileen held both her shoulders and their eyes met, Lily noticed that her lip had been cut,

‘Just look straight ahead, I’ll follow you, we will both get some clothes then go downstairs’ she shook Lily gently ‘ok’ she asked her

‘Ok’ Lily answered,

They opened the bathroom door, Lily hoping that Stuart Hillman had somehow got up and walked away, but the body was still there, the hacked neck had now stopped spurting blood as it pooled around the body, Eileen wishing now that she had just let Stuart Hillman have his way and saved her daughter from this ordeal, but it was Lily who had saved her, and as they dressed in silence, they both wondered what this place had turned them into.

Neither Eileen or Lily wanted to leave the bedroom, knowing what was lying on the landing, Lily had stopped shaking but neither her or her mother really taking in  what had happened, this town had turned them into killers and the evidence of it was lying the other side of the bedroom door.

Eileen opened the door slowly telling Lily to hold on to her and not to look at the floor, they did this successfully until they turned to the top of the stairs when both of the girls had frozen in fear, in front of them, just two steps from the top and looking at the very bloodied body of Stuart Hillman, was Andy Thomas, the vicar of Underwood, or as he would call himself the god of the town, he reached the top of the stairs as the two girls stepped back onto the landing, trembling with fear, Lily bit her lip and tasted her own blood, Eileen tried to shuffle her daughter behind her as if pretending she wasn’t there.

The vicars eyes went back and forth to the body and then to the mother and daughter,

‘Well,’ he simply said,

Lily started mumbling something but Eileen put her hand over her mouth and then took one step forward and looked the vicar in the eye.

‘He tried to rape my daughter,’ she told him, ‘you know the rules, she’s not quite 15,’

The vicar raised his eyebrows,

‘He locked me in the bathroom, I had to climb down, he had her naked by the time I got to him,’ she sounded assured confident, she just hoped she would be believed, the vicar pushed Eileen aside and glanced at Lily,

‘Did he have his way’ his eyes were cold, his words piercing,

‘No,’ Lily stuttered, ‘my mum caught him before he could’

The vicar bent down beside the body as if to examine it, the two girls just watched, within a minute he was stood back up,

‘Do you not think stabbing him once would have been ample,’ he asked, Eileen stuttered her words out,

‘He wouldn’t let go of her and I just panicked, I didn’t mean to kill him,’

Andy Thomas grinned, he was a man of god, and the bible said an eye for an eye, but this was not representative of his bible, he clicked on his walkie talkie, Lily and Eileen recognised the name he was speaking to.

The vicar closed down his radio, he grabbed Eileen by the wrist, she screamed at him to let her go, Lily started punching the vicar in the arm that held her mothers, all the time the vicar was laughing,

‘I’m arresting you for murder’ he laughed.

The only prison cell in Underwood was occupied once more, Eileen was taken there by the two deputy’s, neither deputy wanted to do it and Sandra promised to help her in any way that she could.

Eileen was mostly concerned for her children rather than herself, being locked up in a cell left them vulnerable, she just hoped that the people that she had met would look after them, the reliable Craig brought food and drink for her and as she sat on the floor of her cell, not wanting to sit on the filthy mattress she wondered how some people could be so caring in a place that was full of evil.

Chapter 19

Lily and Nathan had stayed with Rebecca, Ivy and Samuel, Lily sharing with Ivy what had happened with Stuart Hillman and how it was her who killed him and it was her mother he was trying to rape, all Rebecca could think of doing was to comfort her and that’s exactly what she did.

They were both sat on Ivy’s bed neither girl had said a word for the last ten minutes, they just huddled each other, it was Lily who spoke first, she had been deep in thought, with her mother and father gone she knew it was up to her to do something.

‘I’ve got to go and see the sheriff’ she told Ivy,

Ivy recoiled in horror, her look was one of utter bewilderment as she sat up to face Lily,

‘Why on earth would you do that’ she demanded,

Lily knew why but she didn’t want to tell Ivy that, not yet,

‘Because I’ve got to do something even if it’s just to beg for my mother, it’s Sunday, and they will sentence her today’ she screwed up her nose and tried to force a smile,

‘Do you want me to come with you’ Ivy asked,

‘No, but please be here if I come back’

The words took Ivy by surprise,

‘If?’

Lily kissed Ivy on the cheek and left.

The 14 year old girl who not so long ago was on her way to a family holiday in Cornwall, who has since been told she would be repeatedly raped on her 16th birthday until she bore 5 babies, who had seen her father disappear, who had murdered a man and then saw her mother take responsibility, whose mother was locked in a cell waiting to be sentenced, a sentence that would probably mean death, stood at the top of the path of the house where the sheriff worked from, she took a deep breath, walked up the path and knocked the door.

Allan Herapath had just come out of the bathroom, having had a shave, the knock on the door took him by surprise, he wasn’t expecting anyone, those who called were usually those who had been summoned, he grew angry at someone having the audacity to knock his door, he just hoped it was really important or consequences would have to be met, he opened the door and was surprised at whom he saw.

Lily didn’t say anything, she just walked past him quickly into the house, surprising the sheriff, the sheriff slammed the door shut, the noise made Lily jump but she stood her ground as she faced the doctor, with her heart racing she said,

‘I need a word’

The sheriff looked at the child in front of her, he knew who she was but shocked at the nerve of the girl, in a sense he admired her courage and it was only that admiration that stopped him from grabbing her throat and choking the life out of her, he walked into his office and Lily followed, Allan sat in his chair and swung around to look at Lily, Lily had closed the door behind her, Allan noticed there was no fear in her eyes and that unnerved him a bit.

‘You need to let my mother go free’ she told him, with an authority that should have come from someone much older and wiser, Allan Herapath, the sheriff of Underwood grew intrigued, he loved the spunk of this little girl, what fine babies she will produce, he thought,

‘And why would I want to do that’

Lily gulped took a wooden chair that was up against the wall, she put it the wrong way round and sat on it beside the sheriff, she laid her arms on the back of the chair and leant forward.