The Tale of Sawney Bean (Complete Novella) (2 page)

She reached out
with the stone to hand it back.

“No. I got it
for you” I told her.

“Thanks” was
the only word she uttered that day before we again shared the rat
between us. As we ate this time I forgot it was even a rat we were
eating but on my way home I did think I would take her some food
from my house tomorrow. We rarely had much food at home but mum
would still put something in the cupboards from time to time and I
was always resourceful when there was nothing available.

When I got home
tonight the living room had been smashed to pieces and dad was
lying sprawled out on the floor. I went to their room to see if mum
was there and she was lying passed out naked on the bed with a man
in much the same state with blood covering his knuckles. I left
them to it and went to my room. The sooner I could get away from
this house the better.

The two nights
since I had met Sarah felt much longer than normal and I knew it
was the anticipation of seeing her again tomorrow that made me
restless. I dreamed of us both running away together, where we
would live, what we would work as, how many children we would have
but it all seemed silly. We had met twice for short periods of time
and barely spoken to each other. I wondered if it was really just
because you were the first person who wasn’t mean to me but it was
more than that. When we were just sitting quite it just felt
comfortable. There was no real need to say anything. Part of me did
want to get to know you more and get closer but another part of me
told myself that just spending time by your side was enough.

Chapter 4

The next
morning I made some sandwiches. The bread was pretty stale and the
jam was runny but there wasn’t a lot in the house. The man who had
obviously beaten dad up was now cuddled up to him on the couch and
mum was lying on the floor at their feet now rapped in a blanket. I
left quickly deciding I’d just make my way to our clearing and wait
for you.

I arrived to
find you sitting where I’d left you yesterday. This time you
weren’t staring into space. You were staring straight at me. You
were wild eyed and looked fierce even though you were so little but
you made no move to go for me so I approached slowly. As I got
closer I could see red marks on your neck and arms.

When I got even
closer I could see it was blood.

“Are you okay?”
I asked, still approaching slowly.

“Yes” was her
reply.

I stood there
looking at her and nodded towards the marks on her arms. The
silence seemed to last an eternity then she finally said “They hurt
me.”

I knew what
that meant and I had my suspicions upon seeing the blood on her
dress yesterday but I was unprepared to have a conversation about
it. I had heard stories about girls from town who had been seen or
caught doing things with older men and there was more than a few
stories about the old priest but I had never thought I would be
sitting talking to a girl about it happening to her. All the other
girls I had heard about were older but Sarah was so little. I
looked her in the face and she still looked wild. She didn’t look
scared or hurt/ She looked like she could take on the world on her
own. I noticed she was sitting rubbing the red stone I had given
her between her fingers.

“What are you
going to do?” was the only thing I could think to ask.

“It’s done.
They’re gone”

Okay so she
wasn’t real big on speaking and neither was I but I was going to
need a little more information than that.

“What do you
mean they are gone?”

“I killed them.
Last night. Well, this morning actually. I was only ever going to
make my uncle stop hurting me but my aunt started helping him so
when they went to sleep I lay in wait until I could hear they were
settled and I creaped into their room and slit both their throats.
It was easier than I thought it would be.”

I felt like the
world paused, like it literally stopped moving. I realised I was
holding my breath the whole time she was talking.

“You killed
them? You’ll be hung” I gasped feeling dizzy and sick.

“No. I’m
leaving. I only came here today to see if you wanted to come.”

I was a little
taken aback. I knew how much I liked her but we had only met twice
and here she was standing telling me she had murdered her aunt and
uncle. I know they might have deserved it but the fact she came
back here and risked getting caught just to ask me to come along
was a massive thing. She must have felt the connection I felt too
or did she just need someone to come along? She didn’t seem to be
the ‘need anyone’ type.

“Where would we
go?” I asked

“I don’t
know.”

“What was your
plan?”

“I didn’t have
one, just to kill them then leave. I just didn’t want them to hurt
me anymore”

I wondered at
this point if Sarah was maybe a little slow but it was hard to tell
as she said so little and I really didn’t know her. She seemed very
capable though.

What could I
say to that? I knew if I decided to go I wouldn’t be missed. My
parents barely even knew I was there any more and no one was going
to miss Sarah. People would probably be more worried about the
tavern not opening so the bodies would be discovered pretty quickly
but maybe everyone would assume whoever murdered the inn keepers
had taken Sarah. I doubted anyone would expect her of committing
the double murder when she was such a tiny frail creature. We would
have a good chance at a head start but where would we go?

We sat in
silence for a long time. I looked her over and the fire in her eyes
didn’t die down. She was 12 years old and I kept expecting her to
break down crying or fly into a panic but there was nothing. She
was as calm as could be apart from the eyes. I could tell this was
a girl who had lived in her head for a while now and I suspected
she might stay there but I knew there was nothing left in this town
for me and I knew whatever happened that I felt good anytime I was
around Sarah so I knew I was going with her. Once again I thought
to myself where could we possibly go and not be found?

Chapter 5

We spent a long
time that day just sitting in the woods saying nothing. I’m not too
sure what Sarah was thinking about but all I could think about was
where we would go and how we would survive. I kept going over it in
my head and thinking that we both pretty much provided for
ourselves anyway and the more I thought about it the less it seemed
like we would be leaving behind but we were both only 12. I didn’t
know how we would find somewhere to stay or how we would
travel.

Sarah locked
her eyes on mine and studied me for a long time. “So you’ll come?”
She asked.

“Yes. I’ll go
with you. Do you have no idea at all of where we will go or how we
will live?” I asked her still feeling worried although my mind was
already made up.

“Well I think
we should hide out for a while. I don’t know where but I think it’s
best if we aren’t seen around town.”

We went back to
silence. As always at this time of year the woods were quiet. It
felt like we were the only two people in the world but it didn’t
feel the same as the last two days where I felt like I didn’t have
a care in the world. Today I felt like I had the weight of the
world weighing me down. There was still nowhere else I would have
rather been than with Sarah but now I worried she might get caught
and hung or that if I was found with her I might even get the
blame.

I started
thinking of places I had been that were quiet. I thought of various
towns I had visited and all the places around our town that no one
really goes then it came to me, the cave. We could hide out there
for a bit and no one would ever find us but how long we could stay
there I didn’t know.

I spent the
next few minutes telling Sarah about the cave and how my
grandfather would take me there. I explained how no one ever came
there but that we would be trapped there over night when the tide
came in but all she said was that meant no one could get in either.
She seemed to think it was perfect.

I remembered I
had some sandwiches I had made us but didn’t think that would do. I
mentioned it to Sarah and she said we could get some water from a
stream not far from where we were and that we would make do until
tomorrow and that we could sort out more food then. Sarah had
packed a little bag before leaving home having no plans to ever
return there and I couldn’t think of one thing I might fetch from
home so we made our way to the stream and filled a canteen Sarah
had brought with her then we made our way around the edge of town
and down to the beach.

Chapter 6

When we reached
the cave entrance we both had a seat and caught our breath. I
watched Sarah looking around the cave, eyes wide and mouth slightly
open. I could tell she was impressed by the size of it. The cave
led away from the opening upwards and you could only see so far
before the darkness took over. The breeze coming in from the sea
cooled us both and I watched as Sarah lay back and took in a deep
breath before releasing a sigh.

I thought to
myself her day must have been so much more traumatic than mine and
she seemed to be dealing with it so well. I had only to had to hear
the tale of what happened and made the decision to go on the run
with her which wasn’t really much of a decision at all for me. She
had went through all the horror that lead her to commit such an act
as murder then carried out the deed herself and here she was only a
few hours later, her whole life changed forever and she was now
finally getting a chance to rest and take a breath.

I sat looking
out at the sea. The sun was going down and the view from the mouth
of the cave was breathtaking. My mind was running a million miles
an hour but never settling on any particular thought, it just felt
jumbled but I can’t say I was surprised, my life had just changed
forever. Obviously at this stage I still had time to change my mind
and go back but I knew that wasn’t going to happen but what did my
new future hold? Did this mean we were together? Were we just
friends on the run? Did she only want someone to help her get away
then she would ditch me? I just didn’t know but I also knew that
the fact that Sarah had done so little planning that she probably
wouldn’t have given any thought to my part in all this. Maybe she
just thought that I would want to run away too or maybe she really
did like me.

By the time I
turned back round Sarah was snuggled up into a little ball on her
side, the day haven taken its toll on her. I could here the sea
already hitting off the bottom of the cliff and I knew the tide
came in fast so I gently lifted her and slowly walked deeper into
the cave.

Chapter 7

I had only ever
been a little further into the cave than the mouth on one occasion.
I don’t think my grandfather ever cared too much about what was
further in. “Just more cave, boy.” he had told me when I pestered
him. After a lot of nagging he finally agreed to take me a little
further in one time and we explored a little. He was right. It was
just more cave. The entrance led uphill for a while and eventually
opened out into a large cavern within the cliff. My grandfather
never let us go down into the cavern and it was hard to see the
other sides due to it’s vastness, even with our lanterns but it had
looked to me like there may have been other openings along the
walls. My grandfather wouldn’t let us go in that far to explore
though. I knew all this meant nothing as it would be more of the
same but it would allow for some exploring if we were stuck here
for a few days at least and there was no one to stop me this
time.

I stayed close
to the entrance of the cavern as there was no light and found a
patch of ground that didn’t have too much debris on it and cleared
away what did lay there. I softly lowered Sarah to the floor and
lay her back under her head as it had felt pretty soft. She curled
straight back into a ball and wrapped her arms around herself. I
built us a fire with some difficulty as my eyes only adjusted ever
so slightly and I sat close to her, every so often turning and
looking at her in the fire light. Her face looked troubled even in
sleep and I worried what the future held for us.

I awoke with a
start wondering where I was but quickly remembered. I turned to
find you in the gloomy light created by the fire embers but I
couldn’t see you in the soft glow.

“Sarah?” I
asked but got no reply.

“Sarah” I said
louder.

Still there was
no reply. Where could you have gone to? I got up and searched
around.

“Sarah” I said
louder thinking there was no one else here but us anyway.

“Sawney” her
reply came from one of the unexplored cave entrances along the
wall. I couldn’t see her but I could hear her footsteps coming
closer.

“Where did you
go?” I asked.

“I had to
pee.”

“Oh” I said
feeling my face heat up and not knowing what else to say.

“I’m hungry.”
She added.

“Yeh, me too, I
had made us some sandwiches for earlier that I still have, they’ll
be a little soggy but they should still be okay.”