Hanging shoes

Was it a tradition?  Amanda didn’t know.  Lying watching the swinging shoes blowing in the breeze she wondered how long they had been hanging there.  The park had always been her go to place.  The place that she went to when life got her down.  Now lying with her back against the green bank she pondered again about the shoes.

Over the years more had appeared.  No notice as to why, they were just, there. She knew there must be a reason for them but so far, no explanation.  Who put them there? And why?

Billy

Thinking again about her situation, Billy’s anger going around her head.  She knew this was enough this time.  After five years of his cruelty, she knew she needed to head home to the life she had left far behind her.   To the people that had told her that Billy was bad, but she hadn’t listened.  Always thinking she knew best, she had left hoping for her happy ever after.  Ignoring calls from family and friends, she had put a wall between them.

This was it; she just had to grab a few things and then leave Wales and return to Kent.  Maybe this time she would enjoy driving along the M4, she knew she would feel relief once past the M25.

Picking herself up, she left the hanging shoes, taking a photo as she left. She might never see them again.  Deciding to make it her phones wallpaper she smiled to herself.

Home

Returning to the empty house she chucked her clothes in her suitcase, grabbed stuff that was sentimental, especially her old Teddy bear and then put it all in her old Ford.  She knew she could do this and though she hadn’t spoken to them in months, she hoped her family would welcome her home.

The drive home had taken longer than she had hoped but seeing the sign for Dartford her heart leapt. It was now that her phone rang, Billy was displayed on the screen.  Amanda was not ready for an argument, ignoring the call she let it go to voicemail.

Turning into the familiar road she saw her childhood home up ahead. From the cars in the road, she could see there was something happening. The house was busy, her parents had never liked to have many visitors. She felt a heavy weight in the stomach, something was wrong.

A party?

Parking the car, she let herself in the back door as she always had done.  Walking in she was greeted by screams.  Her mother passed out as her father grabbed her to avoid her hitting the floor.  Amanda stood, shaking, wondering if she should leave again.  As her brother grabbed her, he held her and squeezed her hard, she could barely breathe. He then started crying too.

“Is it really you Amanda? Are you really here? Where’s Billy?”

“I left Billy, what’s going on? Why the party?

As her phone rang again, she put it on the counter.

Jerry saw the name on the screen and pushed the answer button.  Hearing Billy’s voice he stayed quiet.

“Where are you, you miserable cow?” As his voice echoed around the room, his taunts got worse, Jerry hung up the phone.

“Oh love, has he hurt you?”

“Sorry I had to come home”, Amanda started crying loudly now.  Jerry picked up her phone and led her to the front room,

“As you can see everyone the wake is over, please all go home.”

The shocked faces all around her, picked up their bags and awkwardly went.  Amanda had not been prepared for this.

Lies

She now learnt that while she had been hurting and taking herself to the park and watching the hanging shoes. Billy had told her family that she had a fatal illness, and they were not welcome to see her. Apparently, she didn’t want to know them. It was Billy who had given her a new phone with a new number, she had thought nothing of it and just took it,  Her phone had stopped working and she was talking to very few people on it anyway.  Hearing it ring again, everyone looked and let it go to voicemail. Jerry then picked it up to listen. As he swore, they knew something else was wrong.

“Amanda where was this photo taken? Did you take it? Or is it a stock photo?”

“I took it in the park in Swansea before coming home.  They have been there months, maybe years.  I don’t know why they are there.”

“Amanda, I know we haven’t spoken for a long time but do you do what I do now?”

Amanda looked at him, she hadn’t a clue.

Getting up he took her phone and disappeared to the kitchen.

Jerry

Her dad spoke now.

“Amanda, Billy told us a week ago that you had died, this was your wake.  It’s all we could do for you. “

She was shocked, why would Billy do this?

“Jerry is a homicide detective.  A washing line with shoes on has appeared in our local park and it appears those shoes belong to suspected murdered persons.  Your photo is very similar to what is in our park.  It could be that you were about to be dead for real.”

Amanda sat still, surely Billy was not a murderer.  Aware that she had not set a password on her phone she suspected that her brother was now sending her photos through to the police station.

What about Billy?

As he paced the room he couldn’t understand where Amanda had gone.  He was shaking, how dare could she have left him? Why was she ignoring her phone? Her beloved Teddy had gone so she must be safe, but where was she.? He had ensured no contact from her family; they were rotten anyway.  Wouldn’t stop poisoning her against him.  He had done his best for her but she kept going out. The town is dangerous, too many gangs, Billy knew about the gangs, He had watched ‘Evil Keith’ add shoes to the clothesline in the park.  A threat for the debt that he owed, Money he couldn’t even begin to find.

Amanda had commented to him that she liked watching the shoes blowing in the breeze.  It had made his blood boil and he had lashed out.  Why say such ridiculous things? If she knew why they were there she wouldn’t be saying that.

Jerry

Having phoned the station and forwarded the photo across, they were now pretty certain that these were gang murders.  He had asked for Billy Adams to be put through the police database.  Was he involved? He certainly sounded like a nasty thug on the voicemail.  As Amanda’s phone rang again he ignored it.  He breathed a heavy sigh as his phone rang again.

Billy Adams had been in trouble with the police, but it had been burglary not murder.  He appeared to be up to his neck in debt.  He had also been caught in  a fight with local gang leader Keith Walker but had been found innocent of causing affray.  It had been reported that he owed him money, but that was all they knew.  He knew that name, it had come up before in this case.

As Amandas phone rang again, Jerry now answered it, waiting for Billy to talk first.

“Mand where are you? Why you left? What’s going on? “

“Billy, this is Jerry, she is safe, but we need to talk.”

“Why what’s going on?”

“I’ll be in Swansea tomorrow, meet in the Dog and Duck at 11am, okay? This is important.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you, what’s this about?”, he was suspicious.

“Will tell you tomorrow, see you then.” He hung up the phone., if anyone knew anything about this case, it sounded like Billy did. As long as Billy turned up of course, but if he didn’t he would soon find him.

Dog and Duck

As they sat quietly drinking beer, Jerry trying his best to be civil, he hated this man. He learned that the gangs were rife in Swansea, and the clothesline of shoes was put there by evil Keith Walker.  He learnt that Billy owed him fifty grand and was terrified of his own shoes being added to the line.  A debt that he certainly could not repay.  Keith appeared to be in charge of the gangs up and down the country.

“Right, I’m going to keep you out of this but I need two favours, 1. Where will I find Keith and 2, Stay away from my sister.  Once we put Keith and his gangs away you are debt free, is that right.”

“Yes, that’s right, but I love Amanda.”

“Stay away from her, I mean it! Or we will be after you too.  Keep yourself clean! ”

Three weeks later

After liaison between Swansea and Dartford, the gang members had all been caught.  Keith when brought in for questioning had turned out to not be as tough as he had made out, and quickly the rest of the gangs had been found.  With no sense of loyalty to his mates, if he was going down then they all were.

The shoes out of respect had all been taken down and were no longer blowing in the breeze.  They had learned there were lines of shoes  in other counties as well, the gangs had been busy.

Amanda was now happily back with her family.   She didn’t need the stress and pain from Billy. Jerry was relieved to have is sister back home  and to have solved a gruesome countywide case.  The murderers were now all behind bars where they belonged.

Billy

Billy now able to live on his benefit money day to day, vowed to get a proper job.  Borrowing and begging money was not for him anymore.  As he now sat on a bench watching some children happily playing and listened to their cries of laughter as they shouted to each other, he thought about what he had lost.  Why had he done such awful things to Amanda? Why did he change her phone and why tell her family that she was dead?

Jerry had been pleasant; he could have put him behind bars as well.  Looking at his can of cola, he thought about his own mental health.  Would a sane man have done all that stuff?  Crying he looked at his phone. Scrolling through it he found his GP and dialled.  He needed to get himself sorted.  Get his life back on track, be a decent human being, be normal.  As the receptionist answered, he could taste his tears.  This was it, he needed sanity, and he was going to start here, a day at a time, Jerry had given him a second chance and he was now going to take it.

 

Written for Write the story prompt on Writers Unite

For more see, A snowy wood nightmare