The Lost Cause- Short Story

The Lost Cause

The coastal community of Penns was home to seventy eight people, four dogs, eight cats and a parrot. Its harsh weather conditions made it a testing place in the winter months and historically the local buildings were said to have been home to ghosts. Shadrach Wormley had never believed in the supernatural, not even the old church scared him. He’d lived in Penns all of his life, this showed through his oily and wrinkled skin that had clearly been a victim to the testing elements. Shadrach wore a large green fisherman’s coat, its colour fading, it had not seen a wash in thirty years or so. It was clear that Autumn had arrived, leaves gathered at the sides of the pavements and fiery clouds gathered in the sky where clear blue skies were months ago. The desolate town was becoming dark as evening approached, the day had been quiet for Shadrach. He had been fishing though the tide was heading out so decided it was time to head home. His mutt Sandy was fiendishly pulling on his lead as they walked beside the shoreline, suddenly her barking became more frantic as she noticed something along the beach. Shadrach lit up a cigarette and yanked at Sandy to pull her away from the water though he pull was too hard and she broke free. Sandy bolted towards something that looked like a body, Shadrach turned and raced after his dog, a clumsy and heavy run, stumbling upon the stones. He came to a halt a couple of feet before the body, its limbs in a tangled and horrified state. Its eyes were staring blankly up into the sky, two piercing white eyeballs seemed devoid of emotion. Shadrach thought it was a woman but it could have been a man also. Something inside of him made him step dangerously closer toward the body, that’s when Shadrach noticed the dried blood encrusted on its skin, it’d been there for a long time. What he did next was run. He wasn’t even conscious of doing it, his legs were moving without him knowing but Shadrach was sweating and scared, running as fast as he could away from the shore.

 

Water lapped up against the sides of the windows as the evening light outside became dimmer and the sun hid away behind a cloud. Somehow some water had found its way into the living area again but right now Shadrach didn’t care about that. Right now all he had on his mind was the image of the body on the beach and he couldn’t escape it. It was everywhere he looked and everywhere he didn’t. Everywhere but nowhere. It was disgusting. He had propped himself up against a kitchen cupboard but his knee gave in and he collapsed suddenly onto the kitchen floor in a heap. As he turned his head to the left he saw the water bob up and down outside and in the distance it seemed to be raining, no, pouring. Littered along the kitchen counter was an array of photographs from Shadrach’s life that had been pulled from old photo albums. Childhood, teenage years, and recent pictures of Sandy who now was nowhere to be seen. Thunder. Shadrach lurched up and ran to the window that was still open and pouring in a vast amount of rain, scattering specs of water over his dinner table. The window slammed shut and Shadrach returned to the floor once again. His eyes closed and when he woke it was to the sound of someone banging on the door. He looked at the antique clock, it was midnight. Shadrach rose gradually to his feet and peered out of the window to see that it was still raining.

 

Leanne’s day had been ruined by a news report. Someone had died in Penns, someone that couldn’t be identified. Without even thinking she’d packed up her belongings into a suitcase and travelled across the country in her unreliable car. It had chugged and spurted along the narrow country lanes, almost coming to a stop at several points. The rain wasn’t a help either, it made her in an even worse mood than she was already in. It was an immense sense of worry that she was consumed by, dread too. Her father and she had parted on bad terms last month after an argument and if anything were to have happened to him she could never forgive herself. It was late, but surely Shadrach would still be awake- he used to stay up until at least two in the morning at the earliest, watching old horror movies on the fuzzy television set that he owned. Images of the past flickered into Leanne’s head as she drove through the weary fishing village toward the port where her father’s boat was parked. The sweet shop she’d visited many times, the remains of her old primary school, the popular village pub and countless derelict houses that were now home to nobody. Four years ago a terrible fire had engulfed the homes, many people had perished and the homes had since been abandoned by the townsfolk. They were a harrowing reminder of the devastation that had occurred and a moment captured in history for the people of Penns. The rain was causing difficult visibility for Leanne as she continued to drive through the village, the street lamps were flickering which made things even worse. All of a sudden a soaking rat like dog ran into the road and Leanne was forced to hold down on the breaks. It was Sandy. The dog looked stark and scared, completely drowned and eyes wide open. Leanne nervously exited her car and went to the mutt, her father’s loyal companion, and it only made her fears grow even more. Sandy made Leanne’s clothing damp and uncomfortable for her as she was picked up and placed into the back of her car. It wasn’t much further now, not much longer, surely he’d be okay she thought to herself as her car grinded to a halt beside the port and she dragged Sandy toward the barge. Leanne pounded on the door to receive no answer.

 

Shadrach stumbled toward the door as the knocking became nosier and more frantic. His hair was a matted mess, face blank and staring, almost white with pain. He threw the door open and was met with a blonde haired woman, she was strangely familiar.

‘Dad’ she smiled as he continued his stare. It took Shadrach a second but eventually his eyes widened and he stumbled-

‘Sandy!’ he forced a smile as he pulled the dog inside then turned around once more, finally realising it was his daughter. ‘Leanne?’ he sighed.

‘Can I come in, it’s a bit wet out here?’

‘Of course’ Smiled Shadrach as he opened the door for his daughter to come inside. Leanne didn’t recognise the barge, it was untidy and unorganised, and a far cry from how she had left the place all those years ago. Leanne had packed up and left aged 17 for a better life in London, it had been all she’d expected and more though part of her still felt guilty for abandoning her father after all that had happened. Clothing and fishing items were littered around the floor, a complete mess.

‘If I’d have known you were coming I’d have…’ began Shadrach.

‘Tidied up a bit? This place is a mess Dad?’ Said Leanne.

‘I know, things have been a bit difficult lately. Why are you here anyway? It’s been a long time, I haven’t seen you since…’ he began but could not finish.

‘I know’ sighed Leanne, ‘I came because of the body that was found on the beach’ Shadrach turned away and stared out of the window that was being pounded by the rain outside. He looked across the murky depths and into the blue. ‘I was worried, I came as soon as I heard anything. What happened?’

‘I don’t know anything’ bellowed Shadrach, he marched over to the sink and began furiously washing the dishes. There had been a mountain of them piling up and Leanne was surprised he managed to find any clean ones to use at all.

‘Well they found a body beside the shoreline, thought something could have happened to you. Maybe I was wrong to come back here…’ Leanne stared at her father for a further few seconds before heading to leave the house-boat.

‘It was awful.’ Shouted Shadrach as he threw the remainder of the dishes into the sink and turned toward his daughter who stopped in her tracks. ‘The body. I saw it, it was mauled, red and bloody. I don’t know what could have done it but it was horrible. I mean I was walking Sandy and she ran off, next thing I know I’m staring at a corpse. It, erm, I don’t even know, just blood…’ his speech became more and more fragmented as he continued. ‘It just sent me back there. You know, to that place- to that room. I panicked and ran, I just ran as fast as I could back here. I didn’t know what else to do I mean I could have done something, alerted someone or something. Bloody anything. But I couldn’t. I just froze.’

‘It’s okay Dad. I understand. It must have reminded you of Mum, the way you found her…’ her voice trailed off, ‘I didn’t think to come before now. I suppose I was looking for an excuse to come back’ she smiled and walked toward her distant father who moved away from her like a frightened animal.

‘I keep seeing it. The body. It’s everywhere I look Leanne. It’s taken me a while to get over the last time but it brought everything back!’ Tears appeared in the old man’s eyes and he recoiled more into himself, backing against the kitchen side once again.

‘I guess I’m trying to say I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left, it was a difficult situation and I had the job opportunity and everything was just so much better in London’

‘You don’t have to explain yourself to me. It’s just, good to see you’ for the first time Shadrach looked directly at his daughter and smiled a painful smile. Sandy at this point was curled up in her basket, Shadrach moved across to his mutt.

‘It’s okay. The way you reacted to the body, I mean its fine, its natural- it was difficult for you as much as it was for me. I’m here now though’ outside the rain had stopped, a calm appeared above the barge and inside the atmosphere reflected this.

‘It’s good to have you home’ coughed Shadrach as he moved over to hug his daughter.