Death in the family

I held my mother’s hand. I have always thought that a mother symbolised warmth. I thought how strange it was that her fingers lay hard and cold in my palm.

‘Mother?’ I whispered, brushing her hair from her eyes.

She didn’t answer. Her mouth was slack and her eyes stared above her.

‘It’s time, Molly. You must leave.’ My father led me from the room and shut the door. I pressed my ear against the wood.

20 years later, I have still never been so sure of anything, as I was that my father uttered the words: ‘Thank God.’

Be home soon

I walked past the church. I was nearly halfway home. My ears still rang from the booming bass that filled the nightclub, and my steps felt slightly wobbly.

It had gotten dark now, and streetlamps flickered at me amidst the thick, black cloak of night. My heels clipped sharply against the pavement as I walked, my steps getting quicker as I got colder. I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth as I passed through a patch of thick fog.

I heard steps behind me and I walk quicker, the noise of my shoes seeming louder to me than they had before. I turn around, and see someone tall, wearing a short brown jacket and a beanie appear under one of the streetlamps. They quickly walk through the lit area, and dissolve into darkness. My breath quickens, and I walk faster still. Had the person behind me sped up? It was probably my imagination, but I turned down Parkins Road; a different road to the one I would usually take, in the hopes that whoever it was would carry on along May Street. I head down Parkins Road; and let go of the breath I didn’t know I was holding, as I see the person behind me carry on along May Street.

Fumbling in my bag, I find my phone, and press the ‘messages’ button as soon as I see the screen glow. I quickly text my housemate. ‘Be home soon. x’. She probably wouldn’t be up, but I didn’t see the harm in texting anyway. I carry on walking down Parkins Road, feeling a lot calmer. I reach the end of the road, and I go to turn left. Having made the slight detour, I now needed to get back on track. I’d be home soon, thank God.

***

GRUESOME MURDER ON TYNE CRESCENT

22 year old Penny was brutally murdered last night on Tyne Crescent. She was killed with four stab wounds to the stomach and chest.

It is believed that at approximately 2am, Penny left Gerry’s Nightclub in West Norton to get home, however believing she would not be able to get a taxi at such late notice, she decided to walk the 20 minutes it would take for her to get home. Her friend, Michael, stated that he walked with her up until the edge of town, however his house was in a different direction, at which point, they went their separate ways.

At around 2:10am, Penny was seen walking along May Street by a resident living in one of the houses on the street:

‘I’d just got up for a glass of milk to help me sleep, when I saw a young girl walking along the road. Behind her was a tall man, wearing some kind of hat, I think. I went upstairs after that, I didn’t think anything of it.’

It is then believed that Penny took a detour home to avoid the man behind, as she was found at 5:30am on the paths connecting Parkins Road and Tyne Crescent. The police have yet to make an official statement.