Rottenhouse (32 page)

Nodding, Simon picked up the fishing
boxes and watched the old man walk to the house. ‘Whatever you say,
Bob.’

Clean Yourself Up,
Piggy

1

Lucy had been napping when Simon walked
into the bedroom after completing his chores. She slowly came
around as he undressed but didn’t say anything and Simon was
grateful for that. He went and took a shower not really thinking of
anything but getting clean. When he got back she was sat up on the
bed; her head propped up by two pillows. The fading light from the
bedroom window made her hair turn from brown to auburn. She was
wearing the tight jean shorts he liked and a thin white vest top
with a matching bra underneath. Back home, this sort of garb would
have turned some heads and she probably wouldn’t have gone out like
it. But here was different. Heads would turn, not because she
looked stunning and had more flesh on show than Lady Godiva, but
because they thought she probably looked out of place, lost, and
like old man Rowling had stated last night, ugly; they wouldn’t
give two shits.

As Simon dried himself he asked Lucy
what her day had been like. She only shrugged, said she had been to
see old friends and went to visit places where she grew up and then
asked Simon how the fishing trip had been. He didn’t answer
straight away but continued to dry himself though it felt like
every time a bit of him finally dried it got covered in a thin film
of sweat again. It was hot tonight. A breeze from the open windows
helped too cool the air a little, but Simon knew it had been a
mistake to take such a hot shower and now he sat on the small
wooden chair in the corner of the bedroom naked, and he thought
about what had happened during the day, he couldn’t help but
smirk.

‘
What’s so
funny?’

‘
Nothing,’ He said
stretching out his legs so that his balls touched the cold wood of
the seat sending a little shiver up his spine.

‘
So did you have fun?
Did you and dad get on okay?’

‘
Yeah, really good.
After last night’s chat we kind of got everything out in the open,
if you know what I mean. He taught me a few things about fishing
and how to set a rod and all that jazz. Plus we caught us a fair
few. I got the first one which was surprising.’

‘
Wow.’ She said and
she smiled a little sweet crooked smile. ‘That’s great. I’m glad
you two are getting on. I know it’s been hard for you, for me too
and this place has some odd ways about it, but maybe we just got
here at the wrong time.’

A little bird outside in one of the
trees that lined the road sang a song. Another bird, perhaps its
mate sang back and soon there was a little duet going on between
the two. Simon lifted his legs and wiggled his feet and toes. They
were red around the tips and his ankles looked slightly swollen and
were also a little red.

On the bed Lucy was sat twiddling with
a strand of her hair. It was something she always did but it didn’t
signify anything in particular. It was just a habit. And then he
remembered how she had been last night in the bar, how dismissive
of him when he wanted to leave. God, that seemed like a lifetime
ago, and Simon couldn’t really think of all the things that had
happened since then. Had they even talked about that? He couldn’t
remember.

‘
Is everything okay
with you?’

She stopped twiddling her hair and let
it drop to its natural place. Lucy looked at him and Simon wished
he could read minds for her face gave away nothing.

‘
Yeah,’ she replied
and Simon clenched his fist against his thigh.

‘
And that’s that, is
it?’

‘
Well yeah, I suppose.
I’m good. Dads well. You two are getting along and I think me and
dad have patched things up.’

‘
Patched things up?
You’ve barely spoken since we’ve been here.’

‘
I got some time with
him last night. After you left. We had a good talk. I let him know
what I felt and he let me know what he felt, in his own sort of
way, you know how he is. We aint ever going to be the Hallmark card
father and daughter. Shit, I don’t think we will ever get anywhere
close to that, but at least we have something now. Something I
can’t describe. It’s a feeling… I don’t know…it’s hard to say with
words, plus I aint very good at this kind of thing, you know
that.’

She plucked that bit of hair out again
and started twiddling with it, curling it around her first finger
over and over again.

But Simon knew what she meant. It
wasn’t that complicated really.

‘
Family.’ Simon
said.

‘
Family.’ Lucy
said.

And then Simon remembered the O’Hagan’s
and what their family got up too and he must have given something
away then as Lucy surprised him with, ‘You met the O’Hagan’s today,
didn’t you?’

His balls went up inside his stomach,
shrinking away like frightened mice, and his anus scrunched down in
the creases of his bum. Simon nodded.

‘
Was it the brothers
you met?’

‘
Yep, well not quite.
They were there, waiting at the car when we were on our way back
but your Dad went over to them and told to me wait some distance
off. They talked, but I don’t know what they talked about. He
mentioned something about a fee so I guess it was that. Big
guys.’

Lucy slid off the bed then, walked over
to the chest of drawers and took out some pants, a pair of socks, a
t-shirt and a pair of blue shorts. As she did this she said, ‘You
know why he did that, right? Told you to keep yer distance?’

‘
Oh yes.’ Simon said
and didn’t need to explain further.

Lucy placed the items on the bed and
she laughed. Simon laughed too, even the two birds outside laughed
along with them and when Lucy stopped laughing Simon stopped
laughing but the birds kept on singing and so Simon guessed they
weren’t really laughing at all and when Lucy turned to Simon her
eyes were narrowed and her gaze was firmly locked onto him like a
Lioness stalks her quarry and Simon knew then what she was
thinking, he didn’t need no sodding telepathy to tell him what
thoughts she had going through her mind; they were pulsing from
her, seeping from her skin, from her pores, from her eyes and from
her mouth in silent hot hard waves of lust, want, need and
desire.

She fucked Simon as he sat on the
wooden chair that she used to sit on whilst her mother brushed her
hair and sang her songs. She fucked him hard, didn’t take off her
clothes so his cock rubbed harshly against the jean shorts and her
cotton panties which he had to pull to one side. Her panties were
soaking wet.

He didn’t last long. But it was long
enough for them both and when she pulled his sore cock out she
placed one hand down there to stop anything oozing onto the carpet
and with her other hand she slapped him across the face and then
caressed that spot whilst all the time her eyes were on his.

They were both breathless and hot and
sweaty.

‘
I’m the only one that
gets to fuck you, piggy.’ She said in that voice that isn’t quite
Lucy and isn’t quiet Barbara.

‘
Yes.’ Simon panted
not liking what he heard but liking it all the same and all
thoughts of where he was and what he had done swirled about him
like it always does when the sex was quick and fierce and painful
and sweet.

‘
Now go and clean
yourself up, piggy.’ And as she moved away from him she smeared the
hand that had cupped his stinking semen across his chest making the
hairs there matt together like wet Velcro.

He stood quickly, repulsed, though
still horny, but Lucy was already enough of a distance away not to
be near him.

‘
You dirty
bitch.’

Grinning like the lion that ate the cat
that got all the cream she said, ‘Yeah, but you fucking love
it.’

And she was right. Weren’t they always
right? And so Simon went back to the bathroom at the other end of
the hallway and had another shower and listened as Lucy walked by
the door and went downstairs.

It was then that Lucy was taken.

2

Simon found himself standing in Bob’s
front garden totally naked and dripping wet, his flaccid penis
swaying in the cool summer breeze like one of the trees that lined
the road and he was looking about for any sign of who or what had
taken his Lucy, but he couldn’t see anything, he couldn’t hear
anything except for the bloody fucking crickets and the beshitted
birds squawking and tweeting like mad men demanding food in their
cells. There were tyre tracks and the pebbles of the driveway were
scattered all a sunder but as for a signal as to where the people
had gone that had taken Lucy there was not a jot and Simon screamed
and cursed to the sun and the clouds and the beshitted birds and
the crickets that wouldn’t shut up and tell him where his Lucy was,
and to tell him who took her and fakristsake how he was going to
kill everycuntingoneofthem if they didn’t shut up and tell him what
he needed to know

Simon looked back to the house when he
had finished mouthing off, he needed Bob’s help, but right now Bob
was no good to him because he was lying unconscious on the floor;
half in the house half out of the house and a little trickle of
blood ran down from his nose onto the hessian doormat that said
WELCOME in faded black letters, and there was a blood stain that
would never shift and would be there forever more.

A little fly with yellow and black
stripes buzzed Simon and it landed on his shoulder and so Simon
scrunched up his face and hunched his shoulder and twisted his neck
to get a better look at the little hitchhiker. It was also a little
reminder to him that he was naked.

‘
Do you know who took
my Lucy? Where they took her?’ The little fly flapped its wings but
didn’t fly away. If it did know where she was then he was being
quiet about it.

‘
Guess not. You aint
no good to me then.’ Simon swiped at the little feller but the fly
was too quick for him and it took off and flew about his head as if
to mock the tall pink sack of meat and Simon went over to Bob then.
He checked that the old boy was still breathing, he didn’t have to
check that hard as he could hear the snores before he even knelt
down though as he knelt he saw his little penis swaying back and
forth and a sudden urge to teabag the poor old unconscious man at
his feet took over him.

‘
I need to put some
clothes on.’ And as quick as a flash he did just that and as he ran
back down the stairs, making sure that his phone was in his pocket
as well as his car keys and wallet, he saw that the old man had
come around and he was sat on the doormat rubbing the back of his
head.

‘
What the fuck
happened? Where is Lucy?’

Bob shook his head, perhaps trying to
shake away the cotton wool feeling being out cold leaves behind.
‘They took her.’ He said sleepily.

‘
Who’s
they,
Bob?’ Now he was
stood behind the old man who remained on the floor rubbing the back
of his head. Bob sniffed and then spat out a wad of bloody phlegm.
‘I thought it were good between us. We had a deal.’

‘
What are you talking
about? Good between who?

‘
Actually, who cares,
I just want to know where she is. Can you tell me that Bob or are
you going to sit there like an idiot?

‘
It’ll do yano good,
lad.’

‘
Yaknow what; fuck it.
Fuck you. Fuck them, fuck em all, Bob. I’ve had it up to here.’
Simon did the necessary action with his hands pointing to the top
of his head and then ripped his car keys out of his pocket. ‘I’m
going to get the police and fuck what you think about
it.’

Bob moved his hand as if to block the
way out of the front door. ‘I can’t let yado that, Simon.’ But he
was too slow and Simon was through the doorway knocking the old
man’s shoulder with his knee.

‘
Whatever, Mr Rowling.
I’m done.’ Simon muttered as he trundled across the driveway to his
car. He actually had no clue where the police station was, if there
even was one, but he wasn’t going to stay here with a thumb up his
arse waiting to see what happened.

‘
I can’t sit around
here. I can’t do nothing, Bob. You may want to deal with this your
way but I aint going to do that, Bob. I’m getting the cops and
that’s that.’

Simon heard groaning but didn’t turn to
look at him. He guessed the old feller was getting up, probably
still rubbing his head but he didn’t really care. Simon pressed the
button on his key fob, the four indicators flashed orange and the
doors unlocked with a great mechanical clunk and he was just about
to walk around to the driver’s side when he saw something shiny
jutting from his front left wheel. Eyes wide and heart pounding and
stomach churning he looked to the left rear and saw another shiny
bit of metal jutting from the tyre only this time there was a great
gash in the black rubber to go with it, and running to the other
side, the side in between his and Bob’s car, he saw that the same
had been done to those tyres too. Simon raised his hands to the air
and then threw them down with such force that they went ever so
slightly numb and he took in a huge lung full of air and held it.
His face reddened and he believed that his head may explode if he
didn’t breathe out. Then his vision started to blur a little but at
least the feeling came back into his hands and he clenched them
tight trying to hold back the bile that swelled in his throat.