The Clean Up

Hi again
Here's a short story I haven't even shared with my writers group - a sinister tale I entered for a writers competition - think it was Commonwealth short story 2012 comp - which I didn't win - sob - so enjoy the exclusive guys

The janitor started to sweat as he pushed his dirty mop back and forth on the wooden floor of the classroom.  Water and foam splashed out from the mop as he pushed down , driving it hard along the floor.  The floor was already clean but the janitor kept mopping obsessively making the floor sparkle and shine.

His phone started to vibrate in his pocket and he ignored it.  He wringed out the mop into a yellow bucket and looked at his handy work.  The floor was spotless.  No marks as far as he could see and he breathed a sigh of relief.  His phone vibrated again, he knew who it was and knew she wouldn’t stop ringing.  It was his wife Debra.  He took his mobile out of his trouser pocket and reluctantly answered the call.

“What you doing?  You said you was only going to be an hour!” came the familiar shrill voice of his wife.

“I’ll be about 10 minutes I promise” answered Harry.  His voice shaky and panic stricken.

“Well make sure you are, we’ve to go shopping I need some shoes.” replied Debra who didn’t seem to notice the tone of his voice.

Harry threw his phone onto the nearest desk.  Then noticed he needed to clean the desk behind.

“Oh Christ” he whispered to himself and put his head in his hands, feeling the wetness of his sweat between his fingers.  He held his head in his hands for a few moments deep in thought.  How had it all come to this he wondered.  Harry went to his janitor trolley and picked up some cleaning spray and a hard scrubbing brush.  He went to the dirty desk and scrubbed vigorously at it for a few moments whilst occasionally spraying it.  He was scrubbing so hard and fast he didn’t realise how much it hurt his fingers but he was like a man possessed making sure it was completely clean and there were no marks on it.

Eventually he stood back and admired the desk,  this too was now completely shiny and clean – spotless he thought and he let out a sly grin.

His phone vibrated on the next desk again.  Dam that woman he thought and again reluctantly answered the phone.

“Yes what!” he snapped down the line.

“It’s been 10 minutes already where the hell are you?  Max is getting restless.  Max stop kicking my seat.”

“Ok I’ve finished now be 2 minutes” replied Harry and ended the call as he thought about Max, his pride and joy.  He was the reason Harry was doing what he was doing.

Max’s chubby face and sparkly bright eyes entered his mind and he suddenly realised how fast time had gone.  Max was 10 already and still growing, he didn’t want to miss out on that!   Harry thought about the fun he had with Max so far in his short life, playing ball in the park, taking him fishing, the pain watching him go to school in the mornings and the joy of being home when he returned and hearing of his day.

Although what Harry was doing was wrong it was something he needed to do for Max, to be in his life.  His wife Debra however he didn’t love anymore he just put up with her to be near his son however much of a bitch she had become although when he met his wife she was the best thing to happen to him.  She was so kind and loving, they had the best times together although it was strained when Max came along.

Harry suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.  His wife and son disappearing from his mind as his current situation came flooding back to him.

He put his phone back in his pocket and looked down at the scrubbing brush in his hand.  The bristles  were mixed with bubbles and dark red blood.  His face paled at the sight. 

He went to the door of the classroom to where he had left a big wheelie bin and went to throw the brush into it but the girls big brown eyes stared up unblinking at him.  Blood running down her head and over her shoulder.

“God what have I done!  It... it was an accident.” Harry cried out to himself as the young girls body sat crumpled up in the wheelie bin.

She was gorgeous he thought.  When he had first seen her entering the sixth form building less than a year ago he knew she was a flirt and the school tart.  He had already heard rumours about her before she had even joined sixth form.  She had already had quite a few boyfriends in her young life and the affair she had had with Mr Leskie, the sports teacher was the main scandal of their small town for some time.  Mothers warned their sons of her and wives kept their husbands away from her too.  But she was gorgeous he thought, her long blond hair used to blow seductively in the wind, her big brown puppy dog eyes looking innocently up at him and her firm toned tanned body was what many men dreamed of and made her seem older than her 17 years.

After a couple of months of catching each other’s eye and smiling across the corridor at each other she made the move of talking to him and flirting heavily with him as she had a thing for older guys.  At 38 Harry was still in good shape as the job kept him busy on his toes, cleaning and walking the corridors and landscaping the grounds.  He was tall, quite toned although was starting to get a bit flabby round the belly, probably all the drinking his wife had driven him to. 

Harry thought back to his wife as he washed his mop bucket out in the janitor room and parked up his janitor trolley.  If she hadn’t been nasty to him over the last couple of years laughing at him being a “lowly janitor” and nagging him endlessly to get another job and do things around the house he wouldn’t have succumbed to the advances of Faye.  The young girl now dead in his wheelie bin.

It was sex as well, he mused as he never got any from his wife and Faye made it perfectly clear that was all she was after and so their affair began.

On their first night together Harry took Faye to a pub out of town where she had no trouble getting served then went back to the sixth form building and had the most amazing sex he had had.  She knew a lot for her age and so they met when they could usually after hours at the sixth form building.  Harry just told his wife he had odd jobs to do knowing she wasn’t bothered unless she wanted to go shopping or to her mothers.  Now Harry realised that the time he spent with Faye he missed having Max with him.  That’s why no one could ever know he thought!

Tears rolled down his eyes as Harry now pushed the wheelie bin towards the lift and he dare not look at her.

“Why did she have to fall for me!” he said to himself as  he went down in the lift to the building’s incinerator.  It was all a terrible accident in the end as he thought back to the last few hours.

Harry had decided to call the whole affair off with Faye as he didn’t want to lose his son if Debra found out.  Plus he decided to try harder with his wife and see what happened.  He even took his wife on a romantic evening which was the best night he had had with her in years and she seemed like her old self for once.

This was why Harry was now at work on a Saturday after telling his wife he had to fix some faulty wiring before classes on Monday morning. 

He had asked Faye to meet him and she sneaked in an open window as she normally did as she said it gave her a bit of a thrill.  There was a bit of an awkward silence when she had got in the classroom and went to kiss him.  He pushed her off him.

“We have to stop this, I’m ending it before anyone gets hurt.” He told her.

Faye looked at him with her puppy dog eyes,  tears forming in the corners.  There was a genuine look of distress and sadness on her face.

“But I love you.   I need to be with you!” she eventually squeaked out.  Half crying.  Harry thought her immature when she said this.

“I want to make things right with my wife for my Max,” he countered.  His voice soft and low.

“So your dumping me for that old bag just so you can stay with your son!  Your not happy with her.... god your sad!” she said bitterly “Maybe it’s about time she found out then you can be with me.  I just saw her sat at the gates”.

She swiftly went to the door to leave and Harry pulled her back “No, Stop” he shouted.  

She tried to walk off but Harry pulled at her top. She turned round with a smirk on her face and anger welled up inside him, his face reddening.  He suddenly grabbed her round the shoulders and threw her  backwards into the room but as she went backwards she tripped and smashed her head on the corner of a desk.  Harry went to her as she fell to the floor and blood started to pour from a wound at her temple.  He waited a few minutes for her to stir and get up so he could apologise as he had gone too far but she never did.

Harry went grey as he realised she was seriously hurt and saw blood running from her head onto the wooden floors.  A lot of blood and hair was on the corner of the desk.   He bent down to Faye’s face but could feel no breath so checked her pulse  - nothing.

“My god I’ve killed her” he shouted aloud and panic grew in him, he would go to jail for this, Debra would divorce him and he wouldn’t see little Max again.  Should he ring the police and confess he thought at first then realised their liaisons were secret.  No one knows she came here to meet me he thought I could cover it up and pretend the whole thing never happened.  I could get rid of the body in the incinerator – no evidence.  Cleaning is what I do.

And so as Harry stood outside the incinerator thinking back to what had happened in the past 30 minutes he cried, as guilt and grief took over.

“I.. I can’t do it” he said to himself looking at the face of his dead mistress, his toy girl.

His phone vibrated again in his pocket and he missed it again as he stared at Faye.  His memory of her, his wife and Max rolling around his head.  He was so confused and didn’t know what to do for the best.

His phone continued to vibrate as he picked up the dead girl in his hands and he put her into the hot flames of the incinerator.  The yellow and orange flames licked around her body until Harry could see her no longer.  She was gone.  He sighed as he shut the incinerator door.

It’s for the best he told himself, I need my family.  I need to be with my son.  His phone went off again.  This time he answered.

“Where the hell...” Debra began.

“I’m leaving now hun.  As a treat lets go to the pub for lunch. My treat.” Harry interrupted.

“Well.. Ok sounds good.” Came the surprised yet happier voice of his wive.

“Love you.” He said as he walked out of the room. 

He had done it he thought to himself,  no one would know about the affair or the accidental murder.  The perfect murder?  He wouldn’t go to jail or lose his family.

But as Harry rushed back to his wife he had failed to notice one bloodied fingerprint of his on the back of the incinerator door.

Need to be more Regular!

Hi guys - have realised need to be more serious about my blog and actually blog more - only danger is that I will eventually run out of stories written to put on my blog - lol
The solution to that is to write more stories!
In an earlier blog I mentioned I would be putting a serial story on my blog each week - haven't started this yet but got an idea for a black comedy James Bond spoof!
Watch this space for this.

Well haven't been up to much since last blog - watched Avengers Assemble other week - very good film - although bit predictable.
Finished a short story for Calderdale Short Story Competition - just need to edit it and send off by this weekend.
I also attended another enjoyable Writers Group where we shared our work exercise relating to our creative inspirations and talked about my favourite author David Gemmell.
Speak soon guys!
Neil

Successful Writers Group

What a great Writers Group at Cleckheaton Libary with Karen, Dawn and Daniel - and myself!
Daniel read a very good poem out tonight and Karen read my short story You Don't Know Jack - and she read it beautifully too!  Would have read myself but contacts playing up and wouldn't have done it justice!
It was both scary and good to hear people reading your work out and it sounded better than I thought it would!
We also discusses film adaptations of books and if they are successful or not and gave each over support with our writing!
Dawn is now on chapter 51 of her  YA book and nearly at the finish line.
Karen has honed her first 5 chapters of Thorde and sent to the Angry Robot open door submissions entry - good luck Karen - can't wait to read it!
Myself - well I need to get a move on - again - as need to write more of Wormhole Effect but also start the blog only short story/novella I mentioned a few blogs back - where will I get the time?  But have at least started on my notes for that!
I was so energised by the meet that when it finished at 7:50pm instead of waiting for bus home at 8:35pm I walked home to Brighouse which is quite a distance - took an hour and 20!
So here's to the next Writers Group and Daniel is concocting a writers exercise for us to do by then!
see you soon

New Blogger

Hey guys

Just logged on to blog and the whole blogger page has changed!!  Seems well weird and knowing my luck just as I have started advertising my Blog on Twitter it will somehow balls up!  Oh Well lol

Well not done much writing this weekend - consumed way too much alcohol and only just recovered but will be writing the rest of the week - mainly on Wormhole Effect but also on a short story I have in mind for the Calderdale Short Story Competition - will keep you posted!
Also have come up with a spy/comedy story - not sure if going to be a short story, novella or full novel as yet but think will post the whole of this on my Blog in a serial fashion that I have always liked!
The whole serial thing appeals to me alot and if i do the cliffhangers and payoffs well it should be an enjoyable read - and wait for the next chapter!
Well happy Reading and Writing - Post soon!

Neil

Fresh New Look

Hi Guys

Well instead of writing something and posting onto my blog I decided to mess with it and give it a new look with a few small add-ons including a "What I'm Reading" spot - don't expect it to change much as I so slow at reading - faster at writing ha ha!

There's also a photo of yours truly - but don't let that put you off!

There will be more changes to follow shortly - hopefully a list of sites and blogs useful to other writers and readers!

Thought would make the changes after seeing some of the other writers blogs I have met on Twitter!

And what a great place Twitter is - celebs, publishers, Authors and other aspiring writers - keep it up folks!

Happy Reading - and Writing  :-)

The Twitter Age

Well I have sucummed to the seduction of Twitter - in the hope that will get more followers for this Blog and more people reading my stories (including Publishers!) - this means will be updating more regular at least once a week and trying to write more stories! Or add parts of my novels onto the blog!

At the moment still writing The Wormhole Effect but got a short story in mind for an upcoming Calderdale Short Story Competition!
Wish me luck!

See you soon peeps

You Don't Know Jack

Here's a story I wrote last year and sent off to a few competitions - a Whitechapel site, Calderdale Short Story Comp and something else - lol  - Never won bugger all with it!
But it my weird take on what could have happened to Jack the Ripper - one of the mysterys of life that intrigues me!
Thought I had already put out on my blog but haven't - well Enjoy!

The Cloak and Dagger Inn was a lively place at anytime of the day and night.  It was situated on a small corner by the Thames river surrounded by impossibly dim gas lights and heavy fog.  It was a wonder how people managed to find it at all.

One person who could find it every time was the resident drunk, the regular drinker in there nearly every hour of every day.  He went by the name of Albert – Albert Tibbs.  He was a lonely seedy old man living of an inheritance from a deceased wealthy Aunt, although to see him you wouldn’t think he would have any money at all.

On this particular night Albert was sat at his usual table near the centre of the Inn.  His wispy hair was blowing up from his balding head as the door opened and closed, the draft hitting him.  It was a cold damp November night and Albert drew his faded brown cloak over him to help him warm up, muttering swear words as he did so.  He coughed loudly and his chest tightened as he spat onto the Inn floor.

“ Walter, where’s that fire “ Albert shouted over to a plump bald man in a dirty overall which matched the rest of the Inn.

“On it’s way, just very busy,” replied the Inn keeper serving a young man.

Why do I stay in this horrible place thought Albert as he looked at the answer staring him in the face and took another swig from the bottle, his third already and it was only early.  He winced as the cold drink hurt his teeth,  they were in a bad shape, all falling out and black – so Albert took in even more drink and glanced around at the rest of the Inn.

I t was busy as Walter had said, with different sizes of groups at various areas of the Inn.  Quite a few of the local prostitutes were in plying for business, they were scared to be out on the streets with the recent grisly murders taking place.  It was the talk of the whole pub, the whole city in fact was asking questions about the murders.  Who’s carrying out such atrocious acts?   Why is he attacking prostitutes?

Albert had more pressing concerns on his mind and was sick of everyone going on about it.  Not only that he was worrying about his financial state as the sum of an inheritance he received from an old unseen Aunt he never even knew about was dwindling fast and she had only died six months ago.

Albert sighed and took another swig from his bottle.  He needed quite a few more of these tonight as going back to begging was a sobering thought.  A movement nearby caught his eye and he looked over to his left.  It was nothing more than a rat scurrying along in a darkly lit corner of the Inn, running over dirty and stained floors.

“Wish I could be a rat.  Would have no money woes then.” Mumbled Albert to himself.

After he had started his next bottle Albert could smell even more than usual the scent of tobacco, and whiskey and sweat.  Looking up he saw Annie, a stout woman in her mid forties.  She had an handsome face with chubby rosy red cheeks.  Albert smiled up at her.  She returned the favour showing her blackened teeth.

“You want some fun old Al?” she shouted in her usual cheery manner.

“Yes, I need cheering up” replied Albert in a matter of fact way, scratching his crotch which was still itchy from the last time he paid for her.  She led him up to her lodgings above the Inn.

After a few hours Albert had had enough.  It was probably his age as he couldn’t drink as much as he used to and the cold was also aching his bones and joints.  Even when he went to Annie’s room he just stripped off and fell asleep on the bed.  She had to have Walter come up and wake him up as she too had a business to run.  The water thrown on Albert brought him round temporarily but after two more bottles of his favourite ale he was staggering to the Cloak and Dagger Inn’s front door muttering obscenities to anyone he bumped into.

As he staggered through the crowd he was unaware of some people pointing at him and laughing as he had wet himself sometime earlier in the night.  Albert was too busy trying to get to his lodgings two streets away to notice as he felt he was heading for a deep sleep.  Although his lodgings were no cleaner than the Inn at least it was better than sleeping on the streets, which he had done almost all his adult life relying on the handouts of others and squandering what little he got on drink.

The cold chill of the early morning air shocked Albert’s senses into coming around and he felt more awake almost immediately.  He staggered a few paces up the cobbled road towards his lodgings.  He had no idea if it was night or day as the fog was so heavy you couldn’t see more than two paces ahead.  The gas lights on the road sides weren’t much use either.  Luckily for Albert he had some sort of bat radar meaning he could sense his way home no matter what.

After a few more paces a tall slim man came out of the fog from nowhere and dashed past Albert almost knocking him over.  Albert turned round and the man was darting off down the road.

“Excuse me.  I want an apology.” Slurred Albert after the man.

The man carried on walking ignoring him.  Whether it was the drink or not this made Albert even more angry than normal.  The man was so rude.

“Oi.” Called Albert “Come back and apologise.”

Albert trotted after the tall slim man and just managed to catch his arm.  The man swung around quickly and stared down at Albert.  He had piercing blue eyes with dark circles underneath and thin drawn in cheeks.   Albert noticed his clothes were of a very high standard especially the long coat he had on.

“I have pressing matters now unhand me you beggar or I shall have you arrested!” the man said in a posh voice and turned away.

This angered Albert even more and instantly he pushed the man hard.  The man tumbled forward slipping on the wet cobbles and fell head first into a lamppost.

The tall slim man laid sprawled out in front of Albert.  After a few minutes of Albert staring at him feeling proud of himself he realised he may have seriously hurt the man.

“You alright Mister?” called Albert after the man.

There was no answer, no movement.  A few times Albert called to the man and panic started to rise within him and sober him up.  He went over to the man.  He must have hit his head harder than I realised thought Albert and rolled the man over to have a better chance of reviving him.

What he saw shocked him, the tall slim man’s face was contorted in pain and shock, his eyes rolled back.  He can’t be dead thought Albert, it was only a bang to the head and there is hardly a scratch.  He then caught sight of an expensive, shiny looking watch hanging out of the man’s coat and like a magpie to silver he picked it up.

“Very nice.” Said Albert to himself but his hand was wet and sticky.

“What’s this?” he asked and looked closer.  Blood!

Puzzled he looked closer at the man and saw blood showing through the gaps in his coat.  He tentatively reached down, his hand shaking from the shock, plus the cold and of course the alcohol and opened the coat.

To Albert’s horror he saw the man had been stabbed with four small silver surgical knifes, directly in his chest.  He saw the inside of the man’s coat was lined with small pockets with all manner of surgical knifes and scissors.  Some already had dry blood on them.  This is weird thought Albert, he must be a surgeon.

“Sweet Jesus he’s fallen on his own knifes.” exclaimed Albert.  His next thought was one of survival and he realised he had better discard of the body because if there was any chance this has been seen he would be hung for murder.  He wiped the blood from the watch on the mans coat and pocketed it then looked around.  There was no one to be seen although it was getting lighter so he had to act fast.  Albert looked past the Inn to the edge of the river Thames and smiled.

Albert grabbed the lifeless body by the feet and dragged him down the cobbled road.  It was quite easy as the man was thin and light plus Albert had quite a bit of meat on him anyhow.  He couldn’t help but look around each time he heard the man’s head crack and thud on the cobbles, which made him shudder.

After over five minutes Albert had placed the body on the bank of the river.  He was panting hard as sweat dripped down his forehead and neck.  It was harder than he had thought but at least he hadn’t been seen which was lucky as the fog had started to dissipate through the morning light.  Albert looked down at the tall slim man.  Something didn’t add up about him.  For instance why was he in such a hurry plus he looked too upper class to be in this part of the city especially if he was a surgeon.  Albert was thinking quite clearly for once as the events of the past ten to fifteen minutes had sobered him up and his head started to pound as a hangover took over.

He sighed then put his foot on the body to push it into the river.

“Old Al…Old Al is that you?  Are you alright?” came the familiar voice of the good time girl Annie peering over to Albert from the doorway of the Inn.

Albert started to panic now wondering if she had seen anything.

“Er… Yes it’s me Annie just having a tinkle in the old river.”

After a couple of minutes cackling Annie replied “Well be careful not to fall in.  What’s that you got Al?”

“Oh nothing!” answered Albert looking down at the body of the tall slim man and pushed him to his watery grave.  He turned and started back up the hill to his lodgings.

As he reached his lodgings Albert suddenly heard the frantic whistling of the police coming from all around him.  He didn’t know whether to run and hide or stay motionless.  Had he been seen he wondered?  Had Annie noticed what he had done and alerted the police?  As all these thoughts ran through his head he caught sight of one of the coppers running towards him, whistle in mouth and all flustered and red.  He was overweight to be running at such a speed and trundled past Albert who let out a sigh of relief.  It wasn’t him the police were after.

“What’ going on?” enquired Albert.

The policeman stopped and took the whistle out and panted for a few seconds, his red cheeks glowing as he bent over, his hands on his knees.  After a couple of minutes doing this his breathing slowed to normal and he spoke.

“The Ripper has struck again!  Up in Miller’s Court..  You seen anyone suspicious Al?”

“No Sir.” Lied Albert to the policeman.  One he had not seen before yet knew him by name.  But this wasn’t really surprising as most people knew Albert in this district.

“I suggest you get in doors where it’s safe.” Offered the policeman and carried on up the hill but was walking slowly this time.

Albert opened a door five feet away, “Home.” He said and went in.  Within minutes he was in a deep sleep.

Later in the afternoon Albert awoke to the sound of a group of women chatting near his lodgings.  He looked out the window over to them.  He recognised a few of them as he had paid to be with them on numerous occasions.  He strained his ears to listen in to their conversation as he didn’t fancy venturing out just yet as what sun there was hurt his eyes.  He caught a few main words and phrases repeated over.

“Ripper’s struck again!” said one elderly woman.

“Her body was cut open and mutilated.” Squealed another chubbier woman.

“It was young Mary Jane Kelly!” Blurted out a thin middle aged woman, “She lived next to me.”

After listening to their chatter for a while Albert thought back to what had happened  in the early morning and the tall slim man.  Maybe he was the Ripper with all those surgical knifes and being in this district at such a time of morning shortly before a body was discovered.  The thought wasn’t in Albert’s mind long as he drifted off back to sleep and didn’t wake till early evening.  Just in time to go to the pub.

A year had passed since the incident with the tall posh man near the riverside and Albert was again penniless and homeless.  He had squandered the rest of his inheritance and the cold weather had got to his bones and chest bad this year.  He felt in very poor health and in the last few days had travelled out of the city and out to some farms in the country.

Since the night of the incident Jack the Ripper had not struck again.  Nobody really knew what had happened to the killer and there were many speculations since the last murder.  Some people thought he had just stopped killing or moved away or been killed himself.  Albert listened into the conversations in the pubs and laughed as people brought up their theories.  They all thought he was just drunk and mad but Albert knew different.

Albert eventually found a small warm looking barn full of hay and settled down to sleep.  He lay down and pulled a shiny gold watch from his trouser pocket.  It was the watch he had taken from the man the year before.  It was beautiful and the craftsmanship was the best he had ever seen.  It was a very expensive watch.  Albert had kept the watch even though he had ran out of money but to Albert it was priceless as he knew who the watch had belonged to.

He smiled at the watch and laid it next to him.  He closed his eyes and thought back on his life.  He had just wasted it completely on begging and drink,  but there was one event that brought him redemption – he had got rid of Jack the Ripper.  For this act alone he felt at peace and he never awoke.