CHAPTER 1
Peter is getting dressed to go to work when a news report appears on television. The reporter stands at Pretoria’s maximum security prison. “It is reported that the prisoners attacked each other this morning. It would seem that there was a power struggle between two rival gangster groups to see who would get the upper hand. In the fighting, some of the prisoners attacked each other and two of them were stabbed with sharp objects. The two main leaders of the one group, Steven Trollip and Daan Malherbe, were among those who died. Trollip died on the scene and his accomplice one hour later in the prison’s hospital.”
Peter turns around slowly and looks at the image on the television. The photo of the man staring back at him is the face of his stepfather. He is petrified. The face has aged, but those crazy eyes staring back at him Peter will never forget as long as he lives. Suddenly, his childhood flashes through his mind. The pain and suffering that that devil caused him in his young life, he wishes on no child. He’s finally free, he thinks. The monster that crushed his humanity is dead. Now he can bury his past with this devil. Or so he thought. Peter grabs his cellphone and immediately calls Dewald, his brother.
“Hello Peter” Dewald answers his cellphone somewhat briefly.
“Hello Dewald, we have something to celebrate. That bastard of a stepfather of mine is dead! ” Peter shouts in Dewald’s ear.
“Slow down Peter, what are you talking about?” Dewald asks confused.
“There was a report on television just now that there was a riot in the prison where he was detained and he was stabbed to death in a fight that broke out. I’m free! Shall we go and have a beer tonight to celebrate” he asks eagerly.He sounds like a child who has received a very big gift.
“I am very busy, I will see if I can make time for it. There is a lot of pressure on me to get the plans ready for submission as soon as possible. I’ll let you know later in the day if I can make it, but I doubt it. You go ahead and enjoy one on my behalf” says Dewald who cannot quite understand why Peter is so happy someone has died. “Alright I will drink one on your behalf” Peter replies excitedly.
Later that day Peter gets a call from the prison where his stepfather was incarserated.
“Good day, it is Officer Malan speaking, am I talking to Peter Fourie?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Your stepfather passed away this morning. We removed his personal belongings from his cell. Amongst his belongings there was a letter addressed to you. Can you please come and pick it up?”
“I don’t want anything that belonged to him” Peter says furiously.
“Mister Fourie, if you don’t read the letter, you will never find closure. Please come and get it” Malan pleads with him.
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do, goodbye” Peter greets and ubruptly ends the call.
He finishes all his appointments for the day and drives half-heartedly to the prison. He enters the reception area and asks for Officer Malan. “Officer Malan is not available right now. Are you Peter Fourie?”
“Yes” Peter replies.
Without a word, the guard hands Peter a box. Peter thanks him, greets with his hand and walks to his car. He stops at a trash can in the parking area and opens the box. There’s an old washcloth, toothbrush and toothpaste in the box. “Oh gross!” Peter exclaims. He immediately throws it in the trash. Then there is a pen and writing paper in as well. Peter throws that away without further adue. At the bottom of the box is an old photo of his mother and an envelope with his name on it. He rips the photo of his mother to shreds and throws it in the trash. He also wants to throw the letter away but closes the box and walks to his car. He unlocks the door and gets in. He takes out the envelope. His hands tremble as he opens the envelope. The letter reads:
Hi there Peter,
If you read this letter I most probably have died. It’s just a pity I could not hold you down one more time to rape you. I would have liked to pop your cherry once more. I spent many days wondering if you would enjoy it now, now that you’re all grown up. I was hoping to find out if you are not such a cry baby anymore.
And then after I raped you, I would have cut your throat from ear to ear, just as I cut your mom’s throat. I’m just sorry you got away that day, otherwise you would have joined you mother in her grave. But death preceded me. I would have been released next year for good behavior. Then I would have come after you.
So until we meet again, cheers! See you on the other side, or shall I say meet you in hell.
With lustful love
Steven
“You motherfucker” Peter shoutes as he hit the steering wheel with his hands. “The joke is on you, you’re dead and I’m still alive,” he says to himself. He crumples up the letter and throws it on the floor on the passenger side of his car. “I’m going to have a beer tonight to celebrate your death, you dumb ass!”
Later that afternoon Peter stops at the bar to have a beer as he had planned earlier. But what happens later that night and the next few nights will always remain a mystery. Especially for him who is Peter.
Dewald has been deeply concerned about Peter these last few days. It seems that the news of his stepfather’s death is more disturbing to him than Dewald initially thought. Peter is moody and full of temper tantrims. He stays out until late at night and when Dewald is on his way to the office, Peter is still asleep. Dewald heard him coming back in in the early hours of this morning. He hopes the same thing as the previous few nights did not happen again.
When Dewald walks into Peter’s room to wake him up Peter is covered in blood again. “Peter, wake up” Dewald calls to him from the door. He does not want to touch him because who knows whether it is animal or human blood on his brother’s clothes. “Peter, wake up!” he tries again, but no response.
“Dammit man!” Dewald says dejectedly and go to the kitchen to fetch the broom. He takes the back end of the broomstick and poke Peter in the ribs. Finally, after a few pokes, he wakes up from his trance.
“Huh ... what ... huh uh ... what do you want?” he mumbles confused as he slaps away the broomstick. “Look at your clothes. Why did this happen again? Where were you? This is now the third time in a row you came home so bloodied and every time there is more blood on you. Are you going hunting in the dark or what? ” Dewald asks anxiously.
Peter gets to his feet and looks in horror at his clothes and hands. “What ... where ... why ...” he stammers as he looks down. “I can’t remember anything. All I can remember is that after work I stopped at the bar to have a beer. After that, everything is a blank. I do not even know how I got home. It is the same as the previous few nights. Dewald, what’s going on? Do you think I killed anyone? Am I going crazy” he asks scared.
“Peter, I don’t know where the blood comes from. If it’s not your own blood, then I don’t know. We live in a huge city with thousands of people. If you can’t remember yourself, how will I know where you were” Dewald says sympathetically when he saw the panic in Peter’s eyes.
Peter tears the clothes off his body and run to the bathroom. He opens the taps to the shower. “I am going to work. I’ll talk to you later” Dewald says, shaking his head. He is already late for work. Peter barely hears him. What’s going on with him that he cannot remember what happened to him the night before? Where did he go and what did he do to get home covered in blood? Panicked, Peter climbs into the shower and begin to scrub his body to get rid of all the blood.
Dewald is very concerned about Peter and does not concentrate on the traffic in front of him. It is raining this morning, which further impedes visibility. The car in front of him suddenly slams on his brakes. He jerks his steering wheel to the left to avoid a collision. However, there is a large pool of water on the side of the road and as he avoids the car in front of him, he hits the pool of water. With that action he splashes a pedestrian on the sidewalk, a woman, soaking wet.
Melanie is unexpectedly hit by the gust of icy water that makes her gasps for air. In the process, she drops her coffee she just bought at the coffee shop. What is the use you walk with an umbrella and get splashed by a motorist, she thinks angrily. “You stupid idiot, asshole” she shouts towards the vehicle with her little fist in the air. Dewald looks in her direction as he goes around the corner. She is truly an exceptionally beautiful woman, he thinks to himself. However, he does not have time to stop. There are several cars behind him now. He wishes he could stop to apologize to her. But he is already late and hurries to his offices in the wet weather.
Melanie is not far from her office and walks there swearing under her breath. Luckily she has a set of dry clothes in her office, just in case she needs them. She sincerely hopes that guy gets a hell of a cramp in his ass. She have to change her clothes and her attitude before getting started for the day. As she walks into her office, her personal assistant looks at her wide eyed. “Morning Melanie, what on earth happened to you?”
“Some bastard splashed me with rainwater. The man did not even try to say sorry. I’m going to change. Please make me a hot cup of coffee, I dropped mine in the process.”
Melanie is still very angry while she is undressing. But she needs to calm her mind if she wants to help her first patient this morning. She is a psychologist and need to be full of confidence and self-control. She cannot let this ridiculous incident of this morning upset her whole day. Even her shoes have water in them. She did nothing wrong to deserve this, she thinks angrily. After she got dressed and Estelle gave her her coffee, she’s ready for her first appointment. She will take the wet clothes home to wash them later but for now Estelle hangs it in the bathroom in her office until they go home this afternoon.
Meanwhile Dewald blows into his offices like a blizard. His partner, Zander, looks at him in surprise. “Morning Dewald, what is chasing you this morning? Is there something wrong” he asks anxiously.
“Peter has had one of his episodes again. I don’t know what to do about it.”
“I will call Lisa and ask her to give me that psychologist’s number to whom she refers some of her patients. Apparently the woman knows what she’s doing. Lisa has referred several patients to her especially ones that experienced trauma or tried to commit suicide. Then later receives feedback that their moods improved a lot after seeing the infimise Doctor Beneke.”
“I would really appreciate it. I think Peter will have to see someone urgently after last night. How do you lose yourself to such a degree that you wake up full of blood the next morning and cannot remember what you did, and where you were” Dewald says worriedly.
“Yes it’s quite scary.”
“On my way to work a car slammed on his brakes in front of me. I swerved to the left to avoid a collision and hit a pool of water and in the process I splashed a pedestrian on the sidewalk. She is probably one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Being late with a few cars behind me I could not stop to apologize. The poor woman, I’m sure she’s cursing me for the rest of the day” Dewald adds.
“You, who are always a gentleman, do such an ugly thing to a lady, shame on you!”
Dewald shruggs and says “I will apologize to her next time, if I ever run into her again in our big city.”
Peter listens to the news reports al morning to try and find out if anyone has been found murdered or attacked under mysterious circumstances, but there is none. He had been trying to think about what might have happened last night, but everything still remains a blank. He continues his work and tries to forget about the previous night. He gets a lot of calls after the lightning was so heavy this morning and knocked out many computers networks in the city.
He works as an IT technician servicing City Council buildings. He’s busy at the Town Planning offices this morning. Lately, for some reason, they have been experiencing a lot of problems with their computers going off line if there is the slightest bad weather. He likes working in this buildng because there are so many beautiful girls working in one office. He’s a little plump and is not as handsome but they are so friendly and smile so nicely to him when he sorts out their problems. This morning he notices there is a gloomy atmosphere in the office. Some of the girls are crying and others are wandering around in shock.
Peter wonder what has happened and thinks he should ask one of the girls what the problem may be. When he gets one of them alone in her office, he asks “Tracey, what’s going on? Why does everybody look so sad this morning?”
“We just heard that one of the girls working on the second floor was murdered in her apartment last night. You must have helped her before. She was the girl who always kept all the clients’ files up to date. Her name was Michelle” Tracey replies with tears in her eyes.
Peter recoils to what he just heard and says in shock “I’m sorry to hear that. Yes I remember her, the one with the blonde hair. Do they know who it could be? Did anyone see the person who did this to her” he asks calmly to hide his own axiety. “No, no one even heard her scream. When her flatmate came into the kitchen this morning, she lay on the floor in a pool of blood. Her throat was cut. They suspect she must have known the killer” Tracey says while turning away from Peter.
Peter suddenly feels dizzy. He sits down on the nearest chair. What if it was him who killed the girl, if the blood is on his clothes is hers. He will have to get rid of the clothes as soon as possible. He will burn it as soon as he gets home, he thinks to himself. If it was him who killed her, he hopes that he did not leave any incriminating evidence behind. He must flee. He grabbs his suitcase and run down the stairs, out of the building. He needs to get away from people. He runs to his car, jumps in drive to his apartment.
He calls Dewald in a panic as he sits on his bed in the safety of his room. “A girl was murdered last night” he almost shouts into Dewald’s ears.
“Slow down Peter. Start at the beginning. What happened?”
“I was sorting out the computers at the Town Planning offices this morning when I saw that the girls were unhappy. I asked Tracey what was going on. She told me that a girl who worked on the second floor was murdered in her apartment last night” Peter says almost hysterically.
“Calm down Peter. Did anyone point you out as the killer? The police are not looking for you neither do they have any evidence that it might be you.”
“I asked her and she said no one has seen anything. But how do you explain the blood that was on me this morning? How do I know it was not me who did it” Peter says almost crying.
“If the police do not ask questions within the next twenty-four hours, then it is not you. You can’t remember anything. Maybe it’s the blood of an animal or something you may have run over last night on you way home.”
“But there is no damage to my car.”
“I don’t know Peter, don’t go into a panic now and attract unnecessary attention. I’m sending you the number that Lisa gave me. Call Doctor Beneke. She is a phychologist. Make an appointment with her so you can talk to someone professional about these incidents. Calm down first. You have not been arrested and you are not suspected of anything for now. Make an appointment and get the necessary help before something happens that might land your ass in jail” says Dewald firmly.
“Okay, I’ll make an appointment. Thank you” says Peter now more calmly.
