RedWick Lake (second draft)
It was one of those days that seemed like it would never end, even though Bailey Crane wanted it to end as soon as possible. She had woken up this morning, adamant that she wasn’t going anywhere because today had come – she was to go to her Aunts to stay the Summer.
And here she was – sitting in the back seat of her step Dad’s car as they were about to pass a sign that read, ‘Red Wick Lake – 10 miles’.
As the fields of yellow and green whizzed by, taking her further away from her home. Her eyes felt heavy, not from tiredness but from sadness.
She was six years old and she was sitting on the stained floral cushion of their old sofa.
Everything seemed blurry and bright, like the fields. She was watching a children’s show on TV that doesn’t air anymore. The voices on the screen were distorted and broken from shouting coming from another room. Bailey recognised the voices - her Mum and Dad. Her six year old hands reach for the clicker infront of her and she turns the volume up - the louder the screen, the louder her Mum's voice shouting at her Dad becomes.
There was a flash from the TV as the sound of a truck’s horn made her jump awake.
Wide eyed and confused, Bailey sat upright and looked at the truck flying past them.
“Fucking truck Drivers”
“Really, Nigel? In front of Bailey?”
“She’s asleep dammit” he muttered. Linda Crane sighed.
“Yeah Nigel, she’s asleep” Bailey imitated, crossing her arms.
Bailey’s real Dad had gotten into a car crash when she was Five and it left him with severe brain damage. Bailey had hated her Mum for not being more patient with him, the doctors said his violent outbursts wouldn't last forever - but she filed for divorce, she just couldn't handle it she had told Bailey. The last time Bailey saw her Dad was in the divorce lawyer’s office; he looked like a broken man, slumped on his chair with his face in his hand, reading the divorce proceedings. He had looked so tired.
But here we are she thought.
Chapter Two
“Here we are” muttered Nigel as they drove past a wooden sign which read in large red painted letters, 'RedWick Lake'.
Bailey looked around as much as she could as they pulled up towards a small cluster of people outside a white church. As they did, they drove past three cabin-looking houses, each built facing the main spectacle of this… ‘town’ – the church.
Looking out her window as the car slowed towards a small, white wooden church. A woman who looked to Bailey as her Mum would if she was to wear a black, shoulder length wig was standing next to two men; the first was a tall, grey haired man who's leathery skin made it look at though he'd never missed a day's work in his life, and the second man was in dark green overalls and a cap.
Following her Mum and step-dad out the car, Bailey thought back to earlier in the drive when her Mum had been talking about how she hadn't seen or spoken to her sister since they were young. When her Mum fell pregnant with Bailey at seventeen, her Aunt Alice disapproved of the fact that her sister was having a baby out with wedlock. An argument broke out between the two sisters and her parents found out.
Bailey was surprised when her Mum and Alice immediately hugged, as they had been good friends for years.
“This must be Bailey” said Alice, after they all exchanged welcomes. Lifting up the bottom of her dress to kneel down to give her a hug, Bailey could see her Aunt's pristine white loafers. "This here's my husband, Jed, and this over here's Terry"
Terry - with his pointed features and protruding nose, tipped his cap at Bailey. “Fine day, Miss Bailey”, Bailey felt a little charmed by his deep-southern drawl, “I’m this here’s local fisherman” he winked - “the only fisherman round these parts” butted-in Jed.
“Terry here acts as sort of the local handyman round these parts, even though he lives a few miles away" explained Alice.
"That's right, need anything lil'miss, just holler" he said, looking at Bailey with his small, shining eyes.
“We can’t thank you enough for taking her in for the Summer, Alice” Nigel added , “Linda and I both feel she needs to have some sense of…” Nigel glanced at the church, “community”.
“Well us three are the only ones that live here – us and the Asher sisters and of course Pastor Lamb” explained Alice, “Sure enough though, the Asher sisters only ever show their faces for Lamb’s sermons – as does Lamb himself"
After saying her goodbyes for the summer, Bailey watched as her Mum and Nigel drove past RedWick lakes sign to the road back home. Bailey watched until the dust settled from the tyre tracks and the only thing left was the faint indent of the wheels.
Her Aunt placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder and guided her towards her new home for
the Summer.
Chapter Three
Later that night, Bailey was sat at a small outdoor table in her Aunt's kitchen, watching her as she fanned herself with a paper napkin. Aunt Alice pulled her sweat covered hair away from her neck. Bailey thought the light from the bare bulb above them made the sweat beads look like little white pearls. In the next room, the TV blared a late-night news broadcast as Jed lay asleep, snoring loudly with the clicker held loosely in his hand.
Her Aunt had been talking for several minutes about something, but Bailey had been distracted from the loud whirring noise from the extractor fan.
“So, tomorrow you’ll go out on the lake with Terry on his there fishin’ boat and then in the afternoon, Pastor Lamb has decided to hold a welcome sermon fo’ya”
Bailey pretended to look interested, but the heat was too distracting. Her Aunt sighed, "Bet you ain't used to this heat, only time us country folk get heat like this is when a storm's-a-comin"
Bailey had a broken and restless sleep that night, and she didn't dream.
Chapter Four
From out here, RedWick Lake’s small town didn't look so meanial.
The sun shone through the windows and made it appear as though light was bursting out from inside the church. The light of dawn painted the once white canvas above Bailey a mix of blue and deep orange, as if the sun was the yoke of an egg that had suddenly burst.
“God’s house sure is pretty from out here, miss” exclaimed Terry, “even though that town has seen some dark times”
Bailey turned and looked at Terry. Lowering his cap and looking ahead of Bailey to the town, he took a deep breath;
“Nicholas Lamb, our here pastor, wasn’t always a man of the cloth – he used to be just a resident of the town in its early days. That was before he met Claire Asher, Edna Asher’s late daughter”
“Late?” Bailey asked whilst shielding her eyes from the sun's glare.
“Yup, Claire and Nicholas conceived a daughter by the name of Lilly Lamb, but Claire didn’t make it past the birth – we all tried helping Nicholas raise Lilly, especially through his time of becoming a Pastor, but Lilly went missing”
Terry looked down at his feet, squeezing his cap in his hands.
“Poor gal, she was just twelve years of age, Miss – ol’ Nicky boy ain’t been the same since, the town folk only see him when he gives his sermons, like the one he gon’ give today for you, miss”
Bailey said nothing as Terry rode them back to land.
Chapter Five
Sitting in the pews infront of Nicholas Lamb, all Bailey could focus on was his thick southern diction which radiated through the seats and off the walls. Edna and Helen Asher were sat behind Bailey, two old women who looked as though they could be twins - they hadn't said anything to Bailey before the sermon started and now Bailey felt too awkward to say anything.
Bailey thought back to earlier after the lake trip with Terry. Alice had been standing, waiting for the two to return holding a tray of sweet tea. She was starting to like her Aunt, despite the things her Mum had told Bailey about her before.
Her Aunt sitting next to her, nudged her elbow with hers and Bailey realised everyone was looking at her. "I said", the pastor cleared his throat, "it's nice to have a fresh face in our lil'ol town Miss, and a very happy welcome from everyone here today"
Bailey was reminded of the many times when she had been in a class at school and the teacher had called on her to give an answer. "Umm, thankyou" she spoke timidly. His eyes burned into hers with curiosity and what felt like disengenuous friendliness, as though he was a kitten who'd just been given a ball of string.
Once the sermon was over, the pastor approached Bailey and her Aunt.
"Oh Pastor" fluttered Alice, "what a beautiful sermon, what you said about second chances really-"
Hand raised for her to be quiet, the pastor smiled and lifted Bailey's chin up with his forefinger.
His face close to hers; studying, examining, eyes writing down every little detail.
"Frankly Miss Alice, I'm more interested in what an out-of-towner has to say about my sermon"
"Uhh, it was good" Bailey voiced matter of factly, "I don't usually go to church so it's still new to me"
Lamb threw his head to the side and laughed, making his congregation within earshot who were leaving the church stop and look, as if they had been spooked.
"Well, we'll change that over this summer then, don't you think?"
Chapter Five
A lone cricket woke Bailey up.
Gritting her teeth as her feet touched the cold, linoleum floor, Bailey sipped the water from the glass. Looking out of the kitchen window, Bailey could see the other houses of the residents - all lights are off, she thought, everyone's asleep. The only sound through the house was Jed snoring from the master bedroom, the walls seemed to vibrate as this was the only sound - even the cricket had shut-up.
Stepping back towards the hallway leading to the stairs, Bailey stepped infront of the side kitchen window. A faint sound coming from outside sparked Bailey's attention - she opened the blinds with her fingers to try and see if she could see anything. Being closer to the window pane, faint gasps and long moans could be heard directly below the window.
Not moving a muscle, Bailey's eyes diverted downwards.
Pale flesh lit by only the moonlight throbbed and thrashed amongst itself. Legs and arms wrapped around the exposed back of a man as the black hair of the woman below bobbed - Alice. The man moved his head to kiss her Aunt's neck as her Aunt's fingers ran through and grabbed at his salt and pepper hair. Bailey moved slightly back more behind the curtains to not be seen. Her Aunt's face twisted with pleasure, moaning his name -
The name that Bailey knew - Pastor Lamb.
The last thing Bailey remembered before dropping the glass of water and running to her room was seeing her Aunt dig the toes of her white loafers into the ground below her as things intensified.
Chapter Six
Bailey opened her eyes as a smal gust of air from her open window grazed her cheek, it took her a second to realise that it was actually her Aunt's hand.
"Mornin' hon", her Aunt smiled, sitting by the bed with a tray of oatmeal and sweet tea.
Bailey's memory flashed before her of earlier in the morning when it was still dark - seeing her Aunt Alice's face contorted in the act of...no. Bailey forced the memory and the thought out of her mind, it had just been a dream.
"I'll leave you to eat your Breakfast in private hon, there's some more eggs on the stove if you want 'em"
Before leaving the room, her Aunt turned - "Oh and hon?", Bailey looked down at her Aunt's dirt covered loafers, "we'll be attending another one of Pastor Lamb's sermons later".
Chapter Eight
Bailey didn't attend the sermon, she made up the excuse to her Aunt that she was feeling homesick. It wasn't a lie either, she was feeling homesick - she wanted out of this fucked up nightmare that she'd wandered into. No, that she'd been forced into. Her Mum trusted her Aunt because she was her sister...but she had had no idea that her Aunt was the type of person she is...and these people are meant to make me a better person?
Bailey wanted to tell Jed what she saw last night - and she wanted to phone her Mum, but she couldn't. Day became night and the air outside cooled and the crickets began to chirp as they did each night. Bailey felt as though she was sinking into her bed, the stress of the past few days had withered her strength down to nothing.She couldn't move. Before she had time to panic, she stopped.
She didn't remember falling asleep.
Chapter Nine
Bailey could hear them talking. She opened her eyes to find herself in the dark room, what had seem like an inviting room just hours before when she felt herself drift to sleep now felt like alive, as if the furniture and the cracks in the walls were watching her. The bedroom window was still slightly open and Bailey could hear no crickets, no bullfrogs, just people talking quietly in the distance.
Peeking through the curtains, Bailey saw the scene outside the church. The residents of RedWick Lake standing in the dead of night. The frail, mute woman - Edna Asher - was holding a lit torch.
The church, built many years before Bailey was born, surely looked back then as a church should do – inviting, holy. But this, Bailey thought, was probably it’s darkest hour. The reflection and shadows of the flames stretched up the church exterior and the walls looked as if they were growing – towering over the rest of Red Wick lake against the midnight country sky. The shadows from those standing outside it, thrown onto the large century-old wooden door, made them look too as if they were growing. These black, maniacal figures, born from fire, made Bailey’s heart feel like it was going to stop with fear – these shadows were not that of the neighbours and family she knew. Their noses and fingers and legs and arms seemed to be all be pulled and stretched slowly along by the projection of the firelight.
The attention of the residents was drawn towards the entrance of the church as the heavy wooden doors opened and outsteped Nicholas Lamb. As the residents followed him in the church, Bailey's mind seethed with frustration. What is this shit?
At that moment she was furious at her Mum. She was furious at her for leaving her here with these bunch of religious nuts. She was furious at her Mum for leaving her Dad. Bailey sighed and clenched her fists as she held the tears back.
Guess I need to see what they're doing, she thought..
As Bailey approached the church’ window, she could feel her chest shake from her heart pounding furiously. Indistinct voices from inside perked her attention;
“People will realise she’s missing!” cried out one voice, “We cannot wait any longer, we need to do it tonight!” cried another.
Bailey recognised the voice that spoke in its deep accent and powerful tone
“We will do it tonight as discussed, she is the offering to our lord as Jephthah had done to his daughter in The Book of Judges, it is this village’ ultimate sacrifice for our god, just as we did to my sweet Lilly”.
Horror pummelled through Bailey as she realised what the Pastor had just said…what he had just confessed to. There she stood, beside the church window, combing through the Pastors’ words. “we” …” sacrifice” …” Lilly”.
Bailey remembered once when she was little, when she had gotten lost in the supermarket - wandering the isles, red faced and wet eyed, screaming out for her Mum - RedWick lake, to Bailey, was one big isle.
The boat she had helped Terry push into the water now seemed to be ten times heavier now that her fifteen-year-old arms, scarce with muscle power, slowly pushed the large wooden structure into the lake. The only source of light was the moon; full, round and glowing white.
Its luminescence lit the way for Bailey as she rowed across the lake – the only other thing she could see were the tops of the trees on the other side. Adrenaline oozed through her body and kept her warm, ‘or maybe’ she thought, ‘it’s because I’m rowing so damn hard and fast’.
By the time she reached the other side, Bailey’s arms were numb and furiously shaking, the way a puppets’ arms would if they were being controlled by string. Running through the trees and grass, Bailey could only hope that she would reach anyone and fast.
Running was all Bailey knew for hours, then it turned to a jog, then a walk, then a stumble. Travelling aimlessly through the grass and twigs fallen from the trees…and then the road.
The hard road on her bare feet shocked Bailey and she jumped aback, as if it had electrocuted her in some way. She was snapped from her excitement at finding the road as the sound of the truck’ horn made her look up, straight into its two white eyes.
