Silent Scream

Sixty-One

I sensed that Louise was on to me. She was unlike the other two. Melanie had been shy and needy; desperate for affection and validation. Tracy had been streetwise and sensual but Louise had a mean streak that ran through her like lead.

Louise wasn't like the other two. She hadn't been abused, abandoned or neglected. She just didn't like the new rules that came with a stepfather and a new baby.

Louise liked to be in charge, I saw that from the first day when she decided which bed she would take. The girl who had the bed already dared to say no and got a fractured wrist for her trouble.

It wasn't hard to believe the level of violence she'd inflicted on her seven-month-old brother that had led to her being removed from the home.

Unlike Tracy, Louise had no balance. She was just harsh. There was no sexuality, no humour and I couldn't stand the sight of her.

No one messed with Louise. There was a rage inside her that just ached to be freed. It bubbled amongst the hurt and resentment.

But I knew something about her that no one else did.

Louise was mean, and she was violent. And she also wet the bed.

Assisted by a vibrating wristwatch, at four a.m. Louise would leave her warm bed and head for the toilet. She would not return until her bladder was empty.

‘Hello, Louise,’ I said, one night as she exited the washroom.

‘What do you want?’ she asked, covering her mouth.

‘I think we should have a little chat. You seem unsettled lately.’

‘D’ya think?’ she asked, placing her hand on her hip. ‘My mates are dropping like flies.’

I shrugged. ‘Clearly they don't like you enough to hang around.’

Her face seemed to gather in the middle as her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. ‘Yeah, and maybe they got no say in it.’

Oh, full points for me. It took a psychopath to know one.

There was no reason to play games with Louise. Her fate was assured. But I took the time to have a little fun.

‘How so?’ I asked.

‘I know you've got something to do with it. You pretend to be all nice to us but there's something not right with you.’

I silently congratulated Louise on her perceptiveness.

‘You don't really have room to talk. Who would purposely hurt their baby brother? There's a nastiness in you and it drives everyone away. I bet your mates left because they couldn't stand you any longer. Even your own family hate you now.’

She thrust her chin forward. ‘I couldn't give a shit.’

‘Then why do you still wet the bed?’

She lunged towards me, her closed fist en route to my face, but I was ready. I grabbed her wrist and turned her body so that she fell backwards against me. My forearm was clamped against her throat. She thrashed her head from side to side but I wedged my chin on top of her head. My left hand covered her mouth as she tried to scream.

I walked her forward as she tried to bite at my fingers. Her arms flailed but caused me no harm.

Her efforts to live became weaker as I walked her outside. I placed my right hand on her shoulder and tightened the hold.

I shook the last breath of life out of her like a doll. I felt the end of her existence as her body collapsed against me as though someone had sucked out the bones.

I raised my right hand from her shoulder to her neck just to make sure.

The skin was silent against my fingerprint.

I threw her over my shoulder and carried her outside to the waiting hole.

Unlike the other two, I felt nothing for the flesh that I dropped to the ground. Melanie's neediness had made me feel sick. Her obsequious face had made my skin crawl.

Tracy had inspired desire in me. It was her own greed that had led to her end.

But with Louise there was nothing. She was a means to an end.

She was insurance.

The manner of her death would be misdirection.

So I opened her legs and reached for the saw.