Page 73 of The Reaper
I took a few steps closer to him, my mind whirling with questions, doubts, and anxiety to find all the answers, because looking at the man sitting in front of me, I had no fucking clue what the hell was going on.
“Why?” I asked, because seeing his face, I couldn’t fathom it. Well, there was one glaringly obvious reason why he’d targeted me, but so much didn’t add up. There were so many things I didn’t understand. How did he know about the specifics of my childhood? Where did he get it all from? What drove him to do this? Why? Just, why?
“You couldn’t stay away, could you? You had to step into my world, and so I stepped into yours.”
The face that had greeted me warmly, shook my hand like I might one day be an equal, now scowled at me like I was the devil incarnate. A father, a holy man, Nathan Johnson glared at me like he was on a mission from God, and I was the demon he was here to exorcise. All this time, he’d been right under my nose, playing out his role for the world and his daughter, but in the shadows, he was another man entirely. He intended to destroy me, and from the venom burning within him, nothing was going to get in his way.
“You need to start talking.” I gritted my teeth, anger coursing through me as I tried to make sense of this. Tried to imagine what it would do to Leah if she ever found out. She could never find out. “Is this all because you hate me and you don’t want me with your daughter? You’d risk your whole life, your reputation, all to break me down?”
He kept his glare on me, his face stern as he took deep, calculated breaths.
“I knew she watched you,” he said defiantly. “Years ago, my wife had taken pity on your family. Seems my daughter did the same once my wife passed away, and I knew. I’d seen her go to the places you were, hiding from sight and watching. She’d been to hell and back, losing her mum at such a young age, so I didn’t make a fuss, I ignored it. It was a childish crush and she’d get over it. I knew that. She spent enough time at the church with me and in the youth group, it was only a matter a time before she’d get bored or have her head turned elsewhere. Only, she never did. I waited and it only got worse.”
His gaze moved from me to the chapel we were now enclosed within.
“How ironic.” He smirked, and then his expression turned grave and angry. “I found my faith in this chapel. This is where I first spoke to my God, pledged my soul to follow him, speak his truth, and serve him. And now look at me. A faithless man riddled with hatred for a devil on earth who thinks he can bulldoze through my life, destroy everything I hold dear, and take the one thing that keeps me going. My reason for living. She is all I’ve got.” His voice cracked as he spoke about Leah May. “I’ll die before I ever let you take her.”
I was about to fight back, tell him I loved her and I’d die before I ever gave her up, but he kept going, spouting his truths like he was righteous in his cause for bringing about my downfall. And all I could do was stand in front of him and listen. Take it all in and try to absorb an impossible lie.
“I’d have left you alone if you’d stayed away, but you couldn’t, could you? That morning, when I walked across the gardens after morning service and saw you standing at my front door next to Jodie, your eyes on Leah,” ––he winced, distaste from the memory making his face contort––“I knew things would change. You came to my door, so I went to yours.”
“My mum’s,” I said by way of explanation.
“Yes, your mum’s. I stood on the corner of the road, and I gave her that salute Vincent always used to do. I did it a few times. You came to my house to cause trouble, so I did the same to you. An eye for an eye.” The way he grinned back at me; I could tell he felt zero remorse.
“Doesn’t the bible refute that? Turn the other cheek? Isn’t that what it says?” I argued.
“I don’t give a fuck. When it comes to my daughter, all bets are off.”
I shook my head, still struggling to comprehend the situation.
“But how did you know? Were you one his friends? Did you hurt me?” Anger surged inside me. “Did you hurt Leah?”
I turned to grab a sword from the stand at the side of the wall, intent on using it if he told me he’d harmed a hair on her head.
“I’d never hurt my daughter,” he spat. “I’m not a filthy animal like Vincent and his friends.”
“But you knew what they did? You knew, and you did nothing to help me? Were you there, watching?” All my memories from back then were a little hazy, but I thought I knew everyone who’d been involved. I thought I’d taken them all out.
“I didn’t see anything,” he snarled. “And I did tell social services, on numerous occasions. They told me they’d put you on the at-risk register, even made home visits…” He trailed off, realisation that his feeble attempts to be pious had failed.
“Those visits were a fucking waste of time. They did nothing, and he beat me harder after each one. That still doesn’t answer my question, though. How did you know? The darts? The sick games? Were you in on it?”
“No, I wasn’t!” he shouted angrily, pulling at his restraints in protest. “I’m a good man.”
“A good man who’s been threatening me. Sending me letters and photos of me with my girl.”
“She isn’t yours,” he hissed.
“Oh, she’s mine, and right now, she’s upstairs in my bed asleep.” His eyes widened, a mixture of anger at what I’d said paired with the fear of her finding out reflected back at me.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “The last thing I’d do is tell her you’re here. I wouldn’t want to rip her heart out. I’ll leave that to you.”
He scoffed, then speaking quietly he added, “The church isn’t the only place that people come to repent their sins. And it’s not the only place that I visit to listen to my flock. I’m a modern man, I know sometimes the church must come to the people. That’s why I used to go and drink in the Red Lion pub from time to time. It’s surprising what you hear when people have had a few drinks.
“Your stepfather was always in there with his friends, laughing and bragging about what he’d done to you. The more he drank, the louder he got. He didn’t realise I was listening. I tried to talk to him a few times, tell him he needed help, you all did, but he always brushed me off. Said he didn’t believe in God and pushed me aside. I told my wife, Claire, and she contacted child protection services too, but then she died, and everything fell on me.
“I did my best, but caring for Leah came first. Then the news started to trickle down the Brinton Manor grapevine that Vincent had gone missing. After that, it was friends of his disappearing. I knew you’d been thrown out of school, sent to a referral unit and joined some gang. You were a lost cause.”
