Dance Macabre
Author's Note: The stories of several characters intertwine so there is not one single protagonist, but various ones, over the course of several different stories being told. This also contains an alternative ending to Will's storyline. In this version, neither Dodger, Martha or Dennis suspected Will was a murderer and so he continued to live his life out without being sussed out as a killer. Some changes you may notice is that Patrick and Maxine are no longer together because he never resolved his issues with Dodger and so he broke up with her.
Dance Macabre
Chapter I - An Alternate Path
Dodger leant towards the window to see Patrick heading towards the boat. Maxine walked into the kitchen wrapped up in a duvet. Patrick had reached the door and knocked twice in the time it took Dodger to run into the kitchen and place a finger on his lips as a sign not to speak. After waiting a short while, Dodger opened the door to see his father's back turned to him. Hearing the sound of the door open, Patrick pivoted around and nodded his head at his son.
"Hey, Patrick," Dodger rested his left hand against the door to shield his father's vision.
"I was just checking to see if everything is okay," Patrick said, with a false smile.
"Yeah, everything is fine," Dodger smiled back before looking to the ground in a tense moment of awkwardness.
"Sienna's filled me in that Dirk's having a little family trip," Patrick told him, his eyes unable to look at his son. "Dirk's allowed her to come. I hope that's okay with you."
"Yeah," Dodger nodded his head and sighed. "Course it is."
Patrick nodded his head again to signal the end of the conversation. He turned around to walk away when he heard his son take a few footsteps towards him.
"Look, Patrick," Dodger called him back. "You can always come with us, you know that?"
"I'll sleep on it."
"Don't you wanna know how Max is doing?" Dodger blurted, his arms outstretched.
"Not particularly, no," Patrick replied coldly, before looking down at the ground upon realising the harshness of his words. "No, sorry, yes. Forgive me. How is she?"
"Not good," Dodger answered. "She needs you."
"Well that ship has long since sailed off, Mark," Patrick responded, turning around to walk away again. "It looks like she's found herself a new one."
Dodger took a deep breath as his father wandered away. Before he could close the door, he could hear the loud and distinctive voice of Dirk and the shrill sound of his sister Sienna's laughter. He peered out to see the pair walk towards Patrick. The three stood still on the pathway and looked at each other. Dodger decided to approach them while Maxine followed sheepishly, having discarded the duvet and covering herself up with some robes.
"It's nice to see you so happy," Patrick said monotonously, glaring at his daughter. "Make sure you look after her, Dirk."
"We've been talking," Dirk grinned. "Sienna says she reckons you'll look dapper in some fishing kit. There's a place for you on this trip too since Lib's not coming."
"I'll pass," Patrick mumbled.
Dodger and Maxine reached the conversation.
"I'm not taking no for an answer," Dirk stated boldly, stretching his arm out to preventing him from passing. "Now, I've invited Martha and her Lacey to join us, and Sienna's already taken the liberty in packing your bags for you."
"And speaking of Liberty," Dodger grinned.
"Hello, Dad!"
Liberty stumbled across the planks of the pathway in her high heels, followed swiftly by two young men behind her. The man on her left was a tall, blonde man with pale skin and deep blue eyes. The man on her right was a shorter, dark haired man with darker skin and hazel eyes. He strongly resembled Dodger in many ways, except he was dressed terribly. Dodger took pride in his dress sense, always making sure that whatever he wore, he wore it in style. This man appeared as if he had chosen his own clothes from a charity store. His shirt was dirty and his trainers were battered.
"Hello, darlin'," Dirk smirked, hugging his youngest child. "How's my little girl?"
"Dad!"
Liberty pulled herself away as if she was embarrassed, giving him a glare. Dirk frowned back.
"Nice to see ya, Lib!" Will said, as he made his way towards his family with his crutches.
"Will!" Liberty gave him a big smile, running to her brother and hugging him. "Look, you're walking again! You look wonderful!"
"Ah thanks, so do you, Lib!" Will smiled, and kissed her on the cheek.
"Dodger, Dad, Will, I want you to meet Alex!" she giggled, pointing towards the darker toned man. "He's my boyfriend!"
Dirk and Dodger looked towards the man. Maxine squinted, looking at Alex then at Dodger then back at Alex before snorting. Dodger caught her glances and frowned at her, but Dirk and Sienna began laughing out loud. Liberty and Dodger looked serious.
"What's funny?" Liberty asked them.
"Yeah, Dad, what's funny?" Dodger demanded.
"Nothing, son," Dirk laughed, patting Dodger on his back and walking away from them all. "Not a thing. Come on, guys, I think it's about time we got a move on, don't you?"
Dance Macabre
"Get off me!" he shouted aloud, as the police officers dragged him towards the cell. "Get off me now! Get your dirty hands off me!"
A few convicts turned their heads to look at the new meat being dragged through the corridors of the cells. Four officers were escorting two men; the first being a tall, rugged man with a shaved head and a venemous glare, while the second was a skinny African-American kid with a grey hoody and tracksuit bottoms on. The kid was trying to resist the officers but the older man was clearly walking with acceptance of the crimes he had committed.
"Adebayo, Anthony, aged twenty-two, cell one-six-three," the officer stated.
"I shouldn't be here!" he shouted out. "They set me up! Get off me, they set me up!"
Anthony pleaded as he was dragged away by the officers.
"Royle, Trevor, aged twenty-eight, cell one-seven-two."
Dance Macabre (Coming up...)
"Don't push your luck, princess," he breathed down the neck of his terrified victim. "Women like you get killed everyday by men like him. If you wanna learn the ropes to this world, you learn 'em from me."
"You've gotta believe me, you've really gotta," she begged in tears. "He's evil. Pure evil."
"No... Don't do this..." she pleaded, black tears running down her eyes, as she felt her breath being slowly sucked away from her.
