Chapter 4 – Father Matthew
Lizzie walked home slowly from the school on an afternoon in late April. Every step hurt to take, cuts across her backside from a recent caning would linger for a while, but she was also utterly disoriented. The sound of a freight train ran through her head, and her face was swollen from crying. Her head pounded with pressure of at least three tons of bricks because the one thing she only now realized she genuinely loved was gone.
Lizzie would happily keep walking forever if it meant she didn't have to go home. She wasn't sure if she would be allowed back at school this time either, which was welcome to her unless the alternative proved to be worse.
Her blue and gray uniform became uncomfortable as sweat from her increasing panic started to pool on her skin. She rounded the street and through the alley that led to Privet Drive. Number 4 looked just like all the other numbers. Brown siding, black roof, white garage door, low bearing wall with a gate that led to the front door, small front yard, small backyard lined with hedges. The only difference was that everything on the inside of those walls was a nightmare to her.
Lizzie noticed a police car parked in the street and opened the gate slowly as she walked up to the door. She didn't have a key to the house so she knocked after hesitating for several long seconds. Her aunt, Petunia, answered, and gave her look that contained equal parts pure hatred and trembling apprehension. She said nothing to Lizzie, but allowed her passage through the entry way where she was ordered to stop at the entrance to the living room.
She looked up and immediately met the murderous stare of her uncle. Lizzie felt like her legs could buckle at any moment. Across from him was the nun that had escorted her to Father Matthew's office earlier that day, and a police officer taking notes. Lizzie realized she was interrupting their conversation and stayed completely silent until spoken to.
The living room was tidy, with pink striped upholstery on the couch, armchair, and love seat set, all of which made of polished high-quality wood. There was a mantle covered in family photos that stretched just below a golden cross, but not a single picture contained any trace of Lizzie. The floral rug looked recently vacuumed. Petunia would be upset that she had to pick up the slack from the unanticipated company, and retreated to the kitchen to refill a pitcher of water. She pushed on Lizzie's back when she returned to enter the sitting area.
The police officer looked up at her and noticed her disheveled appearance.
"You must be Azalea, please sit honey, I just have a few questions," he said invitingly. The nun looked annoyed by his politeness toward her and Lizzie looked down at the chair, then at her uncle.
"Can I sit, please?" She asked her uncle in a meek and broken voice; she had long been in the habit of always asking his permission for anything she did that wasn't already an order. He nodded disdainfully.
She sat down and winced at the pain she was already in. The officer looked back at her with some concern in his overall demeanor.
"Earlier today a young girl in your year named Melody Warren was found hanging from a banister outside the small cathedral at your school. I have gathered reports so far that you knew her well and were the first to find her, are both those true?" He asked calmly. Lizzie nodded, holding back a wave of tears.
"Was she a friend of yours?" He asked apologetically.
Lizzie nodded again and buried her face in her hands, she didn't think tears were left but her eyes quickly started to drown again. "Azalea," her uncle said sharply.
"My reports also indicate that Sister Edith here escorted you to the Chaplain's office to be questioned about it, is that true?" He asked. Lizzie nodded, and avoided eye contact with the nun.
"What happened, sweetheart?" He asked.
"I - I - h-he caned me, for y-yelling at him... he thought I was or knew why she did it -" Lizzie struggled to say through heavy breaths.
"Corporal punishment is authorized at our institution," Sister Edith interjected. The officer nodded and looked back at Lizzie.
"Azalea, did you know she was going to do that?" He asked sympathetically. Lizzie shook her head no and couldn't suppress the sobs.
"When they entered the office they found Father Matthew on the floor, he had succumbed to a heart attack, based on the preliminary report. Did you see that happen?" The officer asked.
"He-he went rigid and collapsed, he had been extremely angry," Lizzie admitted.
"Did you go get help?" He asked.
"I tr-tried, but it was so fast, and I had trouble walking," she explained. The officer nodded and wrote in his book.
"You were nowhere to be found until now, why did you run away?" He asked with more interrogatory than the last question.
"I- I was scared. I needed... air. Melody was my only friend and then Father Matthew just fell... I didn't know what to do. I didn't want another caning. So, I left off the side of the campus and sat by the railroad tracks nearby to be alone..." she explained. "Then I made my way back here but it hurt to walk so it took me awhile," she continued.
The officer nodded and looked apologetic. "Suicide and a heart attack. His body suggested no signs of foul play from the initial report. I have no reason to believe Azalea was involved other than the unfortunate circumstance of witnessing the events. If we need anything further, we will be in touch." With that, the officer saw himself out. Sister Edith looked at Vernon, then back at Lizzie very intently.
"Your niece has been causing a considerable amount of trouble for quite some time, Mr. Dursley. Father Matthew, may his soul rest in peace, was ready to expel her before this happened... and I think it best we proceed with that now. She will not be allowed back at Sacred Heart. Please see to her education elsewhere," she said curtly, and showed herself to the door. As much as Lizzie despised her, she didn't want to be alone with her uncle and prayed she would stay longer. The door clicked shut and Petunia retreated to the kitchen where she ran the sink water loudly while she did the dishes. This is what she did to tune out her husband and ignore whatever he planned to do to Lizzie.
"Stand up," he ordered harshly. Lizzie's heart fell to her stomach and she stood there frozen in fear. Vernon retreated to the bar that separated the kitchen and dining area and made a phone call.
"Margie, yes, it's Vernon," he smiled in a completely different tone and demeanor entirely. "Could I trouble you for a visit? I have a problem with...Azalea, some damage control is needed at the school and I could use a hand setting her straight for a week or two," he asked.
"Wonderful, I will pick you up tomorrow morning then, thanks, love," he said and hung up the phone. Lizzie's heart hammered violently at the thought of his sister Marge being here for a couple of weeks. She despised her almost as much Vernon. Vernon walked slowly with heavy footed gait back into the living room area, but stopped in his tracks, considered Lizzie for a moment, and then turned around to grab a dining room chair.
The sound of the chair legs against the carpeting made Lizzie's skin prickle.
He dragged it up to in front of the fireplace. Lizzie stayed still and silent, she was hardly able to hear him over the loud thuds her heart made behind her chest.
"Hands on the chair," he said shortly, while he undid the buckle on his waist.
"Please... I already took a caning..." she said breathlessly and regretted it. His eyes went livid and he snatched her wrist, positioned her in front of the chair, and pushed down on her back until her elbows touched the seat of the chair.
Lizzie knew this was going to be unbearable over the cuts from the cane. She felt him adjust her skirt. She cried into the palms of her shaking hands when she finally heard him push the leather back through his pants.
"We're not done, go to the kitchen," he ordered. Lizzie couldn't walk. She moved one leg slowly in front and then the other in an agonizing motion. After several minutes she made it to the kitchen, Petunia looked at her disdainfully. The way her legs were bowed was telling of how bad the beating was.
Vernon firmly held her shoulders, looking down at her swollen face. "This is far from over; you are an absolute embarrassment. I am going to have to waste my effort on finding you someone now that you're barred from that school. I am going to have to rebuild my reputation in the church. You will not have a day of peace until I do, do you understand? I don't care what that that officer says, I don't believe for a minute you had nothing to do with what happened to Father Matthew," he growled.
With a handful of her hair, he walked her toward the cupboard and shoved her in. The door locked behind her and she struggled to position herself. She couldn't stretch her legs out or rest on her stomach, she couldn't lay on her back with the pain, so she knelt on her knees and pressed her face into the wall, eventually curling up in a tight fetal position. She picked at her eyelashes and eyebrow hairs to take her mind of the pain, but it didn't help. She couldn't get Melody out of her head.
Lizzie didn't know who left her with her aunt and uncle, but wished they'd dropped her at an orphanage. She didn't remember her parents aside from her father calling her Lizzie and her mother humming a tune she couldn't place. She wasn't allowed to ask about them.
She was glad Father Matthew died. She was glad to be expelled. If she could manage to run off with any decent chance of survival, all the better.
The cupboard door opened in the middle of the night and she felt a large hand pull on her ankle. She invited the breath of fresher air but the relief from that was cut short when Vernon's voice ordered her into the living room.
He set down a glass of brandy, sat down on the middle cushion of the couch and gestured for her come over. That smell of brandy made her sick to her stomach. She looked back into the cupboard at a pair of eyes staring back, she no sooner fell into an empty lifelessness she needed so that she wouldn't remember this later.