Ruthie's eyes were wide as she stared at the monster in front of her. One of his eyes was half closed and the bone around it misshapen, his jaw and nose were crooked, and he leaned over slightly as if his ribs were damaged.
"No." Ruthie finally managed. "You're supposed to be dead."
"Is that what he told you?" Simon laughed. "Ruthie, I've been alive and waiting for you this whole time. Now come, we don't have much time."
Ruthie shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere with you. You are mad!"
He blinked repeatedly, "My sweet, sweet Ruthie. I am only mad with love for you." Holding out his hand he added, "Now let's leave."
Her mind raced before looking at the clock. She just needed to waste enough time for Alfie to come home. She knew where all of Alfie's guns were hidden and decided quickly what she would do.
"Alright, let me just get my bag." She said as she slowly walked toward the sofa, never taking her eyes from the man that stared back.
She leaned over as if to grab the bag from the coffee table, then quickly went toward the side table that housed one of Alfie's revolvers under it. Ruthie's foot slipped on the edge of the rug, flipping it up and landing her just short of her destination. By the time she reached under the side table for the gun, Simon was there grabbing her by the nape of her neck, a move that took Ruthie back to the first time he had assaulted her in Alperstien's Bakery. Like before, he slammed her head against the edge of the table and her arm went limp as dark spots invaded her vision.
"What's under here?" Simon asked as he followed her motions. "A gun?" He gave an unbelieving, mad chuckle. "Were you going to shoot me, Ruthie?"
Ruthie looked up at him, her consciousness coming back to her. "You shot me." She pointed out in defiance.
His eyes flickered to where the bullet had hit above her right kidney and he moved his hand to touch the scar that lay under the fabric of her dress. Ruthie shuddered in disgust at the thought of him touching her and his eyes returned to hers.
"I am so sorry. That bullet was never meant for you." He said, his eyes filling with an emotion she was sure was intended as remorse, but failing miserably.
"No. Just the man I love."
"DON'T say that! You don't love him! It's you and me! It was always you and me and it will always BE you and me!" Simon said as he put his fists beside his head, one holding the revolver she had attempted, covering his ears in anguish.
Ruthie took the opportunity to sit up slowly, her head still spinning.
"SAY IT!" He yelled.
Ruthie stared at him in disgust. "You are fucking mental. I will NEVER love you! I HATE YOU! And I will until my last breath. You are a PIG!"
At that insult, Simon's eyes flared red in anger and he took hold of her hair and dragged her to the coffee table, ripping the hair from her scalp. Ruthie screamed in pain and then felt the cool metal of the gun barrel against her temple.
"You will love me." Simon said calmly. "I will make sure of it. Now," He paused as he moved a sheet of paper and a pen in front of her. "We are going to write a letter and then we are going to leave."
"And if I refuse? You'll kill me, Simon?" She asked, looking up at him.
"How are the children?" Simon asked with a twisted twitch of his lip.
"Leave my children out of this!"
"Write the letter, Ruthie." He ordered again and Ruthie reluctantly lifted the pen.
When she had written what he had instructed, she shook her head.
"What's your plan Simon? If you think I am going to walk out the door with you and not be noticed, you clearly don't understand my role in Camden Town."
"You're not." He smirked.
"Not what?"
"Walking out the door." He said before her world went black.
Alfie stared at the letter in his hands for what felt like hours. She had left him? No, Ruthie wouldn't leave him! But he knew her handwriting. Her signature on the sheet was the same signature that was inked on the inside of his middle finger. Immediately he went to the nursery and noticed Little Alfie's favorite truck and Maggie's blanket were gone. She had taken his kid's and ran? With some other fucking man? No! No! Not his wife, not Ruthie! Walking into his room he noticed the large chest that sat at the foot of his bed was gone, the blankets that used to lay inside now strewn across the bed.
"Holy fuck." Alfie said under his breath. She had really left him.
Alfie sat in his chair running through conversations in his head. They wanted another child, actively trying to have another. This didn't make sense. Surely Tommy would have- Alfie stood and stalked toward the telephone. Tommy will at least know where she is, he decided. As he began to lift the receiver, he heard the loud desperate cries of his children getting louder as they approached the door and his heart leaped into his throat. She didn't leave. He swung it open quickly and found Ada holding a frantic, red faced, tearstained baby girl in her arms and Little Alfie covering his ears beside her leg.
"I thought you would have come for them by now. Where is Ruthie? Maggie is all out of sorts. Poor dear just wants some of her mother's milk, I think." Ada said as she stepped inside. "What?" She asked as she saw the confused look on Alfie's face.
"Why do you have my children?" He asked as he reached for his crying daughter.
"What? They've been with me since early afternoon. Ruthie said-" Ada looked around. "Where is Ruthie?"
Alfie looked outside and shut the door before turning back to his sister-in-law. "I don't know." He said before he began to try and soothe his daughter, bouncing her up and down and patting her back like he had seen Ruthie do countless times.
"What do you mean you 'don't know'?" Ada pressed.
"I came home, and she was gone. All I found was this letter." He said as he motioned to the letter on the coffee table.
Ada lifted the letter and read it quickly before looking at him in confusion. "She left?"
Alfie looked at his distressed daughter and watched large tears fall from her beautiful blue eyes and he shook his head. "No. She loves her children more than life, she wouldn't do this to them."
Ada looked pitifully at her niece and began to take off her coat. "Do you have any milk?"
"Goats milk, in the kitchen." Alfie nodded toward the other room as he reached into the bag of his children's belongings Ada had brought back, pulling out his daughter's blanket and wrapping it around her.
Ada immediately went toward the kitchen to warm some milk for Maggie.
"Mummy." Little Alfie said as he looked around. "Mummy."
"She's not here, son." Alfie told his oldest, who began walking toward the bathroom.
"Mummy." He continued to say and Alfie's head bowed, his jaw clenched as his daughter's voice began to crack hoarsely in her cries.
Hearing his children's misery caused a lump to form in his throat and he squeezed Maggie tighter to him.
"Alfie, she isn't here." Alfie said as he went after his son who had entered the bathroom and he stopped when he saw his son pushing at the towels on the rack, saying "mummy".
He saw the corner of something white poking out between two towels. Alfie bent and grabbed the white corner and pulled, revealing a crumpled sheet of paper and he read.
…watching you through your window….
I'm coming for you this afternoon…
S.
"Holy fuckin hell…" Alfie said to himself.
"Here we are." Ada said as she followed her nieces cries with a warm bottle. "It's not the same, but it will have to do."
Alfie let Ada take his daughter and give her a bottle. "What's that?" Ada asked, motioning to the letter.
"It wasn't a dream." He said to himself.
"What wasn't?"
"Fuck… FUCK!" Alfie said as his anger grew until he punched the door and walked quickly to his telephone to call Tommy.
"Yeah?" Tommy answered.
"Get your fucking family here, now!" Alfie barked before slamming his receiver down without waiting for a response.
"What is happening?" Ada asked as Alfie grabbed his gun and put it in the back of his trousers and went toward the door.
"Stay with the children." Alfie growled before he closed the door behind him and trotted across the street.
Alfie readied his gun, not sure what he would find when he entered what was supposed to be an empty building. He pulled at the door which opened with a creak. Night had fallen which cast the entire building in darkness. The wood floor groaned under each step he took.
"Ruthie?" Alfie called but was answered with silence.
He searched the entire building, leaving no room unentered and finally made his way to the roof. Alfie looked toward his house and stared into his bedroom window, seeing his bed alight in the glow of the moon. Cursing himself, he went back inside to do another sweep of the empty building, finding nothing.
Ruthie regained consciousness; her body forced into a tight ball. Opening her eyes, she blinked repeatedly. Everything was still black, and she realized she was entrapped in something. Her mind immediately went to one of Alfie's barrels that he threatened to put people inside.
"Hello? Is anybody there?" She yelled in panic as she pushed on the sides of her prison. "Can anyone here me? Hello?"
Relief passed over her briefly as she heard footsteps coming toward her but vanished when she heard Simon's muffled voice. "Don't worry. I am going to let you out when I am finished."
"Finished with what?"
Simon didn't answer as he walked away, and Ruthie could hear chains.
"Simon! Let me out! I can't breathe!" She panicked.
"Be patient my dear." He cooed.
"I'm not your fucking dear! Let get me the fuck out of here!" She blurted, shifting her weight until her container flipped onto its side.
"Now, Ruthie. If this is going to work you're going to have to learn to control your temper."
Ruthie closed her eyes, attempting to reign in her anxiety. She had to think, to come up with a plan.
"I-I'm sorry, Simon. Will you please let me out?" She said calmly.
To her surprise, Simon walked toward her and began to open her cage, which she realized was the trunk from her bedroom. Ruthie rushed to her feet and began toward the stairs directly in front of her, but Simon grabbed her around the waist and drug her to the wall before slapping a thick iron cuff around her wrist. Ruthie yelled and screamed while flailing her arms and legs, trying anything to make him lose his grip on her or for someone to hopefully hear. When he had successfully applied the other cuff, Ruthie pulled but was stuck to the wall, her hands tight above her head. She glared at him and was readying to speak when she heard a familiar cry.
"Maggie?" Ruthie whispered under her breath.
There was a small window, barely noticeable from the outside, that Ruthie could see the night glow from. She could see a brick wall opposite the small window but nothing more. The child's cries rang through the night and Ruthie's heart broke.
"Simon, that's my daughter. Please, she needs me!" She begged.
Simon went to the window and looked out. "No, she doesn't." he said coldly.
"Yes, she does. She's still on the tit. She needs me, please! Let me go to my daughter, Simon!" She pleaded.
At her last sentence, Simon's eyes turned to her. "You don't have a daughter. Not anymore. You left them behind when you came with me." He said as he stalked toward her and kneeled, his crooked jaw inches from her face. "I will give you one though. We can have all the children you want."
Simon's hands groped her breast roughly, his lips close to her neck as she turned her head away from him.
"Don't touch me!"
Simon grabbed her jaw, forcing her to face him. "You are mine! Mine! And I will touch you however and whenever I want! We are meant to be and you are going to give me children!"
"I pray my womb dries up, so I don't have to look at your disgusting spawn!" she said between clenched teeth before she spit in his face.
Simon drew his hand back and slapped her, a loud clap echoing against the stone walls. Before he could advance on her again, the sound of a door slamming drew their attention. Simon barely had time to look out the mini-window before he ran to Ruthie, withdrawing a rag from his pocket and stuffing it in her mouth. He kept his hand covering her lips so she couldn't attempt to spit out the rag and his eyes stared at the ceiling.
"Ruthie?" She heard Alfie call above her.
She screamed as loud as she could, her face going red but there was no sound getting past he rag and Simon's hand. She tried again and again to call for her husband who searched the building, but his world was quiet. Her eyes darted to the staircase, knowing he would come into the basement and find them.
Simon began to chuckle. "I thought this might happen. Which is why he won't see the door leading down here."
Ruthie looked at him with panicked eyes. "According to Mr. Solomons logic. There is no basement in this building." he smiled menacingly.
Ruthie shook her head and began to frantically scream for Alfie, tears sweeping down her face. When she heard the door above her close and his saving footsteps cease, Ruthie sobbed.