The minute Jack walked through the front door he knew something was wrong. It was his eleventh birthday and his mother wasn’t there to greet him. Last year she had been waiting with a cake and a party hat. The smell of baking wasn’t emanating through the house. Hairs prickled on the back of his neck as he looked around. The house felt cold and lifeless.
‘Mother?’
Silence answered him. With his heart beating furiously, he moved further into the kitchen. The oven door was open, a tray with a baking tin full of cake batter sat on the side. A whisk sat in a bowl of icing sugar, the water yet to be added. It was like someone had pressed pause and then erased his mother from view.
It was when he moved towards the back door that he saw the blood. A smudged handprint, too small to be his father’s, was glistening on the floor. On unsteady legs, Jack followed a sinister trail of red droplets that led to the back door. Another handprint graced the door frame. He was reaching for the handle when his father’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
‘Boy!’
Jack spun around to see his father at the entrance of the kitchen.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘School’s finished.’
‘Oh, right.’ There was something different about his father. He looked almost scruffy, his clothes were rumpled, and his skin coated in a thin layer of sweat.
‘Where’s mother?’
‘Gone.’
‘What do you mean gone?’
His father walked over to him and gestured to Jack to sit at the table. Jack sat down, his stomach fluttering.
‘Son, do you know what adultery is?’
Jack shook his head.
‘No, sir.’
‘You are eleven, not too young to learn. Adultery is when a married woman lies with another man that is not her husband. Do you understand?’
Jack nodded his head. Not quite sure why a woman would want to lie in a bed with another man. It sounded very boring.
‘The Bible tells us that adultery is a sin. And you know what a sin is, don’t you?’
Jack nodded again emphatically.
‘Adultery is punishable by death. It is one of the worst sins you can commit. To do it, lets the Devil in.’
Jack stared at his father. Not understanding exactly what he was trying to say. His father put his elbows on the table and cradled his head. He rubbed his face, looking exhausted. Finally, he looked Jack in the eye.
‘I’m sorry to tell you, son, but I found out your mother was committing adultery.’
‘No. Mother wouldn’t do that.’
Anger flashed in his father’s eyes and Jack shrank back in his chair. His father stood abruptly, glaring at him.
‘Are you calling me a liar, boy?’ His voice deafening and laced with an unspoken threat.
‘I abhor lies. To lie is to let the Devil speak through you. Only weak people let the Devil in. Do you think me weak, boy?’ His father looked crazed. He picked up a chair and threw it at the wall with such force the wooden legs splintered and cracked. Jack backed his chair away from his father, shrinking into a ball. Would he be the one thrown against the wall next?
‘No, sir,’ whimpered Jack. Clamping down on the tears that threatened. To cry would result in being thrown back in the homemade grave outside. He couldn’t go back down there. He’d rather be here with his father than trapped back in that pitch-black, damp hole struggling to breathe and move. Not knowing if he would ever get out.
‘I am an honourable man. I do not lie. Your mother was an adulterer. She cheated on me with another man. And now she has paid the price for her sin.’
‘She’s dead?’ whispered Jack.
Jack’s father nodded gravely.
‘I had no choice.’
His father moved in front of him and bent down until his nose almost touched his own.
‘I will not hear her name spoken in this house. She has dishonoured us both. We must turn our back on sin and show the Lord we are faithful, loyal servants.’
Jack nodded his head once more.
‘Good. It’s just you and me now, son.’
His father stood up and ruffled Jack’s hair. He left him alone to stare at the beginnings of the last birthday cake his mother would ever make him.