Free Killer Women by Wensley Clarkson

Karen’s house.
    And there was Jackie’s mother waiting at the window for a sighting of her darling daughter. But this time there was no smile on her face. No look of delight at the happy couple wandering along. Instead, there was a look of fury and hatred. Of disgust and shock.
    For minutes earlier, Jackie’s mother had met neighbour Vivienne Elliot in the street and she had told her about ‘Bobby’s’ secret. Her daughter’s ‘boyfriend’ was a woman. An evil woman who had just seduced her innocent child.
    Barbara sensed something was wrong when the front door to Jackie’s house flew open.
    ‘You fucking dyke. Don’t you ever go near mybaby again. Do you hear me?’
    Barbara heard her loud and clear. Her heart sank. She did not know what to say. She was going to try and bluff it out but that would hardly work. She knew that once she spoke, her secret would be out. She just had to know who? Who would be so evil as to tell on her? She had to know? She could think of only one person who would stoop so low. It had to be her.
    Vivienne Elliot thought Barbara was seeing her first husband and she did not like it one bit. True. She had long since re-married. But that did not matter. He was still her property and she did not want some tomboy like Barbara sniffing around him.
    The irony was that Barbara did befriend him. She had tried to ‘connect’ with him because she was desperate to change her ways. She wanted to give a man – any man – one last chance to prove that they were not really all that bad. They couldn’t all be like that monster in the park all those years earlier or those uncaring boys who took it in turns to abuse her body. Surely they could not all be like that?
    But now that potential boyfriend’s ex-wife had given Barbara all the evidence she needed. Men were just not worth it.
    ‘Don’t you ever set foot in this house again. If Isee you even talking to Jackie I’ll fucking kill you.’
    Barbara was shattered. She turned around and walked back towards the street. She was dead inside. At last, she had found some real love and lust. Now that was gone. Destroyed by an evil woman who did not care.
    But Barbara did not feel any resentment towards Jackie’s mother. She understood her reaction. It was perfectly reasonable. After all, she had just seduced her 16-year-old daughter.
    No. It was Vivienne Elliot whom Barbara felt a rush of hatred for. That woman had just destroyed her love affair. The one thing that kept Barbara going now did not even exist. It was as if those hours of love-making were just a dream. They had not actually happened. She had wrecked the one period in Barbara’s life where there had been joy.
    Barbara raged as she stormed her way back home to Heathway. The world around her was just a blur of distant images. The only world that now existed was inside her head. A throbbing repetitive pain. It seared through her mind, poisoning it with evil thoughts and deeds. She had to do something. She had to destroy her.
    Barbara was sitting there in darkness when Karen Miller walked into the house less than half an hour later.
    ‘What’s up, cuz? You look like death.’
    Barbara said nothing at first. Her mind was still firmly entrenched in horrendous thoughts.
    ‘Come on, Babs. Tell us what’s wrong?’
    Karen was probably the only person in Barbara’s life who even bothered to listen to her. She had been living at the Millers’ house for most of her life because her own parents abandoned her. She called Barbara ‘cuz’ but in fact she was her niece. But they were more like sisters at times.
    Barbara looked up at Karen and wondered. Perhaps this was a rare chance to pour out all her thoughts? It wasn’t often that she had that opportunity. It was after all one of her biggest problems in life. She just never had anyone to tell.
    ‘You don’t really want to know, Karen.’
    ‘Of course I do, cuz. Come on! Spill the beans.’
    It was then that Barbara decided to change a habit