The Frozen Man Read online

  Charles stopped talking and let what he said swirl in the air, like the blizzard outside.

  2

  Charles got up off the floor, squeezing his eyes shut in discomfort. His knees ached and his back was sore from sitting in the same position for so long. He could feel the weight of everyone’s eyes in the room looking at him.

  ‘Where’re you going?’ Kate asked.

  ‘Gotta go for a piss, my teeth are floating,’ he said.

  Everyone, except Kate - who was shocked by his remark - burst into paroxysms of laughter. They watched as Charles took an orange lantern off a table so he could find his way to the men’s room to relieve himself.

  In all the pubs Charles had drunk in over the years, The Travellers was the most hygienic. There wasn’t any rude graffiti scrawled on the tiled walls or in the cubicles. There wasn’t a trace or scent of shit or piss clinging to the walls like he’d smelled in a lot of restrooms he’d used over the years. It had a clean and fresh fragrance, because they were unsoiled and regularly cleaned. The water that came out of the tap was crystal clear. Also, there was always a bar of soap to wash your hands with. In short, it wasn’t like most public toilets. In the Travellers you weren’t afraid of having a crap, as there was always a good supply of expensive toilet paper, not the cheap tracing-paper brands other pubs, schools and colleges purchased, which cut your arse to shreds.

  Despite the fact that The Travellers had well-maintained restrooms, it still didn’t make Charles feel any better when he wanted to relieve himself. “I would give five hundred pound to be able to take a piss without it hurting,” he told Derek at the end of last year. That was just one his many problems which had crept upon him along with his old age. When he was finished at the urinal, he turned the hot water tap on and gave his hands a thorough scrub with the bar of soap lying atop a dish next to the sink. Then he lumbered back outside to continue with his story.

  The group had been engrossed with the story so far. They hardly spoke at all when Charles had stepped out of the room. When he came back into the pub again, everyone stared at the experienced yarn-spinner. Charles placed the orange lantern back on the table where he’d taken it, and gently eased himself back down beside Derek. ‘Right, where was I?’ he asked no one in particular.

  ‘The war hero had gone to see Nathan at his lodgings, where he was told that Nathan couldn’t get his legs back, but he would pray for his soul,’ Kate said promptly, before anyone else had a chance.

  ‘Ah, yes,’ Charles said, remembering. ‘Well, the men took the disabled man back home, frustrated that Nathan wasn’t a miracle worker, and they had been foolish even to consider such a ludicrous tale in the first instance. However, when the disabled man woke up the following morning he’d slept peacefully all night long. It was the first time since the war he’d had a proper night’s rest without being disturbed by harrowing nightmares, only to wake up and see that it was all too real. Truth be told - at least according to this tale - he never had a nightmare about what he saw in the battlefields ever again. He also got used to the fact that he didn’t have any legs. And it didn’t bother him as much any more. He lived life to the fullest, the way Nathan had advised him to, for himself and the deceased, who died for his, and everyone else’s freedom.

  ‘Once again, word spread fast around the small town that Nathan had performed wonders for this gentleman, who now felt rehabilitated into a joyful soul. The townsfolk believed in a higher existence once more. It was uplifting to think, after all they’d been through during the war, that people were ready to believe, and have faith again. But, unfortunately, like a lot of good things in the world, it would end tragically.’

  ‘Why?’ Kate interrupted.

  Charles met her gaze. ‘One day in the autumn, Nathan was strolling through the park watching the rusty leaves rustling in the old oak trees when a he heard someone sobbing nearby. Alarmed, he followed the noise until it got louder.

  Nathan cornered a bend in the path and saw a young lady sitting on a park bench, her head in her hands, shoulders shuddering. He approached this young lady and comforted her. She pulled her hands away from her face to reveal a long, deep scar from her cheek up to where her left eye had once been. Nathan understood instantly why this otherwise beautiful lady was in distress.

  ‘She asked him to leave her, because her ugliness repulsed people, and that she didn’t want his, or anyone else’s pity. Nathan ignored the self-deprecating comment, even when she raised her voice at him, and asked if she wouldn’t mind telling him who had scarred her. The lady wiped her tear-tracked cheeks with the back of her hands, looking at the handsome young man perplexed by who made it his business to take an interest in her perpetual misery.

  ‘Unlike her usual self, the lady explained to him how a she’d been raped and had her eye gouged out by a Nazi solider during the Second World War. She was just a helpless child of twelve, wondering why her parents were dead, and her home had been bombed. Nathan was profoundly affected by her tragic tale.

  He felt his eyes swell with tears. Here was this beautiful young lady, who had endured such sickening evil at such a tender, innocent age... and now she had no one in her life to share her pain, to comfort her, to be there when she needed to express her emotions of a traumatic childhood, which had scarred her both physically and mentally.

  ‘Nathan then placed the palms of his hands on her head and told the lady to remain perfectly still until he said it was all right to move. He closed his eyes.

  Then after a couple of minutes, he began to shudder uncontrollably. The young lady observed this in a trancelike state, just like the elderly lady with the bad arthritis. His face kept altering expressions and emotions, because of what he saw contaminating the lady’s soul. Finally, he burst into tears. His face flushed an angry red, as he let her go and wept. The lady remained motionless on the bench, and did not feel the need to cry any more. Instead she stayed there and comforted Nathan, as he wept and wept and wept, ‘till he could weep no more.’

  Charles picked up his glass in front of him on the floor and took a gulp.

  ‘The young lady couldn’t quite fathom why he now wept, but at the same time she knew exactly why he cried, and what he had done. Nathan could never bring her parents back, or her eye, or her virginity. But what he did do was take the pain out of her, even if it was for only a short while and inflicted it upon himself, so he could feel what it was like to be her; to feel the pain a human suffers when their whole life is ruined and turned upside down by the evil in the world.

  ‘The lady whispered in his ear “Thank you,” and wasn’t certain why she said it.

  ‘Nathan fought back the sobs and said, “God, lead us not to trespass against those who trespass against us, and deliver us from evil. Amen.”

  ‘With that said, he got to his feet and stumbled. He regained his balance and looked at the young lady. “Go in peace.” Then he turned away from her and started walking away. The lady called out to him. He stopped in mid-step, taking the chance to steady himself and fight off the dizziness assailing him.

  She asked him if he would like to have dinner with her. Nathan said that he would. The lady told him her name was Faith. And from that day on, Nathan loved Faith, even though he’d been forbidden to fall in love with a mortal.’

  ‘By whom?’ Kate blurted.

  Charles shrugged. ‘No one really knows. Although, if Nathan had those healing gifts I had been told about, then he must belong to a force powerful beyond our comprehension. And the forbidden law of not being allowed to fall in love with our kind -a human - must’ve been ordered by a higher power than Nathan’s, perhaps God himself, who knows?

  ‘Anyway,’ Charles said, getting back to the tale. ‘Faith fell in love with Nathan, and Nathan fell in love with her. He knew it was forbidden - but he didn’t know why. That’s probably why what happened to him wouldn’t have happened, if he’d
known what the precise consequences were beforehand.

  ‘Nathan was spotted by the townsfolk, assisting Faith in doing the household chores, such as cleaning her doorstep, washing the windows. Also, he also gave her money so she could pay her bills comfortably. (Incidentally, no one knows where Nathan got his endless supply of money from). However, at first Faith wasn’t sure if he did these generous deeds out of sympathy, or in fact because Nathan wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. It was, of course, the latter. Soon, Faith would also know this to be true. Now that she had love in her heart, it gave her life meaning, significance. Her soul blossomed fuller than any flower, brighter than any sunshine. But the townsfolk - being the gossiping ruthless bunch of people they were - became aware of their growing love. And again there was mix reaction to Faith and Nathan’s relationship. The majority of women, (being the softer sex they are) thought their love was delightful. A blessing in its own way. While the men - especially one man in particular - became very angry, and grew to loathe this Nathan fellow with an insatiable passion.

  ‘That one man was Dennis Sylbert. He, like a lot of young men his age who had returned home from war, was enraged when he heard this news.

  ‘Faith, in spite of the fact that she was missing one eye and a scar running down her cheek since childhood, was his. Although, when he had asked for her hand in marriage, she had said maybe, only because she was scared of men like him, who always got what they wanted. If they didn’t would hurt timid girls like her in numerous ways if they refused. Faith had hoped he would be so traumatised by the scenes of war when he returned (if he returned) the last thing on his mind would be marrying a freak.

  ‘Dennis only wanted Faith, because even with the disfigurement, she was still the prettiest girl with the most alluring, sensuous body in the whole town. Not because he loved her for who she was, the way Nathan did.

  ‘Truth be told, as well it should, Dennis didn’t deserve her. He only thought he deserved her now due to her disfigurement. And if Faith hadn’t been raped, scarred and left an orphan, he wouldn’t have had a chance with a girl like her.

  Dennis believed he was doing this Faith girl a favour by marrying her, because no one else would.’

  A squall shook the frame of the door, interrupting Charles unexpectedly.

  ‘Dennis was everything Nathan wasn’t,’ he continued. ‘He was a war hero, who strutted around town like a king. Or more like a gangster. The townsfolk saluted him whenever he passed them by in the street and Dennis relished the attention he received. Soon, though, the townsfolk noticed this arrogance in their very own brave soldier, and began to fear him. They feared him even more when they knew he became aware of this “new guy”, who could, allegedly, perform miracles, getting close with his wife-to-be. They feared him, because Dennis showed no fear. He’d stared death in the face and had come home to tell the horrid tales, like so many others (only they chose to leave the horrors of war in the trenches where they had fought for what seemed like an eternity behind).

  ‘Dennis drank at the local pub. He was there at the special ‘Heroes Welcome Home’ party, along with some other men from the town. It was on that merry night, Dennis was first told of this amazing young man, who possessed powers no other man could perform. He listened carefully, at how this stranger apparently came from out of nowhere, and had brought hope back to the townsfolk.

  ‘Needless to say, Dennis and a few of the other soldiers took an instant loathing to this man, prior to having met his acquaintance. They were supposed to be the ones who were the heroes, who were fantastic, and who had brought hope back to the townsfolk, not some fellow, who had obviously stayed hidden until the war was over before emerging to the surface... and who was now receiving their hard-earned glory.

  ‘It was them, Dennis believed - the soldiers - the townsfolk should be saying all these wonderful things about, not this Nathan fellow. In many ways, what he said was right. As it was their homecoming, after all. Nobody mentioned Nathan or Faith again.

  ‘The soldiers were angry, I can understand that,’ Charles said. ‘But they had already made up their minds they didn’t like Nathan without bothering to get to know him first, and nothing Nathan could do or say would’ve change their minds.

  ‘Dennis was hurt by the fact that Faith had not attended the homecoming. He knew she didn’t drink alcohol or enjoy the boisterous ambience the local pub was well known for. Yet she could’ve shown her face for ten minutes, just to say welcome home to him. Dennis hated her shyness. He thought it made her pathetic. He knew what she’d been through, and that was why he assumed she would be there to celebrate their victory over the evil Nazis, who had brought so much pain and suffering to her. Instead he shook hands with hundreds of people, most of them he didn’t know, watching the clock, hoping Faith might show up when it quietened downed a little bit, and consumed numerous pints beer and shots of whiskey until he keeled over and had to be carried home on the shoulders of his friends in the early hours of the morning.

  ‘The next day, when he finally woke up and washed, Dennis went to see if Faith was home. Perhaps she hadn’t come to see him last night because she wanted to see him for the first time alone so they could have a quiet moment, together. Also, she was timid about her wounds, he thought.

  ‘When Faith answered the door, she tottered, as though she’d been shoved aside by his very presence. She’d been expecting the rap on her door to be Nathan. Faith had forgotten all about Dennis since Nathan had entered her life on that day when he found her crying on the park bench.

  ‘Dennis had asked if he could come in. Otherwise he would’ve been standing outside all day. It was apparent that she was stunned. That, he thought was to be expected. But he had imagined, and desperately wanted her to leap into his arms to hold him tight, and to smother him in kisses. It had been visualising this moment that had kept him alive and thinking positive thoughts on the bloody battlegrounds. This cold reception, however, wasn’t what he imagined this moment to be like at all. They made small-talk and Faith made him a cup of tea.

  She did not kiss him, not once. Dennis even had to ask for a hug. Faith felt obligated to do so - yet she didn’t hold him close to her, either. It was a loveless hug. He realised there was something amiss, but wasn’t certain if it had been mere shock that Faith hadn’t reacted the way he’d hoped, or if there was another reason for her lack of enthusiasm.

  ‘Their hug ended abruptly when there was a knock on the door. Faith let go of him instantly and stood frozen to the spot, not sure how to proceed. She knew who was standing at the front door, waiting patiently for her to answer. Dennis snapped her out of her trance and asked her if she was going to answer the door.

  ‘Reluctantly, Faith opened the door to Nathan. He was about to say hello, when he met Dennis’s suspicious glare behind the girl he loved. No one spoke or moved for a few seconds. Faith was caught in the middle.

  “Who’s this?” Dennis asked, loud enough so Nathan could hear his anger.

  ‘Nathan had been about to ask the very same question, but had been beaten to it.

  ‘Faith turned and faced Dennis, and told him the truth. She told him that the fellow was Nathan. A nice young man, who had helped a lot of sick people in their town get better, and that she and Nathan were going out with one another now.’ Charles glanced at everyone in the room, took a sip of his drink before continuing again. ‘Nathan said hello to Dennis, but was blatantly ignored.

  ‘Dennis called Faith a bitch under his breath, and then marched out of the house and shoved Nathan to the ground with a thud. As he marched away, Dennis swore to get even with Nathan for stealing his girl from him when he’d been fighting for their freedom.

  ‘Neither Nathan nor Faith took this threat of Dennis’s seriously. They just assumed he’d said what he did because he was upset. Nathan said that it was perfectly natural for Dennis to behave the way he did and think that sh
e’d done wrong against him, and that he would soon calm down and learn to accept their love for one another.

  ‘Nathan only wanted to see the good side of people, in spite of the badness riddling Dennis’s soul, his naivety would be the cause of his demise. He didn’t realise that when Dennis made a pledge, he meant it, and this would be one pledge he would make sure was fulfilled.

  ‘Dennis could kill Nathan easily. But he wanted to commit this awful sin, savagely. He wanted Nathan to endure excruciating agony in abundance, until he begged Dennis to kill him, just so it would bring an end to the terrible pain Dennis would inflict upon him.

  ‘Sometime later - perhaps a few days - Dennis, along with his good friend and fellow soldier chum waited one evening outside Faith’s house where Nathan currently was at, having contrived a way of making Nathan suffer and ending his life.

  ‘Nathan, unaware of their plan, kissed Faith on the cheek, thanked her for the delicious home-cooked dinner and took his leave. He pulled the lapels up on his coat around his neck to protect him from the cold breeze and made his way back to the lodge where he resided in the dark.

  ‘Dennis and Spike (I think that was his name, I’m not sure) followed Nathan down a quiet street where they attacked him from behind. Spike stabbed him twice in each leg with a switchblade. Instantly, Nathan collapsed to the floor, yelping from the sudden onslaught. But that didn’t stop the two war heroes, who in one moment of madness had turned into mindless villains.

  ‘Spike stabbed Nathan in each arm, and this time the man was about to scream when Dennis clapped a hand over his mouth to prevent anyone else hearing and seeing what all the commotion outside was about. Dennis punched Nathan in the face, until he finally passed out. Then he and Spike hauled Nathan, in his unconscious state, to the park where they wouldn’t be seen or heard.