The Tale of Sawney Bean (Complete Novella) (5 page)

We had seven
girls and two boys. Sarah had really bad luck with boys having lost
two at birth and the other two that were born almost killing her at
delivery but she was a tough girl even for someone so small and she
always bounced back. She spent every waking moment with the
children and they loved her with every beat of their hearts. No
matter how much I spoke to the children most of them never really
picked up language the way normal children did. There was nothing
wrong with their ability to learn but I think the lack of ever
hearing a conversation was a major set back and part of me still
believes that they wanted to be like mummy and probably never
really tried. Why would they need to talk when mummy doesn’t? The
only two that could put jumbled sentences together were the two
boys Hawk and Wolf. I had named all the children apart from Lily
and had decided the boys needed good strong names and the fact that
they were far bigger than any of the girls when born I just felt it
suited them.

Chapter
15

Life had felt
almost normal to me through everything we had been through but
things really started to change when Lily was around thirteen or
fourteen. We weren’t great at keeping dates so ages were always a
little guesswork. Up until this point each year was almost a repeat
of the previous year with the addition of an extra child. The thing
that really changed everything for me was the night I was awoken
once again being bounced up and down on which was nothing new by
now but as my eyes adjusted I was aghast to see it was Lily who was
on top of me. My sleepy mind was taking a few seconds to try and
put together what was happening and then I noticed Sarah sitting
just off to the side. She was kneeling watching with a smile on her
face. I couldn’t believe it but again the feeling of being in that
warm wet place was too much for me to show any level of restraint.
When Lily was finished with me she eased herself off of me and went
back to her mother.

I spent a lot
of time questioning myself the next day over what had happened and
I reasoned to myself Lily wasn’t technically my daughter but it
still felt wrong, that very night though the same thing happened.
It was exactly like it was with Sarah except it was Lily and she
was a little more gentle and loving which did not make me want to
put a stop to it. It also meant I was getting sex at a point of the
year when Sarah wasn’t bothering with me. I never fully came to
terms with what was happening but I knew the mother daughter bond
between the two of them was extremely strong and Lily was just
trying to be like her mummy and obviously wanted her own baby. The
boys were still a little young so I was the only option but I knew
Sarah was obviously happy with the situation although we couldn’t
discuss it.

It didn’t take
long before Lily was pregnant too meaning we had our first
grandchild on the way who was also really my son but I kept
thinking to myself that we had removed ourselves from society and
everything was completely about family. There was no one to judge
us and for all the niggling feelings life continued on.

The following
year I was awoken in the same situation but this time it was my
birth daughter Isla who was on top of me. This instantly felt wrong
even in my sleepy state so I pushed her off with me. The result
wasn’t good. Isla flew into a rage, growling and shouting and
attempting to say something to me with no success. Sarah took Isla
away and calmed her but over the next few days they both looked at
me with hurt faces and took away the little communication I had
with them.

The next few
days were absolute turmoil. I knew what they both wanted from me
was wrong but they were my life, my everything and no one else in
the world knew we existed after all this time. Who would judge us?
Who would even know? Was keeping my family happy more important
than worrying about all these people I didn’t know? I could tell
Isla just felt hurt and she couldn’t understand why it was okay for
her sister Lily and not for her. I knew that deep down Sarah must
understand but I had no way of judging how much of her old self was
left in her head. She hadn’t spoken for so long and although she
looked after a large family it wasn’t in the traditional way. There
was a savagery about her and I often watched her wondering if she
was more like an animal now than a person. I don’t mean this in a
nasty way but animals can look after themselves and their children
and other than that Sarah didn’t have a whole lot of other traits
you would associate with human behaviours.

I think having
the responsibility of having to still be able to blend in as best
as possible if I was spotted in any of the towns I visited for
supply’s was what kept me tied to the real world and ordinary
society but the others didn’t have that, Sarah had left it behind
and the kids had never even see it in the first place.

Chapter
16

Our kids were
growing up. As I said earlier, exact ages were hard to know for
sure but we had a pretty good idea what ages they all were. Lily
was about 15, Isla around 13, Hawk was 12, Annie 11, Wolf 10, Susie
8, Karry, 6, Moon 3 and Star 2. I had started getting a little more
creative with the names of our children thinking that I was almost
the only person that really cared as I was the only one who used
them, even Hawk and Wolf never used names to communicate.

It was a large
family Sarah and I had grown and for all that there was very little
conversation that went on in the cave we were extremely close. The
cave was the whole world for everyone apart from me. It’s amazing
the ways humans can be close without words. We get caught up in
what others say or how things are worded when it doesn’t really
matter. Often intentions and actions don’t marry up with the words
said. What we had together was honest. When anyone was angry with
anyone else everyone knew, it didn’t take a rant or argument for a
fall out and equally it didn’t take lengthy heart felt apologies to
make up. We just managed. In truth a lot of what we did seemed so
much easier that the way other people conducted themselves which
was something that was never far from my mind. Was the way we had
chosen to live wrong or did everyone else have it wrong?

The boys had
grown much quicker than the girls and even at a young age you could
see they were going to be strong men, they were naturally muscled
and seemed to grow quickly in times of little food as much as when
we had plenty to eat. The lifestyle seemed to work for them. They
were boisterous and adventurous and were forever disappearing into
the caves and climbing. I didn’t worry for them too much as they
had done it from such a young age they were naturals at it. The
girls were more homely spending time with mum and the younger
children and always moving stuff around in the cave so I couldn’t
find it. Our children all seemed to get on very well the majority
of the time but the boys took an obvious lead. I never once in all
my years seen them lay a hand on their sisters. It was just
understood that they were in charge when I wasn’t there. I felt
comfortable they could protect the family but knew that it would be
too dangerous for them to leave the cave as they wouldn’t be able
to blend into normal society but they were always more interested
in going deeper into the caves rather than out the way.

Within a few
days of pushing Isla off of me, we had started having sex and for
all my issues with it she was more tender and loving than both her
mother and sister. It was a different experience altogether. Like
the others, after a few weeks she missed her period but unlike her
Sarah and Lily she would still come to me when everyone else was
sleeping. Sometimes we would have sex and sometimes she would just
cuddle in. I don’t know if it was the whole being pregnant and
looking for protection thing or what was different but Lily had
sought her mother out and clung to her every move once pregnant but
Isla had taken to me and our bond seemed to grow stronger the more
time we spent together.

Chapter
17

Another few
years passed by with no real hardships, more children and
grandchildren arrived but Sarah had never stolen another child
which I was glad of. I don’t know if it was impatience at the start
that had forced her to such an act but our family was ever
expanding and the dynamics were starting to change. Our two boys
were 13 and 15 now and both had impressive physiques. They had
taken to going hunting for food and they were now the main
providers for our little family. I was always worried and my worry
proved to be right as after they had been doing it for a few months
they had came back with a body. They had been caught but they had
handled it. That came with its own worries about being caught but I
knew my boys were strong and could handle anything that came up. I
was never going to be able to make them stay in the cave anyway and
didn’t all parents worry about their children going out into the
big bad world.

The cave
smelled a lot more than it did at the start too. Although Sara
still washed herself on occasion most of the kids rarely ever
washed. I had tried at the start taking them and forcing them but
after many a fight about it, it just didn’t seem worth the hassle.
I think I knew that our journey could only end badly as I watched
over my devolved family and wondered where our future lay in a
world like this but we had our own little part of it and I had
lived like this longer than I had my old life by this point.

Chapter
18

That year we
had our worst winter since moving into the cave, we all made it
through the winter but there were many points when I thought we may
lose some of the children. The boys had been amazing, stealing us
extra blankets and clothes along with the food they could get but
this again led to them coming back with a body. This time I wasn’t
so sure they had been caught, I got the feeling that this kill had
been more than that. I’m not ashamed to say we used this body for
meat. Many people in survival situations have been known to eat
people as a means of survival and my families survival was the only
thing I was concerned with.

I’m sure to
this day that I was the only person that felt any sort of turmoil
about eating this person but it did make me question if our
behaviours were really what human beings were meant to be or if we
just went along like trained monkeys to fit into a society that
didn’t really provide us with anything we wanted anyway.

On the times
when I went into town I had started to hear rumours and whispered
stories about the Wildman who had been seen roaming in the woods. I
knew this must have been one of my boys but I knew people didn’t
believe the story. It was like when people told stories of the
bogey man or the ghost that haunts the old castle. A tale to pass
on but no one gave it much thought. It did bring me more worry
though as if it happened to often the story would find some merit
and then we could be in trouble.

I explained as
best as I could to the boys and they seemed to understand. They
might not have been the smartest lads about but they had good
instincts and neither wanted to bring trouble to the family. The
body we cooked and shared that winter wouldn’t be our last but the
boys were definitely more careful than they had been before.

I often
imagined that our existence must have been similar to the cave men
of days gone by but I knew it would have been much harder for them.
They couldn’t just nip into town to steal supplies and they
probably faced a lot more dangers than we did on a regular basis. I
did wonder if cave men ate each other and imagined they must have.
Any source of food when you’re stuck is better than none. Part of
me wondered how we had made it this long without being discovered
but I knew that most people didn’t see what was right in front of
their face and it wasn’t like we were making family trips into the
village.

Every time we
ate another person I cared less about the person and only had the
niggling worries I always had that this person going missing would
be what got us all caught and put an end to my family. I knew there
would be no prison or anything similar. My children were wild,
feral almost and would never be accepted by normal society. They
would be killed or worse, raped and killed and I couldn’t have that
but if the townsfolk found us I didn’t think I would be able to
protect my family.

Chapter
19

As the years
continued to pass by with the body count racking up and no one
coming any closer to finding out about us the tales in the towns
changed, it seemed that the tavern owners were the ones under
suspicion. The boys were smarter than I had ever imagined, they
were targeting people staying in the taverns from out of town I
imagine knowing they were less likely to be missed. There had been
investigations into some of the missing people and as they had
mainly all disappeared while staying in taverns the suspicions
began to grow that they were maybe murdering their customers and
robbing their belongings.

My family had
gotten wilder as they had grown too. It seemed the more of them
there was the more they devolved. Not all of them changed so much.
Some of the younger children were born with deformities due to the
blood lines being too close I think. I’m sure I had heard of
something like that before. Almost all the children and
grandchildren were mine but I knew a few were down to Hawk and
Wolf. Although both boys outsized me by a good bit and were our
main hunters I always stayed the head of our little clan. They
never once challenged me in all their years.