"Well," I shout, my voice echoing into the dark.
"What's the plan, Dad? To kill her, to avenge mum? What will this change ? Do you think for one second this would be what mum would have wanted?"

His eyes are glassy with the mention of mum. "Your mother is gone because of HER," he howls, the pain cracking through his words.

Liten Vampyr perched on the bench, frozen like a gargoyle, watching on as the chaos unfolds in front of her. Her moral compass is so far off that the suggestion of murder does not even make her flinch;why would it when death has seeped in to every aspect of her life?

"Well of course, murdering her means nothing to you Dad, you have the luxury of knowing you're going to die soon. You won't have to live with the guilt..... but I will. I will have to live with knowing that the man who was my hero, the person I aspired to be like, used his last moments on this earth fuelled by hate and revenge".

"What would you have me do Oscar ? You can't tell me this hasn't crossed your mind. Have you forgotten how you would cry yourself to sleep, the reoccurring nightmares that plagued you for years? Every birthday,every holiday that was shrouded in sadness because she wasn't there; all because of her".

For a moment my mind is plagued by all we had lost, moments she should have been there yet wasn't. Yes, we've been robbed of memories, but HER death will not give us those back. It will not erase our pain.

Liten Vampyr leans over and grabs HER by the back of the neck, then slings her effortlessly on to the ground in front of me, HER silent sobs and violently shaking body breaks my heart as her knees and hands are torn apart by the gravel- yet she makes no noise for fear of what will happen. She does not move or look up at me, she simply stays frozen in the position she'd been flung into, on all fours like a dog.

I stare at Dad, hoping this will wake him up before he does something he will regret, but he simply looks down, not wanting to accept or register what is happening. Ignorance is bliss but in this case, it could be deadly.
I know I must act fast to stop this madness.

I slowly lower myself down on to my knees in front of HER, careful not to spook her. I hear HER ragged gasps of breath she's trying so desperately to control.

"Hello." She does not move or flinch.

"I'm not going to hurt you, please look at me".

As her head gingerly raises, I see the tears streaming down her face and trickle down her nose on to her cheeks.

"What is your name ?"

Her blood shot eyes stare deep into me, she's trying to work out if this is a trick. I nod my head to urge her to speak.

"My nnnnaaammmeee is Alice".

"Hello Alice, I'm Oscar".

I see Dad's head raise as he catches her trembling voice.

"What do you do Alice ?"

She looks confused. "I'm an estate agent".

"Are you married Alice?"

She slowly nods.

"Alice, do you have children ?"

Her sobs become hysterical wails. They tear into my heart as they pour out of her.

"PPPllleeeeaaasssseee don't hurt mmmmyyyyy children".

I place my hand on top of hers. "Alice, you have my word. I won't let anyone hurt your children, I promise".

She slumps down face first into the dirt and gravel as I raise to my feet. "It's one thing Dad, to kill a nameless stranger; but now you know her name, you know her life now. If you kill her, you will be robbing a husband of his wife, children of a mother - just like we had done to us. Can you honestly do that ? "

Dad stands up, I see in his hand a knife- the steel glimmers as the light catches the blade. He intends to slit her throat, right here in Mum's beloved Whitstable Castle. Slowly, he walks up behind her and grabs a handful of her hair, quickly yanking her head back, exposing her neck ready to slice.

Heart-racing, I can feel the time running out. I blurt out, "If you kill her, you are no better than her. If she dies, your pain stops but you transfer it on to her husband and children. Let her live with her guilt, that is a far more harsh punishment than death, it's never ending".

He lunges the knife at her, I cringe and shut my eyes, scared I'm going to witness the downfall of my hero. Silence encompasses us all, my breath is stuck in my throat. After a few seconds, I gently squeeze my eyes open, fear pulsing through my veins over what I'm about to see.

The knife is a centimetre away from her throat, the slightest movement and she would be dead. Dad's head is shaking in disbelief, his eyes wide as if this monster that lays before him has suddenly transformed into a human- a wife, a mother. His shaking hand drops the knife as he lets go off her hair that flows through his fingers like water.

"I'm so sorry." She pleads repeatedly, but Dad simply walks away, unable to acknowledge any of us.

"Well played, Oscar. " Liten Vampyr pipes up, "by humanising her, you made it impossible for him to kill her. I won't have that same problem".

I lunge in front of Alice so I'm in-between her and Liten Vampyr. "Stop! Just fucking stop!"

She rolls her eyes as if I'm boring her, then casually struts over to me. "She wouldn't be the first human I'd of killed to protect your Dad".

Icy chills run down my back that send the hairs on my arms to stand up. "You may be a monster from no choice of your own, but you don't have to act like one. It doesn't have to be like that".