11.

With all his own anger, anger both in general and returning from the past, derived from and directed back at his father ... it was still nice to see his father looking well. Indeed, he had looked well; he appeared healthy, dressed well. It looked as if dad had ditched the drinking, if he had then what done it for him? What aided his return to normality? Thing is that Sammy never knew his dad without there being drink around.

The thoughts were still there, had dad harmed mum? Sammy needed to know. To get a straight answer he may need to confront dad once more. Seven days after coming face to face with dad, Sammy could no longer wait. With dread in his heart, he made his way back towards his former home. He didn't quite get there on this day however, but he did get to the street, for as he came to be on the street, he spied his father coming out of the house.

Sammy hung back, kept himself out of view and then followed his father; he followed him all the way to the town cemetery. What is his father doing there? The worst can't help but be thought. Dad comes to a headstone and stops. Not wanting to panic, not wanting to assume the worst, Sammy calmly moves up and alongside his father. Dad sees Sammy coming so he is not caught off guard though Sammy is caught off guard too when he reads the inscription on the tombstone of the grave he has come to.

Ester Leigh Fontaine June 1st 1982 – March 3rd 1988. May your soul be clean, and your rest be eternal.

Sammy is at a loss. This clearly is not his mother's grave which is a good thing though a secret is to no longer be a secret and that is if it were ever anything to have been kept from Sammy.

'Father ... what is this?'

'I wanted to tell you last week when you came round, as you know I didn't get the chance. Your mother and I would eventually have told you, but you know ... with the way life has gone and so on ...'

'She is a Fontaine ... I don't understand.'

'Samuel ... meet your sister ...'

'My sister ...?'

'You were so young when you left, we never got to tell you. And with the way I was, it could be said that this is why I was the way I was back then. It's no excuse I know but still ...'

'What happened?'

'I am not sure if this is the right place to discuss that ...'

'Dad, please tell me ...'

'Alright ... but please do not freak out. You need to be calm or I can't tell you.'

'Okay ... I promise ... what happened?'

'Your mother, she always had religion, even long before I first met her. There was always another man in our relationship. Being who he was I didn't mind so much. With her beliefs I was so surprised at how quick it all happened. We were married within a year of meeting one another and Ester came along nine months later.'

Sammy listens intently. With how his nineteen years have been up to this point he basically knew none of this, in fact he knew very little of either of his parents.

'... The darkness set in straight away ... well at least I believe it did.'

'Darkness? What do you mean?'

'We had to cut our honeymoon short. Something really frightened your mother. She was sure there were shadows all around. Whatever she saw or thought she saw; I did not see. If Jesus had always been with her then perhaps while we were on our honeymoon someone else was too.'

'What are you saying dad?'

'Relax a little, I'm telling you ... the pregnancy was so difficult, and your mum fought threw it but there was something else, she had this green thumb you could say. The child however, our daughter, my daughter, she was evil, pure evil. She terrorized us ... terrorized others, killed too.'

'Really? What are you trying to tell me? My sister, a child, killed someone?'

Even at this age of his own life, Sammy should know this to be possible especially with all he has already been through, still, it is a lot to take in

'Yes, in a greenhouse your mother had out back of a house we owned before this one. Your mother had gotten so into gardening while she was pregnant with Ester. I knew right away something was unnatural, but I didn't know exactly what, how or why?'

Sammy listens intently to what his father is telling him and no matter the past Sammy has experienced up until now he knows his father is being truthful despite how odd the story he is telling happens to be.

'What your mother was growing' Samuel's father continues, 'had this odd life of its own. The flowers, the plants, they were so vibrant, so colourful like nothing else I had ever seen. There was this garden center she used before and after Ester was born. Your mum got so much stuff from the place that a store employee even began delivering her purchases. The vibrancy, the colours, it wasn't down to anything your mother was doing nor was it due to the products of the garden center.'

'What do you mean?'

'Ester had a connection with all things floral, she could even control it, them, use them at will. Something had rubbed off on mum. Ester though was evil, pure evil, Estelle was not and never had been. People came out to house one day, demanding Ester. They wanted her, they wanted to take her from us for good, never have us have any contact with her again.'

'People?'

'Yes, men, four in all white and one man in a suit from some sort of institution. All hell broke out. Ester, only a child, wasn't having it. She would have killed them. Who knows? She might have killed us all that day. She ... I ... I ...'

James 'Jim' Fontaine begins to cry. He more than begins to lose control of himself.

'She was five, close to six that day, right? She died when she was five ... dad ... did you ... did ...?'

'I had to stop her. Only meant to knock her out but I ...I ...'

'You killed my sister?'

'We expected police to come and at least question us, it never happened. That fellow from the garden center, he had been staying with us. I sent him away and we or I at least, never saw him again. You came along the next year but we, your mum and I had become quite different people. Estelle went deeper into religion, more than she had ever had before, it replaced the gardening. We moved to a much smaller home, the one you knew. I turned to drink, and you know that. Son, can you forgive me?'

'I don't know if I am the one to do that. Perhaps I am not who you should be asking for forgiveness. I guess you done what you felt you had to. Just answer me one thing now ... where is mum?'

'Honestly, I don't know. She left me ... a couple years back ... and we have not had contact since ...'