AFTER SCHOOL

By Heidi Louise Williams

Paul Pratchett's mother was a cruel and vicious woman who did not want to be constantly

reminded of her unfaithful husband, so she removed all evidence of him from the house,

including her son's face. She robbed her sweet boy of his identity and a normal childho

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gem-in-Eye Productions
• Release date: Jun 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781999378370

Book preview

Chapter One

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Maybe if just one person had shown him love he wouldn’t have turned out the way he did.

I wanted to help him. I tried to protect him but really I showed too little consideration too late. Therefore, I too am partly to blame. This is why I am writing his story, to set the record straight because I am the only one that really saw him.

I will be honest. I will show the true monster he became but I will also remind you that he started out as a sweet little boy before they broke him. We all broke him, but maybe I broke him worst of all.

      I have used my own creative licence and rational imagination in parts to show what it must have been like for Paul Pratchett and those who were affected. This story is based on facts I have pieced together from testimonies given by those involved, newspaper articles, what others have told me, and from all that Paul Pratchett confided in me when I visited him in the top security facility for the criminally insane. I am sure that this is the version closest to the vile and perverted truth. 

      It all started with his mother. She was a cruel and vicious woman who could not stand the sight of her own son because he looked so much like his Welsh father who had deserted them by running off to live in France with another woman. They never saw him again, and Paul memories of his father would be distorted by the warped bitter words that his mother ranted when she was having one of her fits.

      Paul’s mother did not want to be constantly reminded of her unfaithful husband so she removed all evidence of him from the house, including her son’s face.

      From the age of five, as soon as he stepped through the door after walking himself home from school each day, his mother would drag him to her boudoir, and make him sit on the stool while she plastered his face with thick white paste, and then painted on the face of a clown: black around the eyes, a big red smile, sometimes with a little heart on each cheek to make him look extra cute. All the while, she would insult him, calling him a fool for not doing well at school, say that he was an idiot, a clown. She said that in this life he would have to make money however he could, and if being an idiot was the only talent he had, then he had better focus on that.

She would make him spend long hours practising to juggle, illusionary magic, card tricks, and learning to make balloon animals. It was mostly to entertain her. She was a zealot for illusionary magic and had dreamed of travelling the world as the beautiful assistant of a famous magician.

      Mother would dress up too in revealing outfits that she was too old for, her sallow skin hung loose around the edges of the tight fitting costumes. Toped, she would sing loudly and dance round the room, trying not to spill her topped up martini. His mother was a cruel drunk, and if Paul dropped the ball or got the trick wrong or did not amuse her in the way she saw fit, it would mean a beating and several cold nights in the kennel.

    Paul was only allowed to wash his face in the mornings before school. His mother insisted that he wear the makeup all night to hide his resemblance to his deceitful father and not subject her to painful memories. The makeup itched, and caused Paul severe acne from an early age that continued all through his life, causing him pock marks and facial scars. So when he was able, he kept it covered.

From the age of seven, Paul had practised enough for his mother to rent him out for children’s parties. Paul hated the humiliation that he was subjected to in front of his peers who jeered at him, and they pulled his colourful baggy trousers down when the adults weren’t looking. It was torture if the birthday girl or boy turned out to be someone from school. It was so embarrassing and would mean years of humiliation and taunting.

      Sometimes, his mother would take Paul to adult’s parties. She would go in with him, tell him to start his practised performance while she slipped away. She would leave him there the whole night and come to collect him the next morning. Paul dreaded these parties were the adults would smell of alcohol and cigarettes and make him do tricks he was not comfortable with.