The Tainted Five

By Phillip Turner

Ellie is a brave young orphan who has grown up in a shared home her whole life.

When she is sent to her new family, she will unknowingly begin an adventure that will define her and the people around her.

Ellie will be tested in ways she never thought possible.

Join her journey as she faces her greatest demons and descends into the darkness, where one begins to question what is real and what is fantasy.

There is one thing you have to ask yourself. Are you tainted?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Dec 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503500600

Phillip Turner

My name is Phillip Turner. I am a young writer from Bunbury, Western Australia. This is my first publication. My inspiration has been drawn from both real-world experiences and the vast depth of my imagination. I hope you enjoy my novella The Tainted Five.

Book preview

THE TAINTED FIVE

Phillip Turner

Copyright © 2014 by Phillip Turner.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014922355

ISBN:     Hardcover     978-1-5035-0058-7

               Softcover        978-1-5035-0059-4

               eBook             978-1-5035-0060-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 12/17/2014

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

696483

CONTENTS

Prelude

Chapter 1. Departure

Chapter 2. The Snake

Chapter 3. From the Ashes

Chapter 4. The Death of a Serpent

Chapter 5. A Friend in the Dark

Chapter 6. A New Day

Chapter 7. The Sleepover

Chapter 8. Howie

Chapter 9. A Fool’s Endeavour

Chapter 10. Trapped

Chapter 11. School Day

Chapter 12. The Father

Chapter 13. Broken

Chapter 14. The Bully

Chapter 15. The Showdown

Chapter 16. Revival

Chapter 17. The End Where It All Began

Chapter 18. The Last Masquerade

Chapter 19. Aftermath

In the absence of light, the world shall be engulfed in darkness.

We will endure. We will survive.

PRELUDE

The rusted black sedan slows as it turns the corner into Absence Grove. The very name itself hints that there is an important element missing from this place. The houses on the street are old, run-down—one might even say abandoned. At first glance, Absence Grove is void of life; what little grass and flowers people had at their houses are now dead and wilted.

This place gives me chills, and I wonder if perhaps it was once a cursed land, or maybe I’m just letting my imagination run wild again. I wind down the window. The air is thick with ash and smoke. I can see no signs of fire anywhere though. If there is ever a bad omen warning me to turn back, like the creepy old man in a horror story, this is it.

We approach one of the houses in the grove, my new ‘home’ as I am told. A man and woman are standing idly outside the house, awaiting my arrival. I almost choke on ash as we pull into the driveway. The way the man stares at me makes my body quake in uncertainty. I reach for the door handle, trying my utmost to apply reason and logic to my situation, but despite my best efforts, my body betrays me. A cold shiver spreads throughout my body as my hand trembles, opening the car door. My body reacts all too naturally to the darkness of this place.

But this is only the beginning.

CHAPTER 1

Departure

It is history class with all the usual clichés—kids shouting, notes being passed around the room, the popular girl stroking her busty torso with the tip of her pencil to get answers off the pimple-ridden geek in the front.

I take a deep breath and stare forward. ‘Here I stand before my fellow peers to research my past,’ I state, looking down at the notes in my hands, the very hands that are trembling at being forced to give a public presentation. ‘My name is Ellie Shepherd. I am sixteen years old with short brown hair riddled with split ends and a body of equal disappointment.’ I pause for the thunderous laughter to liven up the room. ‘And the sad truth is that I don’t know my parents, like most of us here in fact … This seems like a waste, Keeper. Can I please just sit down now?’ I say, looking at Keeper Julia with a gloomy expression upon my face.

‘No, Ellie, you will just have to continue,’ she replies sternly.

I look back towards my classmates and fellow orphans as I reluctantly continue, ‘I have been in this boarding home ever since I was a little girl. In fact, the only past before here that I know of is but a memory.’ I sigh as I swallow the courage to say out loud to a whole class full of people something I had never shared with anyone.

Perhaps it was bravery or just sheer stupidity, but I kept going. ‘I was only a child. Mere weeks before I came to this godforsaken place, I was lying in my bed with my favourite teddy bear when I overheard my parents arguing in the next room. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. All I could remember was that my mom was upset. She just kept crying and screaming.’

I wipe a tear from my cheek, clear my throat, and continue, ‘I lay in my bed, closed my eyes, and counted to three. When I opened them, I found myself on the footsteps of this place, being told my parents had been in a car crash.’ I stop and drop my paper to the ground, breathing heavily.

‘That’s enough Ellie, sit down.’ Keeper Julia says, her eyes glaring at me with disapproval. ‘Okay, next student please.’

I sit back down at my desk, staring blankly out the window, watching time just drift away. I fold my arms on the desk as I lay my head down, gradually falling asleep.

Time slowly passes by.

I awake to the bell screeching and kids running out of the classroom, carelessly shoving each other. I exit the classroom, speed-walking down the hallway. Then the boarding home’s headmistress and chief of staff, Ms Rhonda Crezivich (trust me when I say you will only ever mispronounce her name once), approaches me, curling her bony index finger, and tells me to follow her to her office. I humbly follow her into her office, and the ever-so-malicious Ms Crezivich sits down on her supremely comfortable brown leather throne.

‘Take a seat, Ellie my girl.’

I sit my disproportioned ass on the crappy plastic chair missing a leg at the front of her desk. Ah, Ms Rhonda Crezivich, the headmistress of the state-funded boarding home which doubles as a learning institution. Oddly enough, she was actually elected by the board to her position. Seven years running with no competition … but how? Nobody is quite sure, to say the least. She struts around dressed like a mob wife, generously accepting all the charity that’s meant to go to help us less-fortunate kids. She uses it instead to buy eighties power suits and expensive furniture, not to mention that guilt trip she so elegantly sets up in every conversation. Yeah, should I be the one who should feel bad about being dirt poor with no parents?

‘Yes, Miss?’ I mutter.

‘Speak up!’ Ms Crezivich thunders.

I gulp. ‘Yes, Miss,’ I say in a highly pitched yet rather clear voice.

‘I’ll keep this brief as I have quite a busy schedule—yes, very busy indeed. It has come to my attention that you are not quite—what’s the word I’m looking for?—blending! Yes, that’s it, not quite blending with the other students in class,’ she spitefully hisses as she strums her fingers against the desk with authority.

‘But Miss—’ I whine, leaping out of my seat.

‘Sit down!’ Ms Crezivich barks, and I ease myself back on to the worn plastic chair, absently forgetting about the missing leg on the chair. I instantly topple over, lunging forwards and hitting my head on the corner of the desk. I grind my teeth, trying not to let her see me in pain, and I pick myself up and carefully position myself on the chair, making sure to keep my balance.

Ms Crezivich frowns in disapproval as if I were somehow fucking around. ‘I take a rather … bold stance on antisocial behaviour here, Ellie,’ she states, her eyes leering into mine, sending shivers down my spine.

Now let me just interrupt this beautifully described recollection of events to say that I am not like the others here. I’ve always felt like I wasn’t meant to be here, like I was taken away from my parents, that they really did love and want me but for some reason couldn’t. I know it sounds like the same story every abandoned child peddles, but something has always felt wrong about what happened that night, the night I came to this place of harsh rules and unparalleled boredom. So it’s fair to say that when the other kids say things like ‘My parents didn’t want me’ and ‘I am a reject’, I get rather upset, and it leads to my supposed antisocial behaviour. I personally believe it’s just standing up for what I believe in, which I’d think they would encourage, not shun. I mean, seriously? The other girl didn’t need that many stitches! But now back to my tale of woe and despair …

‘But, Miss, it wasn’t me. Those kids you called in here were nothing but a pack of starved animals, and I’m at the bottom of the