The scoutmaster "MURDER WITNESS" [MW2017] - Non Writer

I didn't understand why it happened and who could have as it was my dad after all , he was my safety net , my protector , my bloody father .You prick . But , once there was a time when i loved him , hell i idolized him , we all did . Every now and then i would catch my mum looking at him when she thought no one was watching , a hint of a smile and a look in her eyes that i didn't quite understand but i knew it was something special, i was only ten at the time . Dad was the local scout master and didn't that make me feel proud, my dad the scoutmaster and believe me i couldn't wait for Thursday nights , He was tough on the other kids but every now and then he would give me a wink and a smile , you dont fool me dad . Oh and fishing , my dad could catch a fish if he cast out into the middle of the main street and shooting , well he never missed and rabbit was often on the menu , rabbit was considered poor mans tucker back in those days but we all loved it , mum was a awesome cook , screw you colonel , my mum had spices you never dreamed of . He even let me have a shot once and i missed by a mile . He had a little laugh and said not a bad first try you will get better with time and instantly i felt better. Stupid rabbit you should have kept running , dad never misses . Life was pretty damn good i can tell you .



Crack crack . I wake up to light coming through a partially open door , confusion , why is there shooting in the house . I get out of bed and go towards mum and dads bedroom and there he is standing there with his rifle in his hand . His eyes , this was not the person i idolized , my father the scoutmaster , my protector . Crazy eyes , thousand yard stare , call it what you will and i started backing away both terrified and saddened at the same time . I knew my mother was dead and so desperately wanted to go and hug her like i did almost every day , she always had time for a hug and i loved her like only a ten year old could . David get your brother and run , his eyes had softened and i knew this was my chance and ran to my brothers room , typical , Brian sleeps through everything , well except for the smells of mums pancakes Saturday morning . I drag him half asleep towards the front door telling him dad has just killed mum . Jess , where is Jess , get Brian outside then get Jess , he said to run so surely not .Kitchen , lounge room , hallway , run to the front door to get Brian out then Jess. Its locked .The key was missing , its always in the door . I turned around already knowing . Looking for this he said then crack , Brian dropped and i knew he was dead , dad never misses , hes sorry dad , hes sorry . Crack and i felt the bullet hitting the door beside me , hope , crack , another miss , why dad , crack .

I watched over him , we all did , me , my mother , my brother and sister, he was my baby brother .

There was nothing we could do , we could only watch . He had lived , and i dont know why was wasn't shot he just wasn't , perhaps dads soft eyes had come back . He lived for another 14 years unaware of the past and then it happened . School kids , they didn't understand how could they . Why did they have to tell him . Mikey hung himself two days later . He knew instantly it was a mistake the second he kicked the chair over and i suppose he struggled to save himself but i could not watch , he will be here soon . You got us all now dad.

We can visit the past here and Mikeys been here for a while . One day mum came to us and said you need to see this . It was my dad playing football , Aussie rules , he was a rover and kind of tall for the position and a bit of a hard nut , head in where angels fear to tread type . He got knocked out this game and was taken to hospital and he nearly died . I looked at Mikey and and he nodded his head and said , its OK . Mum , well she had a slight smile on her face and a look in her eyes .

The end

Years later i was driving down a quiet little street in a small town here in South Australia . There is a house there , its kind of run down house with a lot of weeds in the yard . It has two holes in the front door . Mikey , well i am not sure of his real name but anyways rumors were he hung himself after finding out about his past. If true he was 18 . It is almost impossible to find a reference to these murders , its as if they never happened . The father was found later that day in a local quarry , gunshot to the head .

a reply to: hutch622

Well there you go, sucked me in. You got me. Love this type of writing. Had to read it twice before this comment to be sure I was reading a great story.

Good one cobs,

bally

a reply to: bally001

sucked me in

Nah mate you sucked me in , i am not a writer but these murders happened right in my backyard and you kind of sucked me into writing . My family was supposed to have a meal there that night but it was called off . Said murderer was drinking with the local cop until 2 am on a Monday in the local . Copper got a call a couple hours later from him saying he had murdered his family . I walked to the bus stop next morning and there were coppers everywhere . Bus stop was around 150 meters from the murder scene .

a reply to: hutch622

Nothin like a bit of real life to consider and share.

Keep writing mate.

kind regards as always,

bally

Wow. Very powerful.

a reply to: ConscienceZombie

Than you , its a long time since i was 10 so telling through a ten year olds eyes , well there was a lot of edits

a reply to: hutch622

Nice one Hutch I hope you keep entering in these contests.

a reply to: FauxMulder

Better effort than my first attempt i think , but when i read the other entries i realize i got a long way to go .

a reply to: hutch622

Great job!

a reply to: DBCowboy

Thanks DB , lots of great entries as there is and as i said above and i feel it is better than my first attempt , Practise , practise , practise as they say .

Nice job, Hutch! The fact that it was inspired by actual events lends a lot of authenticity to it that you can sense when you read.

a reply to: hutch622

That was a hell of a read mate. All the more dark for the intro and the little things like the way mum looked at dad.

I could go a longer version written in a similar vein. Thanks

a reply to: PrairieShepherd

Thanks PS , as stated in the OP there is no readily available references to it anywhere online and i am not sure why .
The scoutmaster

a reply to: SprocketUK

Thanks Sprocket , hmmm , a longer version huh . I wrote most of it while having a few bevvies then looked at the next day and thought this really needs some work . I didn't want to go the whole heaven type of angle but to do so made it a lot easier for me to tell my imagined version of the story .

a reply to: hutch622

I meant that the story in general and your characters in particular have the legs to stretch it out. Its great as is, just very very interesting

a reply to: SprocketUK

I meant that the story in general and your characters in particular have the legs to stretch it out.

Yes are probably right . I had a re read a couple of days later and thought perhaps i could have gone into the dads fate after dying . As for the actual murders , well no one knows for sure how they played out just the end result . The real life father was found outside town in a small quarry . He allegedly had a gunshot wound to both arms and legs , remorse or punishment to himself for what he had done , who knows . And , as stated above there a no references to this that i can find online .

a reply to: hutch622

So sad. I loved the point of view you chose. Well done!

a reply to: AboveBoard

Thanks AB . Yes it was a very sad story and i tried to keep the little bits accurate as to what was found at the time . I cant imagine the terror those boys were feeling at the front door .

a reply to: hutch622

Just wow.
So strange that there are no references buried on line somewhere that you can dig up.
Fantastic story and so sad for those boys.
I can't help but wonder what the precursor to his 'snapping' was. I think there must have been something, don't you?
Great story and I enjoy the things you write about. We all can improve but, I think you do just fine!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

First of all thank you for kind words . As to there being no references online , yes it is strange , there arent even references to the murders in official lists . I still search from time to time during quiet ATS moments . A few years ago i did manage to find a reference , it was a micro fish grab from a newspaper which i took a grab of and just saved it as a picture . Sadly the laptop drowned in beer but i think i may have kept the hard drive , must have a look . Cheers for your kind words .