William Crawford

  William Crawford was the son of a successful business man, and grew up in the growing community of Blackwell. William met a young girl named Lydia Doyle , whose family had immigrated from Ireland, and he fell in love with her immediately. William tried as hard as he could to get Lydia to marry him, but her heart belonged to another man named Charles Van Allen. William would write Lydia love letters and poems to beg her to marry him. He hoped that he would be able to turn her affection towards him somehow. She was always very kind to him, but she never returned his affection. Lydia married Charles despite William’s protests.   William tried to hide his growing bitterness and heartache, but it became obvious to anyone who saw him frequenting The Curved Horns pub that he wasn't taking it well. He became violent and would lash out at people who would ask too many questions. On the day of the wedding, he spent the entire night there drinking. Afterward, he began to keep shady company, such as Lily, Saul, and Sybil of the Sacred Well Circle. They gave him questionable counsel at a point when he was very vulnerable.   Lily told him not to give up on her; she was the love of his life. Saul told him that Charles should be made an example of; he shouldn't be allowed to live. Sybil told him that all of the good things that Charles and Lydia had together should be his; he deserved happiness with Lydia. All of these things crept their way into his mind, and he took them in like old friends. He began his campaign nearly two decades later when the Van Allen's youngest child was fifteen years old. He decided to try to win Elizabeth's affection and turn her against her father. When that plan failed, and he was ejected from the house, he stormed back to the tavern and began to drink himself into a stupor.   During his evening at the pub, drinking and taking Charles Van Allen's name in vain, his three friends came to visit him. They comforted him in his grief, stoked the fires of his anger, and focused the energy of his hatred onto Charles. When he was good and intoxicated, they convinced him that he should go and murder Charles and take Lydia away to be his wife. With the long-standing grudge that he had held, this sounded perfectly reasonable. William headed off into the night toward the Van Allen Mansion.   It took a good two hours for him to stagger his way to the mansion, so it was long into the night when he arrived. All of the family were in their beds, and the house was dark. William, a little more focused, but still drunk, walked around to the back of the house where the window of the master bedroom would be. He would creep in, murder Charles, and take Lydia, no problem.   What he actually did was clatter and crash his way in and wake both Charles and Lydia in the process. Charles bolted from the bed and grabbed the first object he could find. It was the fire poker, but it would do. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go, but William was committed, and seeing Lydia now, staring at him with a mixture of fear and confusion in her eyes suddenly made his blood boil. It was as if she had been afraid of Charles all along and had been begging for him to save her. He lunged at Charles and caught him off guard. The fire poker fell out of his hands and the two men grappled for a moment. Lydia went to the door and called for the housekeeper. She urged her to get the children and her mother-in-law out of the house.   Charles managed to knock William back, and William struggled to regain his footing. “William!" Charles shouted "This is crazy, you’ve been drinking. Get out now, and we’ll say no more about it!!”   “I’m not leaving. Lydia should have been mine years ago. She loves me. She has ALWAYS LOVED ME!” If it weren’t for the children she would have left you years ago.” William stood back against the wall and eyed Charles like a wild animal.   “Now, William, that's just not true. I love my family and I love Charles and I always have. I’ve told you that time and time again. We were never more than friends, why can’t you accept that?” Lydia stood by the door listening for the sound of her children moving through the hall. “You’ll feel differently once he’s dead.”   William took advantage of a small distraction. The children moving, the housekeeper rushing, it was enough. They both looked at the door for a split second. William took the opportunity, pulled out a knife, and lunged for Charles. And, impaired as he was, he would have made it, if not for Lydia. She turned back in time to see the knife and stepped between the two. William felt like he was waking from a bad dream into a living nightmare. He was looking into Lydia's eyes, and they were going dark. He could feel her warm blood running down his hand where the knife stabbed her. She sunk to the floor, Charles cried out in anger and pain, but William didn't really register it. Lydia was going cold. She was gone. He killed her. The only woman he ever loved, and he killed her.   William was so confused, hurt, angry...yes angry. Angry with himself, with Charles...Charles. This never would have happened if it wasn't for Charles. William stood, then shoved Charles against the wall. The impact knocked over an oil lamp and a fire started in the room. No matter, Charles must die. Suddenly, Patrick, Lydia's oldest boy, ran in to defend his father. William felt conflicted. This was Lydia's child, after all. But, as he relentlessly attacked and tried to protect his father, all William could see was Charles. Rage filled him again, and he fought the boy off. Knocked the wind out of him, and left him on the floor. Then, William went back for Charles. Charles rallied after seeing his son fight so bravely, so William did not have an easy time of it. It was very nearly a draw, but William was able to knock Charles out before he himself succumbed to the growing smoke and flames. He was barely able to get out of the house, and, once out, just lay on the grass outside of the bedroom window.   On the ground outside the master bedroom, he could hear the sound of laughter. “Foolish man. Kills the thing he loves most.” He could hear the voice of Lily, one of his friends and mentors just out of sight. “Please, help me,” he begged. She continued to laugh at him, and he could hear other voices with her. “It must be Saul and Sybil,” he thought. “My friends and they’re just watching me suffer and laughing.” Soon enough, the voices faded away, and he was left alone again.   As he lay there, it was as if a veil was being drawn back and he could see more clearly. He could see all of the horrible things that he had done for what they were. He could see how selfish and misguided he had been. He could feel the weight of his crimes, and he felt as if he were suffocating. Sometime later, he had no idea how long, the local fire brigade came to put out the blaze consuming the house. He was picked up and taken to the hospital. He was questioned as to his involvement, and he denied nothing. His spirit was so broken, that he had no desire to hide anything. He was to be taken to jail as soon as his injuries healed, but he never left the hospital. He developed an infection and died in the hospital two years later. His soul still wanders the hall near his hospital bed, in grief and pain. He thought he was in love, and that he was justified in his righteous fight for her affection. In reality, he was infatuated with another man’s wife, and his madness resulted in her death and the death of her family. What would you have done?