Post by Joie de Mornay on Jun 29, 2010 12:49:22 GMT -5
I was so happy for her. She was beautiful, excited, flushed with joy of her own life and for mine, too. Jess had always been everything I wanted to be; fiery, beautiful, taking no nonsense from people and able to see the good in them when only the bad showed. She was beauty, true beauty in motion, beauty in silence and in conversation. I loved her, so very much.
I'd written her, telling her of Quinn and I's engagement, and like the loving sister she was, she left Alains estates to come to me, surprising me one morning at Quinns doorstep, flinging her arms around me with a girlish squeal. I'd cried at seeing her, she'd cried at hearing of Quinn and I, but a knowing look in her eyes hinted she'd always known something like this would happen, or at the very least wasn't surprised by it. If it wasn't for Jess, he and I never would have met, never would have found love and adoration.
We rested for a day, laughing and catching up, Quinn joining us and leaving us to ourselves by turns. I loved him that much more for it, for not being upset that Jess suddenly showed up, and that most of my attention was upon her, but in truth much of his was too when he was with us. Jess drew people, sparkling and bright, knowing just what to say and how to say it.
The next evening we found ourselves in the Artisans district, shopping for little things, scoping out shoppes for wedding attires and decorations. Arms linked together, each of us had bags to carry, things we'd bought four ourselves, each other, for the men we adored. There was one more shoppe I wanted to take her to, a little one filled with odds and ends just a street over, and we swept into a little alleyway to cut the distance in half. It was getting late, dark, but it was just one more stop.
She was saying something that had me laughing, my head tipped back with amusement, not a care in the world when suddenly she stopped dead, her hand gripping tightly on my arm and pulling me to a stop too. Confused, my laughter fettered away as I looked at her, then ahead of us. One man, just one, but he was right before us, a knife in his hand and fabric wrapped from his nose down to cover his features. My eyes widened in horror as I tried backing away, Jess with me, though before I could utter a throat-wrenching screech he grabbed me and pulled me away from Jess, his knife digging into my side, breaking open my dress, tearing into my flesh. I did scream then, as he pushed me up against the rough wall, mouth meeting mine and swallowing my scream, his hips pushing against me, unmistakably hard. His knife buried itself almost fully into my abdomen, when suddenly a flash of fire whipped across my face.
Jess.
The knife ripped through me more as he was suddenly knocked away, my sister plummeting into him. "Joie! RUN!" she shrieked as he finally spoke himself, uttering his first words since he appeared.
"Maldita mujer!" Tears fell from my eyes as I clutched at my side, blood seeping down, staining my dress, pouring from me at an alarming rate. I struggled not to sink to my knees, but it hurt so bad, so ungodly bad. Jess struggled as he pushed her to the ground, using the brute force of his body to pin her and hold her, his already bloodied knife coming up to lay itself at her throat.
"NO! JESS! NO!"
I still held my shopping bags, I realized, and in a rush of adrenaline, of fear absolute for my sister, I lifted my arm to beat him with them, hoping to knock him out, to knock the knife away, to scare him into running.. anything, to spare her. "Oh gods no, stop! Please! PLEASE, not her!"
Vaguely I was aware of Jess screaming at me to run, to leave, but I couldn't focus. Stumbling, I fell to my knees, though I'd barely touched the ground before he shoved me away, his knife pushing in harder against Jesses throat. "Aléjate! ATRÁS! AHORA!"
If I didn't know what he was saying, I knew what he wanted. The tears continued to fall, and I tried to reach for him, just with the tip of my hand, to pull him away, to bring his attention to me still
Jess struggled again, and he looked back at her, dark eyes in a dark face going across her face. A thin red line appeared upon her neck as he spoke, pressing harder with his knife as he leaned so she could hear him clearly.
"Yo te intestino como un pez, y luego, cuando usted toma su último aliento , voy a reclamar su cuerpo como el mío."
I shook, the adrenaline still pulsing through me, but with it went my blood. A pool was already forming around my side as I struggled to stay up right, but darkness was closing in no matter how I fought it. "Please," I sobbed as I sank lower, involuntarily. "Please gods, no, don't, please..."
He looked at me, his eyes narrowed, and in that moment Jess struggled, trying to lurch, letting out one last scream. Her scream cut off abruptly to a liquidy gurgle, and I choked, not accepting what that meant. No no no no no! NO! He.. no! My fingers half numb, my vision closing off already, I reached for his hand to try to pull him from her. His hand lifted from my grip easily, and with an almost casual backhand across my face, the remainder of my consciousness left.
I'd written her, telling her of Quinn and I's engagement, and like the loving sister she was, she left Alains estates to come to me, surprising me one morning at Quinns doorstep, flinging her arms around me with a girlish squeal. I'd cried at seeing her, she'd cried at hearing of Quinn and I, but a knowing look in her eyes hinted she'd always known something like this would happen, or at the very least wasn't surprised by it. If it wasn't for Jess, he and I never would have met, never would have found love and adoration.
We rested for a day, laughing and catching up, Quinn joining us and leaving us to ourselves by turns. I loved him that much more for it, for not being upset that Jess suddenly showed up, and that most of my attention was upon her, but in truth much of his was too when he was with us. Jess drew people, sparkling and bright, knowing just what to say and how to say it.
The next evening we found ourselves in the Artisans district, shopping for little things, scoping out shoppes for wedding attires and decorations. Arms linked together, each of us had bags to carry, things we'd bought four ourselves, each other, for the men we adored. There was one more shoppe I wanted to take her to, a little one filled with odds and ends just a street over, and we swept into a little alleyway to cut the distance in half. It was getting late, dark, but it was just one more stop.
She was saying something that had me laughing, my head tipped back with amusement, not a care in the world when suddenly she stopped dead, her hand gripping tightly on my arm and pulling me to a stop too. Confused, my laughter fettered away as I looked at her, then ahead of us. One man, just one, but he was right before us, a knife in his hand and fabric wrapped from his nose down to cover his features. My eyes widened in horror as I tried backing away, Jess with me, though before I could utter a throat-wrenching screech he grabbed me and pulled me away from Jess, his knife digging into my side, breaking open my dress, tearing into my flesh. I did scream then, as he pushed me up against the rough wall, mouth meeting mine and swallowing my scream, his hips pushing against me, unmistakably hard. His knife buried itself almost fully into my abdomen, when suddenly a flash of fire whipped across my face.
Jess.
The knife ripped through me more as he was suddenly knocked away, my sister plummeting into him. "Joie! RUN!" she shrieked as he finally spoke himself, uttering his first words since he appeared.
"Maldita mujer!" Tears fell from my eyes as I clutched at my side, blood seeping down, staining my dress, pouring from me at an alarming rate. I struggled not to sink to my knees, but it hurt so bad, so ungodly bad. Jess struggled as he pushed her to the ground, using the brute force of his body to pin her and hold her, his already bloodied knife coming up to lay itself at her throat.
"NO! JESS! NO!"
I still held my shopping bags, I realized, and in a rush of adrenaline, of fear absolute for my sister, I lifted my arm to beat him with them, hoping to knock him out, to knock the knife away, to scare him into running.. anything, to spare her. "Oh gods no, stop! Please! PLEASE, not her!"
Vaguely I was aware of Jess screaming at me to run, to leave, but I couldn't focus. Stumbling, I fell to my knees, though I'd barely touched the ground before he shoved me away, his knife pushing in harder against Jesses throat. "Aléjate! ATRÁS! AHORA!"
If I didn't know what he was saying, I knew what he wanted. The tears continued to fall, and I tried to reach for him, just with the tip of my hand, to pull him away, to bring his attention to me still
Jess struggled again, and he looked back at her, dark eyes in a dark face going across her face. A thin red line appeared upon her neck as he spoke, pressing harder with his knife as he leaned so she could hear him clearly.
"Yo te intestino como un pez, y luego, cuando usted toma su último aliento , voy a reclamar su cuerpo como el mío."
I shook, the adrenaline still pulsing through me, but with it went my blood. A pool was already forming around my side as I struggled to stay up right, but darkness was closing in no matter how I fought it. "Please," I sobbed as I sank lower, involuntarily. "Please gods, no, don't, please..."
He looked at me, his eyes narrowed, and in that moment Jess struggled, trying to lurch, letting out one last scream. Her scream cut off abruptly to a liquidy gurgle, and I choked, not accepting what that meant. No no no no no! NO! He.. no! My fingers half numb, my vision closing off already, I reached for his hand to try to pull him from her. His hand lifted from my grip easily, and with an almost casual backhand across my face, the remainder of my consciousness left.