Post by Raen Shahrizai on Aug 28, 2010 20:19:48 GMT -5
I threw open the front door, calling for Lei as soon as my boots hit the foyer. The house was quiet, so quiet that I knew immediately she wasn't home. I was disappointed, keenly, but the appearance of Rene, the butler of sorts, brightened my spirits. He would know where my sister was.
I heard Asha enter behind me, heard the servants helping her with Pascal, but my attention was on Rene, whose face was graver than I had ever seen it. I felt the foreboding then, felt it in the pit of my stomach, down to the marrow of my bones.
"Where's Lei?" I asked, my voice sounding strained to my own ears.
"You mean you ... you haven't heard?" Rene seemed almost stricken then, afraid ... of what, me? "I'm sorry, my lord, sorry to be the one to tell you..." He trailed off, and I had to stop myself from shaking him.
"Tell me what? Spit it out, man!" My nerves felt frayed, fear fluttering in my belly.
"My lord, your sister moved back to her apartment in the South Borough-"
I cut him, off, relief spreading through me, Gods, why was the man so melodramatic?
"Well, I shall go see her at once, and of course she will be returning." I turned, not meeting my wife's eyes, but before I could move, Rene cleared his throat.
"I... that is, my lord, there is more... there was a fire there ... I don't know how to tell you this, but sir, your sister has perished. I sent word immediately, but it must have passed you en route..." He trailed off, but I didn't hear him anymore.
The room lurched, everything seemed out of place, and all I could think about was getting to Lei. I did not speak, simply ran out of the house, ran throughout the buroughs .... why were they all so damnably far apart?
I continued to run until I reached Lei's apartment, my lungs burning as I slowed before ... nothing. An empty, blackened shell where her apartment had once been.
"No..." the word was a whisper on the cold winter wind, snatched from my lips and borne away as I began to paw through the wreckage, searching for something, anything that would tell me she was still alive. Why in Elua's name had she even come here at all?
I didn't realize that I was sobbing until the same moment that I realized I wasn't alone. Asha was there, on her knees in the blackened wreck, pulling back fallen boards the same way I did, helping me look for ... whatever it was I was looking for. She did not say anything and neither did I ... it was quiet except for my sobs and the words of passersby who stopped to stare.
In the end we found nothing. Scraps of Lei's clothes, a bracelet that I had once bought her, a strand of blond hair. I stumbled home, let my wife make me tea and wash my hands, listened in stunned disbelief as Rene told me that her body had been found, in bed, and had already been buried. I could not process it all, it was too much, it was too impossible. Lei had died and I had felt nothing?
I did not believe it; could not believe it, despite the evidence, and my mind concocted one improbably theory after another to explain it. I let Asha put me to bed, let her stroke my hair, humored her, for I just knew that when we awoke tomorrow, I would find my Lei, I would find the explanation ... this could not be as it seemed.
Could it?
I heard Asha enter behind me, heard the servants helping her with Pascal, but my attention was on Rene, whose face was graver than I had ever seen it. I felt the foreboding then, felt it in the pit of my stomach, down to the marrow of my bones.
"Where's Lei?" I asked, my voice sounding strained to my own ears.
"You mean you ... you haven't heard?" Rene seemed almost stricken then, afraid ... of what, me? "I'm sorry, my lord, sorry to be the one to tell you..." He trailed off, and I had to stop myself from shaking him.
"Tell me what? Spit it out, man!" My nerves felt frayed, fear fluttering in my belly.
"My lord, your sister moved back to her apartment in the South Borough-"
I cut him, off, relief spreading through me, Gods, why was the man so melodramatic?
"Well, I shall go see her at once, and of course she will be returning." I turned, not meeting my wife's eyes, but before I could move, Rene cleared his throat.
"I... that is, my lord, there is more... there was a fire there ... I don't know how to tell you this, but sir, your sister has perished. I sent word immediately, but it must have passed you en route..." He trailed off, but I didn't hear him anymore.
The room lurched, everything seemed out of place, and all I could think about was getting to Lei. I did not speak, simply ran out of the house, ran throughout the buroughs .... why were they all so damnably far apart?
I continued to run until I reached Lei's apartment, my lungs burning as I slowed before ... nothing. An empty, blackened shell where her apartment had once been.
"No..." the word was a whisper on the cold winter wind, snatched from my lips and borne away as I began to paw through the wreckage, searching for something, anything that would tell me she was still alive. Why in Elua's name had she even come here at all?
I didn't realize that I was sobbing until the same moment that I realized I wasn't alone. Asha was there, on her knees in the blackened wreck, pulling back fallen boards the same way I did, helping me look for ... whatever it was I was looking for. She did not say anything and neither did I ... it was quiet except for my sobs and the words of passersby who stopped to stare.
In the end we found nothing. Scraps of Lei's clothes, a bracelet that I had once bought her, a strand of blond hair. I stumbled home, let my wife make me tea and wash my hands, listened in stunned disbelief as Rene told me that her body had been found, in bed, and had already been buried. I could not process it all, it was too much, it was too impossible. Lei had died and I had felt nothing?
I did not believe it; could not believe it, despite the evidence, and my mind concocted one improbably theory after another to explain it. I let Asha put me to bed, let her stroke my hair, humored her, for I just knew that when we awoke tomorrow, I would find my Lei, I would find the explanation ... this could not be as it seemed.
Could it?