Disclaimer: I own nothing! (and the people who own these characters are dead)
To come the night before Biddy and Joe's wedding.
Later that night I woke to the sound of knocking on my door. Blearily, I opened it, to reveal a stricken Wemmick with a paper in hand.
"It's Biddy," he said, "and Joe says he needs you."
I rushed to dress myself, and made no attempt to straighten my hair in my haste. I had let Joe down in the past but I would not do it again. My mind had not even been able to process Biddy's death, but Joe needing me was very real and cut through the confusion and horror. Joe needed me, so it was my duty to attend to him at once. I caught a carriage in a haze, and was at the door of my childhood home before I registered that Biddy was dead. Seconds after I knocked, I realized I had no idea what to say, or any inklings of what one could or should say in a situation such as this.
Joe cracked open the door, saw through the darkness that it was me, and slowly pulled it open the rest of the way. His eyes were bloodshot and his entire person seemed to be tearstained. I felt that it was good I had come so soon or he certainly would have drowned. I laid my hand on Joe's shoulder, unsure how to begin. To my surprise, when he started speaking, his voice and words were fueled by rage instead of sorrow.
"Them boys found her dead on edge of town just the night before we was supposed to be married. Cuts on her neck so we know'd she was murdered, but there ain't anyone who knows who done it," he almost growled, but then collapsed into tears so I let the poor fellow cry on me.
Suddenly, he straightened up, and took my face in his hands. "Pip, my boy, you has an education, hasn't you? You's a very smart boy, Pip?" Joe looked at me, as if for confirmation, so I nodded my head. Heartened, Joe wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Pip," he pleaded, "Can you do something for me? 'Ever the best of friends; ain't us?' (Dickens 435)." I nodded, more emphatically this time.
"Anything for you, Joe."
A single tear slid down his cheek and dripped off the end of his nose. His face started to harden. "Find whoever done this. For me, and for Biddy. I know'd you can." I, however, was doubtful of my ability to help, but it would not have been particularly reassuring to tell Joe this. I resolved to try and thus replied as such, which I accompanied with a short nod. I would do my utmost to fulfill Joe's request.
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