A Jumper's Story
Emmy Lashing was freezing out in the middle of Europe, in a deserted place. It was snowing and she was trying to make do with her little hut she had found on her last Jump. Yes, she was a Jumper, and had discovered that only a few years ago. But Emmy was out to kill the most loathsome Paladin, Mary Rice.
2 Years Earlier
Emmy and her mum had been separated after they came to the street parade. Bringing out her cell phone, Emmy dialed out her mum's number and tried to reach her, but no one answered. This was strange because Emmy's mum, Sharon, always answered the phone no matter who it was. So she ran back to the house to wait for her mum.
What Emmy saw would never leave her mind again. Her mum was lying in a rocking chair by the fireplace, with blood dripping down her face and deep cuts in her chest. Her eyes were gored out and blankly staring at the door. Too terrified to move, Emmy froze when she saw a new message on her phone. A lady named Mary Rice had said, 'I know what you are, and if I don't get you soon enough, I will kill every single one of anybody you love.'
With one look at the message, Emmy raced for her things and with one last look at her only home, closed her eyes and thought of the one city that could keep her safe.
Opening her eyes, Emmy found she was in the abandoned part of London. It was snowing and the only sweater she had on was a tiny brown leather jacket. Emmy knew she could easily snag one from the nearest store, but Emmy had been taught to not steal. So with what she had, Emmy found a little run down house to be called home.
Present Day, February 21
Emmy thought she was going to pass out from the cold. 'Well, this is better than being fried up in the middle of a desert.' Emmy thought to herself. So because it was too cold to even move, Emmy wrapped her arms around herself and waited for death to snag her out of this dreary place.
But right when she was about to fall unconscious, a shape appeared out of no where, with an aura of a Jumper. With one last breath before she collapsed, a barely audible word came out of Emmy's mouth, 'help'. Then she fainted.
Aroused by a sweet smell of cherry wood burning, Emmy blinked her eyes once and found she was in an apartment-like room with a merry fireplace swallowing cherry wood, the kind she had scented.
But then the strange person who she had seen before she had drifted into unconsciousness popped up beside her all of a sudden. Emmy yelped and Jumped into the bathroom without thinking. She slammed into the shower door, and moaning, fell down. 'Crap!' Emmy shouted. Just then the man followed her into the bathroom, Jumping just like she did.
'You're a Jumper too!?' Emmy asked the strange man, rubbing her forehead. He nodded, and said,
'The name is Griffin, and I suppose you are Emmy Lashing?'
'Yes. But how do you know me? I've been everywhere, looking for a Paladin.'
Griffin's eyes had laughter in them as he said,' Sweetie, all you have to do is feel for a nearby Jumper's Scar, and then go into it.'
Emmy had been surprised because she had thought she was the only one in Europe with this gift. All the recent stories about Jumpers all happened to be in America. So after a few minutes of exchanging stories, Griffin took Emmy to a fellow Jumper's house, who Griffin had explained before that he needed to get a warning out to all of the jumpers as he could.
It was freezing again, and Emmy found herself in New York, huddling in her thin leather jacket. Griffin knocked on the door three times, and it opened to a young man that recognized Griffin immediately.
'What is it this time Griffin?' the man asked suspiciously.
'Well I'd be happy to tell you but first you got to take me and Emmy in here before we freeze.'
The man gave Emmy a strange look but let them in with no further questions.
Emmy was seated down in a black chair while Millie, the man's girlfriend, was talking to Griffin. Millie was a very cute American girl with brown hair that was pulled back in an elegant ponytail. Emmy had to admit she was a little jealous of Millie because the young man was very handsome. His eyes were a pale blue and had short blonde hair. Emmy was somehow glad she had come with Griffin because she had never before seen anyone so beautiful. Before anyone would notice her staring at him, Emmy shook her head right when Griffin began his story.
'So far I've been looking for any Jumpers to recruit. The only reason I'm doing this is because the Paladins are starting to really get serious about wiping all Jumpers from the face of the earth.
'So I was having lots of trouble in finding any more, so I was about to come get you David when I felt this here Emmy jump to the middle of London. I was tracking her ever since but never got to her until today.
Griffin turned to Emmy, who was blushing under everyone's stares. 'Still don't know that much about her, but as soon as I confirmed she was one of us, I took her with me.'
'How long have you been a Jumper Emmy, is it?' the man, supposedly called David asked. Emmy almost fainted again when he looked at her.
'For about two years, ever since I was at a parade and lost my mother.' Shuddering from the memory of seeing her mother dead, Emmy looked down to try and hide that tear that just had to leak just then.
Luckily, no one noticed that awkward moment for Emmy and Griffin began telling the real warning he came for.
'So as I was saying, I was watching a meeting of those blasted Paladins, and well David, I'm sorry to tell you this but your mother is in leading the hunt for one of the Jumpers she wants to kill most. That one are already here, Emmy.'
There was a silence while everyone except Griffin was shocked by the news. Emmy had to ask Griffin who the Paladin was, but she already half knew what the answer would be.
'Griffin, this Paladin that's after me wouldn't be a so called Mary Rice would she?'
Astonished, Griffin answered, 'As a matter of fact Emmy, it is. Does she have any connection with your past at all?
Sighing, Emmy began her side of the story she had not yet told Griffin. Holding in her tears, she said, 'I was with my mother at the New Years parade in The Netherlands when I lost her. I tried calling her but couldn't figure out why she wasn't answering. I headed back to my house a block away. Shaking just the slightest now, she told how she had seen her mother and stopped after she told them all she got the message.
Everyone was silent in the room now, while the fire made popping sounds, the only sound in the room. Then Emmy broke the silence again.
'After that incident, I won't rest until that Mary Price is dead.' She half told herself. Griffin exchanged a glance with David, and then said, 'Emmy, Mary Price is David's mother.
Shocked, Emmy looked up at David, and from his angered face, she could tell how much he hated his mum. But then he asked Griffin, 'My mom wouldn't hurt her son would she?'
Before Griffin could answer, a loud sob came from Emmy, who vanished right after she made that sound. Now in the dense rain on a rock in Niagara Falls, Emmy sat down and sobbed for the first time in two years. She sobbed for her mum, she sobbed for all the Jumpers lost to Mary Price, but most importantly she sobbed for David. How could his own mother want to kill him? All of these questions popped up in Emmy's mind, and she wanted right then to throw herself off the rock when Griffin appeared next to her.
'Now why in the heck did you leave just then? Griffin asked Emmy immediately. But one look at her face and Griffin looked uncomfortable with the situation of tears. Patting Emmy awkwardly on the back, he muttered, 'Why me, why me' to himself.
After a few minutes Emmy calmed herself down, and Griffin mentioned about going back to David's house. Emmy really didn't feel like embarrassing herself again, but held her tongue. One whisk of the wind and the two were back at the black couch, with Millie looking a little confused, and David with a look that Griffin just had a few minutes ago.
Hastily wiping her tears on her jacket sleeve, Emmy avoided being noticed by concentrating on her partially ripped collar of her jacket.
After a few minutes pause Griffin said, 'Well I guess I'd better go now that I've told my warning. I guess I won't be recruiting any of the Jumpers I know because apparently they are all gone.
With a knowing look at David, Griffin was about to go when David blurted out 'Please stay. You and Emmy, because those Paladins can harm Millie if they do find out that I'm here. I can't risk losing her the way I lost Dad.
Griffin considered this for a moment, then said, 'Well, the way you put it I guess staying here wouldn't put me in a better situation than being on my own. I'll stay. Raising an eyebrow at Emmy, she quickly responded, 'I-I guess I'll stay. But don't expect me to be around here all the time. I'm going to be trying to find his mother, Nodding at David.
Speaking loudest than she ever had during the time the two strangers were here, Millie replied, 'Emmy can take the room down here, then Griffin can take the room next to ours up stairs.
'I got to go and get my things from London real quick, Emmy said. I'll be right back.'
One second later Emmy was already returning, and moved most of her stuff into the room. The room was painted a pale green color, and it reminded Emmy of her room at her child-hood house. Emmy sat down on her bed and thought about how she was going to start her hunt. But it was really late, and Emmy could hardly think because she was so tired. In few minutes, she had fallen asleep.
Getting up early in the morning was not a first for Emmy. Everybody was still sleeping it seemed like. So she went outside to take a morning walk in the snow. As she walked, Emmy noticed how dark it was getting in the west. Peering closer at the dark, muddled shape, she noticed at least five big black vans hurdling down the street. Alarmed, Emmy Jumped back to the house, and accidently knocking over a plant, it echoed loudly enough to wake everyone up.
'GET UP NOW!' Emmy screamed. Griffin appeared at her side and asked what was going on. Emmy explained, 'At least five big, black cars are racing down the street right now, they look exactly like Paladins. We need to leave now!' Emmy almost cried out.
Then David appeared with a sleepy Millie, and Griffin immediately told them what happening, then prepared to Jump. But then he paused, and said, 'Have any place in mind David?
David thought about for a bit then replied, 'I guess we could go to the Newport Beach in California.
Without one hesitation, Emmy Jumped to the sunny beach, and waited for the others to come.
It was very hot, and Emmy took off her jacket to enjoy the nice beach. Not many people were there because it was a regular week. But Emmy did feel out of place because she was pale compared to the other tan beach people. She was glad Griffin was British, so she wouldn't the only one with transparent skin.
But a few more minutes passed and Emmy began to worry. They hadn't shown up yet. Then a whoosh passed by and Emmy's hair began to fly. The two other Jumpers arrived looking beaten up and Millie was passed out on David's shoulder. Emmy was about to go help them up when a silver whip lashed out and caught her ankle. It shocked her so much it was like a thousand knives stabbing her. The whip dragged her back to the house, and Roland, one of the fiercest Paladins ever, was tying her up with the whip.
Emmy cried out in pain every time she moved. Roland started unwrapping a long knife, which he was going to kill Emmy. But then he was thrown backwards as David and Griffin slammed into him. The whip tightened its hold on Emmy, who was in too much pain to notice anything else. While Griffin was fighting Roland, David Jumped up to where Emmy was pinned down and tried to cut through the wire with Roland's knife. He got it through and the whip fell away from Emmy's skin, leaving behind deep cuts that were tingling. David helped up Emmy, and then he Jumped her back to Millie.
'You alright?' he asked Emmy, who had collapsed on the warm sand. With her eyes closed, she nodded.
David paused for a second, then said, 'Stay here. Both of you. I need to help Griffin defeat Roland. Emmy, watch over Millie and if I don't come back, Jump to the nearest place you can.
With one last look at Millie, David Jumped back to Griffin's aid. Millie was silent for a bit, and then sat down next to Emmy, who was rubbing out the sand from her deep cuts. Wincing every time she brushed her skin against the bleeding spots, Emmy thought of anywhere Millie would be safe. Even though she couldn't think of life without David, she had to save Millie.
'I hope David is ok' Millie worried. Emmy felt a pang of jealousy, then sympathized for her. Of course if Emmy had been in her position, she would be worrying too.
An hour passed, and the girls both began to get worried. Emmy knew that she couldn't go back or else she would get caught. But the urge was so strong she almost did Jump back when Griffin appeared with David at his side, both so torn up they were unrecognizable. Millie was so horrified that for a second she didn't move. Then she started cleaning out their cuts with a strip of her shirt that she had torn off. Emmy wasn't up to helping because her stomach was weak, so instead she started asking questions.
'What happened to Roland? Is he gone? Were are we going to stay- but Emmy was cut off as Griffin explained, who was less hurt than David.
'We didn't defeat Roland, but he didn't leave because of us. Griffin was looking confused as he continued, 'I had got caught in the device and he turned the voltage up way high. But he was just bringing out his knife when one of his Paladins came up to him and said, 'We found the old lady! Get up here now, or we won't have much time. Then Roland looked at me, then tied me up in his stupid whip. David had been being held by another Paladin, and was released. He untied me.
'But the thing that really gets me is that he left, he should have been killing us. Griffin had finished, and was in deep thought. But Emmy was trying to figure out too what had happened. Suddenly she let out a horrified squeak, her eyes glazing over. When she had been tied up in Roland's device, he had been telling her he was trying to find her aunt, the one who let Emmy tell her anything.
Emmy's thoughts raced ahead, and what griffin had just told her was suddenly horrifying. Shaking her head franticly, Emmy Jumped to her old aunt's house in the snowy London. Entering the unlocked door, Emmy took shaky walks until she bumped into something in the dark. Switching on the lights in an instant, a body covered in blood danced in Emmy's eyes.
'NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!!! Emmy cried out as she slumped to her favorite aunt. She checked for any signs of life, and, finding none, began to get frantic. Emmy soon found out nothing could be done. She began crying franticly, and then tore herself away to call the police of an 'unknown' murder. And because she couldn't stand being there anymore, Emmy Jumped back to were the others had just noticed her being gone.
Poor Emmy had walked up to the group, with Millie just finishing wrapping up David's arm, but Emmy couldn't stand to talk about what had happened. In a hurry she said,
'I-I'm sorry, but I can't sta-stay here right no-now. I'll be ba-back soon. Emmy just choked out her words before jumping to a meadow in London, one of her most favored spots to be when she was in trouble.
