Jayfeathers Room of Lightning 2
Chapter 10: Buried Alive
I, was, once a wild
Psycho
Greedy
Bitchy
Child
I, am, now confused
What the fuck did I just do?
My, mind, lost it all
Who am I, who are you all?
"Where am I?" Eli asked, looking around her. The room was dark, but not so dark that she couldn't see. Flametail looked at her, face expressionless.
"You know that part of the hospital where they store the dead bodies for burial?" Flametail said hesitantly. Eli shrugged her shoulders. "What does that have to do with anything?" she asked, annoyed.
"Well, that's where you are."
"What the fuck," Eli snapped. She was getting tired of this. She couldn't remember anything, no even who she was. Flametail had called her Eli, so she figured that's what her name must be.
"I'm not dead," Eli said when Flametail didn't say anything.
"Maybe not," Flametail whispered. "But everyone thinks you are."
"Why?" Eli asked. "What happened?"
"Your brain turned off when Osl was electrocuting you," Flametail explained.
"Electrocuting me?" Eli shrieked.
"Yes," Flametail nodded his head.
"What the hell," Eli whispered.
"Your burial is in an hour," Flametail continued. "I think we need to get you out of here."
"How are we going to do that?"
"There's only one way to do this," Flametail sighed. "And it's gonna be difficult."
...
Sparks passed Zelia the pipe, blowing out the chemical smoke with his nose wrinkled sourly.
"Where did you get this?" Sparks asked, feeling the effects of the meth already beginning to burn through his veins.
"Found it under my dads bed," Zelia muttered as she took a large toke. Sparks just nodded. He knew sitting here smoking crystal meth with his 15 year old girlfriend was wrong. But he needed something to feel, ever since Eli died Sparks had found himself terribly numb.
"That's it," Zelia said, putting he pipe away. "I'll try to find more later."
"How often do you do meth?" Sparks asked. Usually they just smoked weed.
"Here and there," Zelia replied. "It keeps me sane, y'know?"
"Yeah I know," Sparks mumbled. Everything seemed very slowed down, and he wasn't sure if he liked it.
"Are you ready for your sisters funeral?" Zelia asked quietly. Sparks shrugged, looking down.
"We should probably get ready to go," Zelia prompted. "I saw Jayfeather sitting in his suit an hour ago."
"He's been sitting in that goddamn suit all day," Sparks hissed. "Staring at the ground, whispering things."
"He's grieving."
"Well, it's annoying and it makes me sad," Sparks snapped. "But yeah, I suppose we should go." he stood up and opened the door to his house. When they walked into the living room, Sparks was not surprised to find Jayfeather sitting on the couch in his suit, staring into the wall.
"Dad, are you ready to go?" Sparks asked. He noticed he was slurring his words and made a mental note to stop.
"You smell like speed," Jayfeather said numbly, not looking away from the wall. Zelia's eyes flew open in panic but Sparks remained nonchalant. "Dad, let's go," he repeated.
"Okay," Jayfeather slowly got up and walked away, not making eye contact with Sparks. Sparks and Zelia followed, not saying a word.
Later
Eli lay motionless as her body was lowered into a casket. Flametail squeezed in too, but the only way he could fit was if he laid directly on top of her. Eli heard the casket close, and felt herself being lifted up. She blinked open her eyes, and nearly screamed.
Flametail was two inches above her face.
"Stop that!" Eli whispered as Flametail continued to stare.
"Sorry," Flametail smiled. Eli's face turned red. "Stop that," she growled. "And explain to me how I'm getting out of here."
"I'm going to talk to Jayfeather," Flametail explained. "I'll get him to tell everyone to leave. Then once everyone is gone, you can get out."
Eli was having a hard time concentrating, as Flametails breath was tickling her nose.
"Do you understand?" Flametail asked. Eli realized she had zoned out looking into his eyes.
"Oh, uh, yeah," she stammered. "I hope it works."
"I hope so too."
"Um, Flametail?"
"Hm?"
"Who's Jayfeather?"
Flametail looked at her with wide sad eyes for several seconds before replying. "Jayfeather is your father," he said quietly.
"Oh," was all Eli could say.
"I can hear the funeral starting," Flametail whispered. Then he slowly rose and disintegrated through the roof of the coffin. It took Eli a moment to process the fact that Flametail didn't necessarily have to lay on top of her the entire time.
She waited for what felt like hours, listening to the voices around the coffin. Her ears pricked up when she heard a sorrow filled voice. She guessed he was making a speech, so she braced herself for a long boring twenty minutes. In the mans first sentence, Eli realized he must be her dad.
Tears rose in her eyes as he spoke.
...
Jayfeather took a deep breath and looked at the audience waiting for his speech about Eli. He held up his speech cards and took a long shaking breath.
"Eli, was my daughter," Jayfeather began. "And if she were here, she would not want to be remembered for her death, but celebrated for her life," he felt tears rising in his eyes and made no attempt to hide them. "Eli was a strong, beautiful girl. Her life was taken away by a monster, a demon. I remember when Eli was young... she was the cutest little girl. I remember once when she was about five. She had just had a birthday party, and she got to wear a blue party hat. She didn't take off that hat for a week," Jayfeathers voice broke mid sentence. His hands shook violently, and tears were streaming down his cheeks. "I remember sitting with Eli on her bed, clipping her little fingernails because she always clipped them too far when she did them herself. I remember thinking what a precious girl she was, born into this cruel, disgusting world. I vowed to protect her from harm, and to keep her safe. But it's impossible to keep someone safe in a world like this. I didn't want to let her leave, I wanted to hold her in my arms forever," Jayfeather realized he was sobbing, but he pressed on. "She grew up too fast, she wanted to live her life. So I tried to let her. But I knew that the minute I let her go, she would endear problems, as everyone does. I didn't want my little princess to grow up. But she did, so I did what every other father does," Jayfeather paused to wipe his tear stained cheeks. "I let her go. One horrible man took away the life of my daughter, my princess. But she will always be remembered. And I know I wasn't the greatest father," Jayfeathers eyes were so full of tears he couldn't read his note cards. He threw his note cards on the ground and continued from heart. "I knew I would never be the worlds greatest dad. Hell, I was far from it. But she knew I did the best I could. I know she loved me, and I tried to show and prove to her every day, that I loved her too. I loved her with all my heart, and I will until the day I die. I love you, Eli. You will always be my little girl."
Meanwhile
Eli was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. She remembered everything now. She remembered Jayfeather. She remembered herself. And she remembered what happened to her. Eli wanted to scream, to kick open the coffin and jump into her fathers arms.
Wait, why can't I? Eli thought. Screw Flametails plan. I'm getting out of here.
Eli kicked the top of the coffin, but it didn't move. She kicked again.
With a terrible realization, Eli realized the coffin was locked. She beard sorrowful bells ring, and with a jolt, the coffin was raised from the ground. Hyper mania panic shot through Eli as she found herself lowering, presumably into her grave.
"WAIT!" Eli screamed. "WAIT WAIT WAIT!"
The coffin continued lowering until it hit solid ground. Eli kicked and screamed, but no one opened the lid.
"GODDAMN FLAMETAIL WHERE ARE YOU!" Eli screamed. "HELP ME!"
Flametails ghastly head poked through the roof of the box. "Jayfeathers gone," he whisper shrieked.
"GET SOMEONE ELSE!" Eli could hear dirt pounding on the roof of the coffin.
They were going to bury her alive.
"I CAN'T GET ANYONE ELSE," Flametail screamed. "Jayfeathers the only one except you who can see me!"