WARNING: if you don't care about french music, JUMP the 2 following
paragraphs.
Again, about french music, there's this group "Noir Désir" which is Great!!! Rock with all kind varieties!! The lyrics are what really makes the song, so if you don't know french, I don't think it would do the same effect....
Anyway, HERE IT IS!!! Warning: this is a weird chapter!!
Winnie wasn't exactly sleeping. She was looking aside at the wall asking herself if there was a bit of truth in what Jesse had said. She shook her head. It couldn't be possible.
She closed her eyes seeking for sleep but it still wasn't easily coming. She shifted under the thin cover. She was feeling a bit too warm. Winnie finally got up and switched on the fan above the bed. She sniffed; it smelled weird. She put on the light and saw smoke coming out of the joints of the door.
She rushed over and opened it wide. Flames were eating their way on the left side of the wall. She ran to the other side, but remembered that Jesse's violin was still in her room, she ran back and took it with her outside, a couple of brazes catching her night gown.
She quickly put them out and knocked at every door, yelling that there was a fire, but it seemed that there was no one about. She then searched for the alarm and found none.
Winnie then sprinted to the exits and found them closed. Her yells, asking for help were of no use.
Panicked stricken, she fell to the ground.
***
Jesse was sitting at the bar table, asking the bartender a beer.
"Sorry lad," he said, "you look to young."
Instead of a beer, he gave him lemonade. Jesse grunted but didn't say anything.
The bartender left saying that he was needed somewhere else for a moment. When he was gone, Jesse grabbed a small bottle of whisky.
"Too young," he chuckled. "Indeed."
"Too young for us," someone said behind him.
Jesse turned around. A man with a white beard was holding a pistol pointed towards him.
"Hey! What's this!" Jesse asked surprised and worried.
The man pressed on the trigger and the shot entered Jesse and came out the other side, in a clean blow, not one single drop of blood had had the time to escape from his body.
"What the Hell," Jesse hissed.
Coming off from his surprise, Jesse threw the whisky bottle at the man's head. It crashed against it.
The man didn't budge from the blow. He just replaced his pistol and took out some handcuffs.
Jesse ran for it but was stopped by well-muscled men that gripped him by the scruff of the neck while. Jesse trashed to make them let go.
"Stop it!" he yelled. "Or I'll...'
"Shut up!" the man with the beard said. "You're in enough trouble as it is, Lad."
The handcuffs were forced on Jesse's wrists.
"Poor fool," he continued, "because of you, people had to dye tonight to keep the secret."
"What are you talking about? What do you mean?" Jesse asked half-panicked.
The man with the beard took a bar cloth and wiped the whisky from his face. The two Ruffs seated Jesse on a chair. The man then sat down in front of him.
"How come you've drunk the Castalie water, Lad? Who let you?"
"Water?" Jesse understood what was coming, these men wanted to find the water to use it. "Never!" he spat at the man. "I'll never tell you! You Mad man! I'll never let you have it."
"Now, see here. You'll spit it out soon enough. Your protector, Mrs Gregory, might burn in any moment now," the man paused. "We can still save her and send her to a deserted place where she won't be able to repeat certain things...."
"Winnie!" Jesse yelled. "What are doing to her! You are threatening of letting her dye?"
Then Jesse stopped trashing and smiled realising. Winnie was safe, she wouldn't burn, she couldn't. He started to laugh aloud.
A firm punch in the face made him stop, but he couldn't remove the smile. He would tell them nothing.
"I won't tell, you must see this," Jesse said with mock in his voice. "What are you going to do now?"
The man with the white beard grimaced. "Too bad for her. I suppose we might take you away now."
A bag was put over Jesse's head and he was led to the deck and forced into a rowboat, that was then lowered down on the water.
From inside of his bag Jesse couldn't see much, but he could hear the creaking of the oars as they were handled and felt someone's hand pushing his head down against the wood of the boat.
A loud explosion made him jump in surprise.
"Winnie!" he yelled, she was still inside the ship.
He started shaking with cold as some water was splashed on him, or so he thought so. Winnie would sink with the ship, she would be trapped, and he had been kidnapped. He wondered if little Winnie foster had felt the same when Ma Tuck, Miles and he had taken away.
"Winnie..." ***
In the cold water, Winnie held too a large piece of wood. She was naked; the fire had consumed her clothes and all and she was so very cold.
Dawn shined up, but the rays of sunshine didn't warm her. She didn't know for how much time she had been drifting and she was now asking herself what kind of fishes lived in these parts.
But what preoccupied her more was Jesse. She wondered where he could be like he couldn't die either.
She tried to block out the memories of the night. But they flowed in.
She screamed so hard that her throat was still sore while the flames caught her. She had felt so hot. Her night-gown had been ablaze, flames licking her body... She suppressed a shiver, not because of the cold this time.
***
Jesse was siting alone in a lighted white room. Whatever the people that had kidnapped him wanted to know, he would tell them nothing about the spring. And certainly not about Winnie.
A door behind him opened. The blond girl from the Deck turned up dressed the same still with a lollypop in her mouth. Someone else had come in too, a man that looked in his fifties with a brown suit and complete white hair stuck back with some kind of shinny gel. They sat down at the other side of the table.
"Deucline yur First name and Name plase. Age, origine..." The man had a french accent.
"No," Jesse simply said.
"Yur Name plase at lest."
"No."
"Relly, yu should, it would bring only good to yur present situation."
"Get to the point," Jesse said annoyed.
"It seemz zat you have drunk Castalie Water and it iz putting us in danger."
Jesse looked at him with complete incomprehension. The man saw it and came to the fact.
"Ze Water haz special effects, az you must be aware of. Ze point iz zat you have drunk some, and it'z a problem for us beacuze yu ar spreding ze newz."
"And who is us?" Jesse asked.
The girl answered.
"We are from the F.S.I. and we know who you are. This is only procedure."
She put a paper on the table in front Jesse. He looked down.
On it was written his name; Tuck, Jesse, birth; 1776 in Humminburg and other descriptions of his life and features. Written down was where he had been, when. Mrs Gregory was underlined at the end of the list, proclaiming he had given her information on the Spring Water. But there was nothing about his adventure with Winnie and his family in 1880.
"Who the hell are you?" Jesse looked up from the paper to the two people.
"We accuse you for giving information about our existence to mortal human. We so condemn you to be incarcerated five years..."
"What are you talking about? What is this? Is it a kind of joke?" Jesse yelled. "I thought you just wanted to know where the water was, but this... I must be dreaming..."
He started to shake his head, disoriented. He hadn't prepared himself for this. They weren't trying to discover where the spring was, but to protect it. And he would be going to prison? He didn't exactly understand what was happening.
The two people were silent.
The girl took back the paper.
Jesse made the girl uncomfortable. "You drunk the water at SpringDale?" she inquired, trying to lighten the mood. "I did too."
Jesse looked up.
"No, I didn't. At TreeGap," he corrected.
The man scowled, "Zere is no Spring at TreeGap that we've herd off, Lad. Yu must be wrong."
***
Henry was at table eating his breakfast; hot porridge with a helping of butter and sugar. A servant walked over to him, a letter on a silver tray.
Mr Gregory opened and read it. He then asked for a cigar. The servant gave him one, lit it and departed without a word.
He put the burning end of the cigar against the paper, which took fire slowly. He then put it for it to finish consuming in the clean chimney where it burned lazily. A couple of words could be seen; "Mr Rainman", "in charge", "Best thanks", "welfare of your dear wife". The rest was transformed in ash.
Four days later, there was sorrow in the house, the windows were closed for the loss of a dear one.
The son of the Master of the house was called back. Flowers were sent to the family.
Mr Gregory seemed angry of his wife's death more than sad.
"She can't die!" he yelled in his sleep.
A madness slowly crept up in his eyes. A month later he was found dead in his bureau, a bullet in his head.
His son inherited all of the family's goods and a certain property in TreeGap, a far away town.
He visited and asked questions about its past. The people who used to live there, before it was brought by the Gregories.
He would have often gone walking in the woods and later on he would have sold the house in New York and settled down in TreeGap.
But he disappeared one night, leaving the property to an important syndicate, the W.I.S...
War raged in Europe. The Germans advanced far into France, and took most of the upper half of the country...
This chapter must have been wee weird to you and a bit shorter than the others.
You are meant to wonder what is going on in the world and wondering what is happening to the two protagonists. "Why the hell did you separate them?" you must be asking. "You can't stop a chapter like that!", "This so doesn't make sense." "It's way too weird..." etc....
But for your information, it's done on purpose. I've just put in place a time acceleration, instead of starting in the next chapter and revealing the past (thinking about it now, it might have been better that way.)
There is certain, what we call in french, "déclics" that change a person at sometime of their existence. . Sorry, but I don't have the words to explain the word, exactly... I think, that being in the middle of an enormous fire could be called a "déclic" for Winnie, for her to really realise that she can't die. Like for Pa Tuck when he shot himself, I suppose.
Well, here's the sixth chapter. I hope it got the effect that I wanted, to make you think and wander even more about... some things.. Like: there is other springs than the TreeGap one. You might also wonder what is Castalie (or Castaly, I don't know if the writing changes in English, and like Microsoft Word doesn't recognise it...) It's a Spring at Delphes; in Greece, famous in the Antiquity for it's healing properties.
Also, personal note: Winnie's safe, but for what price?
THANKS again for the REVIEWS!!! You're great!!!
HAA, Mrs Gromp, like I said in the last chapter is the wife of Henry's doctor!!! If you have other questions, feel free to ask by REVIEW.
I hope you'll read the next chapter!!!!
Thanks again for the Reviews. You can't imagine how it brightens up my day. (You probably can, it's just a way to say that it pleases me so much to hear (read, in fact) that someone likes what I write!!!)
Again, about french music, there's this group "Noir Désir" which is Great!!! Rock with all kind varieties!! The lyrics are what really makes the song, so if you don't know french, I don't think it would do the same effect....
Anyway, HERE IT IS!!! Warning: this is a weird chapter!!
Winnie wasn't exactly sleeping. She was looking aside at the wall asking herself if there was a bit of truth in what Jesse had said. She shook her head. It couldn't be possible.
She closed her eyes seeking for sleep but it still wasn't easily coming. She shifted under the thin cover. She was feeling a bit too warm. Winnie finally got up and switched on the fan above the bed. She sniffed; it smelled weird. She put on the light and saw smoke coming out of the joints of the door.
She rushed over and opened it wide. Flames were eating their way on the left side of the wall. She ran to the other side, but remembered that Jesse's violin was still in her room, she ran back and took it with her outside, a couple of brazes catching her night gown.
She quickly put them out and knocked at every door, yelling that there was a fire, but it seemed that there was no one about. She then searched for the alarm and found none.
Winnie then sprinted to the exits and found them closed. Her yells, asking for help were of no use.
Panicked stricken, she fell to the ground.
***
Jesse was sitting at the bar table, asking the bartender a beer.
"Sorry lad," he said, "you look to young."
Instead of a beer, he gave him lemonade. Jesse grunted but didn't say anything.
The bartender left saying that he was needed somewhere else for a moment. When he was gone, Jesse grabbed a small bottle of whisky.
"Too young," he chuckled. "Indeed."
"Too young for us," someone said behind him.
Jesse turned around. A man with a white beard was holding a pistol pointed towards him.
"Hey! What's this!" Jesse asked surprised and worried.
The man pressed on the trigger and the shot entered Jesse and came out the other side, in a clean blow, not one single drop of blood had had the time to escape from his body.
"What the Hell," Jesse hissed.
Coming off from his surprise, Jesse threw the whisky bottle at the man's head. It crashed against it.
The man didn't budge from the blow. He just replaced his pistol and took out some handcuffs.
Jesse ran for it but was stopped by well-muscled men that gripped him by the scruff of the neck while. Jesse trashed to make them let go.
"Stop it!" he yelled. "Or I'll...'
"Shut up!" the man with the beard said. "You're in enough trouble as it is, Lad."
The handcuffs were forced on Jesse's wrists.
"Poor fool," he continued, "because of you, people had to dye tonight to keep the secret."
"What are you talking about? What do you mean?" Jesse asked half-panicked.
The man with the beard took a bar cloth and wiped the whisky from his face. The two Ruffs seated Jesse on a chair. The man then sat down in front of him.
"How come you've drunk the Castalie water, Lad? Who let you?"
"Water?" Jesse understood what was coming, these men wanted to find the water to use it. "Never!" he spat at the man. "I'll never tell you! You Mad man! I'll never let you have it."
"Now, see here. You'll spit it out soon enough. Your protector, Mrs Gregory, might burn in any moment now," the man paused. "We can still save her and send her to a deserted place where she won't be able to repeat certain things...."
"Winnie!" Jesse yelled. "What are doing to her! You are threatening of letting her dye?"
Then Jesse stopped trashing and smiled realising. Winnie was safe, she wouldn't burn, she couldn't. He started to laugh aloud.
A firm punch in the face made him stop, but he couldn't remove the smile. He would tell them nothing.
"I won't tell, you must see this," Jesse said with mock in his voice. "What are you going to do now?"
The man with the white beard grimaced. "Too bad for her. I suppose we might take you away now."
A bag was put over Jesse's head and he was led to the deck and forced into a rowboat, that was then lowered down on the water.
From inside of his bag Jesse couldn't see much, but he could hear the creaking of the oars as they were handled and felt someone's hand pushing his head down against the wood of the boat.
A loud explosion made him jump in surprise.
"Winnie!" he yelled, she was still inside the ship.
He started shaking with cold as some water was splashed on him, or so he thought so. Winnie would sink with the ship, she would be trapped, and he had been kidnapped. He wondered if little Winnie foster had felt the same when Ma Tuck, Miles and he had taken away.
"Winnie..." ***
In the cold water, Winnie held too a large piece of wood. She was naked; the fire had consumed her clothes and all and she was so very cold.
Dawn shined up, but the rays of sunshine didn't warm her. She didn't know for how much time she had been drifting and she was now asking herself what kind of fishes lived in these parts.
But what preoccupied her more was Jesse. She wondered where he could be like he couldn't die either.
She tried to block out the memories of the night. But they flowed in.
She screamed so hard that her throat was still sore while the flames caught her. She had felt so hot. Her night-gown had been ablaze, flames licking her body... She suppressed a shiver, not because of the cold this time.
***
Jesse was siting alone in a lighted white room. Whatever the people that had kidnapped him wanted to know, he would tell them nothing about the spring. And certainly not about Winnie.
A door behind him opened. The blond girl from the Deck turned up dressed the same still with a lollypop in her mouth. Someone else had come in too, a man that looked in his fifties with a brown suit and complete white hair stuck back with some kind of shinny gel. They sat down at the other side of the table.
"Deucline yur First name and Name plase. Age, origine..." The man had a french accent.
"No," Jesse simply said.
"Yur Name plase at lest."
"No."
"Relly, yu should, it would bring only good to yur present situation."
"Get to the point," Jesse said annoyed.
"It seemz zat you have drunk Castalie Water and it iz putting us in danger."
Jesse looked at him with complete incomprehension. The man saw it and came to the fact.
"Ze Water haz special effects, az you must be aware of. Ze point iz zat you have drunk some, and it'z a problem for us beacuze yu ar spreding ze newz."
"And who is us?" Jesse asked.
The girl answered.
"We are from the F.S.I. and we know who you are. This is only procedure."
She put a paper on the table in front Jesse. He looked down.
On it was written his name; Tuck, Jesse, birth; 1776 in Humminburg and other descriptions of his life and features. Written down was where he had been, when. Mrs Gregory was underlined at the end of the list, proclaiming he had given her information on the Spring Water. But there was nothing about his adventure with Winnie and his family in 1880.
"Who the hell are you?" Jesse looked up from the paper to the two people.
"We accuse you for giving information about our existence to mortal human. We so condemn you to be incarcerated five years..."
"What are you talking about? What is this? Is it a kind of joke?" Jesse yelled. "I thought you just wanted to know where the water was, but this... I must be dreaming..."
He started to shake his head, disoriented. He hadn't prepared himself for this. They weren't trying to discover where the spring was, but to protect it. And he would be going to prison? He didn't exactly understand what was happening.
The two people were silent.
The girl took back the paper.
Jesse made the girl uncomfortable. "You drunk the water at SpringDale?" she inquired, trying to lighten the mood. "I did too."
Jesse looked up.
"No, I didn't. At TreeGap," he corrected.
The man scowled, "Zere is no Spring at TreeGap that we've herd off, Lad. Yu must be wrong."
***
Henry was at table eating his breakfast; hot porridge with a helping of butter and sugar. A servant walked over to him, a letter on a silver tray.
Mr Gregory opened and read it. He then asked for a cigar. The servant gave him one, lit it and departed without a word.
He put the burning end of the cigar against the paper, which took fire slowly. He then put it for it to finish consuming in the clean chimney where it burned lazily. A couple of words could be seen; "Mr Rainman", "in charge", "Best thanks", "welfare of your dear wife". The rest was transformed in ash.
Four days later, there was sorrow in the house, the windows were closed for the loss of a dear one.
The son of the Master of the house was called back. Flowers were sent to the family.
Mr Gregory seemed angry of his wife's death more than sad.
"She can't die!" he yelled in his sleep.
A madness slowly crept up in his eyes. A month later he was found dead in his bureau, a bullet in his head.
His son inherited all of the family's goods and a certain property in TreeGap, a far away town.
He visited and asked questions about its past. The people who used to live there, before it was brought by the Gregories.
He would have often gone walking in the woods and later on he would have sold the house in New York and settled down in TreeGap.
But he disappeared one night, leaving the property to an important syndicate, the W.I.S...
War raged in Europe. The Germans advanced far into France, and took most of the upper half of the country...
This chapter must have been wee weird to you and a bit shorter than the others.
You are meant to wonder what is going on in the world and wondering what is happening to the two protagonists. "Why the hell did you separate them?" you must be asking. "You can't stop a chapter like that!", "This so doesn't make sense." "It's way too weird..." etc....
But for your information, it's done on purpose. I've just put in place a time acceleration, instead of starting in the next chapter and revealing the past (thinking about it now, it might have been better that way.)
There is certain, what we call in french, "déclics" that change a person at sometime of their existence. . Sorry, but I don't have the words to explain the word, exactly... I think, that being in the middle of an enormous fire could be called a "déclic" for Winnie, for her to really realise that she can't die. Like for Pa Tuck when he shot himself, I suppose.
Well, here's the sixth chapter. I hope it got the effect that I wanted, to make you think and wander even more about... some things.. Like: there is other springs than the TreeGap one. You might also wonder what is Castalie (or Castaly, I don't know if the writing changes in English, and like Microsoft Word doesn't recognise it...) It's a Spring at Delphes; in Greece, famous in the Antiquity for it's healing properties.
Also, personal note: Winnie's safe, but for what price?
THANKS again for the REVIEWS!!! You're great!!!
HAA, Mrs Gromp, like I said in the last chapter is the wife of Henry's doctor!!! If you have other questions, feel free to ask by REVIEW.
I hope you'll read the next chapter!!!!
Thanks again for the Reviews. You can't imagine how it brightens up my day. (You probably can, it's just a way to say that it pleases me so much to hear (read, in fact) that someone likes what I write!!!)