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Title: Who am I?
Chapter: 8 – Unlocking the truth
Silent, grieving, and withdrawn into a shell of sheer pain, Joe walked stiffly towards the iron gates. His coat billowing about with the violent winds, he held prisoner a rose in his grasp; blood trickling from the assault of its thorns. He walked precautious, accompanied by only his shadow and Francoise's presence that had haunted him since her death. When they had gotten to the nearest hospital—it was too late. Anger had flooded Joe, grabbing anything that was near and thrashing it into the walls. His actions followed by endless tears that never left his face regain a moment without bitterness. Words that Cynthia had said to him earlier flooded through his muddled thoughts.
She was being chased by her parent's assassins that were hired by Scarl, a man my father used to work for. He is now behind bars. They drugged her after they killed her parents and a severe fire in the laboratory that they were keeping her in caused several chemicals to spill causing memory loss. I suppose she wondered aimlessly for days and somehow, one of Scarl's henchmen who was truly a police man always hid her away and kept her under his watched. Later, after she began staying with you and your mother, he was spotted going into a spot when Scarl had last tracked her. He was discovered and put in captivity. After locating you, Scarl sent his troops to kill you and gather Francoise. However, the officer managed to escape and send a chef and a guard to rescue you from danger informing you of an escape route that he himself had planned. Unfortunately, they did not count on Francoise regaining her memory from lack of drugging her everyday as they did before she escaped. The sudden shock from remember seeing her parents murder in front of her caused Francoise to go into severe depression. Her last hope to rid herself of such pain and rescuing someone who had helped her and she had grown rather fond of—and that was stepping in the way of that bullet, Joe. Even though I never did really meet her, I am really sorry. Tomorrow I will be leaving and I discontinued any idea in your mother's mind of our engagement. I know that whom your heart truly belonged to was Francoise herself.
Then, she had left. His reasoning understood Cynthia's explanation, and Francoise's feelings at the same time, but, he wasn't ready to give up on her. Francoise had silently spoke words of comfort to him towards his parent's situation. She was a friend, a confidant, his first love. She was what had enlightened him on joy that money could not buy.
She would have wanted you to continue with your life, Joe. We all do. You know her better then I and I hope that in honor of her memory you live your life to her fullest.
So he would, dedicating every moment of mirth and grief to her. He would never fin someone who would hold a place in his heart quite like she did. He could never hear a laughter ring out like hers and catch on to him.
Francoise, I promise you from this day on, I'll never forget you. You will always be inside my thoughts, dreams, and forever engraved in my memory.
Joe walked through the rusty iron gates and found himself almost automatically walking and stopping. He placed the now crushed rose whose petals fell on the ground, in the patch of earth that guarded his one true love. In the gravestone, a message was engraved in sorrow and the pain that continued to consume him everyday. It contained the laughter that would never return. In spidery letters it read;
Who you are is but only defined by what lies inside of you.
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Authors Note: Well, that's the end of that. This came out to be actually a very short story. Unlike my other stories, this one ended tragically, something that I am not accustomed to. I felt, when I wrote this ending, that it would be best to leave it at this point. I'd like to thank you all for all your wonderful reviews.
-Sorrowful