A/N: Okay… I'm going to attempt to do some major kissing-up. I realize that I haven't updated since… I think September or October (goodness me, has it been THAT long?)… but I didn't forget about you guys. I've just merely hit a rocky road in the past few months, plus the hecticness – pretend it's a word – isn't ceasing. I'm back, though, and I'll try to promise that it will NEVER take (whips out calculator…) … 6 months to update EVER again. I think I'm making it sound worse. Maybe I shouldn't have told you guys how long it's actually been? Well, for whoever remembers this series, I'm continuing. I hope you guys continue to be as great as you've been in the past! I love you guys, even if I haven't been here in half a year to show it. Seriously, I should stop talking now. I'm making myself look incredibly bad.… enjoy!
Chapter Eleven
Artificial light penetrated into his skin. As she circled him, any emotions that would have been witnessed through her eyes were frozen by her lack of soul.
"Did you know?"
He wasn't sure whether to play the dummy or confess blatantly what he'd been hiding for months. The rigorous, oppressive ice that frosted her voice's tone made him want to cower into the shadows of the kitchen's corners.
"Know-" he halted, then continued, "-what?"
She chuckled, and his mind screamed at him, telling himself that maybe she was joking – testing him to see if there was something she should know about. Her humor slowly diminished as she gripped something from her pocket. Gradually, she lifted her arm to allow the vision of a golden locket come to him.
"Tell me you didn't know that our little Harmonica was smitten with Chandler Bing."
His answer was halted by a series of deep breaths. "No." His response was short and barely audible.
"What?"
"No. I didn't know," he answered for the second time, his voice more secure with this reply.
Judy sighed, dropping the necklace back into her pocket, and walked over to Ross. She gripped him in an uncomfortable hug, which lasted a mere second.
"Oh, Rossy, I knew you wouldn't keep such a thing from me," she said, and walked out of the room. Only Judy Gellar could leave such a bitter conversation and pretend the encounter never occurred.
Ross looked at the bare table before him, feeling appalled. He denied the truth. He got away with it. His sister would suffer the consequences.
November 18
My love, my lifetime,
I can't see you anymore. At least, my mother said so. And, Mon… I couldn't argue with her. Arguing would only mean that she would make me move to Arizona, or California. Maybe even Dollywood. And then I truly wouldn't be able to see you again. I hate to admit it, but I would never be able to move here on my own. I need my mother. Or her money and shelter, at least. I could care less about her now. I always knew she was colder than most women with sons, but I never knew she was without a heart and soul. Now I know. Well, she couldn't give me a single good reason. She wouldn't tell me why I couldn't see you, other than the typical "I said so." But I have to obey. That is… make her think that I'm obeying. Mon, don't you ever think that I'd leave you. I promised you that I wouldn't. Besides, how could I live without my sole source of life? We'll just have to be careful. We'll just have to make sure she doesn't know we're together.
Mon, she can't ever find out that I disobeyed her. She'd never hurt me, but I'm afraid of what she'd do to you. I'm not sure you can even run from a woman without soul. And, I swear to you, if she ever hurts you, I'll kill her myself. I don't care what you say to that, Mon. She won't ever be able to hurt you, because I'll always be on your side. We haven't exactly said our vows and linked ourselves in wedlock yet, but I like knowing that, with us, it's for better and for worse. I don't need to be married to you at the moment to know that you're the only love I'll know.
I'm sure you don't need this. Not that you're even reading it now, but you're in enough pain as it is. Which brings me to my next plea: please wake up. Mon, I need you. I need you completely… I won't settle on the memories or your limp presence. I need you. All of you. I need you to wake up. I need you to live a life longer than 18 years. I need you to drag yourself out of that coma! I need to live happily ever after with you.
Living off of your love,
Your lifetime's only forever
The only hint of alcohol in her presence was that of her drunken stupor. Those in her way cleared a path for her, allowing the woman to gradually find her way to the end of the hallway.
"Excuse me, miss?" someone called after her, seeing her about to enter a closed door.
"What." It wasn't a question; it was a demand. The doctor that hurried after her lessened his haste, already afraid of the woman.
"You're supposed to check in at the front desk. You have to state who you are, who you're here-"
"I'm Monica Gellar's-" she paused, allowing a slight hiccup to interrupt her statement, "mother."
"Mother?" The man looked her up and down, both confused and terrified of her demeanor. He hesitantly nodded. "Would you like to know your daughter's-"
"Don't call her that," she hissed.
Taken aback, the doctor restated his words. "Would you like to know – Monica's – condition?"
She impatiently shook her head. "Just let me see her. And I don't expect you'll be eavesdropping?"
A hiccup erupted lightly from her lips once more. She smirked, unwilling to be delayed any longer. She walked into the room that held Monica, closed the door behind her, and revealed the flask beneath her coat's sleeve. Unfastening the cap, she slipped the alcohol down her throat. As she inched towards Monica's unconscious body, continuing to eagerly swallow the intoxicating beverage, she also produced the golden locket from her pockets. When the flask was empty, she pitched it aside, listening to it strike the hard floor fervently.
By then she was right next to her daughter's bed, gazing over her. Neither the tubes that lay around Monica, nor the air mask that allowed her to breathe, or even the grim, brutal wounds that were pounded into her flesh made Judy flinch. Instead, she laughed.
"Oh, dear little Monica. What would Daddy have said to see you like this?" she sneered violently, her fingers leading the locket into an unhurried, repeating circle in the air. "Daddy would not have liked to see you so hurt."
Tauntingly, she began to lightly beat the chains of the necklace against Monica's gashes. "You've yet to see what I can do to you, Monica."
With that statement, Judy grasped the chains in one hand and the locket's heart in another. In one swift motion, she tore the necklace apart and tossed it beside the body struggling to live.
"You've yet to experience true pain."
To be continued…
Okay, so I'm losing my touch… sorry! Please, oh please, oh please – tell me what you think! Be brutally kind or brutally hurtful – I don't care, just as long as the reviews are honest! Please, reviews truly make me smile so much wider each day. And, once again, I'm ever so sorry for making you guys wait for so long. I can't really explain why it's taken so long… but just know that I'm not giving up on Forbidden! You guys are the bestest for waiting so patiently, and being so kind with your reviews :D Continue the kindness, eh?
