disclaimer ; as before chapters.
Chapter five: The end.
That day, the sun came out. It shone down on the green fields, melting the snow.
We were all eager to be outside, grabbing cloaks and tying scarfs around our necks.
Zillah at first refused to wear a scarf, but when told that she would catch cold and become sick for Spring, she relented, allowing Aunt Eglantine to tie her scarf on.
"Be careful." She said as we headed out the door.
"And don't fall into mischief."
Zillah blinked innocently with her blue eyes and Pippin smiled sweetly. I just laughed. Aunt Eglantine knew that mischief followed us like a loyal puppy.
She waved her tea towel in the air as she closed the door and the three of us began running.
Over fields and under fences.
It was a good half hour before we reached our secret cubby. Our place.
In amongst overhanging branches and drooping trees, beside the dwindling river,
To our surprise though, our friendly stream had turned into a raging river. The melting snow was probably a cause for this change.
Pippin, Zillah and I munched on apples before resorting to a favourite pastime of building boats.
Unlike most hobbits, us three were not afraid of water. Zillah especially liked it; she would stand for ages just staring at it, or watching where it met the horizon, often telling me of dreams of seeing the sea. She was unusual that way; at times I didn't understand her.
Today was no exception. In fact, she seemed excited by how powerful and furious it had come.
She was first finished with her boat. Our boats were a cause of havoc for the fishermen; they found it most frustrating to pull up a boat instead of a fish.
Zillah picked up her boat and proceeded towards the river. Pippin hurriedly put the finishing touches on his boat, including scratching his name into the side. The he hurried to catch up with Zillah.
She smiled back at me as they edged their way out over the river, balancing precariously on the branches of a tree.
And then it all happened so quickly, though looking back on it, it seems much slower.
Zillah leans down and places her boat on the water. Beside her Pippin also leans down, holding onto the branch above his head with one hand.
"Be careful." I say, echoing Aunt Eglantine.
And Zillah screams, one short startled terrified scream, before she hits the water. Pippin hangs by one hand from the branch above his head. The branch they were standing on has gone, as has Zillah.
I remember screaming and Pippin looking at me with forlorn eyes before letting go.
"PIPPIN!" I yell, racing into the water and grabbing him as he rushes past.
The current threatens to carry me along, though the water is only up to my waist.
I am screaming Zillah's name and tears blur my vision as I pull Pippin out of the water. Together we run, following the stream. Pippin and I. We are screaming, I think. I see the branch. Snagged on it is a scarf. We are screaming her name, over and over and all I hear is her scream before she hit the water. The short petrified scream of one still young.
Both Pippin and I run alongside the branch, until it reaches a narrow place and stops. We half race in, and Pippin leans forward and grabs hold of the scarf. He presses it to his mouth; eyes wide, silently screaming and his shuddering sobs are muffled.
I don't remember much of the rest of that day, except that we kept following the river. Running and staggering, crying and yelling.
As we come into sight of the town we can see a huge crowd. We push through them to the centre and there lies Zillah. Her black hair surrounding her face, clinging to it in wet tendrils. Her skin is an icy-blue colour.
I remember people holding Pippin and I back as we screamed and fought to get to her. Wildly struggling and screaming her name over and over, lashing out at those that held us. And I threw up, retching and coughing until I collapse, and my day ends.
I wake in the night, thinking that it was all a dream, knowing I am wrong. Pippin is standing by my bed. He sees me open my eyes, and crawls in beside me. Around his neck hangs Zillah's scarf. His eyes are wells of water brimming at the surface.
We cry together, softly into the dark, his face buried in my shoulder, and his hands tightly holding the fronts of my nightshirt, curled in front of me.
In the morning, arrangements are being made for Zillah's funeral and Aunt Eglantine has gone to my home to inform my parents.
People bustle around, most crying.
Pippin and I sit against the wall by the door to where Zillah lies dead. We just sit there, not crying, not talking, or registering anything that is said to us.
It is as if everyone was talking a different language. Pearl brought us food, but we didn't eat and it got cold.
Uncle Paladin came and sat with us for a while, hugging a non-responsive Pippin and crying.
It felt as though I was seeing everything through a screen and everything was in slow motion. And my mind kept saying that there was absolutely no way Zillah could be dead.
I clearly remember Pippin turning to Pearl when she came to collect the food and saying to her:
"But she can't be dead, can she? How is that fair? She was alive yesterday. Pearl? I didn't get to say Goodbye." And then when Pearl had dropped the tray and run off crying, he'd turned to me.
"Why is she crying?" He asked, as tears also began coursing down his face. He flung his arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder. It was then that the truth hit me, and I fully realised that Zillah was not going to be coming back, and that of course started me crying.
So Pippin and I sat in the now empty corridor and cried. But, no matter how many tears I cried I didn't feel as though I'd ever be happy again. There was no release, and all I could do was cry.
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Okay, so I lied, it is not the end. Sorry to leave it like this, but I had to save enough for another chapter.
Coming up next, Chapter Six: Continuation of the end.
Yeah, it just keeps on going.
You can read it as a whole story, because that is what it is… lol at my silly joke.
Leaf -