"Walking through life unnoticed; knowing that no one cares
Too consumed in their masquerade; no one sees her there
And still she sings
'Til everything burns; while everyone screams
Burning their lies; burning my dreams
All of this hate, and all of this pain
I'll burn it all down, as my anger reigns."
-Ben Moody feat. Anastacia, "Everything Burns"
Julianna and Erik continued to travel for the rest of the day. Mostly, they didn't talk much, even though Julianna longed to know more about Erik's life. She felt like she had already told him most of her life story, but she hardly knew anything about him except from what Christine had told her, which wasn't much. Christine didn't even know his name. And still she loved him.
Julianna noticed that the sun was beginning to set and decided they should stop for the night and try to get some rest. "Erik, it's getting dark," she said. "I think we should stop for the night."
"D'accord," he said. "That's fine with me."
"Good," Julianna said, bringing the horse to a halt. "We've already traveled farther than I expected. We should reach my home around noon tomorrow."
"That is good," he agreed, climbing off the horse. He had ridden horses before, but never all day. It's fair to say he was quite sore. He stretched his tired muscles, relieved to be off of that horse for the night.
Julianna climbed off of Stardust after Erik. She, too, was relieved to be able to move freely. She immediately started to take the saddle off her horse, who was extremely tired after carrying two adults on her back all day. Julianna thought of her other horses back at home. She doubted any of them could have endured what Stardust did that day. Julianna was very proud of her horse.
Erik stepped to her side. "Is there anything I can do," he asked, "to help?"
She stopped and thought for a moment. "Um…I guess you can collect some firewood, if you want to."
He nodded his acceptance of the offer. "Where shall I pile it, then?" he asked.
"Just stack it up against a tree or something," she replied. "It doesn't really matter."
"Okay," he said, then turned and went off to search for suitable firewood.
Julianna tried to keep an eye on him while she finished taking the saddle and bridle off of Stardust, but it was proving to be rather difficult. He unknowingly wandered out of her eyesight, and she worried that he would get lost or attacked by some animal in the forest. Not very likely, but still she worried. She was quite aware that he could take care of himself perfectly fine. But she promised Christine she would get him back in one piece, and that she planned to do.
Julianna tied Stardust to a nearby tree and decided to go look for Erik, who had been missing for several minutes. Just as she started walking in the direction of his disappearance, the loud sound of a gunshot echoed through the forest.
"Oh, no! Erik!" she cried, sprinting in the direction of the sound. Her thoughts drifted to the worst possible scenario. He was shot, and he was dead. But it can't be, she thought. He can't be dead. It's all my fault, she thought. I never should have let him out of my sight.
To her surprise, a tear trickled down her cheek. Then another, and another. She pulled out her gun. She was going to kill whoever dared to hurt Erik. She only hoped that he wasn't injured that badly. That at least would give her a chance to save him. She was a skilled doctor and had many years of practice. If he wasn't in a critical condition, she still had a chance of saving him. She didn't even think that she had exactly no medical supplies there in the middle of the forest, miles away from any form of civilization.
As she reached the source of the sound, two things caught her eye at the same time. First there was a strange man, who wasn't a prison guard, holding a rifle and then there was Erik's limp and lifeless body laying face down on the ground.
Though Julianna never let her emotion control her, this time she couldn't help but let her anger and rage show. She pointed her gun at the strange man's head, glaring at him with the purest hatred. There was no way she was going to let him life after what he had done. No way in hell.
The man was noticeably shaken up by her angry glare, and even more stunned when she pointed a gun at him. It just wasn't something that a woman would do, or so he thought. He was so shocked at her behavior that he accidentally dropped his rifle.
That was his own lack of common sense. Julianna quickly blocked him from retrieving it. "Why the hell did you kill him!" she yelled at him. "What right did you have?" she asked, almost whispering. She was unaware of the river of tears that were flowing freely from her green eyes.
"Calm down, lady," the man said, shocked at the sheer force of her outburst. He's a murderer, you know," he stated, pointing at Erik's lifeless form.
"God damn," she cursed. "So are you, now." She flung her gun to the side and started violently throwing her fists into this man's face. And he was having quite a hard time blocking her powerful blows.
Sooner or later, he got his footing, and he planted his fist into her ribs. Both of them heard the painful sound of her ribs cracking. Even he cringed in pain. He never meant to hurt this woman. Just get her to stop beating in his face for a second so he could explain just how dangerous the man he killed really was. He watched her stumble back, trying desperately not to fall down.
At that moment, the sound of another gunshot penetrated the silence. Julianna watched as the man she was fighting fell limply to the ground beside her. She turned around to see who had fired the shot. There stood Erik.
"Erik," she breathed, rushing over to him. "You're alive?" She placed her hand on his face, just to make sure he was real. He was. "How?" she questioned, pulling him into an embrace, but not tightly, because she was vaguely aware of the pain in her ribs.
"I'm a good actor," he replied, wrapping his arms around her. "He missed me."
"Oh, God, Erik. You scared me," she said, squeezing him a little tighter, but quickly loosening her grip at the agonizing pain in her side.
"What's wrong?" Erik asked, helping her sit down, but still keeping his arms protectively around her.
"One of my ribs was fractured during the fight," she said. At the look of horror on his face, she added, "It's not that bad. I'm sure it'll be better in the morning."
"I'm not so sure about that," he said, letting her lean back against his chest. "From what I've read, fractures take weeks to heal completely."
"I know," she breathed, enjoying the warmth of his chest on her cheek. "I was a doctor on my father's ship for many years. I just didn't want you to worry. I'm sorry."
"Don't," he insisted, stroking her tear-stained cheek. "You were crying?" he asked.
"Yes, Erik," she replied.
"Why?" he questioned.
"For you," she said. "I thought you were dead."
"Would it really have mattered that much to you?" he asked.
"How can you say that, Erik," she said. "Yes, it would have mattered. I promised Christine that I would take care of you. Do you know how much it would have hurt her if you were to die?"
"Not much, I would guess," he replied. "From what she did to me, I would guess that she didn't care about me at all."
"You're wrong, Erik," she said. "She loves you … just as I know you love her. Do you know what she did when she found out you were going to die? She went out to a bar and got drunk trying to make the pain go away. Why do you think she sent me to save you? She loves you, Erik. And don't try to deny it. I've seen it in her eyes."
"If she truly loved me, Julianna," he whispered, "then why did she hurt me so bad?"
Julianna looked up at his face to find tears rolling down his cheeks. "I don't know," was all she could say. She gently wiped away his tears. "I'm sure you and her can work things out."
"If you say so," he said.
Julianna stood up, ignoring all pain, and helped him to his feet. They were both a mess. She picked up her gun that Erik had dropped to the ground after killing the strange man. "Come now, Erik," she said, wincing slightly. "We should get a fire going before it gets too dark to see."
"You're in no condition to be doing anything," he said, trying to help her walk. "I'll gather some wood and get a fire started."
"Okay," she said. "But I want you to take my gun." She handed him the gun. "Keep it. You need it more than I do."
He nodded, and accepted the gun. Then he helped her sit down on a small pile of rocks. She watched him walk off once again to gather firewood, and he returned in a few minutes with a large armful of wood. She looked through her saddlebag, looking for flint and steel to start the fire with. Erik took them from her, and got to work lighting the fire. Soon they had a warm fire glowing brightly in the darkness of the forest.
Well, there's Chapter 9. I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm so tired. It's 5:00 in the morning right now. I never get any sleep. lol. Well, please review. And thanks to all of you that did review. smiles : )