Possibly the Final Chapter. I do not know if I should post the fourth one that I wrote, but it won't be a loss to the story if I don't post it. It makes me happy tht I actually Finished a story before the play finished... but this story isn't as elaborate as some of my other ones :D Back to the Drawing Board for my other stories.
Much Love :3 Vas

Chapter 3

Pore Jud is Daid

The Temperature difference from the inside of the house to the out was significant, but Virginia was not stopped by it. She was certain she had seen someone or something run across the lawn and take shelter in the sparse bushes that lined the property. She silently made her way toward the bushes, making sure that she did not make a sound so as not to scare away what ever she had seen.

Suddenly the bushes a few feet in front of her shifted slightly, there was no wind so something had to have moved it. Virginia froze as they shifted again. She started to step away slowly; this had been a bad idea. A groan issued from the bushes that made Virginia go rigid as her retreat stopped. A dark shadow staggered out from the bushes, she gasped in fright.

She and the shadow did not move for a long while. Time seemed to stand still as Virginia stared into the smudged and dirty face of the human being who stared right back at her. She suddenly unfroze as she recognized whom the person in front of her was.

"Jud…" she whispered

Jud tried to walk toward her but his footing was off as he stumbled over his own feet. Virginia bolted to his side and tried to support him, but it was a futile effort. Jud Fry was almost a foot and half taller than Virginia. His scruffy hair was a brown color and his eyes were brown and bloodshot.

"You're drunk, Jud." She stated the obvious.

He did not say anything in return. The blonde woman tried to lead him toward the smoke house where he lived, but was having her strength tested, as step by step he seemed to lean on her more and more. Jud suddenly seemed to realize what was happening to him as he attempted to stand up straight but was restricted by Virginia's arms.

"Lemme go, Woman…" his voice wavered from the effects of the alcohol.

"You'll be thankin' me later." Virginia said as she saw the smoke house come into view.

A sudden racket split the night as the sound of banging pans and pots echoing their metallic clang met Virginia's ears. Jud managed to wriggle free of Virginia's arms. He stood up, unwavering, on the spot as his drooping eyes looked back toward the house. Virginia let him go and turned to follow where he was looking.

"It's nuthin'." She said, "They's probably giving Laurey an' Curly a shivoree."

Jud's eyes suddenly filled with anger that had never been seen by Virginia. He started to walk with an uncharacteristic straightness, not normal for an intoxicated person. He walked back toward the house. Virginia's eyes grew wide with horror as his intentions became clear to her in one painful moment. She ran inhumanly fast and cut him off in his advance.

"Jud don't," she pleaded "Please, I know whut your gonna do…"

Jud just gave her a long hard stare that made her shrink away. He raised a massive hand and pushed her roughly out of his way.

"Jud!" She called.

The giant man did not stop.

"Oh Lordy!" she swore to herself as she ran up beside him and cut him off once again. She could see that his face was turning red with anger and frustration, some of it probably caused by her always stopping him in his quest for revenge.

"It won' do you no good." She tried to reason with him. "It's no use. You hafta give 'er up. There are other womern out there who'd love to have ya…"

She did not realize the mistakes of her words as she spoke to the huge man. He growled at her and pushed her aside once again, this time rougher than the last time that he done it a few moments earlier.

"For God's sake, Jud…" She shouted at his back

Tears started to stream down Virginia's eyes as she realized that Curly's life could be at stake. She ran up beside Jud for one final time.

"Stop!" She screamed in despair as she grabbed his hand to stop him from continuing. The next thing that happened came so fast she never even saw his body move to prepare for it. Like a sledgehammer, Jud swung his ham and struck Virginia upside the face. She flew back and rammed her head into the ground. The shock of his action scared her so much that she did not feel the pain, nor did she realize that she had bit her tongue so hard that it was bleeding openly.

Her blue eyes, still wide with shock, stared straight ahead as she blinked blood from her eyes. Jud did not move, she doubted that he even realized what he had done to her until it was to late. The silence that followed was deafening. Jud shook him self free of the suspension first. With his hand raised dangerously in Virginia's direction, he pointed a finger at her.

"Nevuh, evuh tell me whut to do again," he hissed at her, after that with a grunt he continued on his way.

Virginia's mind slowly came to grasp what had just happened to her. With a shriek of pain she put her hand to her mouth as she wiped the red substance away with her hand. She felt the pain, yet no tears of suffering came to her eyes. Slowly she turned her head to look in the direction that Jud had gone.

She breathed hard as the harsh reality came crashing down upon her. Virginia had failed in stopping him, if anything happened to Curly or Laurey it would be her fault.

"Oh God, Whut have I done?" She asked in a hush tone to herself.

She spat out blood, clearing her mouth of the substance before she pushed herself to her feet. Virginia was going to stop Jud, or find someway to warn Curly. She tried to run but stop abruptly when white-hot pain shot across her eyes, she gasped as her hand flew to her forehead. That blow to her head had probably done more than was visible, but she had no time to think of it now. It was either her head or Curly's life and of the two she chose the latter.

Walking as fast as she could without causing herself a headache, she hobbled in the direction of the hay field where she had heard the racket come from. As Virginia drew closer she could hear the shouts of the men and every so often a metallic clang would echo across the field and rattle her head.

As she drew closer she heard the surrounding field go quiet, deathly quiet. She knew what this was from; Jud had obviously been spotted by one of the men. She came around one last stack of golden hay to find the men standing in a half moon shape. Jud stood opposite the group, with every step he took the men took one back. Laurey and Curly were situated on top of one of the haystacks; Laurey clung tightly to Curly's arms.

"We thought you'd left Jud," one of the men shouted.

"Naw," Jud jeered at the group as he backed them farther away from Laurey and Curly. "I wouldn' want to miss the celebratin'"

With an insane smile he drew something from his pocket. Virginia tried to see what it was but couldn't as she took shelter behind one of the haystacks so as not to be seen by the men.

Jud's hand lashed out in front of him and grabbed one of the torches from a man standing in the front. With a closer look, Virginia saw that it was Mike; only he did not give up the torch so easily. He held on. Jud, noticing his resistance, turned around and gave Mike a long hard stare. He wrenched the torch from Mike's scrawny hand; he then grabbed Mike by the neck of his shirt and lifted him clean off his feet. Mike started gasping for breath.

"You got sumpin' to say?" Jud breathed in Mike's face.

Mike shook his head vigorously; Jud dropped him. When he hit the ground, Mike's legs crumpled beneath him causing him to fall flat on his back. All the men were frozen where they stood, it was obvious they had no idea what to do to Jud for fear of ending up worse off then Mike. They knew that something had to be done. With a glance in Virginia's direction, Jud turned to face the haystack that the newly wedded couple stood on. Jud came up beside the haystack, he held the torch up to Curly.

"Happy Weddin'" he said with that he drove the torch deep into the haystack.

It instantly caught on fire. Laurey shrieked in fear as the yellow flames started clawing up the side. They were trapped. The men on the ground shouted as they came forward ready to fight Jud. They would have, had Jud not taken out the switchblade and brandished it in front of him. The advance of the men stopped quickly, but Mr. Cord Elam, a tall red head, didn't stop fast enough. He managed to jump away, but only after Jud and his knife stuck him in the shoulder.

"LAUREY! JUMP!" Curly's voice came,

He was coughing as the smoke from the fire started to take effect on his lungs. He threw Laurey from the haystack. She tumbled to the ground, and from what Virginia could see was fine. She stood up almost as soon as her frail body hit the ground.

"CURLY!" She screamed as the fire engulfed the haystack.

She sank to the ground as tears came to her face. Virginia stared in shock at the haystack; she then let her eyes drop in reverence for Curly. Suddenly she saw something jump from the haystack, it was the cowboy. He hit the ground hard, but he jumped to his feet unfazed. He clothes were burned and he was covered in black soot, but other than that he was unharmed by the fire. As soon Jud saw him, he let out a shout of rage and charged at him.

Curly saw Jud coming at him with the silver switchblade, with glowed eerily in the fire's light. The cowboy jumped out of the way at the last moment and Virginia watched as his fist struck Jud on the back of the head. Jud turned around; his eyes were blazing with rage. The other men around the two adversaries were helpless. Laurey screamed and fled into the dark night.

Jud lunged at Curly, the cowboy jumped aside but only after his foot caught on Jud's causing both men to tumble away from each other. Curly was on his feet once again, but Jud did not move. There was a long stillness that followed, slowly Curly and the men came forward. The figure sprawled on the ground did not stir; Curly knelt down beside him and turned him over on his side slowly.

The worst had happened; when Jud had fallen over he had run himself through with his own knife. Curly backed away slowly, shaken from what had just happened. The men gathered around, they talked in hushed voices that Virginia could not decipher from her position behind the haystack.

The men then broke up into two groups and split directions. Leaving Jud and Curley alone. Curley just stared at the form lying, unmoving on the ground.

"He's daid!" he shouted into the clear night.

Virginia upon hearing this jumped up. She watched Curly go running off; clearly he was going to find his bride who was probably as shaken as he was. The only thing that moved in the area was the dying ember of fire as they ate up the last of the hay. She bolted from her position behind the haystack; all pain seemed to have vanished. She ran to Jud's side and fell on the ground next to him. Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw the knife stuck in his abdomen.

"My God, Jud. I tol' you to stop…" Virginia cried out into the starry blackness of the night. Her eyes were turning red from the tears that brimmed within them.

"if'n you wanted a womern to take with you… you only had to ask…" her voice quivered with emotion. "She was ready to follow you anywhere…"

Virginia laid her golden head on his unmoving chest. She put her hand over his eyes and closed them for they had been open and staring, unseeing, into the dark sky. She rested in this position for several minutes, and then raising her eyes to look at his face she managed a weak laugh.

"You remember that day, so long ago…" She did not expect an answer. "I had jist come to Oklahoma, and I had come to the school for the first time." She shifted her weight. "You was making fun of me and my family, and then I punched you…" she laughed silently to herself. "Those were the first things you ever said to me."

She shook her head as she looked to the tip of the knife that protruded from his middle. "I remember the day you told me your secret." Virginia turned back to look at his face. "You were in love with the Barlett's daughter, and she was pretty close to you too." She paused. "You found 'er foolin' 'round in the hayloft with another man." A few tears from the endless river fell onto Jud, "An' then you burned the place,"

She turned her head and pulled herself up toward his face. Her eyes were completely red by now, making her eyes glow an eerie icy shade of blue as she wept over Jud's body.

"I kept your secret for years…" She said into his face.

She rested her chin on his "Now you keep mine…"

With that her lips locked with his, in one final good bye. She let all her emotions and true feelings for the dead man come out in one final master gesture. The truth was that the kiss Jud received from Virginia was probably the closet thing to love returned he ever got in his life

She didn't say any more as she put her head back down onto his chest and lay unmoving. She didn't even stir when something was placed on her shoulder, but then her sorrow had turned into muted gasps for breath. Virginia felt a presence drop down beside her. She moved her head to lookup and see who it was. Mike had come to rest next to her, signifying that half of the group of men had returned. She did not bother to wipe her eyes free of the tears; Mike wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from the ground.

She rested her head on Mike's front as he held her close to him, trying to comfort her. Several other men had caught snippets of her actions but they said nothing as they watched her cry over the fallen body of Jud Fry.

"Shh…" Mike crooned, "It'll be alright"

Virginia let a sigh escape her lips. She then let Mike lead her back to the house, away from the scene that had changed the farm girl's life forever.