Hey guys, thanks a whole bunch for the reviews! big smile. Anyhoo, this chapter is pretty much pointless destruction but it does bring up some Jack/Karen stuff, god i love those guys. So anyway, enjoy!
7. Storm of Judgement and the rebuilding of mineral town
Karen gasped and watched as the storm clouds thundered towards them rapidly, destroying everything in its path, flinging away trees like they were matchsticks. Karen's mind had stopped, all she knew was that something was coming and it was dangerous.
"Gotz... what is that thing?" She shouted over the sounds of destruction.
"I don't know, but it's heading right for us. This thing will destroy mineral town." He shouted in terror. Karen gaped wide eyed at him, her beloved mineral town, destroyed. An empty feeling clenched her stomach tightly, she felt just like she had when she thought Jack would break up with her.
"We have to warn everyone! Come on!" Karen yelled, thinking as fast as she could although her mind was numb. Gotz nodded and they ran down the mountain quickly. Karen had never run so fast in her life, she thundered down the streets and to the Mayor's house. He was looking seriously out of the window, looking like a statue.
"Mayor, something's coming. It's going to engulf the whole town!" Karen yelled. The mayor seemed not to acknowledge her presence but eventually he nodded.
"I know." He said slowly, he turned around. Karen saw that his usually cheerful brown eyes seemed hollow. Karen stared at him, her emerald green eyes demanding him to expand.
"But we can't stop it Karen. Why cause panic in the town, we can't stop it." He said depressively. Karen mouth dropped open, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, and she knew she had to warn the villagers.
"Mayor, we may not be able to spare the buildings but we can spare our friends and family. We have to get everyone to the basement of the inn. Go into town and tell as many people as possible. Get them to pass the news on and then go to the basement okay?" Karen said with authority. Determination flashed through her eyes and her mouth formed into a determined frown. She didn't know any of what she had said was true or if anyone would live, but she did know that she didn't want to die. The mayor nodded and waddled out quickly to tell the townspeople. Karen rushed past the buildings catching everyone she met and telling them the news. Suddenly she was stopped by a frantic Elli, her pretty face stained with tears.
"Karen my grandmother, what will she do?" Elli asked panicking.
"Get Zack to carry her okay?" Karen said quickly, Elli nodded and ran to get Zack. She then hurried to the basement where the townspeople were. The mayor was hastily counting all the people looking nervous, his red hat seemed to droop with his spirits.
"Everyone's here... except for May and Jack." The Mayor said worriedly. The town gasped and Karen's emerald eyes widened. She turned and ran out of the dark basement to Yodel farm, May wasn't there. She began to panic more and ran through the town shouting May's name. She suddenly spotted a flash of red and found May hiding behind a gravestone at the church.
"May, where have you been?" Karen asked in relief. May looked up, her dark brown eyes shimmered with tears. Karen gently scooped her up into her arms and headed towards the inn. The storm was getting closer and a swarm of leaves descended upon the town. Karen dashed into the inn and Barley hugged May looking relieved.
"Jack's still missing." The mayor said. His words hit Karen like a rock, she once again ran towards the exit of the inn. He mother blocked her path her sapphire eyes shining.
"Karen, no. It's not worth it." Sasha said, her voice sounded thin and Karen noted the concern.
"I'm so sorry mom, but it is to me. Goodbye mom." Karen said softly, determination laced her voice. Shining tears began to drop from her mother's eyes as Karen kissed her gently on the cheek and headed out of the door. The winds were so strong that Karen had trouble walking, she dodged flying plants and chickens and headed to Jack's farm. The sky had darkened, it was now a sea of endless grey trying to consume her. She passed the poultry farm and watched as the door blew in and Popuri's house collapsed. She sped up as she reached Jack's farm and hurried to the door. She knocked hard on the door, thanking the goddess that the house was still standing. Jack answered the door with a worried expression on his handsome face. He hastily pulled Karen inside and hugged her tightly.
"Jack, we've got to get to the inn basement." She said. Jack shook his head quickly but Karen ignored him.
"No Karen, it's too dangerous, we'd never make it. We should stay here." He told her. Karen shook her head and refused to back down. Jack's chocolate eyes shone with concern and finally he agreed. They headed out the door and along the broken street. Bricks had been plucked from the ground and had been thrown through windows. Karen grimaced over the destruction, their homes were destroyed. Suddenly a huge tree flew towards them, Jack hurriedly ducked and pulled Karen down with him. The tree narrowly missed and blocked their path.
"Karen we can't go this way." Jack said and Karen nodded, they headed back to Jack's farm and found his house destroyed. Karen looked at him with pitying eyes and found his to be full of fear, she gulped. They were in trouble. She looked at him in question but he gave no answer, they were stranded.
"Let's head to Gotz's hut, maybe we can shelter there." Karen offered. Jack seemed hesitant but they had no other options and time till the storm was right on top of the village, time was running out. They ran to the end of Jack's farm and he looked hopelessly at where his animals were, praying they were okay. They found Gotz's house to be destroyed too, shards of wood and glass lay everywhere. Karen looked hopelessly at Jack, but suddenly had one last idea. She gripped his arm tightly and led him to the Goddess pond, it stood as it always had, babbling gently over the storm. Karen stood hopelessly in front of the pond and prayed to the goddess and suddenly an idea struck her.
"Let's try to follow the other path to the inn, we have no other choice." She said looking at Jack with determination. He nodded obediently and they hurried past Gotz's house and through the destroyed mineral square, dodging flying trees and rocks. Suddenly a small tree flew towards them at great speed, Karen spotted it and pushed Jack down to duck as she felt the wood collide with her chest. She fell to the ground unconscious, the wind knocked out of her.
When she came to she was lying on the cold, hard floor of the church cellar with Jack bending over her. She blinked and tried to breathe, she felt her chest ache painfully and groaned.
"What... what happened?" She moaned and heard Jack heave a sigh of relief. She looked up and saw him smile weakly. She saw that the room was dimly lit with a few candles and the thin light made Jack's face look ghostly and pale.
"You saved me from a flying tree and got hit in the process. It's a miracle it didn't hit your head...otherwise..." He said weakly, Karen nodded gravely and tried to sit up.
"Ouch." She yelled as she felt the pain in her chest worsen. Jack looked worried and helped her lie down again.
"I'm no doctor but I think you may have broken some ribs, your chest is definitely bruised anyway." He said and Karen moaned again.
"We can't get you the doctor until the storm stops... can you hang in there until then?" He asked worriedly and Karen nodded.
The hours seemed long as Karen drifted in and out of consciousness, while Jack stood over her. She felt dreamy, as though none of it was real, she could no longer feel the pain.
"Jack?" She asked softly, and he looked at her intently. "Can you see us... here... getting married?" Jack was a little taken aback by the question, but he knew she wasn't exactly well. He thought for a moment and looked deeply into her endless emerald eyes.
"Yes... I can." He said softly, reaching down to stroke her silky hair gently. Karen sighed contentedly and reached for his hand, she found it and held it gently.
"Do I look good in my wedding dress?" She asked dreamily, Jack gripped her hand and felt it turn cold, it felt porcelain like a pretty dolls hand.
"You look... beautiful, the most beautiful bride in the world." He said gently and Karen laughed softly, her chest hurting as she did so.
"What about... after?" She asked and Jack thought deeply. He lay down next to her and gently put his arms around her.
"I see us living together at my farm. I come in from work and you ask me how my day was... then we tuck in the kids. Two children, a boy and a girl, the two most beautiful children ever... like their mother. We are the happiest couple in all of mineral town, because... we have each other." He said dreamily starting to join Karen in her fantasy world. Karen nodded contentedly and slipped out of consciousness once again. Overhead the storm was raging, destroying mineral town.
Finally the storm was over and Jack woke Karen to tell her. He helped her up and took her to what used to be the hospital. All that remained were piles of bricks and wood and the hospital sign. The other inhabitants of mineral town emerged from the inn, tears filled their eyes as they saw their homes destroyed. The mayor looked hopelessly at the town, his red top hat seemed to droop with his eyes.
"We can't afford to pay for this, we can't rebuild mineral town." The mayor said sorrowfully. The town gasped, but they had expected as much. Gotz cleared his throat and looked around the town.
"What if... what if we all helped to rebuild it. We could use all the trees that have been destroyed." He said. The townsfolk looked melancholy but there seemed no other choice, they had to rebuild mineral town somehow. So the very next day they all set to work, everyone helping. Karen was part of the refreshment crew once her chest was better, she delivered everyone drinks while Ann made them. While they had nowhere to live all the people of mineral town were living in temporary shelters made of bamboo. The town had spent all of its money on buying materials for the rebuilding so they could not afford any help.
Karen was delivering tea to people rebuilding the church when she spotted Ellen sitting outside watching.
"Miss Ellen, you shouldn't be out here... it's bad for your health." She said worriedly. Ellen looked at her, her wrinkled face crinkled as she smiled.
"Oh hello dear! I'm fine, I was just remembering when mineral town was first built." She said, a faraway expression formed upon her face as she remembered.
"You were alive when mineral town was first built?" Karen asked, she tried not to sound too surprised.
"Why yes dear. If you like I'll tell you the story..." She said kindly.
"I really should deliver more tea, but I guess it can wait." Karen said making herself comfortable on a ruined flowerbed.
"Well if you're gonna listen we will too!" Popuri said appearing out of nowhere. Ann appeared behind her and they both sat down comfortably on the ground.
"Very well children, I'll tell you the story of how mineral town began..." Ellen cleared her throat and began.
Before Mineral Town was as you know it now... or at least before it was destroyed... it was a rather small village. Few people lived here and mainly they were people who had visited the island by chance and fallen in love with it. My father had a rare condition that meant that any factory fumes that he breathed in could possibly kill him, so we travelled to this small island. When I first arrived I didn't like it, it was remote and everyone lived in tiny wooden huts. As time went on more and more people moved to the island and built up their businesses there and with the businesses came more people. Soon Elli's grandfather arrived and we were married in the church after it was built. The village was still pretty unorganised though, just a forest with random houses everywhere. The villagers decided to vote for someone to organise the town, a mayor. So we voted and our current mayor's father won. Before long we had streets and houses and shops, all thanks to the mayor and all built by our own hands.
Ellen finished and looked down her spectacles at Karen, surveying her with shining grey eyes. Karen could see the young Ellen through those eyes, inside she was still filled with youthful energy.
"So you see we can build this city again, even if it takes a long while." Ellen said sleepily. Telling the short story had worn her out, so she closed her wrinkled eyelids and snuggled into her chair. Karen stood up and quietly tiptoed around handing out hot drinks. Her green eyes searched the ruined city for Jack and shone when she found him laying some bricks on the foundations of her house. She pranced over to him, spilling some tea on the way and wiping it quickly off her hands.
"Hey Jack." She said gently. Jack smiled weakly and put down the brick he was about to lay to give her a hug. He was still rather depressed since a few of his chickens had died in the storm. They had been glad to find that his horse, dog and cow were still alive, however not all his animals had been so lucky. They had had a small ceremony for the burial of his chickens, they said a few words and buried them outside the church. Jack had been melancholy since, he felt that he had let down his Grandfather by letting a few chickens die. Karen had assured him this wasn't true, but he felt it eating away at him nonetheless. Karen placed the tea on the ground near him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"See you tonight." She murmured and headed towards the inn. She saw Ellen snoozing and went to take her inside.
"Ellen, I think it's time for you to come inside." She whispered gently. Ellen didn't stir, she was sleeping like a beautiful angel, old but still young inside.
"Ellen, wake up." Karen said softly again. She chuckled at the old ladies persistence to sleep and wondered if she was perhaps pretending. She tapped Ellen gently on the shoulder but still Ellen refused to budge. Karen shook Ellen gently, but she still didn't budge. Karen felt her heart shudder, Ellen was not breathing. She put her hand gently on Ellen's, it was cold and she could feel no pulse. She shook Ellen firmly, making sure that the old lady was not just sleeping deeply.
"Ellen, Ellen please wake up!" Karen said, close to tears. She looked around desperately for the doctor amongst the ruins.
"Somebody help! Doctor, help!" Karen shrieked, causing all the workers to turn around and look. Jack hurried over, his face pale with a strange knowing look upon it. The Doctor hurried over and looked worriedly at Ellen, Elli went too looking panic stricken. The Doctor checked her over quickly for signs of life, but shook his head gently. Elli turned and buried her face in the doctors coat, crying silent tears and the doctor sighed. Jack put his arm protectively around Karen, expecting the same tears, but instead Karen just stared at the spot were Ellen lay. Karen felt him push gently against her back, urging her to turn away, so she submitted and followed him away.
The next day was the funeral. It was bleak, dark and miserable and that was not just the weather. The whole village assembled in the newly built church and one by one paid their respects to the little old lady next door. Karen watched as people who barely ever took time out of their busy schedule to see this woman when she was alive cried miserably. They all wailed about how much they would miss her, but Karen knew the truth, few people would even notice in a few days. The kind few that had visited her often seemed distraught, especially Elli. Ellen had replaced a mother and a father in Elli's life and had been most of her family. Karen just watched the people around her cry, but she could not shed a tear. She wondered if she looked heartless as they lowered her into the casket and said some words about her. Elli wailed about how important she was to mineral town life and how an empty hole would be left where she had been. But life would go on, as usual and the tears would cease to flow. Everyone offered their condolences to Elli, saying pretty much the same things "she was a kind old lady, we'll all miss her" and "she was a great woman". There was little variation as people didn't really know what to say. Karen walked slowly over to Elli, keeping a morbid pace.
"I'm sorry for your loss Elli. I'll miss her." Karen offered glumly. Elli looked up, tears glistened in her eyes. Karen could see her tiny fists clench, she'd heard the same thing one too many times.
"Oh yeah, what will you miss then?" She demanded. Karen looked slightly taken aback and searched to the back of her cobwebbed mind for memories of Ellen.
"I'll miss how she knitted my first stocking for the stocking festival, with my name on and everything. I'll miss how on the pumpkin festival she would give me an extra bar of chocolate. I'll miss how when my parents went out she would baby-sit and read whatever story I wanted..." Karen said, tears began to trickle down her face as she searched for everything she would miss. The memories became painful, and the words became lodged in her throat as she began to force them out. Elli nodded, finding the same memories within her own mind and smiling at them.
"I'll miss how whenever I felt sad I could talk to her and she'd pull me onto her lap and listen for hours. I miss how when she bought or was given an apple pie she would always give me a slice...even though... apple pie was her favourite..." Karen said, the tears spilling out faster. Karen began to realise her voice had become louder and soon became aware that the whole congregation was nodding along with her.
"I miss how she would tell me stories and fables. I miss how she would play games with me no matter what... I miss that she was the only one who was... always there for me..." Karen wailed. Elli nodded tearfully and everyone cried too, realising how big a part of their life Ellen had been.
"I think... it's time for the will." The mayor said tearfully. He pulled out the will and began to tell people what they had been left. They were mainly small things, like things she had knitted or trinkets she had kept. But for the five girls of the village, who Ellen had always considered mineral town's future, were special gifts.
"For my dearest Granddaughter Elli, I leave my diamond ring. It was my great grandmother's, so treasure it always my dear. You shine just like the diamond and I thank you kindly for your hard work to heal my legs. One day you will be the best nurse ever to have been and you will learn to cure my illness. To my sweet little Popuri, I leave my pressing of the rarest flower in mineral town. The rare white one that only appears once every few winters, treasure it. But remember, you are the rarest flower of all." The mayor read. Elli and Popuri were crying silently as they went up to receive their gifts from a box marked "will".
"To my kind little Ann, I leave my secret recipe for Ellen's famous apple pie. I know you've been wanting it! Keep it secret, but I hope you can begin to make it in the inn! To my bright little Mary I leave my gold pen. Use it to write those novels I know will one day become world famous, and remember, no one can write better than you." Ann and Mary were now crying hard too, cradling their gifts.
"Last but not least, to my dear spirited Karen. You have always been the hardest one to figure out, but the one thing that was always constant in you was your beautiful green eyes. I have never seen such beautiful eyes, the colour of emeralds. So I leave to you my emerald necklace that always reminded me of you, I can think of no one else it would better suit. Keep on being spirited Karen, don't ever change." The mayor finished. Karen walked shakily up to receive her gift, it was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. It was a gold chain with a beautiful emerald heart surrounded by tiny diamonds.
"I can't accept this." Karen said, her voice croaky from crying. The mayor smiled and shook his head.
"Ellen gave it to you for a reason, don't let her down." The mayor said, he smiled and his eyes crinkled. Karen gazed at it and nodded, heading back to her seat next to Jack. She snuggled up closely to him and held the emerald heart gently in her hand. Although Ellen was gone, she could still almost feel her there, watching over and protecting them.
Weeks followed Ellen's death and soon things were pretty much back to normal. As Karen's mother had told her far too many times, life goes on. Things change, wounds heal and life continues once again, different but still there. Karen stepped out into the brilliant sunlight of the first day of spring. She blinked a few times and covered her eyes over with her hand to block the light. She breathed in the fresh spring air, delicate and fragrant, like a fresh rose. The mild air swept past her face, brushing her skin softly and sending prickles down her spine. Winter had seemed like an eternity, it had taken all of winter to fix most of the town's damage. It was still a mere skeleton of what it had been, it was bare with most of the houses missing. But finally it was showing progress. Jack's farm was fully built once again and was thriving, he had spent all winter rebuilding. Karen was glad to see that at least one thing was back to normal and fresh vegetables would once again be produced in town. Karen watched as slowly the town's folk appeared from their shelters, blinking in the sunlight. They had never been so glad to see spring, it seemed to take longer coming that year. Little had happened after Ellen's death, mainly mournful rebuilding of the town. Normally town would prepare for the New Year's festival, but both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day seemed to have passed without celebration. The town's people set to work rebuilding the town once again, with only a few more houses to build. It was to be the same as before, with a few subtle changes. Most people had asked for rooms to be bigger and furnishing to be different, but Karen wanted everything the same. She wanted to forget the storm had ever happened and just get on with life. She spotted Carter standing outside the newly rebuilt church and admiring its beauty. He looked so serene, completely at peace gazing upon the new church. She walked slowly towards him and he turned towards her. He smiled at Karen and straightened his long, silky black robes.
"Good morning Karen." Carter said joyfully and Karen replied with a cheerful "Morning". The new church was beautiful, although parts of the old church remained as most of it had survived. Its stone walls were now white, the colour of dove's feathers. The windows were stained glass depicting the goddess and some depicting bible scenes.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Carter breathed, reading Karen's mind. The one part of the town that looked beautiful again.
"Yes, it is." Karen said gazing at its beauty. Carter turned to her and grinned, she smiled back. She waved goodbye to Carter quickly and headed to Jack's farm, the highlight of her day was always seeing him.
She walked in through the farm gate and bend down as Happy ran towards her. He barked happily and wagged his tiny brown tail excitedly, his pink tongue hung out ready to lick her.
"Hey boy!" She crooned as she patted him gently on the head. Hearing Happy's playfully barks Jack walked out of his door towards Karen with a grin on his face.
"Sometimes I wonder if you're just here to see the dog." He joked, bending down to scratch Happy's head. Karen grinned then hurriedly made a mock innocent face.
"I am." She said with perfectly executed innocence. Jack laughed and kissed her lightly on the lips. He gazed around his wonderful rebuilt farm, fields of grass stretched over most of the farm and row upon row of fat vegetables stood in all their glory. Soon the summer would come and it was hoped by all the town members that the town would be rebuilt by then. Until then the farm and the church were the only signs that the town had once been normal. Karen waved goodbye to Jack and headed to the inn, she had work to do. She had been making drinks for the workers since the rebuilding had started. One good thing had come out of her job, she had finally learned how to be a half-decent cook. She headed towards the newly rebuilt inn and stroked the new brick work. The bricks were hot thanks to the warm spring sun and they looked a beautiful rosy red. Karen pushed open the new, glossy, brown oak door and hurried over to the counter. She pulled a clean white apron over her clothes and put some water on to boil. Ann walked down the stairs looking bleary eyed and exhausted.
"Do you mind, some of us our trying to sleep." She whined and Karen smirked.
"At 10 o'clock in the morning?" Karen asked checking her pretty silver watch her mother had brought her. Ann's eyes widened comically as she rushed up to get changed. Karen chuckled and fetched some tea bags and some coffee beans and put them in separate pots. She made a large jug of tea and coffee and poured a few cups of each, ready to be delivered. Ann hurried down the stairs looking tired and unkempt, her hair was falling out of her usually neat red plait and her blue eyes seemed dull.
"Bad night?" Karen asked sounding uninterested. Ann yawned and fetched some bread, tomatoes and cheese out of the fridge.
"Well I've been better..." Ann said slicing the bread finely and spreading them with a thick layer of butter. Karen chopped the tomatoes and sliced the cheese looking at Ann suspiciously.
"What happened?" She asked, her green eyes reflecting concern. Ann did not look well to say the least, she looked bedraggled and tired. Ann looked at Karen for a second then went back to massacring bread.
"I'm fine, it's just... Dad's been up all night crying about Mom. Yesterday would have been their anniversary. I think, with everything that's happened, he just feels alone." Ann said, her sea blue eyes dull with worry. Karen put her arms around Ann and gave her a big hug.
"Why don't you take the day off, I can handle things." Karen said kindly as she released Ann. She watched as Ann's eyes widened in fear of her cooking. Karen pretended she hadn't seen it and went back to making sandwiches. "Let's see her get out of this" she thought. Ann began to mumble something incoherent while Karen looked as innocent as possible.
"Well... um... you see Karen... it's like this... erm. Look you're not exactly um... see I'd rather... oh fine go ahead." Ann said giving up. Karen smiled and hastily ushered Ann back up to bed. She quickly sorted out the sandwiches and tea and headed out to make deliveries to the workers. She first made rounds handing out people their tea, knowing that job would take her until lunch when she would give them the sandwiches. She only stopped for a brief chat with each of the town members before heading out to help sort out the inn.
After a hard days work she finally crawled in the inn to take off her apron. She slumped on a stool and massaged her aching limbs.
"Ann!" She moaned up the stairs and was quickly greeted by a happier looking Ann.
"I feel so much better after sleeping, thanks. Are you okay to do tonight's shift by the way, I know that's mainly mine and Popuri's job but she cancelled. She needs to look after her Mom she's sick and I'm looking after dad!" She said. Karen groaned and swept back her shining hair.
"Ann I just did both our shifts today, I can barely stand!" Karen groaned and leaned back in her chair, almost falling off it. Ann made her how-could-you-resist-this-face face and Karen sighed reluctantly. Ann smiled and gave Karen a quick hug before running upstairs.
Karen had never realised how interesting it was to serve behind the bar. Not only was there all you can drink alcohol, but also people talked to her more. People opened up a door that they usually kept shut and locked when they had alcohol in their system. Karen realised exactly why Doug was so popular, he gave people great advice. She had already talked to most of the town about small uninteresting things like, "do you like my hair" and "what colour should I paint my newly built house". Granted most of the questions were from Manna but they were the most uninteresting. Karen was rather shocked to see Gray at the bar, he usually just went straight up to bed. His adorable big, blue eyes were shining in worry and his usual blue and cream cap was pulled down unusually low.
"Karen, hey. Can I ask your advice?" He asked timidly. Karen smiled warmly and nodded while she cleaned out a mug. Gray looked around cautiously and then seeing that no one was watching relaxed.
"Well it's about Mary, you see... I want to ask her to be my girlfriend... but... I'm not sure she really likes me in that way." He said. Karen looked at him, he looked so innocent and adorable. She really just wanted to take him in her arms and tell him everything would be alright, but that's how sweet he was.
"How could she not? Gray trust me, go for it okay? I'm sure she'll want to be your girlfriend!" Karen said. She gave him her most reassuring smile and watched as he gave a tiny smile back.
"Thank you Karen, you've been great." Gray said shyly and he walked quickly upstairs to his room. When the evening was finally over and Karen had locked up the inn, she collapsed on her bed at home. She fell into a deep and calm sleep, dreaming of Jack.
It took until the end of spring for the village to be back to normal. Every single building back and better than ever. A party had been planned in the newly built rose square so they could celebrate. It was the first festival they had had since the dreadful storm and everyone was anticipating it. Karen had managed to get herself onto the decorations committee, the cooking committee wouldn't even let her make punch even after her months of working at the inn. She had decorated the square in beautiful twinkling fairy lights, and every inch of the square shone. She had made paper chains out of gold paper and strung them up everywhere and she had even decorated the beach for people who wanted to chill there. Popuri, who was also on the committee, had covered the entire floor with fresh summer flowers. The square looked like a fairy palace and that was exactly what they were going for. After decorating the square Karen hurried home to slip into her dress. It was a lilac dress that in her opinion made her look like the marshmallow princess, but that was nothing compared to Popuri's. It was bright bubblegum pink made of silk with hundreds of ribbons and tassels sowed everywhere. She looked like the queen of cotton candy shimmering in pink. Karen's was simply a sleek dress made of lilac silk, but her mother had refused to make her anything that wouldn't make her look like a princess of something sickly sweet. She had made her hair into curly ringlets and put shimmering pink lipstick on her lips and light pink eye shadow on her eyes. In her opinion she looked perfect and even more like a marshmallow. Popuri had somehow managed to look even more bubblegum-like but beautiful nonetheless. She had curled her shining pink hair and put on bubblegum pink lipstick and eye shadow. Ann looked amazing in her shining yellow dress, it had a single bow at the back and a long trailing bottom. Ann had straightened her carrot coloured hair and put the slightest bit of gold eye shadow on showing off her sapphire eyes. She smiled warmly looking like the sun and Karen watched happily as Cliff gaped at Ann. Mary and Elli both looked great, Elli wearing a huge light blue dress covered in bows and Mary wearing a simply navy blue dress.
"We all look so beautiful!" Elli exclaimed giving the doctor a twirl. Karen noticed that Elli's belly looked rounder than usual and gasped.
"Elli? Are you...?" Karen asked slowly, Elli gave her a tell-and-I'll-kill-you look and Karen shut up. But Elli nodded and looked both happy and nervous so Karen gave her a reassuring smile. Elli winked and twirled into the square awaiting the doctor to sweep her off her feet.
"My, my, don't you look nice." Rick said and Karen turned around to meet his both hungry and loathing gaze. Karen forced a courteous smile and stepped slowly away. Rick put his hand on her shoulder and held it in a vice-like grip. Karen shuddered and met his gaze once again.
"Won't you dance with me... until he gets here?" Rick said, sounding both forceful and polite at the same time. Karen looked around helplessly, no one could see.
"I only have to scream, Rick." She snarled and glared at him, her green eyes dangerous. Rick released his grip slightly but didn't let go.
"And cause a scene? I'm not sure you want to do that. Just one dance?" He said threateningly. Karen nodded quietly and flinched as he pulled her into his arms. They stepped in rhythm to the music and Rick kept his hand firmly on Karen's hip.
"You know I'm still in love with you. Not that you care, you selfish cow, how much you hurt me." He said coolly. Karen bit her lip and looked around for Jack. "Where is he?" she thought desperately. Rick's blue eyes shone menacingly as he held onto Karen tighter.
"Why are you doing this?" Karen whispered helplessly. Rick stared at her and put his face close to her ear.
"Because my dear Karen, I'm sure I'll get you back one day." He whispered into her ear. Karen shuddered and quickly escaped his grip, glaring furiously. Rick chuckled and sauntered off humming. Right on cue Jack arrived carrying a beautiful bouquet of flowers, he gave Karen a gently kiss on the cheek and handed her the flowers.
"For you!" He said proudly, like a child who had made something special and was finally presenting it. Karen smiled and shook off her fury, she knew that as long as Jack was with her, Rick couldn't get to her.
"Thank you darling!" Karen said in a posh voice and Jack laughed. His laughter soothed her and she felt warm as he brought her close to him.
"Shall we?" He asked politely. Karen put her hand in his and nodded quickly, smiling her biggest smile. They then began a gently dance and Karen felt like she was floating. She watched the other couples around her and smiled, life was good. The cool evening air drifted over her peachy skin as she twirled and spun. The stars twinkled at her as they always had as they shone, like diamonds shining over her. She felt happy wrapped in her true loves arms and she felt nothing could take him away from her.
So yeah, Rick can be a complete jerk, in fact throughout this story he pretty much is, trust me you'll see... cos i have a whole 30 chapters of Rick hating fun planned, should be fun to write :D. Please review if you can be bothered.
thanks for reading ;)
