Chapter 17: Dancing with Destiny
Life flickers like the constant burning wick of a candle, eternally flickering. Memories; good and bad; drip like wax, slowing, cementing themselves in our minds, but as life draws on and the wick shortens, and slowly extinguishes. This candle of life that once burned brightly had lost its flame, like so many of us loose our way. Who will protect us when our light goes out? And can we step into the dark unknown?
Amy woke with tangled, blonde hair, and the smell of antiseptic in the air. Her blurred vision slowly focused on her pale, ebony-haired neighbour.
"Ben…" she croaked, over the continuous beeping of the machine beside her.
"Amy, I'm so sorry," he said, his eyes red and teary.
"For what?" asked the blonde, raising a hand to caress his worried, cold cheek.
"I hit you with my car," he confessed, turning away.
"It wasn't your fault," Amy said, her memory slowly returning, as painful as the physical agony she felt. "It's Matt's." she took Ben's hands. "He's been stealing from me…to fund his drug habit," she told Ben, who looked taken aback.
"I thought he kicked that habit," Ben said slowly, but Amy shook her head, her long golden locks fall past her shoulders. There was an awkward silence where both neighbours gazed into each other's eyes and realized they were more than neighbours. They were friends.
"We're getting a divorce," Amy said and Ben embraced her.
"I'm sorry Amy," Ben said, bringing a smile to her face and ending her pain
---
(The translation of this scene can be found in Appleby Extras)
Seansighed as the wind chime jingled, bringing a memory to mind which he'd rather not remember.
Sean pulled the trigger. An echoing bang, the smell of gunpowder and a strangled scream as the Italian man grinned. Another leopard collapsed.
Sean opened the door and entered. It was midnight and his safari outfit was splattered with blood. Praying not to wake his newly wed wife, he crossed the room and slid his gun into a wall-hung cabinet. There was a click and suddenly bright lights flared up, illuminating Sean.
Melissa stood on the stairs, an angry glare on her olive face. "Siete in ritardo!" she said, curtly.
"Stavo lavorando" Sean told her.
"Non stia a me!" she said, crossing the room to end up face-to-face with her husband. "Eravate ancora con il sig. Kwung, non eravate?" she inquired angrily.
"È il commercio" replied her husband, turning away.
He walked into the kitchen and began to wash his bloodied hands. His wife followed, tightening the string cord around her lavender dressing gown. The curtains were drawn, but neighbours heard the screams.
"Da dove tutta questa anima è venuto?" she inquired, as the blood ran down the sink. "Avete ucciso un altro leopardo? Vi ho detto, Sean! È illegale! Non potete continuare a fare questo!" she screamed, as Sean ignored her. "Sean! Rispondami!" she screamed.
"Vi ho detto. È il commercio." Sean snapped at his wife. She slapped him.
"Ci è senza dubbio voi ed il sig." She screamed passionately. "Kwung è ricco! Uccidendo quei leopardi e vendere la loro carne di decomposizione come vestiti. È ripugnante. Rifiuto di essere associato con tali cose."
"Ascolti me, Melissa." Sean said finally, grabbing her by the wrist and holding her tightly. His voice was calm and paced. "Sto facendo questo in modo da possiamo vivere. Una volta che sono fatto con questo ultimo lavoro, rinuncerò e lasceremo l'Africa e rinvieremo in Italia. È quello che cosa desiderate?" he asked.
"Nessun Sean, desidero fuoriuscire tutto questo." cried Melissa angrily. "Sono malato delle bugie. Desidero un divorzio."
Sean growled, tightening his grip. "Non ci sarà divorzio. Farò stasera il mio lavoro e voi, la I e Sonya andrete di nuovo al tommorrow dell'Italia. Se non, ucciderà Sonya!" he snapped, and Melissa gasped.
"Forse mi ucciderò, allora!" cried a voice from the stairs. With olive skin and green, piercing eyes, Sonya glared down at them. "Li odio, padre. Odio che cosa state facendo. Se lo amate, non farete questo i lavori per il sig. Kwung."
Sean turned away, and then nodded. "Io volontà, Sonya."
Sean shook himself, and turned to the customer who had entered. In the corner of his eye, he saw Melissa, braiding her long black hair. "What can I get you?" he asked the customer as the memory faded.
---
Maria remembered the night she had nearly died for the first time. She remembered every miniature and insignificant detail as vivid as a film in her mind. The agony, which spread through every atom in her being, had nearly destroyed her. The night she died.
"-Leave me alone, boy!" screamed Maria, her eyes bulging. The older woman grabbed an ornamental knife from the mantelpiece, and threw Ben against the window.
The windowpanes shivered, as delicate raindrops hit them.
"You should not have taken that baby." She said; ready to pierce his beating heart.
There was a scream, and a dull gold object hit Maria on the head. Ben saw his wife, Ellie, with a nasty wound on her head, clutching a candlestick.
Maria lay dead. Or so Ben thought.
"What did I do?" Ellie asked.
Ben ran to his wife, while Maria lay in a state neither conscious nor dead. The room swam before them, and the voices of her niece and nephew-in-law sounded distant and foreign to Maria.
"Ellie, listen to me. We have to get rid of her body," Ben said to her, cradling his hysterical wife in his arms.
"She was going to kill you," whimpered Ellie, not focusing on anything in particular.
"Ellie, pull yourself together," Ben said, shushing her. He lifted Maria's body into his arms and carried her out into the back garden. Ellie followed, slowly, whispering quietly.
The grass was soaked with the recent rainfall from the afternoon. A cold, bitter wind had swept up and its icy gust stabbed the three, casually clothes figures with agonizing bitter coldness.
Ben deposited Maria on the flower beds, crushing the dying petunias. The navy blue sky opened suddenly, and a rushing downpour soaked all three figures. Ben's shirt clutched to his soaking torso, and Ellie's wavy hair was drenched by the cold torrent. The pair ran back to their warm home and slammed the door shut.
Maria laid still, blood washing from her dark clothes. She opened her eyes, and blinked, the icy rain hit her. She saw the black curtains draw, hiding her family from view. She stood up, and put a hand to the congealed blood on her head. Pushing dark hair from her eyes, and threw herself over the neighbour's fence with her last burst of energy. She lay still for some time, the green grass and blue sky blurring into grey.
Morning had come before she had roused herself. She was lay still, her body numb and her lips blue. She got up, shivering and looked around. The whole area seemed deserted, and dark. Her clothes hugged her tightly, wet and heavy. She took to her feet and headed back towards her home in Pearview. When home, she sank into a leather sofa, coughing, now wearing dry clothes.
Her health had been seriously affected by this night in the rain, but her ambition wasn't. Full of determination, she resolved what she would do. She would find a way to get even. Moreover, she would make her niece pay.
As the clock struck midnight, its single chime running through the building, Maria woke up.
---
The doorbell rang.
Ben looked up, his eyes wide and alert. Ellie looked across the sitting room at him. After Ben had returned from visiting Amy in hospital, he had being extremely shaky. Ellie had tried to soothe him, but every little sound had sent him into panic.
The doorbell rang again, and Ellie got up to answer the door. She returned moments later, with Collin and Katy.
"We have news," Katy said as the couple sat down opposite the police duo. "Mrs. Maria Stone has woken from her coma."
Ben looked at his wife. "That's…excellent" he said, his voice breaking.
"Considering she is now awake," Collins continued; his monotonous voice drawing on and his grey eyes boring into Ellie's. "We have some newfound evidence about her attacker."
Ben's heartbeat quickened. He gripped Ellie's hand, and bit his lip, beads of sweat gathering on his forehead.
"She told us that it was you, Mr Jones, who stabbed her." Collin said, smiling. His pale hand reached for his gun.
"I'm afraid we're going to have to take you down to the station, Mr. Jones," Katy said, brandishing a pair of handcuffs.
Ben stared at the dull grey steel, which would soon be binding his wrist to Katy's. He couldn't go to prison, he couldn't!
"You'll have to come with me, Mr. Jones," Katy said kindly, standing up.
"No…I can't…" Ben said, likewise standing. "You won't take me," he protested.
"Mr. Jones!" Collins said, standing beside his colleague.
"Ben!" Ellie gasped simultaneously with Collin.
"You won't take me," Ben repeated. "Not like this," he said, taking a step backwards.
"Stay where you are!" Collin bellowed, brandishing his pistol. Ellie screamed.
Ben backed up as against the patio door, stretching out his arm to open the door.
"Mr. Jones, if you try to escape; you will be apprehended by any means necessary!" Katy screamed.
"Ben!" wailed Ellie, as suddenly, the patio door slid open.
In a single second, three things happened. Both woman squealed as Collin fired a round at Ben. Ben threw the door open, bellowing at the top of his lungs. Air gushed in and filled the room with an icy cold gust. Ellie and Katy fell back, and the bullet hit the windowpane and cracked it into several shards. Ben ran out in the back garden, swallowed by the darkness.
"Mr. Jones!" Collin yelled, running into the garden. The floodlights burst into life suddenly, revealing nothing but sleeping petunias and dozing bluebells. Collin angrily fired another shot into the air, and a bird shrieked.
"He's gone," Collin said, returning to the two, covering women.
"Collin!" Katy snapped, forcefully snatching the gun from her colleague's hand. "You were told never to threaten a guilty person with a gun!"
"I am in control, Katy," Collin snapped. "I am your superior,"
"Then I quit!" Katy yelled, throwing her gold badge at the floor.
Collin's face turned an angry purple colour. "Fine," he said, grabbing his suitcase and leaving.
"I hope I can help," Katy said, turning to Ellie, who was shivering in the corner of the room. "I want to help find your husband. I want to prove he's innocent,"
---
The room was dark, as the curtains were drawn. Only several lit candles illuminated the room, and Nadine and Tom were lay on the red bedspread, kissing passionately.
When they parted, Nadine stared into Tom's blue eyes as he looked into her grey eyes.
"Our parents will kill us," Nadine said, worriedly.
"We'll tell them after tonight," Tom said, kissing her on the neck.
Nadine smiled. "Oh Tom, you're so sensitive," she whispered. "I love you," she mouthed, as the pair kissed again, wrapping their arms around each other in a lustful embrace.
Tom ran his hands through her hair and inhaled deeply the lovely scent of lavender. He kissed her on the forehead. Nadine rested her head against his head, looking up into his eyes.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tom asked her, and Nadine's eyes twinkled, smiling.
"Yes, I am. If my parents don't realize until I'm twenty-five weeks, then they can't abort it," Nadine said, as their bodies grew closer, and they kissed once more, their love about to create a new life in that very room.
---
When Terri went into a coma, the only thing that kept her alive was her sense of self. This constant pillar of strength supported her when no one else was there.
Now, she was awake, and though her memory was fragmented and her thoughts scrambled, she was heading home to her husband and children, where the grave event had happened, six months ago.
As the taxi stopped outside her house, she climbed out to see that much had changed within those six months while she slumbered.
The smell of flowers and fresh bread had gone from the street, leaving a bitter and unpleasant taste in the air. A cold wind swept up, uncurling Terri's long dark hair. She shielded emerald eyes and headed up the path to her home.
The grass lay untended and wild. Weeds had strangled her beautiful plants, murdering them pitilessly. Terri sighed deeply, noting her plants had been left to wither and die without water or care.
She noticed the peeling white paint on her door, as she gently pressed the doorbell. She observed the grey skies as the heavens opened and snow fell. The door opened.
"Terri?"
"Sophie?"
Both woman exchanged glances, shocked by each other.
"I thought you were dead," Sophie said to Terri. "That's what he told me, anyway," jerking a thumb over her shoulder.
Brad stepped out of the shadows, looking worse-for-wear. Stubble had built up on his chin, and his hair was short and black. His eyes were cold and empty.
"Hello Terri,"
"Hello Brad,"
The two lovers maintained a fierce glance, which neither understood nor broke.
"Would you like to come in?" asked Sophie, as snow began to build up.
"I think I would," Terri said, brushing snow from her hair and stepped inside to where it all began.
Life burns like a candle, warming out winter months and filling them with cheer. When the candle goes out, all light is lost and so are we. Our Shepard's abandon us in hope of a new light, and we stumble in darkness and misery. Terri's life had flickered and burned dimly and hopelessly. However, its light had burned on, and she lived on. When the light is extinguished, we bid goodbye to a dear fellow, and the death of a friend is devastating, especially when they live…just next door.