We were making our way home when a man jumped out into the road. I stopped Midnight just in time and glared at the man. He had a straggly gray beard and he was balding. A wild, disconcerting look was in his eyes. When he opened his mouth to speak I could see that he had just a few crooked teeth left.
"Excuse me, misses." He had a raspy voice that sounded like 2 rocks rubbing together. "Might you spare some food for a weary traveler?"
"Move out of the way." I said coldly, ignoring his request. (You may think I was being cruel and heartless, but I didn't trust this guy. He looked at me oddly, almost hungrily. And bandits usually wait until your guard's down before they steal from you. Plus, I had no respect for anybody who begged for food. Jobs could be found all over, you just have to look.)
"Please," he said imploringly. "Just a bit."
"No. Move."
"Then you leave me no choice." With a grim expression on his face he brought a pistol out, cocked it and shot at me. At the same time Midnight reared up, throwing me off of his back. I landed on the ground on my back and felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. That coupled with the feeling of my breath being knocked out of me, left me winded.
Gathering what strength I had left in me, I lifted myself up off the ground into a sitting position. A rock lay on the ground, probably the one my shoulder had landed on. I picked it up and chucked it towards the man, trying to hit him between the legs. Normally I'm a good aim, and if I was standing I would have hit my mark, but instead it hit him in the stomach.
He doubled over with a grunt. It gave me just enough time to retrieve my pistol and toss it to Allie who had jumped off her horse to help me when I had fallen.
"Don't worry about me," I called to her. "Shoot him!"
She nodded and caught the gun. She was aiming it at the man when a shot rang out. Allie's lifeless body fell to the ground.
Another man emerged from the surrounding forest carrying the pistol that had killed Allie. Both men trained their guns on me.
I raised my hands in defeat. "You want my money?" I said, a plan forming in my head. They nodded vigorously. I fumbled in my boot for a moment and gripped the handle of my dagger. I glanced up at the man standing nearest to me, the one who had come out of the forest, and I pinpointed where his heart would be.
In a flash, I brought out the dagger and threw it at the man's heart, hitting it, more or less. As he fell, I rolled to the man, grabbed his gun and shot at the other man until he fell, dead.
I rolled the 2 men off the road and behind a bush, then checked on Allie. No pulse. And Midnight was also on the ground. When the first man had shot at us, instead of hitting me like he intended to, he hit Midnight instead. He was dead.
Only Rose and I were left. I wrapped Allie in our blanket and set her on the back of Rose. I knew her dad would want her body to bury. At least, I hoped her dad would want her body. I would have liked to bring Midnight too, to give him a proper burial, but he was too big, even for a puny horse. With the help of Rose, I pulled him into the woods.
Before we set off, I strapped Allie securely onto Rose—I didn't want her to fall off.
When I got to the house the butler who always helped Allie and I unpack and get our things into the house looked shocked. I couldn't blame him. Rose and I were both covered with blood, and Allie's body was slung across Rose's broad back. His face was pale and slightly green.
I slid off Rose and handed the butler my reins. "Take care of them." I said.
I pushed past the huge oak doors and stepped into the familiar huge hall. On a normal day it would intimidate me, but today it felt a million times more ominous.
I slowly began the ascent up the stairs. My feet felt like lead and I had to concentrate on each step. It was welcome relief from the odd numbness that had settled in my mind and body. I rapped on the door of the governor's study.
"Enter." Taking a deep breath, I stepped in. He was sitting in his desk again, this time scribbling something on a piece of parchment.
"What is it?" His tone was annoyed.
I pretended to suddenly be interested in the carpet. I didn't know how to put it gently. So I didn't. "Allie's dead."
His quill stopped mid-scratch. "She's…" His voice was ridden with pain.
"I'm sorry." I guess I never realized how much he loved her. It always seemed like he didn't care so he kept her away from the world. Now I realized he did it to protect her, to keep her safe.
"What happened?" His voice was tight, constricted. I could tell he was trying not to burst out in tears.
I told him the whole story. Well, minus the fact that we snuck off to the middle of the forest and did nothing all day. I had a feeling if I told him that he'd be very, VERY mad at me.
I finished the story off with our arrival at the house. He stayed silent.
"We'll have to tell your friend about her death."
"Friend?" I forgot myself for a second and when I remembered I could have smacked myself. Stupid. "Right! My friend."
He raised an eyebrow, but didn't question me. "Shall I send someone?"
"No," I said a little too quickly. I took a moment to calm down—I couldn't blow this now. "I'll tell him. May I go now?"
He nodded. "And when you get back…" He struggled for the right words. "I'm afraid I'll have to dismiss you."
I didn't object. I had a feeling that was going to happen. Without a word, I walked out.
I was in the downstairs hall and was about to leave when Mary came running down the hall.
"Kia! What's going on?" Her eyes widened, as she looked me over. "What happened?"
"Allie died."
"Oh…" she said softly. I looked down and fiddled with my necklace absentmindedly. I used to do that a lot when I got nervous or uncomfortable. When I looked up, Mary was crying.
"Hey," I said, worried for her. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." She smiled weakly. "Wait… Does this mean you're out of a job?"
"Yeah. As soon as I get back from telling my friend what happened I have to leave."
"I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too."
A silence followed, but not an awkward one, like I thought it would be. It was just… sad.
"I… I have to go," I said nervously.
She gave me a hug and said, "Bye," softly.
As soon as I could I ran to the stable, my shoulders slightly drooped and my chest heavy. I hated having to say goodbye. You'd think after doing it so much it would be easy, but it wasn't. An awful stench met my nose as I drew closer to the stables. They needed to be cleaned.
I picked a horse at random. A sturdy, white horse speckled with gray. His name was Checkers. I put his saddle on and set off at a quick pace on the familiar trail. I reached the meadow a half and hour later. I tied Checkers to the willow tree and sat beneath it, my head buried in my hands. How could I let this happen again?!? I thought to myself. I had gotten to close. Much too close. The wall I had put up around my heart when my mom died had been taken down. Brick by brick. She had gotten closer to my heart so it just hurt more when I lost her.
Why did this always happen? It seemed that as soon as I started to love someone, even just as a friend, I lost them. They say it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. In some ways it's true. It's nice while it lasts. But what if you're me? What if everyone you've loved you have lost? It just makes it worse. It seems like I'm cursed.
I sighed and looked up at the sky. It was stormy and gray. A couple drops fell from the big fluffy clouds and landed on my arms. The rain started coming down harder and harder until I was practically drenched.
This is just great, I thought to myself. I can't cry, but the Earth can. It was the truth. Not a single tear had fallen from my eyes since the day my mom died. It was a strange feeling; being so hurt I couldn't cry.
The sun sank lower in the sky. I hopped onto Checkers and rode to the house, the wall up and thicker than ever.
I walked down the empty street, a bag with all of my stuff in it in my hands. I passed a shop filled with bookcases and books. Interested in it, I walked in. An old wrinkled man with whitish gray hair was taking books off the shelves and putting them into boxes. He glanced up at me when I came in.
"We're closing," he said.
"I'm just looking around."
"No, we're closing for good."
"Why," I asked him.
"'Cause I'm old and I can't take care of a store."
"I could take care of it for you," I said casually. After all, I was in need of a job.
He snorted. "You? You're a girl."
I put the hand that wasn't holding my bag on my hips. I hated being scorned just for being a girl. "I'll have you know... that doesn't mean a thing. I can read. Better than most people even. And I've probably got more money than you've seen in your life."
He stopped, shell-shocked. Obviously nobody had spoken to him like that in a long time. He stuck a hand in his pocket and drew out a key. He tossed it to me and I caught it with my free hand.
"It's yours."
"Wha... Seriously?"
"Yeah. Have fun." He stopped boxing books and went through the door in the back of the shop. A couple seconds later he emerged carrying 2 trunks and walked out the front door.