Sorry this took a while, but things have been hectic - hope you enjoy and don't forget to review!
I am cold now, so I rise carefully and close the window. Returning to my desk, I take a blanket from my closet to throw over my legs.
Now, where was I? Oh yes. I remember. My God, how I remember.
We awoke to the noise of the old woman bashing on the door, telling us to get out. We dressed hurriedly, and were thrown out into the street without ceremony.
"Hmph. The people of Paris are friendly then," I grumbled.
"Shh. As long as we're together I don't care." And he kissed me, right there, for anyone to see.
It was then, that moment, I heard such terrible derisive laughter. It rang in my ears, and I grew afraid. I looked around, but there was no one near us and certainly no one laughing with such a force of cruelty.
"Are you alright?" I returned to my senses to find Erik looking at me with concern.
"Yes, yes I'm fine I just thought I heard…something."
"You're probably just hungry. Let's go and find something to eat."
We wandered for a little while through the streets, which became more crowded as we went. Eventually we found a market selling fresh food of all different kinds. With some of my silver, we bought ourselves some bread and some apples, and sat on the steps on a church to eat them.
Then I heard it again. That hideous laughter, with such mockery in its tone that I jumped up and cried out in fear. If only I had remained silent! Those near us turned and stared at my cry, and among them was the man I had come to fear most in all the world. Vrack.
My heart stopped. The following few seconds are a blank in my mind, and the next thing I knew I was holding Erik's hand and running, running as fast as I could until my feet felt like they were on fire. Vrack had not been alone. There were others from the camp there buying food from the market stalls and drumming up custom. They all gave chase; Erik had after all been a lucrative crowd-draw for the camp. The last thing Vrack wanted was to let him get away again.
We ducked and dived through the hordes of people, pushing and shoving in our desperation to escape. It was no use though. Erik was still not strong after so long of little food and beatings, and I was ill-accustomed to such long-distance running. Slowly but surely, they gained on us until I could hear Vrack's breathing behind me. If only I had run faster. When Vrack's hand fell on my shoulder and pulled me roughly to the ground I almost choked on my own terror. I thought I was going to die then and there on the Paris street, but Vrack ignored me and made a grab for Erik. Erik would have got away, but that he saw me thrown aside on the cobbles, and tried to turn back to get to me.
"Arielle! Arielle!" He tried to dodge past Vrack but it was no use. One of Vrack's cronies held me down. I struggled against him, and he hit me across the face, hard. I felt as if my eye would explode, and I tasted blood in my mouth. I saw Vrack hit Erik again and again until blood was pouring from his nose, his eyes were black and his lips split. As he lost consciousness, Vrack slung him over his shoulder and began to walk back the way we had come.
"What about this one?" called the man who held me.
"Leave her," Vrack snarled, "she's not worth anything."
So I was left there, in the muck, ignored by all and forced to watch Erik being hauled away knowing there was nothing I could do except cry with the pain in my eye and my mouth, and the pain in my soul.
The rest of the day passed in a blur for me. I walked and walked, not knowing what to do. If I had thought I was alone when Elina died, I was even more so now. I awakened out of my stupor at dusk, after having wandered without eating or even sitting down since Vrack took Erik. I was in a more prosperous part of the town where the houses were large and the streets far cleaner than the area where I had spent last night.
I was more tired than I had ever been in my life before, and was at a loss for what to do. I tried to search for a boarding house, but this was far too nice an area to have anything less than hotels for rich people. I gave up in the end, and settled into the first doorway I came to. I fell quickly into fitful sleep, dogged by the pain and by terrible dreams. I hoped more than anything that I would die.
