"Something just doesn't feel right about this."
"What's wrong about a walk in the forest?"
"It's just…I feel like we are being watched."
"Don't worry Jessie. They're no police here." A husky man's voice mused slightly.
"Zoro, you're an ass! I know there are no police." Jessie barked as she shoved Zoro slightly but it failed to do anything other than move her back. "I don't even care about police anymore. When I say I feel like we are being watched I mean…well I don't know what I mean, but I know it's not a police officer. It's a feeling like you're being watched or followed by an axe murderer that you've seen in a horror movie." She mutters with a shiver. Zoro laughs at her as they continue following the other crew members ahead of them. Luffy is in front of everyone holding a rather large stick in the air as he marches down then forest's path.
Nami follows him closely, holding a map in her hands and looking all around her for any geographical marks that match the map. Robin isn't far behind; she is reading a book on some dead language, with Sanji right next to her, with Robin's, Nami's, and his traveling bag, fawning over Robin's knowledge. Franky is behind her carrying a large bag of cola, drinking one himself, and tools for emergencies. Ussop and Chopper are behind Franky talking about a prank they are planning to pull on Sanji later and behind the whole group are Jessie and Zoro.
"Just don't leave." Jessie shutters as she wraps her arms around herself.
"Why not?" Zoro asks.
"I don't know." She mutters looking away kind of shyly.
"What is with you? What's wrong?"
"I don't know…it's just…I feel safe with you around." She said quietly hoping he won't hear her and will just stay.
"Huh?" Zoro said loudly cupping his ear. Now he is just teasing her acting like a dumb death person.
"I feel safe with you around, ya happy!" She said louder but still softly. She doesn't want to admit it but she developed an odd attraction towards Zoro since he helped her. It isn't a love attraction, no, but she is drawn to him. She feels she can tell him almost anything and that she is safe with him, that he'll help her with all the troubles that come up even if she hasn't known him for long.
"Nothing's going to happen, it's fine, but I'll stay by you don't worry." Zoro said with a sigh as Jessie smiles up at him.
'Crunch' Jessie starts as she hears a twig snap. Unable to find the source of the sound she continues. 'It was probably one of the crew.' She thinks to herself as she scoots closer to Zoro, just enough for her to feel safer but not noticeable to Zoro.
She starts to relax as Luffy's singing voice reaches her ears. He is singing a song about stupid people living in different climates. She laughs slightly at the song. She does enjoy being part of this crew but there's still something itching at the back of her brain. Something isn't right, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.
"You ok." A soft voice said.
"Huh…yeah, I'm fine just trying to figure out where this feeling is coming from." She said as Zoro groans.
"Will you just trust me! You're fine. You're safe with us. Trust me nothing is going to get you." He argues. She pulls her lips into a thin line before nodding. Zoro smiles when he sees her visible relax.
Jessie continues following the crew next to Zoro till she hears another twig snap. She ignores it and keeps going till she hears another. Pausing she looks back just to see their own footprints but nothing else. She just sighs and turns around only to hear yet another snap but she doesn't turn around this time, instead she picks up her pace to catch up to Zoro. The rest of the crew is far ahead of her. She didn't notice she was distracted for that long, she can barely see her friends.
Jessie took a deep breath to calm her heart. 'Now is not the time to panic. If I just pick up my pace I'll reach them in no time.' She thinks to herself but as she tries to walk faster she just seems to slow down. She tries to stay calm as she tries to speed up, still finding it impossible. "Zoro!" She calls but he doesn't hear her as he continues. He is too deep in his thoughts to even notice she was gone. She watched him, she couldn't even see the rest of the crew anymore and Zoro too was almost completely gone.
Behind her she hears another twig snap as the sound echoes in her head, than an even more horrid sound comes from behind her. Footsteps. She takes a sharp intake of breath as the footsteps start to quicken. She starts to panic as the footsteps start getting closer and faster. "Zoro!" She screams as tears start to run down her cheeks, the footsteps are right behind her now. She starts to cry harder as the footsteps got even louder and Zoro disappears completely. "Zoro!" She yells louder than ever right as a gust of wind pasts her and the footsteps are now sounding in front of her.
Frantic and scared Jessie looks around for the source of the footsteps but doesn't see anything. Then it hit her. Whatever was behind her is now after her crew. "Shit." She cries taking off finally able to run. "Zoro…Luffy!" She calls becoming even more frantic. "Nami, Robin, Franky, Chopper…Ussop!" She screams as she runs into a clearing. Everything seems to be normal till she looks down. Right under her feet is a large puddle of blood. Gasping she jumps back out of the puddle. 'Crap shit crap.' She screams in her head. "Ok, keep cool. Just because there's blood it doesn't mean they are dead. It may not even be theirs." She exhaled loudly proud that she was able to think through that so well. "Hmmm…" She hums as she notices a trail of blood heading into the trees to her right. The sight of the blood made her heart race but she talks it away like the first time.
Jessie looks around for anymore signs of blood, people, or anything really that would lead her to her new crew. Spotting nothing other than the blood she follows it. After awhile the blood stops but she still couldn't find her friends. "Now where?" She mutters to herself while looking around for any clue as to which way she should go. Something shiny catches her eye. Under a bush came a metallic shine. She looks around once more before heading towards the bush. The object was a blue pole with three balls at the top of each piece. Around the middle a hand was clinging to the pole. 'Nami's weapon.' Jessie thought with a smile. "Nami! Thank god!" She sighs in relief but she got no reply. She swallows hard as she starts to feel nauseous. 'She's just knocked out, or scared, yeah she is just scared.' "Nami, what happened? Where are the others?" She questioned but still got no reply. "Nami!" She said pushing the branches of the bush aside. "Holy shit!" She screams as she falls back on her butt. Nami wasn't there…the only thing there was the pole and the hand, cut off at the wrist.
Jessie felt bile rise in her throat at the sight. She managed to swallow it back down as she talks herself out of the panic once again. 'Ok it's her hand. It's better than a head. She can live without a hand, yeah; a lot of people live as amputees with hooks or peg legs…poor Nami. No, no don't panic she's still alive I know it, she has to be.' Jessie screams in her head but no matter how many times she told herself that she knew in her heart Nami was not alive. There wasn't a chance with that much blood loss and a lost appendage, but Jessie just kept telling herself that Nami is fine. Grabbing the pole she got up and starts off in the same direction she was going earlier.
Dark and horrid chuckling started to echo through the forest as she kept going. The trees start to thin out as she approaches another clearing. After Jessie found Nami's hand she hasn't seen any other clues about her friends' safety or location. The chuckling gets louder the closer she gets to the clearing. Swallowing hard she enters the open area and the chuckles abruptly stop. She looks around the clearing but saw nothing other than a few flowers. It was a peaceful spot but she didn't feel to at peace. Her friends were missing and something, or someone, in the forest is targeting them. She continues forward till she sees something lying in the forest right ahead of her. The shade covered all of it except for a large green boot.
"Zoro?" She calls as her grip tightens on the pole. She may not know how to fight with it properly but it would still hurt someone if she swings it at them. Moving forward she checks her surroundings for anyone else. "Zoro?" She calls slightly louder. Inching closer to his still form, she notices him lying face down. "Zoro please tell me you're just sleeping!" She cries as she reaches forward to grab his shoulder. Talking a deep breath she closes her eyes and quickly flips him. She keeps her eyes closed. He didn't wake up from the rough tug; there was no way Zoro would let someone move him while he slept. Tears start to seep from her closed eyes. A sob escapes from her lips as she opens her eyes slightly. Her eyes shot open as she saw Zoro's mangled and burned body. "Ahhhh..."
"Ahhhh!" Jessie awoke screaming and gasping for air. Zoro sprang up in bed knocking his head in the process. Holding the newly formed bump on his cranium, he jumps out to search for any danger.
"Why the hell did you scream?" He shouts up at her.
"Hey you promised not to swear till tomorrow night!" Jessie yells back at him.
"Nani? Hell isn't a swear."
"To me it is and since I made the deal with you, what I think counts, not what you think." She explains while pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Fine! Why the bleep did you scream?" He yells even louder than last time.
"Because it's fun." She declares in a way that says to drop it. "Now go back to sleep." Zoro doesn't argue seeing that sleep is what he wants. He returns to his bunk and falls back asleep within five minutes. "Who would've thought that his snoring is actually good for something." She mutters quietly to herself
Zoro's rhythmic breathes of slumber seemed to calm her. Maybe just the fact that breathe means life. How she became so attached to these people after only a few days, she had no clue. Why was she that worried about them in the dream, true anyone would worry about someone being murdered even if they didn't know them well, but not to the extent she was! When she saw Zoro's corpse lying there covered in blood and severe burns she almost died. It felt like she lost a piece of herself. The same with Nami's hand and the blood, but there she could still convince herself that they were alive just not in good shape, but Zoro's body, there was no hope of life no way out, he was dead. She saw it with her own dream eyes as he lay in front of her with those lifeless eyes.
Tears start to streak down her face as she thought of it all, as if she was reliving a moment in life. Then it hit her. It has happened. Not with them and not in that exact way, but things like that have happened before, but always on the same day.
Jessie scrubs the tears from her eyes and wipes the sweat, which cumulated on her forehead, away. "Even though the deaths scared me, I generally don't have nightmares about them. I don't even dream at all usually." She whispers to herself as she turns to check the time. The clock was kind of high tech but all she wanted was the time. 11:30 p.m. 'Almost the start of a brand new day.' She thought with a smile till she noticed the date. 'December 26.' She thought as the she starts to connect the horrible feeling of doom and its cause. 'Why does that feel wrong…wait! If it's the 26th now than once it hits midnight it'll be the 27th.' She shutters. 'No, no, no, no that's when all the deaths happen! Everyone since I was young. (Rhyme ;P) Oh God I've got to get out of here.'
Jessie panics as she quietly climbs down the latter and onto the cold hardwood floor. Wandering over to the closet she grabs the clothes Zoro found her in. She looks at Zoro to find him fast asleep, so she undresses quickly and puts on her old clothes.
Jessie looks at Zoro one last time before she heads to the kitchen to grab a butcher knife. She holds it up to the moonlight, shining through the window, before heading to the door. Opening it she turns back one last time as if waiting for someone to come and stop her. Her lips thin as she turns out the door shutting it behind her.
"I'm sorry. Don't worry too much." She whispers before walking into the forest and disappearing.
This is a shorter chapter because if I continued I wouldn't know where to stop and it would be too long. I don't want another year long break from writing do to not knowing when to stop.
Please review ;P
P.S. I just realized Ace's anitionals are P.D.A lol. I find it funny .
P.P.S. That was lame I know.