'The Shattered Bride' continued, Chapter 9.2 from the Irish Fantasy novel: We Come Back: Vol. 1
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The Shattered Bride
He kissed me, exuding as much love and faith
into his kiss as he could, before brushing my hair back from my face. He looked at me, memorizing every curve on my face, as I lay there. The circles under my eyes had gotten deeper and darker. It was now or never, and he prayed that his courage did not abandon him now, when he needed it most. As he closed the bedroom door behind him he whispered, “I love you, my darling Rae. Goodbye, my love.”
He met Jon and Aubrey in the hall, and informed them that I was resting just now, but that he had a plan, and if they would give him ten minutes and then meet him in his office, three doors down, he would show them. They agreed and headed downstairs for a night cap.
Once in his office alone, he took out five pieces of paper.
On the first he wrote to his siblings, telling them how much he loved them, and giving them as much brotherly love and advice as he could bring himself to do. On the second and third piece of paper, he wrote an explanation to Hoss, Mason and Beathan, and Jon and Aubrey. He used the fourth piece of paper to leave a letter for Astraea. On the fifth piece of paper, he wrote his last living testament. He would leave everything to Hoss, who in turn would turn it all over to his siblings, when the eldest of the two came of age. He wiped a few tears off the notes, and signed and sealed them in wax. He then laid them directly visible on his desk.
He knelt down in front of the window behind the desk, and said a prayer.
“Lord, I know we hardly ever speak, but now it’s time. I love this woman with everything I have, and I vow that her soul is the most important thing to me. I do not know what good I have done her, but she has saved all hope I ever had that I could feel this way about someone. She is the fairy tale, she is the angel. Let me see her again, at least for a moment, to remember. Amen.”
He stood up slowly; tears dripping down his cheeks,
he could hear voices down the hall headed his way. He felt panic building up inside him, his heart started pounding, he breathed in some encouraging breaths, and held his cross necklace in his hand as he backed away from the window. When he reached the other end of the room, he took a deep breath bracing himself for the adventure before him, and then ran and flew out the window, shattering the glass. For a second he was free and then it was black.
The sound of the glass shattering echoed
in the thick blanket of silence that was the house. Jon and Aubrey stopped in their tracks, slowly looked at each other, and then ran to the office. Upon seeing the shattered window, they ran to it shouting, “Jack!”
They could see his body lying on the cobblestone ground below them, in a small pool of blood. In the stunning silence that followed, they heard Astraea cry out. They ran to his room. Aubrey trailed behind Jon, having grabbed two of the notes off the table. When they burst through the door, they saw me writhing in pain, as all of my energy came rushing back to me. I laid there for a moment, before opening my eyes, and sitting straight up. I looked down at my hands, at his ring, then at them.
“Where is Jack?”
Neither of them could speak. I felt a heavy shadow fall over the house. My father let a tear fall down his cheek as he lifted his head up and made eye contact with me. I began shaking my head back and forth fervently.
“No. No, I love him!… no. No. NO!”
The no’s came faster and louder now, as I got up and started hitting Aubrey in the chest, screaming and crying. Both Aubrey and Jon cried for my broken heart. I hit him until I collapsed in his arms, crying and trying to flip out again. I broke free from them and ran out into the hall. I didn’t know which way to go, but the wind seemed to pull me to the right, and so I followed. My father and Aubrey’s voices came from behind me, as they chased after me. At the end of the hall I reached his office seeing the light coming in through the fragments of stained glass that still remained in the window.
I leaned my head out of the window, and saw his body.
This time I passed out, right into Papa’s arms. He carried me back down the hall and placed me back on the bed. He directed Aubrey to go tell the rest of the company what had happened.
“What do I tell them is the reason why he did it?”
“Tell them Astraea died. Help them with his body, and do what you can, and explain to them that we have to take her body home. Tell them that we have horses waiting in the woods from our arrival earlier. Express to them our sincerest condolences. We have very little time to get back tonight, and if we can do it while she is still passed out I think it would be the safest for everyone. Now go!”
Aubrey didn’t hesitate to run downstairs and break the news. In only minutes Jon heard the cry outs from the women. He grabbed me under his arms, a sheet covering me, and proceeded to carry me down the hall.
When Hoss heard what sounded like distant shattering,
he had stood up, and called for silence amongst his company. They all listened intently, something felt very wrong, but he didn’t know what it could have been. About five minutes later, he was the first to run into someone running down the stairs at him and was surprised to see it was Aubrey. He stopped him.
“Aubrey, what is it? What has happened? We heard what sounded like glass shattering,” Aubrey laid his hand on Hoss’ shoulder.
“Can we all sit down for a moment please?”
Hoss felt his stomach turn to knots,
though he couldn’t pin why, as he sat down next to Joyce. Aubrey was the only one who remained standing.
“I am so, so sorry, that I have to be the one to tell you all, Astraea…” his voice broke, for my broken heart, “has passed on… and as a direct result of… so has Jack.”
All three girls let out cries, putting their hands to their mouths. Hoss stood up.
“What do you mean as a result of, Jack has as well?”
“He… threw himself out a window… after he found her.”
Hoss swayed on his feet.
He felt short of breath, and bent over to try to get his bearings. Beathan was staring at the floor, appearing unable to move or speak, or even blink. He was in deep thought, knowing what this meant.
Mason was pacing, and praying. He spoke up suddenly, catching the room’s attention, and said, “I am so sorry about your Astraea, Aubrey,” he slowly put his hand on his shoulder.
“As sorry as I am for you all and the loss of your Jack.”
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