Down Twill Pass

Chapter 5

"Take my hand dear. Let me lead you." Robert guided Lydia about the stage. Men rose in applause as the Robert spun her into his arms. "You're so beautiful, marry me?" "I'd be honored Mr. Landis." "I couldn't imagine this moment having occurred with anyone else. You continue to stun me my love." He presented a lustrous opal ring, her birthstone. The piece of metal adorned her finger as he slid it on. "And this necklace, would you be interested?" "Absolutely." "My pleasure," he whispered. He felt her jawline, kissing her softly on the neck. "Get a damn room!" The audience had quite mixed reactions, but this moment was simply theirs. The two laughed as Robert latched the necklace. "And it is now yours, but my love for you has lasted what feels like forever. You amaze me, endlessly." Robert clapped loudly as the crowd hooted and hollered.

"Coyness is nice and coyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to..." Lydia danced about her flat's hardwood floor, engulfed by the tonality that was The Smiths' music. Her record player spun the cd, faster and faster until it collapsed. She crawled to the corner of her empty space, knees to chest. A bottle of Stella Artois whistled as it barreled towards her, barely scraping the top of her head and shattering on the wall behind her. She looked up to see her fiancé yelling at her, but she could not hear a single word of his. Her hands sprawled in front of her skin, protecting her from who once was the most important part of her life. "Robert, we are done now." "Your locket, where is it Lydia? Hand it over before I throw another. She tossed it into his cold hands and he threw it on the ground; stomping on it until a glum crack perfectly followed down the middle. "Leave before I lose myself again, Robert." He slammed the door, an echo filling the stale summer air.

Lydia stood and carefully avoiding the shards of glass ambled to the single window of her studio. She hurled the locket out the window, and without notice of the damage she had just done she prostrated to the floor. Screams filled Carnaby street, and Lydia picked herself up again to to understand the situation. There lied an old woman, atop her now partially silver hair was her shattered locket. Blood turned the woman's locks a shade of dark red.

"This is proper imprecation isn't it? How do I handle this?" Her friend peered into the eyehole of the front entrance, listening closely. "We burn the body, Lyd." "Marie, are you sick? Why there's people out there, we'd be caught in a New York minute." "We're in London not the states. Come on, do you have a trash bag or something? I have a lighter and some perfume." Lydia rummaged through her cabinets, scowling at her idiocy. Finding a box of black bags, she questioned again, "What about the people?"

Marie skipped down 3 flights of stairs to the lobby, babbling to the door man that there was a bomb threat. He issued a statement, therefore all the individuals caring for the deceased woman evacuated the area. This included the door man, leaving the girls and their items alone. They fled the scene, the body having been loaded into the back of a stolen Isuzu. The stolen truck navigated the busy street, turning from smooth pavement onto the gravel of an empty alley. They lifted the body setting it behind a pair of large trash bins. There was a sort of numbness, an aura of utter gloom and guilt, that surrounded them.

"Burn baby burn. She was my English teacher from year 6, remember the crummy one I went on about?" Marie watched as the flames flickered, cremating Ms. Lloyd into a pile of ashes. "This feels so wrong Marie." "But nobody has seen us, you have nothing to worry about."

"Well I'm looking at you right now am I not?" A young girl with a loose bun held a gun to Lydia's mouth, forcing it further in with each bit of fight. Silence filled the air as Lydia grimaced and wiggled about with each thrust. The gun was forcibly removed from her mouth and she was shoved to the ground, Marie glaring as she slowly crumpled into a ball. "You too." The girl lifted Marie into the air, holding her by the buttons of her overalls. She too fell to the ground, but she picked herself up again. "What the hell do you want from us, you didn't see shit." "Maybe I didn't, maybe I did. I'm Sam, I work for the Sicilian Mafia. I was sent to London to recruit, and you both looked perfect. Until I realized how weak you really are; no fight?" She chuckled. "Can you make yourselves useful, or are you lying on your death bed? Lie low, come along now."