My Love, Don't You Cry

Prologue

Candice drew long aching breaths, feeling the weight of her legs pound against loose-fitted gravel. The air was bitter cold out there, deep in the beating heart of the forest. Her thoughts, conflicted and depressed, fought against her efforts to continue her desperate trudge up the mountain, to the place where she knew it would happen. The place where she would die.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, leaking these conflicting emotions so well hidden behind her strong persona. Though she was confident in her ability to pass through the veil, the human nature within her was screaming at her to stop and turn around. She was scared of the dark, had been her whole life, but she knew that she had to embrace it with open arms if she were to complete what needed to be done. Her gods, those of whom who whispered all these terrible notions in her head, had called her home. She had to answer them. It was all out of her control now.

The curtain of time was ever fading. Every step pounded on earth sounded slower and slower every time they echoed back in her ears. All this was accompanied by the thunder and approaching rain above her head, till all that remained constant within herself was the slow and steady thump-thumping of her beating heart, and the aching breaths filled with frozen air, inhaling and exhaling through open mouth, as her eyes drew upon her destination just a few yards up that terrible mountain.

She could hear tires squealing some ways down the trail.

Oh no, she thought. She's already here.

Racing up the final few yards, Candice arrived at the edge of the clearing and looked up at the odd tree towering above her. She looked down at the old brown rope tight in her hands. Back up to the tree. She spotted a branch, one that would be just tight enough to not only hold her weight, but also make the passage as quick as possible.

Lightning and thunder crashed above her as she climbed the massive tree, making sure not to slip on the wet, damp bark. After her efforts were complete, she gingerly stood upright on her branch. She stomped down with a single foot. Oh yeah, she thought. It'll hold alright.

Rain trickled down her neck as she bent down on her knee to tie the brown noose around the thick wood. Pulling herself back up, aided by a smaller branch above her , she gulped as she held the knotted end of the instrument in her hand. Without allowing herself to think of an excuse, she lifted the knot up and slipped her head inside.

The tears came to her the moment she tied it just right and lowered her hands. She started off into the forest, ast the point where she knew her girlfriend would be walking at any moment.

She sighed as she closed her eyes, whispering, "I love you, Susie."

Breathing out, she let herself fall forward.

She barely felt the pop of her neck as it snapped against the rope. It was painless, paralyzing her instantly. This state kept her conscious, however, long enough to hear cries in the distance. Cries, calling out her name.