An Eternity of Change

Chapter 7

June 7, 1829

            Jaylyn shivered despite the warm summer air as she walked towards the commotion in the center of town; trailing behind her was Maddie who was looking around nervously as she searched for her father. When they got into the thicker parts of the crowd more gunshots went off along with more screams, people gathered around parted as they saw whom they were and soon enough Jaylyn was standing with an excellent view of the bloody mess in front of them. Dead bodies littered the ground as a group of police restrained the survivors and dragged them over towards a guillotine, which still contained a bloodied head. But the worst part was the fact that her father was one of the people struggling to get free, shouting that what they had been doing was right. Jaylyn had known her father had gotten a bit... delusional with his age... but to start a riot? Why?

            "Daddy?" Maddie whimpered at Jaylyn's side. "Sis, why is he doing this?"

            "I-I, don't know." Jaylyn wasn't quite sure she was even seeing this correctly; all of it had begun to seem like a dream. "Come on, you shouldn't see this."

            She staggered slightly as a wave of dizziness passed through her as she led Maddie away, not soon enough to hear the sound of decapitation, the cheering of the crowd, and the pleading screams of the next victims. In the end it was Maddie who was leading her through the streets and back to Jane and Mark's house outside the town.

            "Maddie, what are you doing here?" Jane opened the door as her eighteen-year-old half sister knocked. 

            "Jaylyn's sick, can we stay here?" Maddie gave her sister the best wide-eyed look she could. "Please, Mark won't mind."

            "I know he won't, come in." Jane ushered them inside. "Why didn't you go home?"

            Maddie was silent and looked up at Jaylyn to explain. "H-he's... Father's dead Jane."

            "What?" Jane stared at her in disbelief. "I knew he was getting old but... dead? So suddenly?"

            "You know how strange he acted in the past years? It was because he was planning riots... he was just beheaded for it." Jaylyn looked at the ground and shivered again.

            "Come on, let's get you to the guest room... I'll look for some medicine." Jane guided her sister to a small room where she could rest. "Why were you even out of the house in this condition?"

            "I don't feel that bad." Jaylyn argued. "Just tired."

            "That didn't answer the question." She gave her sister a stern look, like she had so many times before when they both were younger.

            "...I wanted to know why he was acting strange..." Jaylyn lowered her head as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Maddie wanted to come with me so I took her, I didn't let her see him die."

            "At least you did that." Jane turned as Maddie walked in with some medicine before giving it to Jaylyn. "Take this and rest, I'll keep an eye on Maddie, see how well you've taught her."

            Jaylyn nodded, already beginning to drift off. "Great."

Later that night...

            Jaylyn jerked awake to the sound of a door creaking, when she looked up she saw her eighteen-year-old sister walking over to her with a tray of medicine. The first thought that crossed her mind was that everything she'd just experienced was some dream, obviously she was sick, it was just a figment of her feverish mind, her father was still alive and she was... in a familiar room, but where was she?