An Eternity of Change

Chapter 8

The Next Day...

            Jaylyn didn't fully understand what had happened to her after Samuel Treen killed her the night before but she did know that he would pay for killing her and her family, excluding Maddie who was safe with the police. After coming back she had gone back to her sister's house to find it on fire, probably because of Treen, but she had went inside anyway and managed to take some new clothes from her sister's closet along with a family photograph and a pocket knife that had been past down to Jane by their father. Apparently it was her turn to carry it despite Jane giving it to Mark on their wedding day.

            Now she was standing near the edge of the crowd of people, her head low so they didn't recognize her, and watched as her sister stood by the chief of police looking fearful as she stared at the man that had turned her life upside down. Jaylyn wanted to reveal herself, ease her sister's pain, but after what happened... she knew it wouldn't be a good idea. The crowd, which had been murmuring loudly, went silent as the chief stepped forward and held up his hands for silence.

            "Samuel Treen, you have been accused of murder and breaking and entering by the only survivor of your attack." The chief spoke loudly so everyone could hear. "It has been decided that you shall be killed. Have you anything to say in your defense?"

            Treen sneered at him. "You would take the word of a stupid girl over mine?"

            "Yes. You and your family have been known to be... rowdy. If you ask me this will be doing your son a favor." Jaylyn's eyes widened, did he just say son? There were more of them? That wasn't acceptable. "...Ready men, fire!"

            The police aimed their guns at Samuel and Jaylyn noticed Maddie turn away along with another woman and her small boy right before the shots rang out and Samuel Treen slumped to the ground dead. Some people in the crowd cheered, apparently it wasn't just the Carver family who had hated him, while others cried or comforted the crying. Jaylyn however slipped down into a side street, she couldn't stay in this town, and this would be her last day here. She also couldn't bring herself low enough to kill Treen's family, part of her cursed herself for it, but she knew if she did kill them it would make her no better than the now dead criminal in the street. Her thirst for revenge had been so short; she hadn't even helped catch him, now she didn't know what to do with her life. Part of her wondered what would happen to her, what if someone who thought her dead saw her? Nothing good would come from that, which meant she would have to go farther away than just a few towns over. No, she would have to go somewhere no one she knew would go... at least until she learned more about what had happened, until she was less confused. 

February 13, 1830 

            It had been about a year since Jaylyn had died. Currently she was hiding out in Florence, Italy on the streets. For once she was glad she hadn't made her presence in the city known as if she had it would require her to be around people, who at the moment were dying of a disease she'd heard rumored to be influenza. Now, even if she got it she had a chance to live, but considering she hadn't died since that night she would rather not press her luck with being immune to death's clutches. Not that getting sick would matter anyway, being on the streets meant she had to get her food from stealing, which basically boiled down to her looking more like a skeleton as it was getting harder and harder to get away with it. She was almost lucky, though that was a matter of opinion, not to have gotten sick and died yet.

            Jaylyn glanced up from where she was dozing in the shade of a building to see a dark haired man limp past, obviously weak, he coughed proving he was sick, and his pale complexion hinted that he was one of the people who would die. A lucky break on her part if he did and had his money on him, then she could buy more food. But did she really want to risk getting sick for it? Of course it was. She stood up a few seconds after the man passed by and winced as she took a step and her leg almost gave out, she knew she had been getting weaker, just not this weak. But Jaylyn was determined this time to get something out of her attempt at stealing, especially given such a weak target and the fact she had nothing better to do. She stuck to the outskirts of the street, ducking back whenever the man would pause or glance back, almost like he knew she was following him despite the fact she was trailing behind so she was just able to keep him in sight.

            At one point she thought she'd lost him and was about to give up when she heard a weak cough coming from a small back alley. Jaylyn cautiously approached, messing with the pocketknife she kept with her at all times incase she needed to defend herself. The man however had a glazed look to his dark brown eyes and was leaning against the wall shivering violently.

            "You... followed me." He finally spoke after another coughing fit. "Leave."

            Jaylyn saw blood as the man shifted to pull out a strange dagger before backing up a bit, no wonder the man was dying, his side was stained with blood; though non of it seemed to be from his own weapon. "You can't kill me."

            "No one would... miss you."

            That wasn't exactly the reason but she allowed him to think that, no need to make him think she was insane, although that wouldn't matter considering the amount of blood he was losing. "You'll be dead soon, why let another person die? It would be pointless."

            The man frowned at her response and forced himself to his feet before using the wall for support, now that he wasn't hunched over more blood was free to run out of, what now appeared to be a bullet wound, in his side. "Stay here and find out how pointless my reaction... really... is."

            Jaylyn backed up farther despite the fact the man was obviously getting weaker; he could still injure her before then if she wasn't careful. Then as another coughing fit hit the man, this time bringing blood with it, he dropped the dagger and sank to the ground once more before disappearing. At first she thought it was a hallucination from starvation, but then she saw the knife still laying on the ground, proving it was real. After the shock wore off she managed to walk forward and grab the dagger off the ground, if the other person was like her then they would come for this... right? That meant all she had to do now was wait, and hope they didn't kill her when they found her. As a precaution against that Jaylyn hid the dagger with the last of her sister's clothes, her family photograph, and her pocketknife. She wouldn't need an actual weapon to get information, she had the information on where the dagger was hidden; that would be enough. With a sigh she slid to the ground, just walking a few blocks and through some alleys was beginning to get too tiring so when her eyelids closed she couldn't stop herself from falling asleep.