Sheep to be Slaughtered

~Chapter Ten~

          I could hear the panicked shouts of villagers as Founder Marco was surrounded... but it all sounded so dull and far away. I held my mother's bloodied hands, which had already grown too cold... how quickly life fled from the body... until not a trace was left...

          My tears fell onto her chest, which no longer pumped the air in and out of her lungs... she was so still...

          ... so very still...

          "I love you too..." I whispered back... but it felt wrong... it felt late. She hadn't heard it... she had departed this life already before she heard me tell her that I loved her too...

          I felt something warm drop smoothly over my shoulders and I was surrounded in warmth, protected once more from the night air that grew ever colder.

          "Eleyah... I..." Zander knelt beside me. "I'm so sorry..."

          "You should not associate or be seen with me anymore," I whispered, my already shattered heart feeling as though the broken pieces just had been stomped upon and scattered. "There's no telling what Founder Marco will do to me now... Leanna too..."

          "What?" he gasped.

          "Zander, please!" I snapped, trying to keep my voice low while also attempting to choke back a sob. "Leave me!"

          He seemed taken aback by my harsh words, rarely ever did I speak to him in such a tone. He stood reluctantly, taking a few steps back. "I'll... I'll check on Leanna for you..."

          I could not hold back my sobs any longer. How was I supposed to tell Leanna about this? If I did not want her to resent Founder Marco and put herself in danger, she would have to believe everything he would want her to think about mother... but she had given her life trying to protect us... to resist him...

          ... but she would not be remembered that way... not even by her own daughter...

          I leaned forward and my head pressed into the fabrics of mother's cloak and dress, my body shaking with ugly sobs. I felt so lost and alone... so afraid and broken I didn't know how I could move on... how I could leave her side...

          "Don't leave me, momma, please," I pled. "Please don't leave me here."

          The sounds of the villagers had died out... Founder Marco had been taken back to his house likely to get patched up... it was just me out here now, with my mother's lifeless body as company.

          My head was pounding from how hard I had been crying. My hand held my aching forehead, but there was a sticky, wet substance that had smeared all over it. I brought my hand back down to look... the glow from the dying fire being just enough to show me my face was now covered in a combination of Founder Marco and my mothers' blood...

          My body ceased its trembling as though the sight of the blood upon me hypnotized and calmed me. Through the blood that now ran down my forehead... dripped off my nose and coated my hair... I raised my head to look into the star-filled sky. My hands curled into fists as my breathing became heavy again... my thoughts overwhelming... the emotions boiling over...

          ... I screamed...

          And I screamed...

          And I screamed until my voice went hoarse...

          And as I screamed into the endless skies above, a different feeling being awoken within... it stirred deep within my stomach, growing ever stronger each second that passed me by... and then it was blazing and red... the fire that raged within me began to flourish and consume while the physical fire before me dimmed. This was not what life should be. My mother's life never should have been taken... she never should have had to throw herself between me and Founder Marco...