Time of death, 9:27
Those words repeated in Caitlyn's head constantly. The time of a death that happened moments ago. Right in front of her in the hospital. Blinking away tears as the nurses put away unused utensils from the side of the once uncovered face.
-
Caitlyn puts the last of the flowers from the windowsill. The windowsill that they had both entered after the explosion on the bridge. Only now leaving a memory.
She threw away the leftovers from Jericho's Vi had insisted on getting Caitlyn to try before they met with the council. She cleaned up the mess Vi had made and dumped the tea she had prepared and brought up from the kitchen.
She then cleaned up her desk and she found a picture she had taken of Vi when she wasn't looking with her polaroid camera. The only picture of Vi, sealing the moment permanently frozen in time. Tears blocked her vision as she reminisced about the photo.
A memory of a life that she had loved for only two days but missed dearly. A life that ran back to save her when harm came her way, only now she could no longer come back to her.
The sound of the window cracking open pulled Caitlyn out of her daze. A quick flash of blue went by the window. A bunny had been placed on the floor.
Quickly wiping her eyes, Caitlyn picked up the bunny hesitantly.
"Jinx, you can come in."
Slowly but surely Jinx appeared on the other side of the window. Jinx's eyes wandered around the room as she stepped inside the bedroom.
"I was there you know" She took a slight pause, "When the fight happened."
She looked down at the floor.
"When she was fighting with Sevika, she was hit mercilessly and she fell to the ground. I thought at that moment it was over and she was gone. Until I saw her rise again. She got back up and kept fighting. She was winning until Sevika got the jump on her. I thought she was going to get back up. The gloves...gauntlets she was wearing. I thought they would protect her but they didn't. I could have helped her. I could have stopped the fight and saved her."
By now tears had been running down Jinx's face as she relived the scene in her head again. After a long pause, Jinx gave a slightly pained laugh, but she kept her gaze looking at the ground.
"When we were younger, we would make up scary stories and she would get carried away in the detail of her monster, she would scare me. Before I would start crying she would tell me that she would never let them hurt me and she would chase them away. As Vi's younger sister, I wanted to be just like her and protect her too. But when it came to an opportunity for me to protect her. I didn't, I just watched."
Refusing to look up at Caitlyn she continues.
"You know on the bridge before the explosions, I saw you and Vi say goodbye. I'm not going to deceive you. I was envious of you. Who would have thought? I would be jealous of an enforcer. When we were younger your people would grab us and shove us into walls and fences while they would pat us down for stolen items that weren't even there because the convict had already been caught. Just because they had the power to do so. Enforcers took everything from us. Our parents were killed by enforcers and even after all that Vi still trusted you. She really must have seen something special in you to go against what we were raised to think about enforcers."
Caitlyn thought about when she got Vi out of prison constantly. She knew without a doubt she was going to get her out regardless if she wasn't going to help with the investigation. Since those "chats" were happening. She had easily picked up on what the warden had meant and is meaning to look into the prison more as time goes on.
