Lady Of The Island

Choices

"....it....it was you.." I stammered, clutching my leg as blood dripped out onto the woodland floor. "..you..."

"Mmm." Jane giggled lightly and kicked my leg with her heels. "I told you to leave it. I told you to drop it. But what did you do? You kept digging."

"You're a monster! You've killed so many innocents! Do you not feel any guilt?" I couldn't look her in the eye as I screamed. "Do you know what you've done?"

"Of course I do." She giggled once more and clasped my neck. "I proved the point I needed to prove...look at me!"
With enough force to snap a neck, Jane whipped my face towards her.  She was covered in blood, hysterical - with a gold twinkle in her eyes. 
"They always told me 'you can't do this!' or ''you can't do that!'...Well, look at me now!"

"What do...you mean?" I gulped. "Did you do all of this to PROVE A POINT? Why did you kill so many? Tasha! Alice! Lennox! All of them! Why?"

Jane let go of me and walked away slowly, before grabbing onto Ruth's rope and tightening it, now causing me to realise that she was unconscious.
"You see, as I told you before, I've always been the secondary head of the railway, well, until Lowham took the spot as controller and stripped me from my duties - which I DID make him pay the price for..." She showed a hanging motion. "When this was brought up to the team developing the television series, I was told 'You can't be the controller, you're a woman!"...So I was demoted in the series to...a housewife. A HOUSEWIFE!"

"You...huh?"

"The pure MISOGYNY in our society is enough to drive someone mad! Why ELSE do you think I started drugging David? He was the one to put me down all those years ago! He CUT me so many scripts! His excuse was that 'The books depict you that way'...Well, I wasn't exactly going to know that the books were going to take off, now did I? Eugh!"

"You drugged David over a disagreement?" I had to laugh. "That's ridiculous! You're INSANE!"

"I'm not insane..." Jane shook her head, then paused and span around. "But that's what a crazy woman would say! Maybe I am! Maybe-"

Crunch.

Something was nearby.

"Hm?" Jane paused and placed a new bullet in her gun.

Craaaack.

"Is someone there?" Jane shuddered and began to sound calm as usual. "I demand that you show yourself."

No response.

"Hmph, must've gotten scared...anyway-"

SNAP.

BANG.

I winced as Jane quickly fired a bullet in my direction, but above my head. 
With a momentary pause, something fell to the woodland floor behind me with a thud.

"Oh, I hit something." She muttered, unphased. She pointed the gun back at me and walked towards the damage, keeping it facing me. She stopped quickly and shook her head.
"What a shame."

"...who is it?" I stammered. "...Tell me."

She slowly reached down and pulled up a limp arm, one attached to a young hand with painted nails.

"He's not dead. Close to, possibly." She aimed the gun at the body. "Maybe I should-"

"No!" Ruth snapped through her binds.

Jane slowly turned around, smiling.
"Oh, did you say something?"

"You're a monster, a witch! A wicked murderer! Do you not care what you did?" She continued.

"No, I don't." Jane giggled. "I did it to harm those men who RUINED my reputation. Burnett loved Tasha. He fell onto Alice to be a shoulder to cry on...and the rest, well, collateral damage I suppose. Though, they seemingly caused harm to Burnett, David and, well..." She pointed at me. "That one."

"When Lady tried to kill me tonight...why did she refer to Alice as Auntie Alice?"

"Well, you have the same nose, and I wanted you to think about something while you could...no real relations as far as I can find. You - Gray Marshall, have 0 relation to Alice Jones. Ah, saying her full name after all these years. It makes me remember how her parents reacted to her death. They flew all the way over from the states! Her mother, Stacy, sobbed and sobbed. And her father wasn't much better."

"Did you feel any remorse?" I shouted, getting onto my feet. "You watched her parents MOURN, and you knew that you killed her?"

"Of course I felt bad for her parents, but it was just what had to happen. Burnett and I were even. David lost two important employees and one of the more powerful roles at his company..."

"Could you control Tasha?"

"Of course I could."

"...then why did you go after your husband?"

Jane didn't respond as a few golden particles flew from her eyes.
"Well, that's...a different topic."

"No, it's not!" Ruth forced a laugh. "They've been divorced since 1998! She tried to kill him in order for the papers to not go through! While they're legally still married, Bertram can't even break it off as he doesn't have the ability TO leave. She trapped him. He doesn't even need Archie or I, he's FINE. She's making us drug him!"

"Silence!" Jane pointed the gun at her. "One more word out of you, and I'll silence you for good."

"Do it, Deighan." Ruth grinned. "Then do me a favour, kill yourself afterwards."

Jane let out a screech and fired the bullet, lodging it into Ruth's arm - resulting in a younger scream.

"You can't have many bullets left, can you?" I pointed out. 

"That's correct..." Jane pondered, then smiled. "I know what to do with the next one. Stay there, or it'll go through that thick skull of yours, smartass."

She hummed her way over to Burnett and dragged him beside Ruth, then got the young hand, belonging to a heaving Archie, and added him to the group.
Jane waved the gun.

"You have a choice to make, one of the more difficult choices you would ever pick." She grinned.

"No..."

"You get to choose which one I kill!" Jane jumped up and down. "All of these three have wronged me, so I suppose it's up to you."

"Jane..." I took a deep breath. "You can't-...This isn't you-"

"Of course it isn't!" Ruth laughed out of nervousness. "Look at her eyes! They're more golden than-"

"SHUT UP!" She took off her heel and wedged it in one of Ruth's eyes.  "THERE."

I lurched over and couldn't look. It wouldn't be in far enough to blind her, no, but the sound it made. A squelch, yet not as sticky. Not dry enough to be a thud.

"Now...Make your choice."

...this can't be happening?

i can't be choosing to end someone's life??!!

...this isn't jane.
she isn't okay.

She needs help.