The decapitated nun was tied across the train track as the steam train screeched to a stop.The harsh winds blew my hair loose from it's bun, the black curls whipping my face which was drained of all colour. My long flowing dress did nothing to warm my frozen skin as i stared at the horrible sight with my deep brown eyes. Voices filled with worry and shock hung in the air around the train station. I couldn't hear any of them, they seems to rush away with the wind.
'Come now this is not a sight you should be looking upon,' came a comforting voice.
I jerked my head up to see the sorrowful eyes of my brother.
'Yes, yes we should go,' I whispered in a shaky voice.
I leaned against him as he steered me away from the decapitated nun. A flash of silver caught my eye. I stopped and walked back over reluctantly with unsteady steps.
It couldn't be,' I thought 'Please let it not be.'
I leaned over the track peering down at the cause of the flash of silver. I reached down and grabbed the object from the nuns chest with a numb hand. I closed my eyes tight and gripped the silver object so hard my knuckles turned white. I let out a shaky breath and opened my palm. My eyes stung with the oncoming of tears.
I was staring down at my mothers necklace.
'Who could do such a thing!' exclaimed my brother. He was looking down at me but i couldn't meet his gaze. The pain in his hazel eyes was too great for me to bear.
'Jacob, calm down talking in such a manner wont help.'
'Help!' shrieked Jacob, 'Calm down how dare you talk to me like that!'
'Jacob please-'
'Do you even care Mary?' Jacob interrupted.
'All you've done since we arrived home is sit still!'
Every word was like a slap to my face.
'How can he say such things to me?' I thought. I bit my lip fighting the urge to run out of the room. I tasted blood before i felt the pain in my lip.
'Ofcourse i care Jacob,' I whispered finally meeting his gaze. 'She was my mother i loved her and now she's gone.'
Jacob stopped pacing and headed for the door hastily pulling on his jacket as he went.
'Where are you going in this weather?' I asked rising from my dark wooden chair.
Jacob hesitated then turned slowly to meet my eyes with a cold black stare.
'To arrange a funeral,' He slammed the door shut with such force our wooden floor shook.
After that i was left alone with the face of my mother haunting me, her necklace still in my hands.
The next few days were a blur. Every hour there was always one more pitying face on my doorstep. One more person showing their respects. Leaving flowers or food behind. Every knock pushed me further over the edge.
'Cant people see i want to be left alone,' I hissed inside my head.
'Has Jacob returned yet?' Asked one of my many visitors.
I spun around to face him. Jacob hadn't come home the night of the funeral.
'Uh..no he uh..hasn't,' I said in an uneven voice.
'I don't need to be reminded of this,' I thought hating this broad shouldered man for bringing up the matter.
'Im sure he'll turn up soon,' The man said in a gruff voice.
I saw a glint in his eyes almost as if he was in on some secret joke.
'Yes, thank you,' I said in a cold voice turning away from the man. Something about his eyes made me feel uneasy. Out of the corner of my eye i saw the man turn swiftly and leave. There was a dark red stain on his brown coat.
'It's likely to be just paint or some food stain,' I tried to convince myself, but a nagging voice in the back of my mind told me it was blood.
The picture on my bedside table was beautiful. All of us together, Jacob, Mother, Father and I. It was taken three years ago on a hillside not far from our home. Two weeks before my father was murdered.
'Now it's just me,' I thought bitterly.
Jacob's body had been found two days ago in a nearby paddock by a lonely farmer.
'I'm next,' I whispered curling up in a ball on my bed. I put my head between my knees and rocked back and forth, my whole body shaking with sobs.
'Im next, I'm next, I'm next,'
i barely noticed when tears slid down my cheeks, barely noticed when the glass of water on my bedside table crashed to the floor, barely noticed when the gruff man appeared at my side.
'Your right,' He said 'You are next.'
I lifted my head slowly. My eyes didn't even have time to adjust before he slammed his fist into my temple.
Have you ever felt alone?
Like no one cared whether you lived or died?
Like there was no one in the world you could turn to?
Well that's how I felt lying on the murderers cold kitchen floor. I was aware of a cut on my head. Blood was dripping down it onto my cheek. I couldn't feel it, I didn't care.
'Nothing matters,' I thought, 'He'll kill me, I can't stop him.'
No one was coming to save me.
No one was going to crash through that door and rescue me.
'There's no one left,' I thought. I was surprised to find I wasn't scared. Not the tinniest bit. I wasn't going to leave anyone behind by dying. What I did feel was anger. Anger towards this man who killed my family,anger towards myself for not realising sooner what was happening, but most of all anger towards my family.
'How dare they!' i screamed in my head. 'How dare they die and leave me all alone!'
I jumped up from the floor ignoring the shooting pain it sent to my head and ran for the floor. A pair of iron hard hands yanked me back before I'd taken two steps.
'Now, now we wouldn't want you getting away now would we?' the gruff man said cruelly. He held me tight with one hand and opened another plain door and shoved me inside. I fell to the cold floor with a thud. Gasps of horror sounded all around me. I jerked my head up to find I wasn't alone. ragged and terrified people were slouched over near the walls of the dark room staring at me with empathy in their eyes.
'He did this to you too,' i whispered to the helpless people. Most turned away with tearfilled eyes but a scrawny lady rocking a little boy in her arms gave me a small nod. She hastily turned away when the gruff man stomped in carrying a gun.
'This is it,' I thought 'He's going to shoot me.'
The man stepped forward and grabbed me by the hair and yanked me up. I gave a yelp of pain as he pointed the gun straight at the middle of my forehead. He looked down at me with a look of pure delight on his face.
'Dont look honey,' I heard the lady whisper to the little boy.
I looked away.
