The Attainment of Evangeline

Chapter 42

She could hear her name being called out in desperation, and a woman softly crying in the background, but she could not see where the sounds were coming from. Everything was incredibly bright and blinding, and Evangeline felt a deep terror within her. Confusion swirled around in her mind, fear and doubt seeded there as well, and she told herself to breathe. She found that, not only was she unable to, but she did not feel as if it was a need.

Slowly, objects begin to take shape around her and just as slowly, she began to calm herself. She saw Jack holding her body in his arms, visibly shocked at the fact that she was gone. Then Elizabeth came into view, trying with no avail to get Jack to let go. Boone and his two remaining men were next to form before her, and they simply stood and beheld the scene in front of them, hardly bothering to laugh as they had done before. She was viewing the display that she had just been a part of, but she was watching it all from outside her body. Not everything was clear, there was an overcast splayed out, covering everything, and it didn't seem real to her.

"Do not be frightened," Evangeline heard a voice say next to her. She turned to her right and saw Annie smiling sweetly at her.

"Am I dead?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes."

"Why am I standing here with you?"

"When you die, a fellow spirit is sent to usher you forward. I am your spirit guide."

Evangeline looked back to where her body lied and watched Jack struggle to release her from his grip. Her blood had made an absolute mess and Jack was covered in it, but it seemed to be the least of his worries. She watched, with interest, as he bent his head down and softly kissed her lifeless cheek before laying her to rest on the ground. The gesture surprised her and even though she could not feel his kiss, she closed her eyes and relished it. Boone, on the other hand, seemed to find the action hilarious, for he began to laugh and his minions did the same.

"I don't understand why she had to die," Jack said over the laughing. "Why her?"

"Because Sparrow, now that she has been eliminated, I can do with you whatever I see fit. I swore to her that I wouldn't kill you, but now that she is no longer here, there is absolutely nothing stopping me from tearing you to pieces."

"No," Evangeline whispered, this was just what she had been afraid of.

"This girl couldn't have stopped ya from comin' at me if she had tried," Jack growled.

"You're right. I just wanted to watch you helplessly squirm while she died," Boone admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

Jack, whose face twisted with anger, looked to where Annie and Evangeline were standing and she wondered if he saw her.

"No, child, he cannot see you," Annie said.

"But he can see you."

"I was called forth by the Grail. My spirit is trapped in between the world of the living and the world of souls. Your spirit, however, is lost to the living world."

"Can they not hear you talking to me?"

Annie shook her head and looked back to Jack who stared at her with a deep sadness in his eyes.

"Are you thinking back to the night Annie died?" Boone asked him. "Is the pain comparable? Is the death of this girl as horrible as our beloved Annie's was?"

Jack continued to look to Annie, and he picked up the sword that lay at his side. Elizabeth saw this as a call to action and grabbed hers as well, and it would have been comical that her arms were still bound had this day gone any differently.