Sineater

Seventeen

╔═══════ ∘◦ ⛧ﾐ ◦∘ ═══════╗
Sorry it's so short. It just felt like
this should be the only scene
in this chapter. I cried while
writing this. I love all of you.
╚═══════ ∘◦ ミ⛧ ◦∘ ═══════╝

Unlocking the door, Jin entered the apartment that he shared with Brielle. He closed and locked the door behind him before coming further into the living area and taking off his coat.

As he moved to hang it on the rack, he finally looked at his surroundings, his gaze raking over and taking in the mess before him. There were books strewn all over the floor, pages torn and tattered. Sheets of loose paper containing the articles and other documents they had been researching were scattered about the hardwood floors.

Jin dropped his coat onto the floor beside the coat rack as concern for Brielle and what must have happened immediately flooded his mind. He began slowly walking up the stairs, gaze combing over the tossed about picture frames and books and papers scattering over the steps.

He touched the fresh glob of yellow paint that had been swiped over the top of the armoire that stood as tall as the staircase railing. His sight found more yellow paint coating the edges of a few stairs as he continued his ascent.

Reaching the landing of the bedroom, Jin called for her. "Brielle? Brielle?"

There was paint everywhere, all over the wooden furniture. Jin's stomach dropped and a panicked feeling overcame him. He cranked his head around the room, looking for any indication that she was here, that the love of his life was okay.

Coming around the curve where the floor had been built around a stone pillar looming tall and prideful, Jin saw her boots. They were on the floor in front of the shattered floor length mirror he remembered making love to her in front of that morning. She was still wearing them.

He caught sight of the hem of her pink dress settled right above her knee length black boots and he hurried around the curve. It felt like his heart had stopped beating as he took in the macabre sight before his very eyes.

Brielle lay on the floor, a pillow beneath her head as if it would be able to offer her some kind of comfort. Her arms were spread out on either side of her body, her eyes open and watching him, but she was weak. She was too weak to move, too weak to speak. Her eyes spoke to him though. They begged him to finish it, finish what had been started, what she had appeared to be unable to finish.

Blood pooled beside Brielle, her left arm lying in it. There was a deep, jagged gash on the inside of her forearm, right over the scar that had already been there, fingerprints of yellow paint were mixed in with the pool of blood. Yellow and green paint coated both of her hands, a color upon each of her palms and a bloody, painted handprint upon a sheet of folded paper.

And a bright, cheerful sunflower lay unmarred and perfect on top of her stomach, it's stem coming to rest between her thighs.

"Oh! Oh, no!" Jin dropped to his knees and slid close to Brielle. "Oh! No, no, no! No, baby!" He bent over her nearly lifeless form. "Brielle. Brielle. Baby. Brielle? Baby? Baby I-"

Brought speechless by the scene, Jin was left unable to speak and continued moaning in agony as he tried to touch her, but didn't know where and how.

Sobs wracked his body and voice as he continued to moan incoherently, and he leaned up by her head. He watched Brielle blink ever so slowly and open her eyes back up even slower. Jin continued the bone deep, soul wrenching sobs as he mourned his lost love. She closed her eyes once more, not opening them again.

He made the sign of the cross over her nearly dead body and attempted to speak the last rites in Latin, but was unable to get past the second word. He was shaking too much from his sobs.

Giving up, Jin placed his hands over his face and sobbed into Brielle's chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I can't." She moaned softly, almost too soft for Jin to hear over his sobbing. "I can't." He looked up as he heard the soft moan of agony come from her throat. "I'm not a priest anymore."

He rested his head upon her chest, eyes finding a focusing on a small familiar pouch. Too familiar. He knew what he needed to do. Still crying, he rose back up and reached for the pouch. "I can take... I can take..." He opened the pouch and took out the items inside.

He began sobbing uncontrollably again.

Gathering his strength, knowing there wasn't much time left, Jin grabbed the piece of black chalk and began writing the Aramaic symbols upon the floor at her head and feet. Every accidental nudge against her body jostled a meek moan from Brielle.

"Baby, oh, hang on, okay?" Jin finished writing the symbols and went back to her. "Just hang on okay, please?" His words were almost incoherent due to his crying. He had to force his eyes wide open to see what he was doing, to see through the tears.

He placed the small hunk of bread and chunk of salt upon her chest before he lost himself to his sobbing once more. He set the small, wooden cross upon her forehead, between her eyes. Just as he had witnessed Hoseok do the other night.

"Baby." It was a whisper as he caressed her face, removing the strands of hair from her eyes.

All he wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry, but he knew he had work to do. He wanted Brielle to make her way to a peaceful afterlife instead of perishing and wandering the earth for eternity. He began speaking the chant he remembered Hoseok saying, his voice shaking uncontrollably between sobs.

He took the salt and bread in his fingertips, the familiar transparently opalescent tendrils rising from Brielle's chest as she breathed a long, shuddering intake of breath. Jin wrapped an arm around her and lifted her with him as he placed the the bread and salt into his mouth, closing his eyes.

The same jellyfish looking thing entered him as he took every one of Brielle's sins inside himself. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she brought her face close to his own. Barely able to place one last, chaste kiss upon his lips, Brielle sighed as the breath left her lungs and she closed her eyes one last time, dying in Jin's arms.

He lay there with her, panting, gasping for breath as the visions of her sins hit him. She was a child, being touched, fondled and raped in her bed by a much older, very grown man. She stood silent and still, taking each lashing she receiving from her ex. With each sin vision, Jin felt every emotion that flooded her mind, heart and body. Guilt, anger, betrayal, hatred, disgust. Not that those emotions are particularly sins themselves, but she viewed the things that she went through as being her fault and deserving them. Because of her gift, because of what she was given, seeing future and past events.

Then came the ultimate sin.

Him.

She never felt like she deserved him, even when she raised and aimed the pistol that shot and nearly killed him. She loved him more than she had ever loved anyone or anything else in her life.

He felt every single feeling she had ever felt for him. And he had felt the exact same way for her. She would always be with him.

Then he watched the final scene of her life, her death, through her eyes. He knew how and why she died.

Just a few moments, he promised himself. I will take just a few moments to truly mourn.

He laid there, still embracing Brielle, the absolute love of his life, and he sobbed. He sobbed soul deep, bone vibrating, heart shattering cries. He sobbed until he was out of breath and spent. Gently placing his love back upon the pillow, Jin rose to his feet.

He knew what he must do.