The Crowhill Chronicles

Chapter Ten - The Beginning

Jacques had never been one to break the law, and he certainly wouldn't consider himself to be reckless, but he was driving his car faster than he ever had before. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. Jacques nearly missed a turn, caught up in his worried mindset. He skidded around and zipped down a small side street to the edge of town. He could see the theater in the distance and his eyes grew wide. Past the theater, Laurence's homestead was ablaze--the flames shooting violently into the sky and smoke leaving a chilling shroud of darkness in the sky. Jacques nearly crashed into a large tree, swiftly hopping out of his car and running at full speed towards the homestead. A burly police officer quickly stopped him.

"What do you think you're doing, buddy?" the grumpy man said in a rude tone.

Jacques didn't know what came over him. He angrily shoved the officer away, jumping over the caution tape and running up to the smoldering building. An immense amount of water hit him with a massive amount of force, and he flew back, falling onto the caution tape and grimacing in pain. The officer shook his head, turning back to the burning homestead. Jacques slowly got up, finally working up the nerve to ask the officer what had happened.

"It was a gas explosion." the fat officer said, grinning.

Jacques couldn't believe the officer would find something like this amusing. Then he saw it. The remains of Laurence's body were being wheeled out on a stretcher, and a paramedic pronounced him dead within a minute. Jacques felt all the life sucked out of him. He never had the chance to tell Laurence how he felt. Jacques fell to his knees. Now that the fire was successfully extinguished, the law enforcement vehicles drove away down the poorly-kept road. Was the phial in the fire too? What if it was destroyed? The contents may be sensitive to heat.

Jacques opened his mouth a few times, glancing over to the old theater. His family had recently disowned him, so he couldn't go to them. He was considering faking his death already, but this had confirmed the decision without any doubt. Jacques marched up to the theater, rapping on the door. The familiar face of Kurt Merst popped out and he raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want...Jacques?" the documentary filmmaker said, seeming surprised, his eyes scanning over the distraught man with suspicion.

"I need to stay with you!" Jacques said quickly.

"What, because of your friend?" Merst said coldly "Find someone else."

"No, please!" Jacques said.

But the door was slammed before he could say anything more. Jacques screamed in rage, punching the front door, however this only ended up hurting his knuckles. He knew where to go from here, but if it didn't work out he would be doomed. He hopped into his car and began driving, although he really wasn't in a good condition to be doing so. Nevertheless, he quickly traveled to the small house that Sylvester owned on the Northern side of town. When he got there, he sprung out of his car, practically flying towards the door and knocking on it with great force and urgency. Sylvester opened the door after a few moments of this, his brow furrowed.

"Jacques?" he asked, surprised.

Jacques could see Sylvester's wife, Isabella, sitting on the couch behind him and looking up to the door with concern.

"I need to stay with you!" Jacques begged "Please! I can't go on without him, and I need someone to--"

"Why?" Sylvester interrupted.

"You know why! You called me about Laurence in the first place!" Jacques said, annoyed.

"Oh, that." Sylvester said "I can't tonight."