When The Clock Strikes Twelve

Chapter 16

The next day passed in silently and slowly. Jaye and Zaria were inseparable, staying together as they went through the motions, meeting Auntie Keara for meals. They talked about nothing, simply reveling in each other's company.

Jaye could tell that Zaria was still uneasy about the funeral, but she was pushing it away.

The two of them sat in silence most of the day, just being together. Soon, it was night and the two of them started getting ready for bed.

After giving Zaria a good night kiss, Jaye headed to her own room. She tossed and turned for nearly an hour before giving up on sleep for the moment. She paced up and down her small room, thinking. 

What would happen now?

Jaye knew that whatever would happen, she would be with Zaria, and she would be okay. She smiled softly to herself in the darkness at this thought, glad no one was there to see her.

Suddenly, in the distance, there came a loud bang, a sound Jaye recognized immediately. A gunshot. Without thinking, Jaye sprinted out of her room, racing through the dark palace.

Luckily, the lights came on within another few seconds as others who seemed to have heard the noise awoke too, all of them making their way to the direction of the noise, trading worried looks. The anxiety of the crown only deepened when they pinpointed where the sound had come from.

They were standing in front of Laurel's room.

Jaye shoved through the crowd, who were standing in a semicircle around the scene in front of them.

The first thing Jaye saw was Laurel, wearing ratty old clothes. She looked unharmed, though a little dazed. Jaye felt a spark of relief that Laurel was fine.

However, her relief dissipated when she saw the body on the floor.

Jaye sucked in a breath, the world spinning around her.

No.

No.

On the ground, with a bullet hole in his chest and a pool of blood surrounding him, was Zander.

~

Jaye remembered what happened next vividly. As soon as she realized who it was, Jaye screamed, flinging herself at Zander. Her thoughts were spinning in crazed circles, logic insisting that this was real while emotion insisted that it couldn't be, that this was some sort of joke, some sort of trick.

People-Jaye didn't know who-held her back as she sobbed and screamed, doing her best to reach him. She didn't stop struggling for hours, having to be held back the entire time. She watched as they closed off the area, bringing in people to try to identify what had happened, crowds of people looking concernedly at Laurel and looking at her with pity, watching her struggle.

Even after Zaria arrived, Jaye still fought. This wasn't happening.

Zander couldn't be dead, because if Zander was dead, then that would mean he was gone, and if he was gone, she would never see him again.

Soon, she was surrounded by people. Zaria and Auntie Keara, trading worried looks and speaking in soothing voices. Laurel, who was crying too, but in a calm, slow way. She looked ethereal, while Jaye was sure she looked like an animal run over by a truck.

After what had felt like simultaneously several days but also only a single second, Jay found her wails fading down into hiccups, then whimpers, and finally dying out altogether.

She was curled into a small ball, back pressed against the wall. Her throat felt like sandpaper, and her eyes stung, fresh tears pooling in her eyes.