The List 11-15

Memory, Insanity, Misfortune, Smile, Silence

#11 Memory

          Jynx had leaned up against a tree and fallen asleep hours ago. As she slept, she dreamed; dreamed of a nigh long passed.

          Jynx jumped down from the ladder as the men assembled. Turning around, she addressed them.

          “All right, you know the drill. Protect the village at all costs, but try to spill as the least amount of human blood as possible.”

          The men nodded in compliance. Jynx titled her head back, closed her eyes, and howled. The men joined her.

          Jynx moaned in her sleep as the howl sounded in her dream. How she longed to hear that howl again.

          Jynx and the men ran through the trees. She stopped abruptly as a familiar scent reached her. The humans were not the ones after them tonight, at least the humans who were usually moronic enough to think that Norotheins and werewolves were the same thing. Every full moon they would enter the forest in hopes of stopping the creatures. But that night, the men who were coming after Jynx and her pack were different. They were Blood Hunters, men whose soul purpose for existing was to track and slaughter Norotheins.

          Jynx moaned in her sleep again. Her dream seemed to skip a chunk of time.

          Jynx tried to lift herself off the ground where she had been left for dead, but failed. She remained on the wet forest floor, the shame of her failure washing over her. She wanted nothing more than to give into the feeling and pass out. The knife in her back had gone in deep. She wanted to take it out, but could not gather enough strength to move. She vaguely heard men yelling, others howling, others screaming. That’s when she heard the most terrifying sound of all.

          “Fall back! Fall back! They’ve found the village! Fall back!”

          Jynx woke from her sleep with a start. She quickly got to her feet and began sprinting though the forest. She leapt over large rocks and ducked under low branches with only one thought in mind: they had found the village. The Blood Hunters had found her pack. She had to save them.

          Jynx skidded to an abrupt halt. It was already too late to save them. Five years too late. She breathed heavily, trying to push the thought out of her mind. It was too late. It had only been a dream. She looked up at the sky through the trees; a full moon. She closed her eyes and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

          It was just a memory.

 

 

#12 Insanity

          Nicki bobbed her head a few times before her eyes fluttered open. Her head was pounding, and her eyesight was blurred. She wanted to reach up and rub her eyes, but she found she could not move her hand. She tried again, but something around her wrist was not allowing her. She gave herself a moment to simply breathe before finding out what was going on.

          Nicki discovered that her wrists, ankles, and waist had been tied to the chair she was sitting in. She had no memory of how she had gotten in the chair, nor how she had gotten to the room she was in. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in her apartment. Blinking her eyes a few times allowed her vision to clear a little bit. She lifted her head and looked out into the darkness to see a man crouching down in front of her. She jumped back to the best of her ability.

          “No, no. Nicki, it’s okay.” He said softly, placing a hand on Nicki’s.

          “Wh… who are you? What am I doing here?” Nicki squeaked in terror.

          The man looked confused.

          “Nicki, it’s me. It’s Collin.”

          Now Nicki was confused.

          “I don’t know a Collin.” She said. “I don’t know you. You’ve got the wrong girl.”

          Collin stood up.

          “No, Simon showed me your picture.” Collin smiled. “You’re my Nicki.”

          Nicki felt as though all the air had been sucked from her lungs.

          “Si… Simon?” she stuttered. “You know Simon?”

          “Yes.” Collin said, his smile growing. “He told me all about you. He said-“

          "You met him in jail?"

          Collin did not answer for a moment. He nodded, crouching down again.

          “He told me everything about you. He said you might be scared when I came to collect you, but he said everything would be okay.”

          Nicki’s eyes filled with tears. Collin ran his fingertips over her bare stomach, up along her sports bra, and up her neck to her cheek.

          “Listen to me Collin,” she said through the tears, “I am the reason Simon’s in jail. Whatever he told you about me is a lie.”

          Collin shook his head.

          “No, I saw the letters you wrote me.”

          “Collin I didn’t write you any letters! It was Simon. He lied to you! He hates me. He’s trying to punish me for sending him to jail!”

          Collin stood up and turned his back on Nicki. His hand moved into his pocket. When he turned back, he pointed a handgun at her. The terror in her stomach exploded.

          “Being with me is a punishment?” he growled painfully.

          “Collin, please-“

          He cocked the gun. “I loved you, you know. And I’m sorry, but your father gave you to me. If I can’t have you, nobody will.”

          “Collin, don’t-!”

          Collin squeezed the trigger and the bullet entered Nicki’s chest. Her head hung low. Taking a moment to look at her, Collin pressed the barrel of the gun to his temple and squeezed.

 

 

#13 Misfortune

          “O’Connell!”

          Louie sat up quickly, banging her head against the bunk above her. She yelped in pain, grabbing her forehead and lying back down.

          “Good morning Louie.”

          Louie opened her eyes slowly. The General stood next to her bunk, looking down at her. Moaning slightly, she got up from her bunk and stood in front of the General. He seemed to be waiting for something. Smiling, Louie saluted him. The General looked away from her, disappointed.

          “Louie, are you drunk?”

          “No.” she replied, putting her arms at her sides. “But I was last night.”

          “You think that drinking will increase your chances of being removed from you station and rank?” he asked.

          Louie made a face. “Is it even helping?”

          “Not in the slightest bit.” The General smirked, looking back at Louie. “Come with me. I want to introduce you to your men.”

          “Great.” Louie sighed, and followed the General out of the tent to the center of the camp where a large group of men stood waiting.

          “At ease, men.” He commanded.

          The men did as they were told.

          “Men, this is Lieutenant O’Connell. You’re under her command now.” The General shouted. He turned to Louie. “They’re all yours, Lieutenant.” He said, and walked away.

          Louie merely stood looking at the men for a minute or two. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and, to her disappointment, they were all still there when she opened her eyes again. Putting on a pain of sunglasses she had in her pocket, Louie stuffed her hands in her pockets.

          “So, you’re the poor unfortunate souls they placed under my command.” She said loud enough for them all to hear. “It’s a great misfortune for you guys, I’ll tell you that. You look like you deserve better.”

          One of the men appeared to want to say something. Louie noticed and gestured that he had permission to speak.

          “Lieutenant, I’m not sure I understand.”

          Louie laughed slightly.

          “You men came here to fight for your country, right?”

          They answered, “Yes, in unison.

          “Uh huh, and how many of you were drafted?”

          A little over half the men raised their hands.

          “Yeah.” Louie sighed. “So was I. And I tell you this here and now, you won’t find anyone else in this whole God damned army that wants to get out of here more than me.”

          The men lowered their arms.

          “So like I said, it’s a great misfortune you guys got me as your Lieutenant.” Louie said, and walked away from the men. “You look like you deserve better.”

 

 

#14 Smile

          “Wait, you want me to what?” 
          Seamus pointed to the man again.

          “Throw out your hands towards him.”

          Declan shook her head. “I’ll hurt him again.”

          “No, you won’t. Just concentrate.”

          Declan was not assured by this. Closing her eyes, she thrust her hands forward and the man flew back into the tree just as he had the last dozen times she had tried. Seeing that he was through, Seamus ran over to help the man. Quinlan handed her reigns to the small boy next to her with the intension of going to comfort Declan. She knew how long Declan had been living with this magic without knowing or understanding it. She also knew how hard learning to control it was for her.

          Quinlan stopped as soon as she saw Logan walk up behind Declan. He took hold of her forearms gently.

          “Calm down.” He said. “Deep breaths.”

          Declan did not turn back to look at him. She did as she was told and began breathing deeply.

          “Now close your eyes.”

          Again, Declan did as she was told. Logan raised his niece’s arms so they were just above her waist and parallel with the dirt ground.

          “It’s your magic, Declan. It belongs to you. You control it, not the other way around. Use it only when you want to, and suppress it when you don’t need it.” Logan felt the goose bumps form on Declan’s arms. “Now suppress it.”

          Logan let go and stepped back. Declan kept her eyes closed, feeling a strange warmth cover her body. Taking on last deep breath, she opened her eyes slowly. Seamus had walked over to Quinlan. A new volunteer stood in front of Declan. With a swift movement, she thrust her arms forward.

          The man did not move. She did it again, and again the man did not move.

          A sweet and innocent smile found its way onto Declan’s lips.

          Quinlan’s mouth slightly dropped as she stared at her friend.

          “What’s the matter?” Seamus asked softly.

          Quinlan took a moment to rip her eyes away from Declan and turned her head back to Seamus.

          “That’s the first time in six years I’ve seen her smile.”

 

 

#15 Silence

          “There she is. Your goddess; your embodiment of love. Now go to her. Go to her man! Why aren’t you going to her!?”

          Luke was frozen where he stood. Jack waved his arms about, still trying to get Luke to move.

          She was so beautiful, too beautiful to be a mere mortal. Everything about her made his muscles tremble with desire. He had to hide the fact that her very presence made him breathe harder.

          “Earth to Luke! Come in Luke!”

          Luke quickly snapped out of his trance and turned to Jack.

          “You are pathetic.” Jack said, emphasizing the first word. “Just go talk to her.”

          “I will.” Luke replied. “I’m just waiting for the right moment.”

          Jack made a face.

          “You used that excuse last week. And twice the week before that.”

          “What your point?” Luke snapped.

          “My point is that you’re recycling excuses to not speak to her. Be a man and go claim your woman!”

          Luke turned back to her. He had been reusing excuses. Why shouldn’t he go to her? She was single; she was beautiful; she was perfect. And she seemed to be willing to speak to him by the way she glance at him, which brought on a total loss of feeling in every part of his body. Or at least he thought she glanced over at him.

          “Are you even listening to me!?”

          Luke came back to the real world again as Jack’s voice reached him.

          “Jack, do me a favor.”

          “What?”

          Luke got up from his chair.

          “Don’t speak anymore.”

          Luke left Jack at the table. This was it. He was going to do it. No more excuses. The time had come to break the silence and get his woman. His stomach was going back-flips, and he lost all feeling to his legs, but only for a second. He was so close.

          There she was, right in front of him. Her back was to him. The smell of her hair made him dizzy with excitement.

          He went to say her name, but nothing came out. He stood there for a moment, paralyzed with fear. He slowly backed away and headed for the door. Her smell still held its power over him as he stepped outside.

          What was another day anyway? The silence would not harm her. She did not even know he existed. What was one more day of silence?