Clock watch & death

By: Milani James

To find more stories by me, go here: https://sites.google.com/unionsd.org/shortstoriesbymilanijames/home

Marie was walking down the street, head bowed, rain splattering, car lights blurred. She looked at her watch, the hands taking small steps on every tick. She tried not to think about the person who had given it to her. Her soft brown hair was getting drenched. I forgot my umbrella at home, she told herself. Home, what an unwarming word. She had no home. Just as she had no umbrella. 'Home is where the heart is.' Was....was, she reminded herself. Home is where you spend time with your family. Share special time with them. And her family was gone. So was her home. She felt warm tears at the edge of her eyes and she dabbed at them, looking around, mildly embarrassed. She shook her head, no reason to be crying about the past. It's the present I need to worry about. Like-how to get food each day. And....her mind drifted inevitably back to her watch. Her father had given it to her before he- STOP! Stop! Tears flowed down her cheeks and sobs escaped her. Her past was all coming back, when she tried so hard, so hard, to lock it all away. Her knees gave way and hit the pavement and the rain kept on pouring on her, giving no sympathy. Her past was coming back...

Four people were sitting down for dinner.

"Marie, please pass the potatoes." a woman sitting at the table said.

"Here you go, mom." a younger Marie replied, handing her the bowl.

"Thank you, Marie." Marie's mother took the bowl and scooped some onto a smaller plate. Next to her was a baby boy, brown fuzz scarcely covering his head. He saw the spoon with the delicious mush coming towards him and opened his mouth eagerly.

A man with a mustache, sitting at the table was looking out the front room window, looking a bit unsettled.

"Tom?" the woman asked, looking away from the baby, spoon hovering near the baby's mouth.

The man jumped and his eyes returned back to the table, "Yes, good girl Marie."

"I'm not a girl, father." Marie pouted slightly, "I would prefer the word 'woman'."

"Yes, yes," Marie's father dabbled his napkin on his mustache, his eyes returned to the window, "Of course. After dinner I want to show you something."

"Of course."

"I'll be putting Jeremy to bed now."

"Okay mother." Marie leaned over and kissed her sleeping little brother's head.

Marie's father got up and pulled her mother to the side, whispering urgently. Marie caught the words, "Following me......here.....caution." Marie looked at her mother, her mother's eyebrows were scrunched up and she said something to him and went up the stairs.

Marie's father waited until Marie's mother was upstairs with Jeremy, then he turned to Marie and beckoned her into a room. He went up to a box, opened it and took out a watch, and handed it to Marie, "Yours. It was mine before. You are a woman now, aren't you?"

Marie smiled and put it on, "Fits nicely. Thank you so much, father-"

A crash and a scream pierced the moment. Followed by bawling.

"Delphine! Jeremy!" Marie's father yelled, he looked out the window fearfully as he burst out of the room, then trampling up the stairs. Marie, frightened, quickly followed her father upstairs. She screamed, her mother was on the floor, a bloody wound in her side. Deep red liquid was flowing onto the carpet. She was still clutching Jeremy, bawling but unharmed. She was breathing laborly. A window was shattered near her mother's injured side. A knife lay besides her, while muddy footprints followed in and out from the window. Marie's father ran to her mother's side, hands shaking, "He was following.....my god...." He turned to Marie, "Go get the first aid kit Marie! Near the front door!" as Marie rushed down the stairs and heard her father tell her mother, "We need to leave NOW!"

Her town did not have any hospitals nor police. They lived near the forest, you see, and were planning to visit the city next month, "We are going to visit the city next month." she said firmly, fighting back tears. She was in the front room now, just a bit farther-

BOOM!

Marie was thrown into the front door, and darkness engulfed her. After a while, she woke up, head pounding horribly, it was getting hard to breathe, panting, she looked upstairs, a big hole was in the side of the wall near the broken window. Shattered glass was everywhere. Flames were spreading from the hole. Smoke rose into the air. A bomb must've been planted by whoever was following... father? she thought, Her father was a judge. His last case was last month, now it was summer, this was his vacation time...Who would...? He did come home last month, having judged many criminals guilty, sentencing them to many years in prison. Then she thought of her family, "N-NO!" she screamed. She tried to get up, and fell down. Each moment she wasted, the more the flames engulfed more of her home. Legs straining, body aching, heart throbbing, she hobbled upstairs, to see her father, what was left of him, laying there, his arms over her mother, already dead, who was clutching Jeremy, his still figure resembling a burnt, blood-stained doll. Limp in their mother's arms. "No! No, NO!" Marie shrieked. She stroked Jeremy's face, and looked shakily at her parents, their eyes were glazed over. She shook her head, repeating the only line that would keep her sane, "We are going to visit the city next month," heart pounding-too fast, "We are going to visit the city next month," blood pulsing through my veins, "We are going to visit the city next month, AS A FAMILY!" She couldn't bear it, she screamed in terror and fled the house, her dam burst. She ran, sobbing, into the forest, tripping over tree roots, as far away as she would go from the haunting terror she had just seen. She finally collapsed behind a tree and looked back at her home. Agony erupted inside her chest as she looked back at her burning home, a fiery torch in the darkness.

"We are going to visit the city next month..."