Promise

[Namira]

((Continued from Bats & Rats & Blind Cave Salamanders and Lexi))

When I heard I... I didn't know what to do or think. I'm not sure anything that could happen to anyone would ever really prepare you for news like that. What I'd been hearing earlier... that cut me deeply, but much as I hate to admit it... I didn't cry.

Not until the fourth day.

~*~

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..."

Jessie Anderson knelt on the thin strip of sand that divided swamp and sea, head bowed, eyes scrunched tightly shut like a little kid would pray.

"...and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us..."

It had been a long while since those labyrinthine tunnels and a long while since Jessie had had any contact with anybody else. In the dark, Jessie had managed to get separated from the others and had never quite found her way back to them. After that, she'd been wandering without rhyme or reason, seeing people at a distance several times, but never quite crossing paths.

"...not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen."

Jessie looked up and opened her eyes. The sun was rising above the horizon, had been for a little while already. Normally, that would have been a sight to put a smile on Jessie's face and warmth in her heart, but not now. Because now, it signified that it was almost time for another announcement. Another list of the dead and those that had violated every principle Jessie held herself to in the name of survival.

Three days. Had it really been three days already? 72 hours, and Jessie Anderson was alive when more than forty of her classmates were dead. People that she'd grown up with, learned alongside, helped out, been helped by. Even for the most anitsocial of them, the loners, Jessie could put faces to names. She didn't forget people. She had a knack for it. They weren't just names or statistics, they were classmates, friends. They'd had lives, aspirations, and now... each and every one of them was dead. Why did Jessie deserve to be alright? What had she done to earn that above all the others? She didn't know. Not even prayers gave her the answer, although they made her feel a little better.

...She'd been doing a lot of praying over the past three days.

Jessie picked herself up and looked at the sunrise for a few seconds. It was beautiful. It seemed wrong that the natural beauties of the heavens and earth could still be so intact on this hellish island, that the world was so... indifferent to their plight. Whilst she mulled that over, right on cue, the PA system screeched its way online.

Moments later, the voice of Mr. Danya piped up, each name he rattled off - both killers and victims, caused Jessie to wince. Much as the bible preached tolerance and compassion, to turn the other cheek... Jessie simply couldn't find room in her heart for any emotion towards that man but hate. She strove against it, but knew from the very beginning that it was an exercise in futility. Nothing could redeem somebody like that, in Jessie's mind. Nice in person, good family life, or philanthropist, he was responsible for each and every last name on that list. It was God's job to judge His creations, not Jessie's, but that didn't mean she had to regard him as anything less than monstrou-

"Our unluckiest of the pack this time was Daniel Kensrue, who..."

That was all Jessie listened to. Not even the name of the murderer reached her ears. She couldn't breathe. She felt as if somebody had punched her in the stomach, and then taken a bat to her ribs for good measure. Jessie let out a noise which was something between whine and sob and grasped her hair with both hands. Tears pricked briefly at sky blue eyes, then began to flow in earnest. DK. Oh God please not DK. Not that blunt and wry man with a massive heart.

Not the guy that had so suddenly swept her from her feet.


At the mall, in the music store. DK had just played an impromptu solo in the middle of the room. He smiled at her.

"I'll treat for a slice of pizza if you want."

Still in the mall, this time sharing a table. It was a weird, spur-of-the-moment date. They'd known each other casually, sure, but never really spoken much before then. The issue of prom was brought up, skirted slightly, then Jessie just threw caution to the wind and asked DK if he wanted to go with her.

"You know what. That's a good idea. A damn good idea. It's a date."

Prom night, out in the dancefloor. DK in his suit, her in a dress, the very first time Jessie hadn't felt too self-conscious about formalwear. Sharing a slow step together, tucked tightly against one another. The music ended and they shared a kiss. Chaste, but romantic. The connection had been made, it became clear, from that moment, that there was a genuine spark.


And...

Could all that just be gone?


~*~

Jessie must have stayed on that beach for hours, dwelling in memories, crying to herself. Remembering DK. There was no room for resentment or anger inside of the girl at that moment. Indeed, she didn't entertain thoughts of vegeance for even a second. A man who followed a peaceful way of life much like the Christian ideal had once said 'an eye for an eye will make the world blind' and Jessie believed that wholehearteadly. Trying to find whoever had killed DK (Claire... somebody. There weren't many Claires on the trip, so probably Lambert) would be utterly fruitless. Because once Jessie did, then what would she do? Certainly not attempt to kill them. Ask them why? More than likely she'd receive a practical demonstration. It would be futile.

At length, Jessie found herself sitting on one of the rocks rising from the sand, staring into the sky.

"DK I..." she looked down, sniffed once. She'd stopped crying now, but only because the tears had ran out. "I know you... you didn't believe so much. But I know you have to be out there somewhere and will be listening out. I'm... sorry, DK. I should have looked harder instead of just wandering around. I should have been there. I hope that wherever you're watching me from... you can forgive me for that, DK. We... we could have made things work DK, I think they were working. I wanted to be with you and... and well now I can't be, not until the end comes. I thought about bringing it on myself, DK... but I can't. I can't do that with God's gift to me. I can't do that to your memory. So... I'll keep going, DK, because I have to. There are a lot more people out on this island and... and I think it's time I started to do what I can, instead of just avoiding them. There... there has to be something, you know? DK... I love you. Watch over me. Please."

Jessie Anderson stood, rubbed her eyes with the back of her arm, and headed towards the swamp.

((Jessie continued in Cool Ranch))