Nightmare in Mineral Town 4

Chapter 31:  Showdown at High Noon

Step by step, Mary watched as her mother walked towards them.  Even under the blazing heat of the sun, the air around them seemed to chill as she approached.  Jack squeezed her hand tight.  Mary heard him say to her under his breath, "You can do this."  Despite herself, she began to quake in fear as Anna came to a stop in front of them.  She knew she wouldn't be able to do it.

Anna stood there, glaring at the two of them.  It took her just a brief moment to analyze everything before her, the blue feather, their tightly held hands, a bead of sweat upon Jack's forehead, a tear growing in Mary's eyes.  Mary was shaking, and so was Jack to a lesser extent, as he did a much better job of hiding it.  They were scared of her, and were wise to be so.  Jack though, was scared only because Mary was scared, he didn't know the true extent of the fear he should have, the fear she had instilled in Mary, the fear that she would soon instill in Jack.

Yet still Anna waited, knowing the silence was ripping Mary up inside, crushing any confidence she had.  A blow wisely struck before the battle had even begun, a poisoned enemy is much easier to defeat.  She let the poison flow forth into Jack and Mary, the poison of doubt and uncertainty.  A tear finally dislodged itself and ran down Mary's face.  Anna smiled coldly, she would say simple words, but words infused with such venom of pure hatred as to grind them into the dust.  Yes, that would be most effective, "Good day Jack,"  She spat into the dirt, "Good day Mary."

Jack wasn't going to have anything to do with these false pleasantries, "Say what you have to say and be done with it."

Anna gave Jack an innocent look and brushed a nonexistent tear from her eye, "Why Jack, I thought we were friends.  How can you talk to me so cruelly?"

"Cut the crap Anna.  We know what you are up to, and we won't have none of it."

Now Jack was messing with her fun.  Fine, he wanted her to get on with it, then so she would.  He wasn't aware of the extent of her control over Mary, "Fine, so be it... Mary what do you think you are doing with that bastard Jack?  I forbid you to marry him."  She raised her voice to a near scream, "You are to let go of his hand and walk over here right now or suffer dire consequences."

Jack laughed, like she honestly expected that to work, "Come on Mary, let's go."  He looked over at Mary with her head held low, "Mary?"

She didn't want to look at either of them.  Mary didn't want to have to suffer from eye contact with Anna, but even worse she couldn't bare to see the hurt in Jack's eyes.  She wrenched her hand free from Jack's and whispered under her breath, "I'm sorry."  Mary slowly walked to her mother.  Jack grabbed her from behind, tried to hug her, hold her tight, bring her back to him.  Mary tried to control her crying.  Why did he have to make it so hard on her?   Mary squirmed free from Jack and went to stand by her mother.

Jack slowly sunk to his knees in despair, "No... no... it can't be..."

Anna grinned evilly.  She loved seeing people grovel before her, "How does it feel Jack?  To know that nobody in the world loves you?  To be all alone?  To be the most despised creature on the face of the Earth?  You see it now don't you?  Nobody loves you."

Jack looked up at them.  Mary still won't show her face to him.  Anna was overjoyed.  He didn't know what to do, "But Mary..."

"Oh, like you honestly expected my little Mary to love you?  She's just on the rebound from Grey.  Give her a few days and she'll be completely over you.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she's over you already.  Tell him Mary.  Tell him how much you hate him.  Tell him he's worthless.  Tell him you never loved him."

Jack buried his face in his hands at the onslaught.  He didn't see Anna raise her hand threateningly at Mary.  He didn't see the tears Mary shed over him.  He didn't see the confliction between what Mary said with her mouth and what she said with her eyes.  He wasn't capable of feeling the love she felt for him despite her words.  All he heard was the words she spoke, "Jack... I... I hate you.  You... You are worthless.  I never loved you."



Chapter 32:  Hidden Pasts

Anna put her hand to her mouth and laughed her cruel laugh, "Tell him again Mary."

"I hate you Jack.  I never loved you.  I was wrong."

This was too fun!  Why end it now? Never before had she ever tortured two people by making them destroy each other against their will.  This was the most fun she had ever had!  Anna laughed once more, "Tell him again and again and again Mary!"

Mary couldn't stand it.  How could she keep doing it?  How could her mom be so mean to them?  Her tears broke into sobs and her agony overwhelmed her.  Anna frowned in disgust and lightly tapped Mary on the side of her cheek.  Mary gasped in terror.  That threat was oh so very real to Mary and she immediately stopped crying.  She remembered the last time Anna gently slapped her like so.  That night Anna had beaten her so badly, Mary didn't think she'd live to see the morning.

Mary ran her fingers along her side, feeling one of her many scars under her dress.  Her body was covered with many such scars from such attacks.  First, Anna played around with her for a bit, warming up, she said, for the true punishment.  She had put on every ring she owned on her hands and slapped her repeated, cutting into her flesh over and over again.  Somehow, even knowing that this was the least of the pains that she would experience that night, did not stop her from crying out in pain every time she was struck.  Pain, which was only exemplified by the fact that nobody came to her rescue.

After a while, Mary was made to go wash the blood off of the rings then bring her father's belt for the rest of her punishment.  By the time the night was finished, her skin was peeling off in many places, having been flailed loose by the vicious onslaught.  But the pain was not yet finished.  Anna then rubbed salt into Mary's many wounds, intended, she said, to both prevent infection, stop the bleeding and speed the healing as well as round off the punishment.

Mary only wished that she was as strong as Jack thought she was.  But she was nothing compared to her mother.  Mary was weak and Anna was strong, "I hate you Jack."  Anna began to laugh continuously, a haunting background to Mary's false testimony, "I never loved you.  It was a mistake.  It was nothing more than a rebound from Grey.  I hate you."

Anna laughter stopped, "That's enough Mary.  Do you see it now Jack?  Is it clear to you?  You were a fool to even think that Mary would love you.  Your parents didn't even want you."  Jack looked up at Anna briefly, confused, "Oh, I see.  You never knew, did you?  I'm sure you remember that time you visited Mineral Town as a child and got lost."

Jack nodded his head slowly then resumed looking at the ground, "That's when I met the old man who's farm I now run."

"You didn't get lost, your parent's tried to abandon you.  I believe it was Harris who noticed them leaving without you.  It was the talk of the town.  The young boy who was abandoned by his parents.  We forced them to go pick you back up and take you with them.  Believe me, they weren't happy about it.  Mary was awfully young at the time, but I'm sure she remembers.  Tell him now."

"She's telling the truth.  You were abandoned.  I remember you.  I didn't know you were that boy, but I remember you back then."  She remembered him and that day very  well.  Nobody had ever told her they were the same people.  If only she had known that this Jack was the same boy she met so many years ago.  Of all the kids in the town, she had been the only one who was brave enough to go and meet him.  Mary had gone to comfort him, but found him blissfully unaware of his abandonment.  She didn't want to hurt him, so she didn't tell him the truth.  Later that night, when her mother found out about her meeting the abandoned child, Anna beat her.  At least back then the beatings weren't as bad.

Anna laughed, "See Jack, nobody has ever loved you.  Nobody will ever love you.  You will be alone forever."  Mary knew that was false, she loved Jack. "Now Mary, it's time to deal the final crushing blow.  Take that blue feather out of your hair, throw it to the ground, and grind it into the dust.

Mary pulled the feather loose and held it in her hands, staring at it.  The ultimate symbol of their love for each other.  Both of them had given so much for each other.  Mary whispered, too quietly for anyone to hear, "No..."

Anna glared at Mary and raised her hand threateningly, "What are you waiting for?  Do it now!"

Mary wouldn't do it.  She couldn't do it.  Her mother was wrong.  A fire ignited in Mary's eyes.  She hated Anna.  She never loved Anna.  Anna had never loved her.  She was so wrong.  Jack was right, she did have to stand up to her, "No!  Never!  You are the one who is wrong Mom!"

Mary screamed as her mother's hand flew down towards her.  She could see her mother's wedding ring flash in the sunlight.  Anna backhanded her as hard as she could.  The diamond cut straight through Mary's face, ripping apart flesh, grinding against the bone.  Mary yelped in pain as she was knocked to the ground.  She fell face first into the dirt.

Anna stood over her screaming at a fevered pitch, "You little wench!  How dare you disobey me?"  Mary barely had time to spit out the dirt and try to catch her breath before Anna yanked her back up by the hair.  "I swear by the time I'm through with you you'll never be able to sit down again!"



Chapter 33:  Evil’s Revelation

Mary was trying desperately to stand up, at best managing to stumble along, trying to not be dragged through dirt behind Anna.  Mary cried out back behind her, "Jack help!"

That snapped Jack out of his misery.  Quick as lightning, he looked up, assessed the situation, and lunged forth from his crouching position, drawing his scythe midleap.  Anna had hardly taken five steps before she stopped, feeling the cold blade upon her neck.  With calm authority, Jack gave her a sharp warning, "Let her go now."

"You wouldn't dare kill me.  I know you won't.  You are just a pathetic weakling caught up in over his head..."  Anna paused for a moment.  She had said that before.  She looked across the blade, down the handle, over at Jack.  The scythe, it's the same scythe.  She stared deep into Jack's eyes.  Those were the same eyes that she stared into last night.  In an instant Anna knew.  She couldn't believe that she had actually thought that Zack was the murderer.  Why hadn't she seen it before?

"Until Mayor Thomas appoints somebody else, I am the law in this town.  Now you will let go of Mary."

Anna knew Jack wouldn't spill her blood over Mary.  He was too much in love with her, "Why don't you make me?  She's my daughter, I'll do what I want with her.  Come on.  Kill me while I stand over my daughter."

Jack slowly brought the blade away from Anna's neck, "You're right.  I won't kill you."  He clenched his fist hard around the handle and grunted as he spun it around as hard as he could, bringing the heel end of it slamming into the side of Anna's head.

Anna yelped in surprise as she found herself now on the ground,   "How dare you?  I think you broke my jawbone you bastard."

"You are still talking, aren't you?"  Jack extended a hand to help Mary off of the ground.  "It's all okay now Mary.  Everything will be alright."

Mary took Jack's hand and stood up, only to immediately fall into Jack's chest crying, "I'm so sorry.  I didn't mean any of it.  I was so scared."

Jack patted her on the back, then lifted her up straight and gasped, "Oh my, that's a nasty cut on your cheek right there.  We'll have to get Elli to help clean that up."

"Thank you Jack..."

Anna growled as she stood back up, "You think it's over?  Just like that?"

Jack bent down and picked back up the blue feather that Mary had lost during the struggle, "I do believe you have lost.  You don't have control over either of us anymore."  He brushed the dust back off of the feather and tucked it back in Mary's hair.

Anna smiled slyly.  How wrong he was, she had yet to finish spiting them. "You are sorely mistaken.  Do you know why?  Because I still hold my trump card.  I own Mary's library.  It's part of my property.  I own the building and the land it's on.  And you know what I think?  I think I'm never going to let Mary enter into the library again!"  She laughed at them, at her victory.

"Man, that laugh is really getting on my nerves."

Mary, extremely distressed by this new problem, exclaimed "Is it true Jack?  Does she get my library?"

Jack grinned mysteriously, "Well, she may very well be correct about the library."

Anna squealed gleefully, "I knew it!"

"No..." Mary cried out.

"But I'm pretty darn sure that the books inside do belong to you and I can order to have them confiscated from the library and returned to you if Anna tries to stop you from taking them."  From the look on Anna's face, he knew he had struck the correct chord.

Mary lept into Jack's arms and kissed him, "Thank you, my love, I knew you'd come through for me."

"So you see Anna?  You may very well be almost correct.  But I say let the world hate us.  As long as we love each other, we are stronger than you.  Now go on, crawl back under the rock you came out from under.  As soon as we get this cut looked at," Jack tenderly touched Mary's cheek, which was bleeding quite profusely, "we will be back to get Mary's books.  And take heed of this stern warning, there had better not be a single book missing or damaged."

Anna stormed off angrily.  So be it.  Let the little wench marry that bastard.  She didn't care.  A thought occured to her, Jack was the murderer after all.  A faint smile crossed her face as Anna returned home.  They may have beaten her this round, but at least Mary would get what she deserved when Jack killed her.



Chapter 34: A Long Farewell

Jack walked Mary to the front of the hospital and held the door open for her, “Mary, do you mind if I leave for a bit? I have some business I neede to take care of. It will only take me, oh, fifteen, twenty minutes I think.”

Mary gave Jack a quick reassuring embrace, “I’ll be fine. Just go on and get back fast. Elli should take good care of me.”

”Alright… Honey,” A subtle smile crossed his lips with that word, “Just get that lookked at and I’ll be back as quick as I can.”

”What are you doing anyway?”

”Oh nothing. I’m just going to, uh, take care of Anna.”

Mary gave Jack a serious look, “I know you love me, and well, please don’t take this the wrong way, but you tend to get a bit emotional over me. Please don’t do anything rash.”

Her gaze shifted from Jack’s face. He followed and saw that she was staring at the scythe strapped on his back. He sighed in relief, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. I have more straint than that. Okay, well, as you know I’m sort of the semi official guardian of the town, Mayor Thomas appointed me to that position. But my authority only extends so far as what is related to catching the murderer, for anything else, I must report to him first. So I’m going to go request the authority to place Anna under arrest.”

Mary gasped, “You can’t arrest my mom Jack!”

”I’m sorry Mary, but think about it. Pretend that she didn’t just cut your face open and literally try to drag you home,” Jack gingerly touched Mary’s cheek. It would probably never heal properly. She would always have a massive scar all the way from the corner of her eye down the side of her face. “Even still, we know she reacts very violently to the idea of us getting married. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to buren the church down with us in it. She’s a dangerous woman. I need to do this, for your safety. I couldn’t forgive myself if she did something else to harm you.” By now Jack was nearly begging< “Please Mary, don’t you understand?”

Mary resigned to Jack’s argument, “I suppose you are right. You know, you are very convincing. I’m going to lose every argument we aver will have, won’t I?”

”Naw, I’ll throw you a bone every now and then,” Jack said teasingly, “Now, are you going to go through the door or wait for my arm to fall off first?”

Mary laughed and was shocked by the sound. When was the last time she had a good hearty laugh? Mary honestly couldn’t remember. Already Jack was healing her unseen wounds in ways neither of them really understood. She gave him a quick hug and a kiss before going through the door. “Bye Jack.”

“Bye Mary. See you in a little bit.” As Jack left, he couldn’t help but smile at the thought… That was his soon to be wife.



Chapter 35: The Death of Mary

Mary entered into the now empty hospital. She gazed around the now eeriely silent waiting room. Elli had been sitting at the desk filing papers just mere moments ago. Where was she now? A cold chill past over Mary as she thought an unthinkable thought. Could it be that the murderer had struck again?

Mary quietly tiptoed through the rooms to where Carter was sleeping. She hoped more than anything that Elli was in that room, tending to her ailing friend. She peeked around the corner of the curtain of Carter's room. She saw nothing more than Carter's body in his bed, his chest slowly rising and falling as he slept blissfully unaware of Mary's fear. Well, that was good and all, at least he hadn't been killed, but the Doctor and Elli were still unaccounted for. She turned to leave.

A hand placed itself on Mary's shoulder.

Mary screamed and jumped in surprise. She turned to face the mysterious person only to find something hot and wet splatter upon her shirt. Mary yelped and stumbled backwards. As she fell, she grabbed the curtain that divided the room. It supported her for a brief instant, then, with a serious of loud clangs, the rings holding the curtain up snapped. As the great white sheets enveloped her, she began to thrash wildly, trying to escape their bondage, but only succeeding in tangling herself up worse. In a few short moments, she was completely immobilized in a prison of her own making, able to do little more than jerk slightly from side to side. She screamed again in terror.

"Mary, calm down, please! It's just me, Elli."

Mary immediately stopped struggling and waited patiently in embaressment as Elli went about unwrapping her. It took a little while, but Elli finally got Mary's head free. She gasped, "Oh my dear sweet Harvest Goddess! Look what I just did to your face! I'm so sorry Mary. It was an accident."

"Relax Elli, that was why I came to see you anyway. I had that already. I want to get it looked at." Mary reassured her. Now it was Elli's turn to be embaressed.

"Yeah, that's probably going to need stitches. We'll try to get that fixed right back up as fast as we can."

An awkward silence set in, neither of them knowing what to say next. Elli tried to start the conversation back up while she worked, "So... I assume you've heard about the new murders."

"Just vaguely. I don't really know anything about them yet. Don't even know who was killed."

"Well, Kai and Popuri were killed on top of Mother Hill. Decapitated is what they say."

Mary paled at the thought, "That's kinda morbid..."

"Yeah. But I thought there was something funny about it."

Now Mary's curiosity was sparked, "What?"

Elli lowered her voice, "Well, don't go spreading this around. The last thing we need is wild rumors running rampant. But don't you think it's kinda odd. With the first murders, they were beaten to death. These most recent ones were, well, not."

Mary had just gotten one of her arms free and was helping in the untangling, but now she just stared up at Elli stunned, "Are you saying you think there are two murderers?"

"There may well be. It seems to me like somebody was trying to take advantage of the chaos to mask their own agenda. Hoping that their murders would get blamed on the other murder. And I think the new murderer is Gotz."

Mary laughed a forced laugh, "That's silly! Gotz wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"Is it so silly? Doesn't he have an axe which would be perfectly convenient for decapitation? Didn't he find the bodies first thing in the morning? Seems like unless somebody knew exactly where those bodies were, it would be awfully hard to find them. Something is fishy with the whole thing."

Mary finally wiggled free of the curtains, and decided to change the subject, "Well, I'm certainly glad to be out of that mess. I don't think I'll ever look at curtains the same way again. What were you doing anyway?"

Elli looked slightly sad at the now empty cup sitting nearby, "Well, I was getting a cup of coffee, but you kinda startled me when you all started screaming and stuff and I spilled it on you." She gestured to the large coffee stain on the front of Mary's shirt, "I think we ought to get you some dry clothes or you'll catch your death of a cold. I'll get you a hospital robe to change into while those clothes dry out."

Mary's thoughts instantly turned to the scars covering her body. She couldn't let Elli see them. "No! I mean, no, I'm fine. I just need this thing taken care of." She pointed to her cheek.

"How did you get that anyway?"

Mary immediately considered lying, but she knew that wouldn't do any good for the situation, "My mom slapped me and her ring cut my face." It wasn't the whole truth but it was enough of it.

Elli sensed that Mary wasn't telling everything, but she let it slide, "Oh you poor dear. How could Anna even think about hitting someone as sweet as you? You know I consider you to be like a daughter to me. You can always tell me anything that is bothering you." Little dear, what have you gotten yourself into? Elli didn't know, but she wanted to comfort her nonetheless, so she hugged Mary tightly.

Mary smiled as she returned the comforting embrace, "I know..."

"Come on Mary, let's go get the Doctor and clean up that face of yours."



Chapter 36: While You Were Out

Jack and Mayor Thomas, none too gently, toss the screaming Anna into the abandoned house that had once belonged to Lillia. Jack bolted the door from the outside with the lock they had installed minutes prior. He sighed in relief, "Thank you Mayor Thomas. I don't think I would have been able to do it without you."

"Not a problem at all. I was glad to help. I can't believe that Anna would do something like that. I never thought her to be a violent person."

"What I can't believe is that the two of us had such a time about it! I never would have imagined it would be this tough to arrest one little Anna."

"Yeah, it took an awful lot of time, but I think we did good."

Jack suddenly remembered that he had promised Mary he would be gone only a few minutes. He looked up at the sun and saw that it had been around two hours already, "I'm sorry mayor, I really have to go." He ran away at a brisk pace and hollered back, "Thanks again."

Jack had gone to the mayor's house and they discussed what to do about Anna. At first the mayor was hesitant to believe Jack, but ultimately he wasn't able to deny the truth. Like Jack, the mayor had agreed that they had to prevent any future acts of violence by Anna. They finally decided that the best course of action would be to turn Lillia's now empty house into a temporary prison. They boarded up all of the windows and stripped the inside of all but food and a bed. There was at least enough food for one week, so they had plenty of time to make further, more permanent plans for Anna. With the affixing of a lock to the door, all they had to do was lock up Anna.

That was easier said than done. Anna was in a royal wrath. When they barged into her home to take her in, she went beserk. She yanked a knife off of the counter and had gone at them with everything she had. She swore that she would kill the bastards that sided with her daughter. The fight ended as quick as it had begun. Jack had rammed the butt of the scythe into her gut as hard as she could. Anna fell to her knees and Jack kicked her in the face. She went down hard. Mayor Thomas, wanting not to be left out of the action, stomped down hard on her knife hand and took it away from her. Somehow, Jack knew the mayor would say he had a bigger part of the action later.

Her spirit was crushed, but for just a brief instant. As soon as they had begun to restrain her, she began fighting again. Teeth, nails, fists, and feet, Anna went at them with all she had. It was a long hard fight, but they finally got her to her new prison home.

Jack slowed as he approached the hospital. How was he going to explain this to Mary? He might just have to do a bit of sweet talking so she would be angry at him for taking so long.



Chapter 37: Tears of Blood

Night had fallen all to fast. Jack sweated profusely under the weight of his stack of books. This was going to be the last load for tonight. He grunted as he straddle walked through his front door so the stack of books would clear the doorframe. Suddenly, the weight in his arms became lighter as Mary took part of the stack. He sighed in relief.

"Thank you Mary. That was heavy."

Mary resisted the urge to scratch at the stiches in her cheek, they itched like crazy. "Why are we doing this again?" She knew the answer already, but anything to take her mind off the itch.

Jack sat his stack of books with the many other stacks of books against the wall of his house, "Well, it's simple. Anna, during her struggle, declared that you were to be expelled from her property. Now, she may be in jail, but she still has certain control over what she owns. Most of the stuff in her house was hers, including such things as your bed. But the books you bought with money you earned with your own two hands doing various small odd jobs for people around town. Since they are your property, she can not forbid you from taking them. Or rather, me from confiscating them for you."

Mary straightened a slightly leaning stack, "But what am I going to do with all these books? We still only have about half of them, and they are taking up so much space in your house."

Jack smiled and put his arms around her waist, "Ah, no, you mean our house. Honey, I swear, if I am not able to buy you your library back, I will build a new library, just for you on that vacant lot in town. Just for you my love."

Mary laughed, "Dear, maybe we should get Gotz to build it. If you try and build a house it might just come crashing down on our heads, and we wouldn't want that."

"Yeah, you are probably right. Him and Saibara really did a wonder job with that wheelchair, didn't they?"

"I know, I can't believe that they built it so fast. And wasn't it so heart warming to see Carter cruising around in the wheelchair? He seemed so happy to be able to move."

"It was nice wasn't it? But what I can't believe is that they let him go back to the church for the night."

"Well, you know Elli and the doctor, they hate to make patients stay in the hospital needlessly. They got me and Carter out as fast as they could."

"But don't forget, they told you to get a good night's sleep. No staying up late now." Jack led Mary over to the bed and they sat down on the edge of it.

"Jack, where are you going to sleep? I can't take your bed." Mary hugged Jack tightly.

Jack laid Mary down and wrapped the bedsheets around her tightly, "Well, I'm just going to sleep outside. Sort of like a little camping trip. The nights are still mild, it will be a while before they become cold. I'll be right here close by you, so don't worry."

Mary smiled innocently, "Why don't you just sleep in the bed with me? Nothing wrong with sleeping in the same bed as long as we keep our hands off of each other."

Jack looked at Mary all bundled up in the bed. A strange, somewhat twisted, smile crossed his face as he looked at her. It would be so easy. There she was, helpless before him. His scythe was right there, on his back. It would take but an instant to pull it free and with a mighty swing he could pierce her. The blood would rush forth. The ecstasy of the moment. It would bubble forth, so beautifully. The red, it would look so lovely upon her. The warmth of the blood on his hands, the smell filling his nostrils. The ultimate intimacy of life being shared through her death...

His smile and his silence was scaring Mary. She cautiously laid a hand upon him, "Jack?"

Realization dawned upon Jack's face. He stared at Mary wide eyed, shocked, unable to comprehend what he had been thinking. He couldn't... He wouldn't... "No!" He screamed as he lept forth and stumbled away from the bed in panic, "Do you hear me? I won't do it!" He franticly fumbled with the doorknob, so terrified he temporarily forgot how to open the door. He finally managed to get it open, went through and slammed it closed. He fell back against the door and slowly slide down to the ground, breathing heavily...

Mary curled herself up in the blankets of her bed, "Jack, what's wrong? I wish... I wish I knew what it is that plagues your mind... I wish you would tell me what's wrong. Then we could take comfort in each other." She ran her hand across a random scar, "My scars are on the outside, but I think yours are on the inside. I want to make you feel better, but I can't if you won't tell me what's wrong. I love you so much, I just don't want you to hurt."

Outside, Jack pulled himself away from the wall and lay down nearby the front door. His scythe was poking him in the back so he pulled it off and threw it to the side. He curled up in a little ball. He didn't want to hurt Mary, he really didn't. Yet something inside was telling him too. He couldn't do it. He had to go to sleep. Everything would be better in the morning.



Chapter 38: Enter Shadow Goddess

Jack awoke the next morning as the first rays of the dawn sun peaked over the mountains. He was always a morning person. He was feeling better after a good night's sleep, despite being covered in dew and shivering slightly. Mary surely wasn't awake yet. Jack needed to make up for his unspoken sin against her. An apology was in order. He stretched, "So, what can I do for you dear Mary?"

He sat, pondering it for a moment while fiddling with a blade of grass. Something that would make her smile. Something that he could do before she woke up. A little surprise he could give her to make her so happy. He stared at the grass in his hand. A bouquet of handpicked flowers! He could go gather up a beautiful bouquet of flowers and give them to her when she wakes up. If he hurried, he could get down to Goddess Pond, that being where the best flowers grew, and be back before Mary would awaken. The perfect way to say he was sorry and that he loved her. Jack started up into a brisk jog on his way down to the pond.

Jack looked at the fistful of flowers he had gathered so far. Nothing too fancy, just some Pink Cat Grass and some early Magic Blue Grass and a few other little things he thought looked pretty in the bouquet.

He knelt down next to the water and picked a small yellow flower. He looked up at the small waterfall that fed the pond. It brought back memories of childhood stories. They said that the Harvest Goddess lived here and that this pond was enchanted. Supposedly, if he gave an offering to the Harvest Goddess here, it would bring him good luck.

Jack picked out one of his less impressive flowers and laid it at the waters edge. A little superstition couldn't hurt anyone. He could give just a small offering to the goddess, if she was out there. He watched as the water carried the little pink flower away, just barely floating on the surface. "Harvest Goddess, hear my plea. Please give me your blessing upon my marriage to Mary." Jack stood up as the flower floated away and got caught in a small eddy.

Before Jack's eyes, the eddy grew into a regular whirlpool. The spinning vortex in the center of the pond grew as a figure arose from its center. As soon as her feet cleared the surface, the whirlpool collapsed back into itself, sending up a shower of crystalline water droplets all around her. Through the mist he could see that she was beautiful woman with deep green hair wearing a dress of blue and wrapped in many layers transparent green silk. She raised her hand and the midair water froze in place. They began to slowly swirl around her, refracting the sunlight and showering her in rainbow light.

Jack fell before her in awe. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. He wasn't worthy of her presence. Her beauty wasn't human; it was beyond something any mere mortal could ever hope to achieve. She hovered in midair, amid hundreds of dancing miniature rainbows, smiling, seemingly waiting for Jack to say something. He wanted to say so much. Why did she choose to grace him with her presence? Why him of all people? Yet he couldn't make words come out of his mouth.

Slowly he raised his head up at her. He hadn't even noticed he had been bowing. He looked at her face and for the first time made eye contact. A red light dwelled deep behind her emerald green eyes. Jack stared at them, being drawn in, and he suddenly felt very silly. Here he was before a goddess no less, and he was going to let her go without saying something, anything, to her? His mind was still drawing a blank though, but he had to say something, "Harvest Goddess?"

Her smile broke into a frown, "No!" Her voice echoed, loud as thunder crack. Jack quailed at the sound. With that word the prisms of water turned to stone and dropped into the pond. The instant the light show had ended, she dropped her facade. A raging dark aura enveloped her and her form began to change. Her great voice called out again, "I am the Shadow Goddess!"

With the evocation of her name, dark clouds rumbled forth from the heavens, blocking out the sun and casting the dawn into night. But Jack barely gave that a second thought; he was entranced by the transformation unfolding before him.

Her turquoise hair, now unbound, floated outwards in a turbulent mass. Despite its roaring madness, no strand was quite touching any other. From the base of each hair, a thin beam of light shot forth and raced down to the tip, leaving a black void in its wake. What remained was hair that was blacker than black. The color black didn't describe it so much as the absolute and complete absence of any light. Next was her dress. The many layers morphed together into a single simple black sheet, not quite a robe. It was formfitting around the body yet wide and free flowing around her arms and legs. At the edges of the sleeves and around her feet, the new black robe faded away into vapor.

The dark aura around her weakened to a dull roar and her long hair slowly fell to a more relaxed position hanging down, coming to rest below her waist. As the last few wild wisps of hair fell in line with the rest, the aura relaxed too, becoming little more than a faint line around her. Her guise was gone. The woman who now stood in the air above Jack was in her entirety, the Shadow Goddess.



Chapter 39: The Creature Before Me

Jack had yet to look upon her face. He was too terrified. Her voice boomed out again, "Look upon the one you called for!"

Jack's voice echoed the fear he had, "I. asked for the Harvest Goddess."

"Your words asked for a blessing from the Harvest Goddess. Your black heart, the evil which consumes your mind, unwittingly spoke those words to me."

Jack cried out, "I'm not evil!"

"Silence!" The Shadow Goddess shouted with unparalleled power. Jack was knocked backwards by the strength of her voice. He clasped his hands over his ears in pain. Somewhere up on the cliff behind her, a rock was jarred loose and fell into the pond. The sound of the splash went unheard as the echo of her word ripped forth through the air again. Her voice took on something closer to her normal tone, "How dare you come before me, request my presence, and then try to lie to me? Now look at me!" Thunder crashed in the sky.

Jack dared not to look at her, but he feared more to disobey her. He finally looked fully upon her face. To his horror, her face resembled a skull, yet somehow, disgusting though it was to even consider it, there was a disturbing hint of underlying exquisite beauty clinging to it that some part deep inside of Jack still found attractive. Her soft smooth skin was nearly transparent, and Jack could see dark shadows under her cheekbones, and dark hollows highlighting her eyes. The eyes that burned round and red like living flame. It was in those eyes that Jack saw with ease the inner beauty her soul possessed. He could not deny it, something in those eyes felt warm and comforting to him, boosting his confidence.

Jack knew of her great power. He remembered Carter talking about the Shadow Goddess in church. He needed to stall for time while he tried to think of some way to escape her. Was there even a way to escape omnipotent evil? "And who exactly are you Shadow Goddess?"

She smirked, "I am who I am. I have been called the dark counterpart to my sister the Harvest Goddess. My powers are, as you would term it, evil. I hold dominion over the night, plagues, death, and the darkness in human souls. But I'm not really evil, you see. I'm just doing my part to cleanse this world. And yes, I do know you are stalling for time. To answer your unspoken question, you cannot escape me. For I know everything intimate detail about you, maybe even more than you know yourself. We are very much alike you see."

"I'm nothing like you." Jack's voice faltered, his confidence fading away so quickly after he had found it.

"Oh no? How are you going to defend your actions? The poor people who died as a direct result of your actions. Won. Harris." When she exclaimed each name, she spoke in a perfect impression of the victim's voices, as if they were partaking in a roll call of the dead, calling out to Jack through her, "Manna. Kai. Popuri. Lillia. Rick."

"I'm not evil! I was doing what had to be done! I was." His voice trailed off.

"Just doing your part to cleanse the town of their evil? Oh yes, we are so very much alike indeed." She laughed a laugh eerily similar to Anna's, "And what of the others. That one close to you that you hurt. He was a close friend of yours. Carter. Why did you hurt him?"

"I don't know why! Everything was just so out of my control. I lost control. Carter is my friend."

"And there was another, you had the intent to hurt. I do believe that her name was-"

Jack started crying, pleading with the Shadow Goddess, "Stop it! Leave her out of this!" He couldn't bear to hear her voice come out of that demon's mouth.

"Mary!" Her voice rang true in a perfect impression of Jack's fiance. With the calling of the name, the Shadow Goddess once again changed form. Jack stared intently at her face despite himself. He watched as one by one her features clicked into place. The last thing to change were her eyes. The red seemed to fade away, becoming diluted in a sea of blue. Jack had to remember, remember it wasn't her. Yet, her form was so perfect, so exactly like Mary's, how could it not be her in the flesh? "Jack?" Her voice called out, sad, pleading, seemingly reaching out for him, "Why? How could you even consider hurting me? I thought you loved me."

Jack sat down, crying, instantly forgetting everything but Mary before him, "I'm so sorry. I love you. Mary, I love you so much."

"How can I ever believe it Jack? You were going to hurt me, take delight in it. You can't take it back."

"Please, forgive me. I was so wrong Mary."

Slowly, Mary floated towards him, landing gently on the ground with first one foot, then the other. She walked to the pitiful form before her. Jack looked up at the object of his affections. She knelt down beside his quivering form, "I love you too Jack, but do you love me? How can you prove it? Prove it to me with a kiss. Show me how much you love me. Give yourself over to me. Surrender to me."



Chapter 40: Wraith of a Goddess

Jack looked up at Mary's sweet face. He wanted her so badly, he ached with need. He slowly leaned towards her, to give her his kiss, staring into her deep blue eyes the whole time. Something was there that didn't belong. Behind her eyes, like a shadow of the real thing, were the crimson eyes of the Shadow Goddess. Everything came back to him in a rush. He fell backwards and crawled away rapidly, "No!"

The sweet face of Mary contorted as she howled in rage. The Shadow Goddess, still under the guise of Mary, rose back up into the air. The dark clouds in the sky rolled rapidly and lightning struck the earth in front of Jack, sending up a shower of dirt. The great voice of the Shadow Goddess echoed forth from her form. Jack wondered how Mary's body could take the force of it without being ripped to shreds, "How dare you refuse me?"

Jack coughed and tried to brush the dirt off from him, "You aren't Mary. I lost myself for a moment, but you can't fool me a second time."

"You will do as I say, even if I have to break you to do it." With a wicked laugh, she raised her hands up to the sky. "You have nothing that can stand against me!" Her dark aura flared up again, and Jack heard a great shrill sound coming from one side. He looked for the origin of the sound and saw a great wind wiping across the land in the distance. Everything it touched died before it. Grass turned brown, shriveled away into dust. Leaves fell from the trees and were carried away as they blacked upon the evil wind. Jack braced himself as the wall of dead debris slammed into him.

Even though Jack was knocked to the ground by the force of the wind, he seemed unharmed. He brushed the rotting flora from his body and stood to face her. Everything around him was dead. The world around him was dead. Even the pond itself seemed to have lost it's life to the wind. A chill came over him. Jack was the only thing alive in a world of death besides this horrible fake Mary, "What have you done?"

"Do you like my handiwork? Purification through death. The only true purity in the world is the darkness. For white is made impure by the light itself. Only darkness is truly pure. True darkness can only be born through death. Don't you see now? Isn't death wonderful?"

"You are sick and twisted! I am nothing like you."

Once again the Shadow Goddess in the guise of Mary began floating down to Jack, "Is that any way to talk to your future wife?"

"Stop saying that! You aren't Mary! You are disgusting blight. Remove that mask at once." She was finally close enough, "Or I will!" He swung his fist hard into the face of the Shadow Goddess. Jack laughed as his fist sliced through the air towards her. He'd screw up her face so bad, she'd never look like Mary again. Crush her face with his fist. Break her nose, shatter the bone. Maybe knock loose a tooth or too. She would pay for trying to mess with him.

His fist past right through her face. Jack fell forward as the Shadow Goddess began laughing herself. He couldn't help but think, her laugh really does sound like Anna's. Jack fell forward, fell through her, fell into her. The darkness swarmed around him.

Jack sat there, in the darkness, the world around him seemingly erased from existence. Was this what the Shadow Goddess meant when she said pure darkness? There was nothing anywhere. She was right, it was beautiful in a strange sort of way. Somehow, he felt like he was a blight upon the land. The world around him was perfectly uniform until it came to him, till the darkness reached him, shattering the perfection. He was intruding upon the sanctity of this place.

Mary's voice came from everywhere at once, but seemingly nowhere, "Now you have acted upon your violent nature towards me. How can you ever hope to restrain yourself? If you were to be let to live, then you would certainly kill me one day. How could I marry you?"

"I love Mary!"

"What about all the others you killed now? Why don't we let them speak for your sins? See if they think you are worthy of me. What do you say?"

Jack growled, "What are you talking about?"

Many voices rang out from all sides, all speaking the same words in perfect synchronization, "Never forgive him." From the darkness, seven forms detached themselves and approached Jack, becoming more clear with each step.

"What do you think we should do with my ex-future-husband then?"

"He must die to rectify our own untimely deaths."

Jack stiffened. He knew now that they were his victims. His hand reflexively reached for the scythe on his back. It wasn't there. Jack's eyes grew wide as he stared at the tightening circle of vengeful beings. He must have left it next to where he had been sleeping last night and forgotten to strap his scythe back on to his back in the morning. Won. Harris. Manna. Kai. Popuri. Lillia. Rick. They were all coming to seek their revenge. Jack cracked his knuckles and took a fighting pose. He was ready for them anyway. He'd fight them with his bare fists. They had died once, he could kill them again.