Chapter Three
Standing, Zara began to walk to the creek to wash
the blood from her hands. The moon seemed stained with the blood she had
shed, as it stood crimson against the dark. In its light, Zara
perceived a man coming from Maria's cabin. This man stumbled about,
still drunken and uncleanly. Quietly, she came closer to him, in hopes
of getting a better look. Was it a ghost? She wondered. Because,
standing in front of her was Jordan. But that wasn't possible, was it?
Jordan lay dead in her cabin.
Jordan didn't seem to notice Zara
as he stumbled back to his cabin. He was starting to feel drowsy and,
through bloodshot eyes, trudged past. Zara took off, running for the
creek, quickly washing the scarlet from her hands. When she returned,
she gingerly stepped over the body, praying it was Jordan. Shaking, she
struck a match and held it to the face of the man.
In terror, she
dropped the match. Golden curls hung limply, dyed a deeper red than she
knew existed. Deep brown eyes lay, like discarded marbles, near her
bed. The dead man was Cassidy Todd, her lover and best friend. Hot tears
of regret and horror engulfed her as she took the mutilated head of her
lover into her lap. How could she have mistaken her beloved Cass for
someone as wicked and evil as Thomas Jordan? She had purposefully caused
pain to the man that had loved her; she had tormented him in his last
moments as if he was a common scoundrel. Her shame and pain slowly took
over her body and she fell into a sleep like state, Cass's head still in
her arms.
Her sleep was tormented by nightmares, replaying her
acts in her head. She awoke to the sound of a pounding on her door.
Casting a terrified glance about her, she looked down to see that she
still cradled the head of the dead man. Darkness still cloaked the sky
and the moon had not moved since she had fallen asleep. Yet, the
pounding on her door remained ceaseless. Carefully, she pushed Cassidy's
bloody body into a corner behind the door. Then opening it, she
discovered Cassidy.
Pale as a shadow, the ghost smiled at Zara. Taking her hand in his own, he led her to the willows. There he finally spoke.
"Zara,
you killed me." His voice was deeper than the thunder and sharp like
the knife that had killed him. Every word cutting her deeper than the
previous.
"But I?I didn't mean to. I was trying to?"
The
apparition interrupted her with words colder than ice. "You did try to
kill me. You wanted me to suffer and you wanted me to die like I did.
You wanted me to die as if I was a cruel and harsh man."
"Why are you telling me this?!" she pressed her hands over her ears, Cass's blood still staining her hands.
"I
want you to have to bear this cross forever. I want your mind to wither
with the knowledge, forever echoing with this damning thought. You are a
murderer of innocent blood."
With his last words, Cass disappeared from her sight. Leaving behind only a chill in the air that settled over her.
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