With our KTDA characters, how they die is as important as how they live. To die protecting someone you love? What could mean more...That's what happened to Tom-F & Jade. They endured so much, conquered so much, even planned their wedding & their life together.
It wasn't meant to be, yet they both held hope until the end. What follows is just that...the end...
Tom's End
Post #8751
*Safe. It's what Jade allows herself to feel, with his arms around her. She buries her face in his shoulder and begins to talk. She tells him about Darrow. After everything, to be taken for a slave--AGAIN--but she doesn't flinch from telling him the truth. All of it. She can't bring herself to look into Tom's face. She feels dirty, but a bath won't help this no matter how hard she scrubbed.*
Jade: I couldn't--couldn't stop--I'm sorry, Tom. I tried, I really tried--I can't make all this go away. I have to find a way to live with it. *fearfully she asks* Can you?
Tom-F: *holding her close* I can.
*As his arms tighten around her, Jade closes her eyes.* (It's all right. It will be all right. Tom says it will--I believe him. Love him. So much.)
*Rain against the window lulls her. She can hardly keep her eyes open.*
Jade: *murmurs* Can we sleep awhile, Tom? Then go home? I want to go home.
Tom-F: Rest, then we'll go home. (Home?) *he wonders, having no idea what home is anymore...not now...he'll tell her...later.*
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*Sun filters through the slats covering the windows, throwing stripes of light across the bed where Jade sleeps. Caught in a dream. Trapped in a nightmare. Reliving her worst fears.* "Make it stop. Tom--make them stop!"
*She bolts upright, eyes wide with panic, clutching the blanket and breathing in great gulps of air. The nightmare lingers behind her eyes--fears that only overpower her when she's asleep and vulnerable.*
Jade: (Was it all a dream? Only a dream? Tom...)
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*Tom-F had left Jade sleeping but he himself hadn't slept. Nothing Jade said had changed his feelings for her, he loved her deeply, completely. But he felt a slow burn whenever he thought of the bartender, Darian, Vale and especially Darrow.*
*The narrow dark corridors reek of spilled beer and greasy food. Trash litters the place, and there is the occasional drunk hunched against the wall. He trips over some of it as he heads to the stairwell.*
Tom-F: (Can't leave fast enough from this whole stinking, sleazy town.)
*Tom swore he would exact revenge on those who'd wronged Jade. But that would wait til after he got Jade away. The moment Jade woke, he would take her from this place.* (I'll make us a home, a real home for the two of us.)
*Distracted and brooding, Tom-F shoves open the door to the stairwell and lets it slam behind him, not realizing it's darker than it should---*
*The attack is swift. Before he can yell, Tom-F is grabbed from behind, his head pulled back--a knife flashes--*
*The deed is done. They leave Tom-F lying on the floor.*
*Tom wants to shout out, call Ishmael. Jade. He gathers his breath and tries but all that comes is a low gurgle. He can't even get up. Weakly he reaches up to his throat where hot blood gushes out fast--he knows he's dying.*
*Before his eyes, snapshots of his life flash. His triumphs and failures. His parents, the adults who helped him after the Virus. Tom-F Enterprises, his people, his brother dying, the hurricane. The night he first saw Jade, when he proposed, loving her, their Solstice night together... feeling alive with her..the pain of losing her...the reborn hope when he finds she still lives... last night holding her once more...*
*It's getting harder to breathe. He sees a familiar figure approaching.*
"Hey, big brother. Been a while."
*Tom-F silently cries out his brother's name. He's standing there, his voice so familiar.*
"Knew we'd meet again. Time to go now."
*Finally Tom can answer.* "I can't. Jade--I love her. I won't leave her."
"It's not time her time. Don't worry. You'll see her again. But now," *he offers Tom a hand, who hesitates before grasping it and standing up.* "C'mon, brother, time for us to go."*The brothers leave arm in arm.*
*On the filthy floor, Tom-F's heart stops. With his final breath, he whispers his beloved's name... Jade...*
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*The room is empty. Nothing left to show that anyone was there, even for a little while.*
*Downstairs the Bartender leans back, enjoying a glass of his own personal finest.*
Bartender: *smiles* (Hard to get the best of me in my own place, my own town. Everything always goes my way eventually.)
*He considers the knife on the bar in front of him, still wet with the man's blood. It had been too easy. Too predictable. The girl, too. Hadn't taken long, to hustle her out and ship her south.*
Bartender: (Shoulda done that right off, for all the trouble she caused me. Ah, well. No problems now. Just means I get paid for that one twice.)
*He turns out the lamp, leaves the empty bar, goes with his guards up to his own room... wondering what new opportunities will come his way tomorrow.*
~~~~~~~~
-Chyna
Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"
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