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Feel the Silence

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Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
* * *

In the darkness, a light suddenly flared. Long fingers reached out to open the glass pane of the lantern, and once it was lit, shook until the match burned out. The flickering glow beat back some of the darkness, revealing an old wooden desk. Its smooth mahogany surface was bare except for a few scattered pens and a stack of parchment. Now a figure slumped in the old chair in front of the desk and reached for a sheet of paper. The light shone on auburn hair that spilled in all directions as the young woman hunched over the desk and began to write.

“Dearest Lucas,” Justine wrote, in flowing, even script. She hesitated, then leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. What was there to tell him? Only a few days had passed since she last wrote, but life here in Varrock was as boring as ever. There was no gossip, no new developments to interest him. So instead, she wrote the questions that burned in her mind day after day, hour after hour.

“How have you been? I hope the army is treating you well.”

“No, no,* she muttered. “That sounds foolish.” Quickly, she scratched out the lines, then crumpled the paper and threw it at the waste bin across the room.

“Dearest Lucas,” she began again, and again hesitated. “How are you? Did you receive my last few letters? I write as often as I can.”

“No,* she cried out and crumpled that sheet of parchment, too.

For a long while this went on, until the floor of her room was littered with failed letters, each no more than a few lines long. As she tossed each one away, she swore in frustration. All the words felt so empty. How could she convey everything that she was feeling? She did*** have his eloquence, his natural way with words. He could express it all in a single sentence, while she felt she needed pages and pages to explain how much she missed him.

13-Jul-2008 16:26:33 - Last edited on 12-Jul-2013 19:26:07 by Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
She hunched over the desk again and managed to fill a page with useless rambling. What she had been doing, a few questions about the war and how army life was. She read it over, scowling, but decided it was good enough. He would understand. Sighing, she picked up the pen, and wrote a final line. “Come home soon, Lucas. I miss you so much. I am so worried about you. Please, write, and come back to me.

Love,

Justine.”

It would have to be enough. This frustration was nothing new to her; every time she wrote, she found herself at a loss for words. It was the silence that scared her. It had only been a few weeks, but there was no news of the war at all, and there were no letters from him. Justine wished she could hear something, anything, to suggest that he was all right. She knew that no news was better than bad news, but still, she desperately wanted to see a letter from him.

She pushed the chair back and rose, sweeping her robe about her. Then she crossed through the lingering shadows in the room to the door and entered the dimly lit hallway. Down the corridor she went, passing through the landing over the main hall, and then entered another wing of the large mansion. Here she stopped at a door and knocked quickly.

“Come in,” came the muffled voice from inside.

Justine opened the door and slipped inside. “Did I wake you, Father?” she asked softly.

“Not at all.” This room was better lit than her own, and she could clearly see the man sitting at his own desk, bent over a mess of papers. When she entered, he looked up at her and smiled. Justine’s father was a tall, muscular man with a full beard and short-cropped brown hair that was streaked with gray. His eyes were clear, bright blue behind their round spectacles. *What can I help you with?” he said, leaning back and clasping his hands.

She reached into the pocket of her robe and handed him an envelope. “I wrote another letter. Will you deliver it to the army office tomorrow?”

13-Jul-2008 16:27:48 - Last edited on 12-Jul-2013 19:26:16 by Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Justine’s father scanned the writing across the front with a frown. “Again?”

“Yes, Father,” she replied, looking down at her slippered feet.

“You realize he might not get any of these?”

“Have you heard something?” she blurted out desperately.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “A report came in tonight from Falador. There have been skirmishes south of the city, where his company went.”

“Is Lucas all right?”

Her father gave a patient sigh. “Justine, Lucas is one soldier in thousands. I have no idea.”

She clapped a hand to her mouth, fighting back the tears. “He’ll be okay. He must be okay.” Lucas was fine. She knew it, he had to be fine. She’d know if something happened to him. She’d feel it. Right?

His fingers wrapped through hers. “You must accept the possibility that something could happen to him, Justine. Anything is possible out in the field.”

“You would know, wouldn’t you?” she sniffled.

“Yes, I’ve fought in the past…”

“And you’re just so eager to defend your country this time around, right?”

His grip tightened. “The King needs me to manage the economy. I’m helping to trade for weapons,” he explained, with a lecturing tone and another patient sigh.

She wrenched her hand away, glaring at him through eyes that brimmed with tears. “Don’t give me that!” she exclaimed. “After all the speeches you gave Lucas, you won’t even go off yourself! You coward!”

“No,* her father snarled, rising to his feet. He towered over her by many inches and she cowered back, frightened. “Your boyfriend is the coward! Running away to war like that because he wasn’t man enough to face me!”

“He went to war because of you!” she yelled. “This is your fault, Father!” She whirled and stormed from the room, slamming his door behind her, and then fled down the hall back to her own chamber. Inside, she flung herself on the bed, sobbing.

13-Jul-2008 16:28:46 - Last edited on 12-Jul-2013 19:26:43 by Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
It was his fault Lucas went to war. It was his fault she might never see the man she loved ever again. She buried her face in her pillows, muttering, “******, Lucas! Why did you have to leave me?”

Her mind was in chaos. For a long time she lay there, sprawled on the bed, trying to string her thoughts together, but it was impossible. Eventually her mind went blank, and she sat in a daze. It was many minutes before she roused herself. There was no going back to sleep now, not when she felt like this, so she pulled a book from the bookshelf and settled in the armchair by her bed, setting up her single lantern to give enough light. She flipped to the first page and the words swam before her eyes. They were just words, meaningless jumbles of letters that made no sense.

Crying out in disgust, she tossed the book aside and flung open the door beside her, stepping out onto her balcony, where she paced angrily. Below her the city of Varrock spread out, quiet in the dead of night. Her eyes traced the night sky, remembering when she and Lucas would sit out and count the stars. Only weeks ago…but it felt like years since she had last seen him. The tears came again, though she fought with all her might to stop them. Where was he? Was he okay? Did he miss her? Would she ever see him again? The anger pulsing in her chest seemed as though it might overwhelm her. D**n her father! D**n Lucas! To hell with this entire stupid war! It was pointless. She just wanted him back…

13-Jul-2008 16:29:15 - Last edited on 12-Jul-2013 19:27:08 by Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Unable to contain it any longer, she sunk into a chair and buried her face in her hands, weeping. “Oh please, Lucas, just come back,” she whispered. “I can’t do this without you.”

For a long time she wept, then eventually sunk into uneasy sleep. There she slept, out on the balcony, as the moon set and the stars disappeared. As it began to fade to gray she awoke again and simply sat staring at the sky. Hundreds of miles away, Lucas stared at the same gray sky, wrapped in a bedroll next to a smoldering campfire, thinking of Justine as she thought of him, and together they waited for day to break and the battle to begin.

-- End of Chapter --

13-Jul-2008 16:29:33 - Last edited on 12-Jul-2013 19:27:19 by Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Glad you liked it.
I'm going to New York this weekend to look at colleges with my sister. Our hotel might have wireless, I really don't know. I'll have loads of time in the car to kill, so I'll probably be able to write longer adds. I'm unreliable though, so don't count on it. But I will try. I haven't made substantial adds in a while...
Anyway, yeah. See you all Sunday night (I'll post then), unless I get wireless.

17-Jul-2008 02:59:50

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