Arabelle

Chapter 19 - Memories laced with Pain II

Derrick’s POV

As I left my mother’s room to go to my room where Arabelle awaited me, I didn’t have all the thoughts a normal groom will have on the night of his wedding, I didn’t have thoughts of how tonight, Arabelle will spend the night in my arms, I was not thinking of how tonight I will be able to make all my imaginations into reality, I wasn’t thinking of anything except the words my mother had told me, I was thinking of ways to kill my new bride, to kill the woman I loved with all my heart and I felt at peace with the thought.

When I arrived at the door to my bedroom where Arabelle was no doubt waiting for me, she was probably dressed in a way that was designed to make me lose my sanity, I took a breath and gently knocked on the door,

I heard her voice from within asking me to enter, I felt a sudden panic rise deep within my soul, if she kept the door closed to me, I might not have to do what I planned to do, I found myself wanting to turn away but whatever it was my mother had done to me was too strong for me to fight, I found my hand opening the door all its own, the handle was cold to touch and for one fleeting moment, I felt agony in my heart and then it was gone,

I opened the door and walked into the room, I looked around, the lights were switched off except for a lone candle stick burning by the bedside, and in the dim light, I saw her, sitting on the bed in nothing but a red night dress made of silk and lace, perhaps if I had been in my right mind, I would have reached for her and held her in my arms and never let go, but instead I felt rage like I had never felt before, I found that I was appalled by everything she was, I felt annoyed by the fact that she was sitting there on the bed smiling at me like that, I felt anger boil in my blood, I felt all the love I ever felt for Arabelle turn into hate, and all the will I ever had to protect her change into the burning desire to hurt her, I found that I wanted to become all the things I had promised to keep her safe from,

“Why are you standing so far away my lord? Don’t tell me you are shy, that’s supposed to role of the bride” she said to me, a smile on her face,

I snapped, her voice was irritating and foul to my ears, I found walking to the bed and grabbing her arm  roughly, I could see the shock register on her face,

“Richard what are you doing? You are hurting me” she said,

 I could hear the hurt in her voice and it only drove me further over the edge, I pulled her roughly from the bed and she came crashing to the floor, I grabbed her hair and held it roughly, I turned her face toward mine, she was crying and it made me want to make cry even more,

“Richard what is wrong with you? Why are you acting this way? You are hurting me” She said, the tears were pouring down her cheeks,

“You won’t last the night Arabelle, this is your night in this world, I promise you this” I said, my voice sounded strange even to me, it sounded like the voice of a man out for blood,

I watched as her eyes went wide, she began to fight and struggle with me, she fought like a caged animal as I began dragging towards the door,

Mother wanted her to burn, and that’s exactly what was going to happen, I will set her ablaze myself,

I dragged her out the door, pulling from her hair, she was screaming and trying to fight me off, she tried to use her magic but I already noticed the glow in her eyes before she could start chanting any spell, I knocked her head against the wall, instantly rendering her unconscious, the maids rushed out when they heard the commotions,

They were shocked to see me dragging the bride they knew I so much adored, some of them tried to stop me but I brushed them aside,

“This witch deserves no sympathy from you, she is a witch and tonight she will die” I said,

Those words silenced any further protests, I pulled her with only one destination in mind, the town square, that was witches were burnt, I pulled her outside, it was windy and it looked like it will rain soon,

The maids from earlier ran out screaming “Witch!” at the top of their voices, soon the entire town had heard that Lady Arabelle Highwater was a witch and she being dragged to the town square by no other than her own husband,  Lord Richard Blackwood.

I was indifferent to the happenings around me, I could care less about the crowd that had gathered behind me yelling for the witch to be burned, I walked like a man with just one  will and that was to kill my wife,

Finally, I reached the town square, the stake were Arabelle will be burnt had already been prepared, a large mob had gathered yelling assorted cusses at the witch, the rain had begun to pour down in torrents, I tossed Arabelle to the crowd, who were more than happy to get a hold of her, they grabbed her and tied her to the stake, I stood and watched as they did this, a lot of people came over to ask if I was okay and how long had I known she was a witch, I ignored every single one of them and finally they let me be,

A black cloak  was handed to me by someone, it was probably someone who worked for me, I didn’t care, all I wanted was for Arabelle to burn and I wanted it to be slow, I was thankful for the rain, it will make the burning process a lot slower,

She woke a few minutes after she was securely tied up, she looked tired and weak, the rain came down in heavy droplets, her dress looked no better than a tattered rag, her long hair clung all over her body, the mob shouted for her to be burnt already,

From somewhere in the distance I heard a woman screaming, turning around, I saw it was Arabelle’s mother, she was trying to fight back the angry mob, she was crying, I didn’t care,

I turned back to one of the men, who had tied the ropes on Arabelle and said “Make sure she is properly secure”

 I looked up at her and our eyes met, she looked broken and sad, and I felt satisfied, it will be over soon, she looked at me with a burning anger and I didn’t care

She was suddenly chanting spells and the ground began to tremble and the wind howled loudly, people began to scream and run in every direction,

She wasn’t going to stop until she ruined everything, I had to stop her, I pulled out a dagger from my boot and quickly rushed up the stake, without  so much as batting an eyelid, I plunged the dagger into her chest, almost immediately the chaos she had been causing seized, she looked down at her chest where the dagger was protruding, blood spilled from her lips, slowly she raised her to look at me, I saw her eyes and the hurt that lay in their depths, and for painful fleeting moment, I felt pain deep in my soul, I saw the disbelief in her eyes and then just as quickly as I had felt pain for her, it vanished and blossomed into anger,

“Die!!! You bloody witch” the words were out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying,

I watched as tears filled her eyes, I stepped back from the raised platform and jumped to the ground, I collected a burning torch from one of the men standing by the stake, I up at her one last time before throwing the torch on the well-oiled wood, the wood caught up in flames and hissed, I stepped back, the wind was blowing wildly now, my black cloak fluttered around me as I stood there and watched her burn,

She looked up to the sky and I saw her lips move like she was muttering something, then she looked at me and in those eyes I saw pain like I had never seen before,

From the bellowing winds, words fluttered into my ears “Until we meet again my love” it was her voice abut when I looked up, she was already dead,

In that moment I felt pain and a great feeling of loss, and in the depths of my soul, I said “Till we meet again my love”

I stood there and watched until the last of her bones crumpled to the ground before an over whelming pain overtook me, I was suddenly aware of what I had just done, I had killed Arabelle with my own hands,

I had sat and cried until my mother had come and taken me home, she had told me that I did the right thing and that I was her beloved son, her words her brought me comfort in some kind of way.

*****************

I stumbled back when the memories stopped their assault on my senses, I could not believe this, my own mother had used magic on me and compelled me to kill my wife and then she made me forget everything, she had robbed of everything I cared about, tears began running down my cheeks, I could not look away from her, she was still smiling at me like I was the only one she saw in the entire world,

She came forward to touch but I pulled like her touch burned me, she looked up at me confused, like she couldn’t understand why I was acting like this,

“Richard what’s wrong?” she asked me, her eyes were beginning to moisten, she wanted to cry and I didn’t care,

“Stay the hell away from me, you monster, how could you do this to me?” I said, the pain was strong enough to choke me,

She stood and looked at me, her eyes grew hard “I did what I did because I love you, you are my son and she wanted to take you away from me, I couldn’t let that happen, she had to die” she said,

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, how could she spout such nonsense and think it was logical, she had killed Arabelle on a reason as stupid as this, I ran my fingers through my hair, feeling the need to rip something apart,

“By doing what you did, you have pushed me away from you, I am leaving this house right this second, I can’t stay here knowing what you have done and the kind of monster you are” I said,

I turned around to leave, I couldn’t look at her anymore and just the sight of her repulsed me, I just got to the door when I her saying

“Then you will stay without knowing what I have done, you will forget everything and only do what I tell you, you are bind to the spell until the end of your life”

I suddenly felt faint and everything began to spin and before I knew what was happening, I was slipping into the darkness, my eyes lulled and I remembered nothing and I heard nothing.

*****************

Mother still held onto me, my mother had not hugged me since I was a child, she had always looked at me through a mask, as a child, I had wondered why she was so cold to me, she had always been distant and even now, she was still the same, when I had regained my memories, I wondered if perhaps, she had regained hers, I had tried countless times to drop hints to see if she remembered or not but she had always evaded me one way or another, but it turns out she was faking it, she had her memories all this while, perhaps she might have felt guilty for ruining my life in the past so she decided to let me live my life in peace this time, she had been her usual cold self until recently when she began acting weird, maybe Arabelle’s return had sparked her illness, I had thought that there was only one blessing attached with our returning to life, and that was the fact that mother was not crazy but I had been wrong, so very wrong,

“Arabelle must die before she takes you away from me, I won’t let her” mother said,

I felt my heart skip a beat, you were back to exactly where we started and this I won’t let it have the same ending as it did before, Arabelle must live, no matter what it cost me, nothing must happen to her this time, I will not break my promises again,

I hugged my mother tightly and I felt pain in my heart

“My poor mother” I whispered as the first tears fell from my eyes.