Right Place, Wrong Time (R for violence)
Characters Sheila
Prompt Deathfic #24 Weakness
Word Count 975
Warning Character Death!!
Summary It was an accident. Wasn't it?
= = =
Right Place, Wrong Time
Sheila couldnt let herself speak. She didnt dare.
She
couldnt let herself reach out to touch him, if she touched him, it was
real, the whole horrible, terrible scenario would be real. She tried to
remind herself that Bobby was young, he dont understand properly what
hed done. He hadnt meant it. He didnt really think that
Sheila couldnt say the words, even to herself. She just kept on looking at the dead body.
It
was a moment of weakness, a moment of indecision for all of them. It
wasnt his fault. It could never be his fault; he was her little
brother. He looked up to her. He trusted her and turned to her. He was
her responsibility. So this
this horrible act wasnt his fault, it was
hers. Shed failed him. Shed let him down and driven him to kill.
Eric
had surprised her; she hadnt meant to scream and certainly not to draw
attention to him. The past few weeks had been hard on them all, no
rest, no peace, and no Portals. Tempers were fraying, and was it any
surprise that they sought solitude when they could?
But how was she going to explain? How was she going to tell the others what had happened?
She shivered.
They
would know. Surely, they would figure out what had gone on, and what
had gone wrong. Hank would know, the moment he saw her, she had always
been so bad at lying to him before. They would know.
They would know that she had let her brother kill. They would know that she had failed.
Her
brother was standing next to the fallen Cavalier, not looking down but
watching her. His eyes showed no fear, and no remorse, no guilt or
pain; they showed no emotion at all.
Yes, he
over-reacted, and now Eric was dead. But they couldnt blame him. He
was just a child, he hadnt meant to hurt anyone. He would never hurt
anyone deliberately.
No, not deliberately. He hadnt really hurt anyone before. Not really hurt. And not deliberately. No, not deliberately.
It was an accident. A simple, stupid, unstoppable accident.
She looked at the body for a few moments. Just an accident.
She
couldnt let the others find out, even if it was just an accident. They
would probably over-react, especially considering how tense everyone
was after that fight in Mistral. And that hadnt been Bobbys fault
either, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. So she
couldnt let the others find out about this. This was much, much worse.
First,
she had ordered her brother to wash the Club in the stream. Hed tried
to argue, but she was firm. She told him to wash himself carefully too,
and get all the small spatters of blood off his clothes and his bare
arms. As Bobby washed in the stream, she walked over to the Cavalier
and looked down at him, trying to see beyond the broken remains of one
of her closest friends, thinking about what she had to do.
The
way the body way lying made it look like hed fallen but for the wound
on his head; or rather the way his head had been virtually obliterated.
Bobby must have been so afraid for her. Hed
come charging out of the bushes, frantically shouting her name. It had
been dark, the light of the moons wasnt really enough to see by. It
was no wonder that he had mistaken Eric for a marauding bandit. There
was no real blame. He had just been in the wrong place at the wrong
moment. Bobby couldnt have been expected to know.
But
it was impossible to pretend that it had been an accident. No. There
was nothing that she could do to cover up the crushed parts.
She
had to make it look like someone else had killed him. She had to make
it look like a random attack. They shouldnt be too surprised at that,
they were attacked all the time here after all. It was her only choice.
It had to look like someone jumped on him.
But
why? What was the motive? There was the Shield, but it was now
underneath the dead body and she couldnt get to it. Besides, she
couldnt do anything with it even if she did get to it. Maybe they
would be too shocked by what had happened to ask any difficult
questions.
She couldnt leave the body like that, though. She had to make it seem more brutal.
The
Thief walked to the line of the trees, picked up the largest rock she
could lift and carried it back over to Eric. She didnt dare stop in
case her nerve failed or she dropped the rock in the wrong place.
But she had to close her eyes, but she couldnt stop her ears to the sickening, wet crunch and the rock struck its target.
She stood there for a moment, almost in prayer, before forcing herself to look at what shed done.
It seemed fine; as if Eric had been killed by the rock, not the Club. It seemed fine. It was going to be fine.
Bobby
was watching her every movement with bright eager eyes. She had thought
he would turn away, but he remained staring at her, the rock and the
body with the same blank, empty expression he had had when facing
Venger at the Dragons Graveyard.
Thats it. It was done. They had no reason to stay here.
Cmon, Bobby, she said. Lets go.
The Barbarian waded back out of the water slowly, and marched off back to the trees without looking back.
Sheila paused, her close momentarily closed, then she followed her brother back to the edge of the forest, and back to the camp.
She didnt look back either.