Nothing ever quite turns out how you expect it, does it?

Here is the last part of my Thunder Rock story;

Words won’t come into Val’s mouth, his brain won’t plant them there and even if it did, they wouldn’t grow.

He furrows his brow and looks at her, at the test tube.

“What?” he finally croaks.

She looks at the test tube, hesitantly and says again, “I made this. I’ll drink it and it will make me fly. I’m going to fly away.”

Val is dumbfounded.

“What is it?”

She looks at the purple fluid and shrugs.

“This and that…”

Val manages a thin, bitter laugh, “It’s a magic potion!?” and instantly regrets the comment when he sees the look of hurt on her face.

“Leave me alone Val, I just wanted to say goodbye.”

Now, despite the fact he hates himself for it, he begins to feel angry.

“Why…why are you telling me fairytales?! What is that shit? Are you trying to poison yourself or something!?”

The tears are coming now, her eyes red, she sniffs and wipes her nose on her sleeve.

He hates himself more than he hates his father for killing his mother now but he can’t stop himself.

“It won’t work while you’re here,” she says, sobbing, “Go away!”

The anger in him breaks now, he can’t stand to see her like this and although he knows she must be crazy he can’t keep torturing her.

He says the only thing he can think of saying.

“I love you.”

She smiles though the tears at him.

“I know.”

He half expected it but it crushes him all the same. Of course he realises that not everyone can feel the same way about each other but he’d wanted it so much for so long, since he first met her…

He looks at her for one last time, wishing that she wasn’t crying but realising that he has nothing more to say and nothing more to give.

Then he leaves.

 

Eleanor Lockhart was never found.

Valentine Cooper was taken into custody by the police and questioned but never charged.

Two months later, Eliza ‘Rapunzel’ Lockhart attacked Cooper in the street, slashing his face with a switchblade, leaving him permanently scarred.

He pressed no charges.

The police search of the factory was fruitless.

A single, long, smudged swan feather lay at the foot of the wall, below where Ellie had stood on the roof.

It was overlooked by the police.

Afterword:

I’m not so sure how this ended up, if it said what I wanted it to say or not.  It was difficult to write but in the end this story had been living inside me for almost 20 years and it has been good to finally get it out of my head.

It is, very obviously, intended as a small part of a much larger whole and I really rather went to town on introducing things, possibly to the detriment of the story.

I never could figure out a decent reason for Val to leave the roof after the love of his life basically told him she was going to kill herself but then, as you will have realised, she may not be dead anyway.

Originally some of the ingredients of the Angel Juice would of been revealed also, they would of been Grape Soda, cocaine, bleach, gunpowder and dust.  I don’t think the story suffers for not knowing.

So there it is, flaws and all.  At least it’s in the wild now.