No More

Chapter 9: Countdown Part 4

You have 1 day until the mission.

Jess closed her book, putting it back in her Inventory as she stood still, looking over the massive graveyard. The dark clouds poured heavily on her wither skull as thunder echoed through the grey sky; the wind blowing against her black cloak.

She walked deeper into the graveyard, walking familiar paths and turns on the gravel pathway. She walked pass other grieving families. She walked pass funeral in progress, despite the heavy rain. But she didn't care, she was for one thing, and one thing only.

It was then she stopped at two unmaintained graves. She got on her knees and cleared away the dirt and vines. It was until after the mess was cleared she spoke.

"Hey mom," she said to one grave. "and mom." She said to the other grave. "Uh, other mom? Or is it Moms? I still don't know how to properly address it." She said, addressing the two graves in front of her. "Sorry for not visiting in a long time I was... delusional." She said to tombstones.

It was known in this town that two women raised Jess and her brother. One of them was her birth mother, their father died as she was pregnant, the other woman came into their lives much later; her stepmom.

That is until one day her stepmother died from a disease, and then for some unknown reason, her birth mother disappeared without a trace, and presumed dead.

So the town made the graves, and she and her brother would visit. But as time moved on, so did they. They promised to visit as they moved out of their hometown, preparing to live their own lives.

But they never did come back to visit. The one thing she could remember about her birth mother was her long, blue hair.

She continued to talk to the graves. "I thought I had friends, but I really didn't. We simply didn't 'connect', unlike my brother, Jesse. I never understood why you gave us both the same name." she said shaking her head. Thunder cracked loudly.

"If you did it because you thought we would stick together, then you were wrong. If you thought that we would be equals, then you misplaced your faith. If you thought that we would look out for each other, then you are the most stupid parents to have ever existed..." She said, glaring at the graves.

"... but I love you both so much." She said, taking off her mask, her eyes soft as bread dough as tears were mixing with the heavy rain.

"I felt... so much pain." She said to the graves, slouching forward. "I feel abandoned. I feel all alone... but I've managed to make a friend." She said, smiling despite the tears.

"He's... eccentric, but his heart is in the right place. But life wasn't kind to him. Remember... remember when we would all go the fair, have fun? We would talk about the Order of the Stone?" she said, remembering the happy memories she had with her brother and her moms.

"Well... they're liars. There weren't four members, there were five." She said as she told her story of how on the day of her birthday that everything changed.

"...I know you said to take pride in my name... but I decided to stick with the name Jess." She said. "Not that I mean to offend you or anything." She quickly added. "But I feel like I need to take pride in things that make me... well, me."

"I love you both so much, and Jesse does too. I'll try to come back someday, but I simply can't make any promises. Not anymore." She said, putting on her wither skull as she walked back into the livelier part of town.

As she walked deeper into town, passing by the familiar streets, glancing at the new things that were added since she and her brother left.

While she still wore her cloak and wither skull, people didn't mind her, especially since they were dressing up as well.