^^ Emotional River ^^

"For if evil cannot prevail against fate, what hope is there for the good?"
      -Mario Puzo

Chapter 32

River's POV

A cold sweat ran down my shoulders, taking with it all the warmth in my body as I stood shivering and shaking as a newborn fawn beneath the dark eyes of my predator. My eyes didn't waver, I wouldn't allow them as I stared, wide-eyed.

He seemed amused, eyes specked in wicked humor as a tight smirk ran across his face. The men he had been speaking to watched, crossed armed as if allowing him to take charge as he backed me against a nearby wall and grinned like one would a caught rabbit. The scarred-faced man from earlier stood, arms crossed like the rest, watching me with an expression I couldn't quite decipher.

He wasn't amused like the rest, no. He eyes seemed rather vacant as he stared blankly, as if none of this bothered him in the least, into the distance. As if, slightly bored. It was then I realized there was a small boy within the group of broad men. He stood, unwavering like the rest with a look of disapproval as he watched the dark-eyed man cornering me. His eyes turned from the man and set on me and it was then I gasped.

His eyes were two different colors.

One was swirled a deep blue, as dark and unlit as the evening sky. The other was as bright as the other was dark, a light, warm brown with flecks of gold surrounding his pupil in a rain of gold and sparks.

So strange. So foreign...yet, so beautiful.

His eyes widened and it was then I realized I had said that out loud. I turned away, an embarrassing pink filling my cheeks as my cheek rested against the hard wall, feeling the revolting scent of the vulgar man's breath sweep across my cheek.

I held my breath, uncertain what to do as the porcine man loomed above me, his glare cutting into my skin as a blade does its fateful victim.

Running didn't seem to be an option anymore, what with all the eyes focused on me.

I shouldn't have strayed.

My head filled with endless possibilities but each led to more hopeless resolutions than the last.

"What do you plan on doing with the boy?" I turned my head, locking eyes with a mismatched pair.

The man above me pivoted his head, eyes narrowing as they landed on the small boy.

"Why, Parish? Hoping to get a piece?"

The boy remained silent, eyes doing all the talking he needed as they widened and shone with such a fierce radiance that even I shivered.

The man lifted his hands from the wall, lifting them in mock defeat as he let out a shaky breath, "got it, he's all yours."

The boy nodded as he stepped forward, feet making tap-like ecos. His eyes remained on mine, never once wavering. I felt a shiver run down my spine. It was foolish of me to be frightful, he was but a young child but the aura that emitted from his small form was more alarming than the devil himself.

"What's your name?" The young boy spoke as his eyes raked over my shaking form.

"R-River," I stuttered.

"Hmm," his eyes ran up my stomach to my eyes, "why so panicky, River?"

Being manhandled and pushed against cold, hard stone could do that to someone.

A small, trace of a smirk briefly flashed against his stone-like face. My eyes widened.

I hadn't said that one out loud had I?

"Interesting," his small fingers pressed against his arm, revealing a small tattoo on his forearm but as quick as it was there, it was gone, "You may call me, Parish."

Parish? Like the saying: 'parish and fall'? Or is that 'perish'?

"River!" A feminine voice called from behind me.

My head wiped quickly, eyes landing on a breathless Anna, running with a nervous glint in her eyes.

Anna...?

A resounding growl filled the air as the group of men tensed, eyes narrowing, nostrils flaring.

"He must be a trouble magnet," I heard one mutter beneath his breath.

"No," I breathed, shivering as I watched her getting closer and closer.

Like a sheep to a pack of raving wolves.

She stopped in her tracks, walking much slower as her eyes locked on the men behind me. She eyed them carefully, body tight with nerves.

"These friends of yours River...?"

Oh, yes best of friends. Explains my sore body and shaking form. Friends.

One snorted, the rest watched her with centered gazes.

Without notice one moved from his place, barely making any movement at all, before suddenly appearing behind Anna. My eyes widened as a wicked smirk graced his lips and a harsh cracking echoed through the narrowed area. Anna's eyes went blank before her body crumbled to the floor like a dried, piece of wood.

The area vibrated, a blood curling scream filling its once silent expanse, bouncing off the stone as red spread across the ground like wildfire.

No. No. No. No. No.

I stared, eyes focused on the broken girl on the ground. I wanted to peel my eyes from the morbid scene but for some reason, my eyes just wouldn't allow it as I watched the crimson liquid paint a ghoulish path towards me.

Closer. Closer. Closer.

It grew closer until the red liquid hit the soles of my feet.

My eyes widened, breath sucked in as heavy gazes could be felt around me.

The blood seemed to stop right by my soles, stopping in its track as if...it had reached its destination.

Stop. Stop.

My head pulsed, eyes zeroed in on Anna.

"No!" It felt like my head was splitting in half as revelation hit me.

She's dead. I got her killed. My fault. All my fault. Beatrice...

It hurt, heart pounding as adrenaline raced up my body and clouded my mind.

"You killed her!" A roar escaped my mouth as I lunged at the man who had attacked her.

His eyes widened, body not moving as I landed on top of him. Fists pounded against soft flesh as my vision grew red.

Red. Red. So much red.

"That's enough!" A voice shouted behind me.

My head swam, rationality floating away in a stream of desperation.

Blood. So much, so much blood.

"Enough!" A force threw me from the man's reddened form as I landed hard on my butt with a hiss.

A click of the tongue rang above me as I wiped at my forehead, eyes gazing up at the small form of a boy.

Parish.

"I hate unexpected occurrences," he clicked his tongue, pulling a pocket watch from his pocket, peering at it briefly before shoving it back into his pocket, "we're running three minutes late. Let's not make that four."

The men watched him, moving from their places and following him as he shoved his hands in his pockets and jumped from the road, landing in an abandoned forest by the side of the path.

Where's he going...?

"Take the girl," Parish said.

My eyes widened as I turned towards Anna's broken form. One man strayed from Parish and lifted her from the ground, throwing her over his shoulder like a cheap sack of rice.

"Unhand her!" I pulled at the man's arms, hoping for him to drop her so that I'd catch her and run.

He stopped in his tracks, turning towards me with narrowed eyes.

"Ignore the boy," Parish sighed, "come, River," he ushered me with a raised finger.

I shook my head.

Do I look stupid enough to follow a group of villains into an abandoned forest?

"River," he peered at me as one does a cheeky child, "don't be difficult now."

"Difficult you say?" My voice rose, "your companion just killed my friend in cold blood and you expect me to blindly follow you?"

Parish sighed, "he did not kill her. Her heart is still beating, no need to fear."

"How?" My voice caught, "how do you know that?"

He can't possibly hear her heartbeat from there.

"Details," he yawned, "it's far past my bedtime, River. I have neither the time nor patience to wait for you. Henry?"

Henry?

I felt my feet raise from the floor as I was thrown over a broad shoulder. I let out a fear-filled squeak as Parish released another yawn and continued walking.

"Let me go!" I pounded at the man's back but he just kept walking, not even flinching at my attacks.

After multiple hits and scratched at his broad form, the man reached behind him and pulled my hands from his back. He squeezed them with such force that I sucked in a shuddering breath, whimpering as he held my hands together with one hand as the other rested just below my butt, holding me up.

It was disgusting, felt disgusting to have someone besides Alastair touch me as he did.

A sudden turn caused my head to pivot backward, eyes landing on an opening in a tree. The men bent down, squeezing into the small space one by one.

It was large, as if one had chopped half a tree down and had then created a space within the hard bark. Branches of leaves and ivy hugged around the entrance, encasing the light brown in a layer of greenery.

Where were they taking me?

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine when my time came, darkness engulfed my vision as the man stepped into the crescent space, head bending to accommodate his size.

Only one thing resonated in my head as I was pulled into the shadowy unknown. One name.

Alastair.