Chapter 8

Back in the land of the dead the undead bride had noticed Jaune's disappearance from the tavern and was out on the streets looking for him.

"Jaune? Jaune where are you?"

"If you ask me you could've chosen a less jumpy boyfriend," said a voice near her ear.

The bride scoffed, "he's not my boyfriend," she pointed to her ring, "he's my husband."

She paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her partially rotted ear and a maggot crawled down and settled on her shoulder.

"Fine I'll help you look," it said.

Meanwhile, Jaune, who could hear the bride calling for him, was hiding behind a stone archway.

A spider crawled down from the top of the arch and hung an inch from Jaune's face, "Married huh? Good for you."

Jaune gasped and tried to swat the spider away before continuing to run down the street.

"Rude!" The spider said before calling out to the bride, "he's over here!"

The bride quickly rushed over and as she ran by the spider detached from her thread and landed on the bride's shoulder next to the maggot.

"Jenni," the maggot said to the spider.

"Ugine," the spider replied.

"Not so sure I like this guy," Ugine admitted.

"You and me both," Jenni said.

After a moment the bride stopped in front of the Second Hand Store which, did indeed, sell extra hands, and looked around anxiously.

"Now where is he?"

The hands on display all pointed in unison to the right.

"Oh, thank you."

Jaune continued running in a frenzied panic until he found himself staring at a wall covered in ivy.

He groaned but decided this was better than facing the woman claiming to be his wife, so he began to climb. When he reached the top he reached out with his right hand and grabbed what felt like some kind of railing and with his left he grabbed...the bony ankle of the corpse bride.

"Could've just used the stairs silly," the woman said giggling before grabbing Jaune as if he weighed nothing and pulling him onto the solid stone ground above.

They appeared to be on some kind of scenic spot that overlooked the whole town.

"Isn't this view beautiful?" the bride asked, "it takes my breath away."

Chuckling she added, "well if I had any it would."

She sat on a nearby bench and patted the spot next to her.

Jaune sighed and sat beside her, "look. I really wish I could help you, but I can't. I need to get home."

"This is your home now Jaune," the bride said as if it was obvious."

The blonde sighed, "but I don't even know your name and how do you even know mine?"

Ugine snickered, "well that's a great way to start a marriage."

Jenni smacked him with two of her legs.

The bride pointed to Jaune's suit jacket, "the tag has your name on it."

Jaune looked inside his jacket and sure enough his name was stitched on the tag.

He mentally rolled his eyes, "thanks mom..."

"And my name is Cinder," the bride said.

"Cinder..." Jaune repeated.

Cinder turned to face him, "so, tell me about yourself."

Jaune sighed, "well as you know, I'm alive. I'm the third of eight kids in my family. I have seven sisters-"

"Seven sisters?!" Cinder said cutting him off, "that's a lot."

Jaune actually laughed a little at that, "I know..."

"Maybe one day I'll get to meet them."

"Yeah maybe," he agreed, but then his eyes widened as an idea came to him, "well actually, why not now? You can meet my whole family! I mean since we're...married...you definitely should."

Cinder smiled and stood up, "seems a little sudden but sure! Why not!" Then her smile dipped, "but they're all still alive aren't they?"

Jaune nodded.

The bride tapped her bony finger against her chin, "we'll have to think of a way to get to the land of the living then."

She paced around for a few minutes before her eye widened, "I have an idea! It may be a long shot, but I think I know someone who can help us!"

She grabbed Jaune's hand, "c'mon!"

With that they ran off together down the street.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top