Deprivation- The Feast and the Famine

Chapter 28- Unexpected Destination

Whatever piece of girlhood Claudia had maintained until the moment Bennett entered her life, was completely absent.  She saw with the eyes of a woman as she gazed up at her demon. It wasn't sex that had robbed her of this. Many of Claudia's friends retained their girlhood well into marriage. Many ladies with gray hair and paper thin skin kept the bright eyes of children.

She was something different and apart now. In making her own decisions, in casting off the ideal that others were far more competent in deciding her life than she was, she altered forever who she could be to the world.

No longer was she an animal following instinct. She was fully present in this moment that she had worked to achieve. The feeling that overwhelmed her was one of immortality, one of divine providence.

Despite taking her in the carriage away from the city, Bennett's mood didn't seem lighter. In fact, apart from terse replies he said nothing. His mood did not mesh well with the enlightened feeling Claudia had. There was only one way she knew of to lift the darkness from her demon's gaze.

She slipped from her seat and shrugged the sleeves of her dress off her shoulders. It was not desire that drove her but a hitherto undiscovered motherly impulse. This was the only way she had of showing Bennett all would be well.

"Again?" Bennett smiled, and she basked in its glory.

Bennett's hands slid over her revealed flesh and for the first time she knew him as a man. He was hers as much as she was his. One of his strong arms supported her body as she kissed the ringed fingers of the other. That same hand, still carrying her kisses, tugged at the stiff cloth of her wedding gown, his fingers brushed over the pale skin of her collarbone.

The top of Claudia's dress was half removed, when the carriage came to a sudden and unwieldy halt. Bennett ceased his attentions and lifted himself to his knees above her. Claudia could only shuffle back slightly and prop herself up on her elbows.

"What happened?" Claudia asked.

No answer. Bennett was rearranging himself and had just started to get up when the door to the carriage burst open. Claudia couldn't see much of anything through Bennett's legs, which was her only vantage point. Certainly it was a male form in the doorway and not that of the carriage driver.

This was the last moment before the entire world went mad, and it all started with a board.

The board in question looked like it came from the side of a packing crate; when it slammed into Bennett's head he crumpled to the floor. Claudia started to go to him, where he lay holding his head, but a voice staid her.

"Claudia, Claudia," Roderick said. "I thought you knew better than this..."

"You Bastard!" Claudia yelled. She had nothing resembling a weapon as she was a young girl and hardly expected to defend herself. So she threw the closest thing she had at his head—her lucky wedding sixpence.

Roderick laughed. His belly wiggled and, if possible, she hated him more because of it. How dare this ridiculous creature touch her Bennett?

Her step-brother grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her from the carriage. Her furious kicks and yells only caused his grin to grow wider. Her torso hit the dirt road, and all of her breath rushed out of her.

There was nothing for her hands to grip, they clawed at dirt and pebbles. This made no more of an impression than to add to the cloud of dust from behind her. Her head bounced on the rough ground until she managed to push herself up on an elbow and turn to the side.

She looked at the carriage.

Bennett rose. Blood trickled into his face. He gripped the side of the carriage as he stepped down. In his hand, he held a knife, it was a gaudy decorative thing nothing like the knives they had practiced embedding in trees. Still, it gave Claudia hope. It was a weapon, and Roderick had dropped his blood tipped board to drag her away.

She prayed to the only god she believed in with the strength of her soul. And he was coming.

Roderick let go of her leg. Claudia pressed herself upwards only to gain an excruciating kick to the gut that knocked her flat again. Curled up on the ground Claudia did not see Roderick stride back across the road, or Bennett stumble forward.

When she did look again, Roderick was speaking but his words were no more than the voice of a howling wolf to her ears. Bennett's face showed no fear, only anger. The darkness she'd worshiped in him was awake.

Claudia struggled to wrest her sleeves back onto her arms.

Bennett struck out at Roderick. The knife a blur across her vision. Roderick slammed his fist into Bennett's forearm, and the knife flew free. Bennett was already off balance and stumbled. Without knowing anything about fighting already, Claudia knew she was looking at a one sided fight and the outcome terrified her. A meaty fist collided with Bennett's jaw.

The ground claimed Bennett, but Roderick did not take this as a reason to stop. He crouched over Bennett and struck him again and again. Even with her eyes squeezed shut Claudia heard the sounds.

Her mind screamed for her to run, but her legs listened to her heart which ordered her not to leave Bennett. She did manage to make it to her feet and fumble a few steps forward with her eye on the fallen knife.

Roderick stood, his fists were dripping, and he smiled at her.

Claudia's head turned to one side and then the other searching for something, anything, anyone to keep this monster from reaching her. The only thing she saw was Bennett, his face mangled and bloody.

She whimpered. "Please, please, God..."

Roderick grabbed her by the neck and spun throwing her on the ground beside her lover. "God doesn't help whores."

A sob ripped from her throat.

"Don't know why you bothered putting the dress back on."

For a brief, stunned, second Claudia could not make sense of this statement. "No, please no. NO!"

The last word crescendoed outward. Only when he pressed the knife to her throat did she quiet. His free hand ripped the shoulders of her dress down.

Claudia closed her eyes, and her hand fumbled until it found Bennett's. She clutched his hand. He was dead, and he was her world. Soon, soon I'll join him. This will all be over.

It became a chant in her mind. This will all be over soon. This will be over soon. This will be over soon.

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