Elise Goes Away...

[14:49] Caty Weezles: The sights of the man she loathed right now had her running ... away. She ducked into the first opening she saw and cowered there for a moment. Peering through the gates on occassion. Back to Elise.

 

[14:51] Elise Capalini sits in the graveyard quiet when everyone has gone, near the fresh grave that Eamon dug for the birds. One crow. a baby from the looks of it, flies down from the masoleum's roof, to sit on the grave and nose at the dirt. She watches the bird and thinks of the Mass that just was. She wonders if they will ever have a normal one again. She looks up when she hears movement, and catches sight of Caty, who appears to be running from someone. "Caty...are you all right?" she asks. She stands slowly, but doesn't yet approach.

 

[14:54] Caty Weezles: The familiar voice through the air had her turning, she shook then and backed into the wall, chocolate eyes looking to Elise as a threat too. There over her shoulder was a small bag. It didn't look full by any means. And under her arm she carried a small treasure chest music box. It chimed as she thudded against the concrete. "Go.. go..." She actually stuttered.

 

[14:57] Elise Capalini watches Caty turn and hears the faint music from her bag when she rocks against the wall. "Are -you- going?" she asks her. Judging by the running and the bag, she wonders if the girl is running away from home. She takes a couple steps forward, though slowly, and keeps her hands visible, not wanting to frighten the girl any more than she already is.

 

[15:00] Caty Weezles spread one arm across the wall, feeling it for length and how far she could creep before turning and bolting. Terror filled her eyes, the music chiming in now and then. The music was wound too tight, for too long, too many times and was now offkey of the normal soothing music it once played. She shook her head some, her voice croaked, "You go 'way. Cats are bad."

 

[15:02] Elise Capalini stays where she is and doesn't come any closer. She hates hearing those words from Caty; they feel like a physical blow. She sinks back to the ground, her shoulders slumped. "Why are cats bad, Caty?" she asks softly. "The gate there is open--if you need to run..." She doesn't want the girl to run, but understands well the need to, the need to know escape was an option.

 

[15:06] Caty Weezles: Tears already threatened to spill down her cheeks. She was ready to go wherever it was they were going to. She thought she was leaving somewhere, "You shooted my Daddy. Daddy says cats are bad! You have to go to jail and Mister Eamon too!" She shouted across the way. It was a choking shout, the kind where you can't catch your breath to get the words out in one stream. "God shouldn't miss next time!"

 

[15:09] Elise Capalini's throat tightens at the sound of Caty's voice. Oh she'd sounded like that a time or two herself. She blinks, unshed tears stinging her own eye. "I shot your daddy," she says and nods. "Because he was shooting at Eamon--because..." She draws in a breath and closes her eye for a moment. When she looks at Caty again, she says, "You're angry because we hurt someone you love. We acted the way we did because...we were hurt, too."

 

[15:13] Caty Weezles shook her head frantically as those tears dripped. She sniffed heavily and shot her arm out pointing and accusing, "You made blood! BLOOD! Blood makes people go away, you tried to make my daddy go away! Mister Eamon tried to make my daddy go away! God taked my mommy and I has to keep my daddy! YOU DONT GET TO TAKE MY DADDY! GOD CANT HAVE HIM TOO!" She screamed and shook. Clutching the music box as tightly as she could. It's sour notes somehow lifting high and matching the tension.

 

[15:16] Elise Capalini finds herself nodding, at everything Caty says. "Blood does make people go away," she says, lifting a hand to wipe the spilled tears from her cheek, "My daddy went away in blood." That night cuts across her vision and she takes a shuddering breath. "Caty, I'm so sorry...so sorry." Her voice breaks and she finds herself crying freely now, letting herself feel the fear from last week, showing Caty how it touched her too.

 

[15:19] Caty Weezles sucked in a hitched breath. Simply asking in that same choked voice, "Why Miss Elise? Why do you want to make my daddy go away from me?" Her nose stuffed, she wiped at it with the back of her hand.

 

[15:23] Elise Capalini lifts her head and wipes her cheek again. She presses her mouth into a thin line and exhales a shaky breath. "Not from you, Caty, never from you." Was Forge truly her father? She still couldn't fathom it, but -Caty- believed he was and that was all she needed to know. "He hurt...he was hurting someone I love," she whispers.

 

[15:24] Janeiro Renard walked slowly long the road infront of the cemetary, blue smoke wreathed around his head. He paused, spotting Caty through the bars of the wrought iron gate, and then spotted Elise, crying? His face remained impassive. Well. There was a lot to cry about these days.

 

[15:26] Caty Weezles: How many times had she heard this, and she repeated it. Lifting her chin to suck in a deep breath. She'd release the wall then and eyes turned narrow on Elise, "That makes it okay? To hurt cause you hurt?" How many times had her mother told her? "Not okay. Not OKAY! That's my daddy."

 

[15:29] Elise Capalini draws in another uneven breath and releases it slow. She nods at Caty, catching sight of Jan beyond her, wreathed in smoke like he's just stepped out of the underworld. "You're right, Caty--it's not right. I screwed up." She eyes the little girl, her own tears starting to subside. "I did something bad. What should my punishment be?"

 

[15:30] Janeiro Renard heard the girl's voice, and frowned deeply, as he began to trudge forward down the road. Punishment, he mused. Trying to do the right thing in this city is punishment enough.

 

[15:33] Caty Weezles blinked. Swollen eyes were red and looked as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders just then. Staring at Elise's form. She

settled some, her voice softened from the scream and accusatory tone, "You..." Sniff, "You has to go to jail. You and Mister Eamon has to go to jail cause you're bad. You shooted him. You made Mister Andrei go to sleep and not wake up." Confused still. "You has to say sorry to people you hurts."

 

[15:37] Elise Capalini folds her hands into her lap, but breathes easier when Caty's tone softens. "If someone hurts someone else...they have to say sorry?" she asks, trying to make sure she understands what Caty is saying. "The police are investigating the shooting, Caty, but they haven't come to arrest anyone yet."

 

[15:42] Caty Weezles: "But you shooted him. I sawed it. And Mister Lazyrus too cause he hurted me," She took a step forward. Staring down the form that was Elise, not wavering but she was tired. So tired of having to explain the world to adults. They were supposed to -know-. "You has to go there now cause you made him mad and made him bleed." She nodded though, "Yes, you have to say sorry. And you has to say that you won't do it again and /means/ it." Shoulders slumped and she ran fingers over the music box.

 

[15:45] Elise Capalini nods at Caty, wiping at her own cheek to dry more tears. She sniffles a little, very tired herself. "Does that mean your daddy has to say sorry, too? Lying is something people need to say sorry for too, right, Caty? Will he say sorry to me and Eamon?"

 

[15:48] Caty Weezles shoved at her face matching Elise' actions. Heel of her palm dragging across freckles, "Lying is little. Shooting is big." She canted her head, "Daddy doesn't lie to me. Daddy tells me whats right. Tinkerbell too. She was right too!"

 

[15:53] Elise Capalini watches Caty and exhales; she knows there will be no budging her mind on the matter of Forge and his honesty. "Everyone can only tell you what -they- think is right, and everyone will have a different opinion." She wondered if the girl would understand that. She dries her hand on her skirt , fingers tight in the fabric. "I have your picture, Caty." She would draw out the folded piece of paper and show it to her. "I found it in the pews."

 

[15:58] Caty Weezles: She would approach, hefting the bag onto her shoulder and clutching the music box. It still wasn't heavy. Something she could carry easily on a normal day. Today was in no way normal now. Everything since last week had tossed normalcy out the window for her. She peered down onto the page and shook her head when she looked onto the angel, "God taked her and Tinkerbell is going to be my mommy now and we has to go away again. Cause of blood. Cause of blood we all has to go away again. Caty didn't trip this time." She was okay with the fact that she didn't cause it. "Mister Eamon and Miss Elise made the blood. Mister Eamon and Miss Elise made us go 'way." Those brown eyes looked to Elise' and searched. She had stopped calling Eamon Father in the past week, she had stopped believing in many things. God's love - gone. Vanished with the sound of the gunshot. Her innocence, part of it, went too.

 

[16:04] Elise Capalini spreads out the drawing on the walk beside them, very careful of how she moves when Caty comes closer. Caty didn't trip this time, she thinks, and looks up at the little girl, wondering exactly what that means. "If Eamon and I go to jail, and you and daddy and Tinkerbell go away...that will make things better?" she asks. She looks into Caty's chocolate eyes, wondering how to bridge this chasm between them. "Caty...I'm sorry." Her voice is very soft, and sincere. The depth of what she's done to this girl hits her then, like a punch. "I mean it. I'm sorry for hurting you last Sunday. I never meant to do that."

 

[16:10] Caty Weezles: "No!" She stared at the picture for another moment, "You and Mister Eamon has to go to jail and WE stay then. That's how it works." She shuffled back again. Further away. A leary look given to Elise, "Maybe sometimes sorry isn't good enough. Maybe sometimes ..." She started to choke again, mouth opened and closed gasping for air, "It hurts so bad and it hurted." She shoved again at her cheek, "Your daddy went away. You know don't make blood. It hurts." Fingers found the key to the music box and she twisted it.

 

[16:15] Elise Capalini says softly, "Oh," and starts to fold the picture back up. She watches the paper, rather than Caty, feeling there is nothing to be said. Forge's hold on her is absolute. She wants to comfort the girl, hug her and calm her, but knows that touching her would be entirely the wrong thing. "The police will decide if we go to jail," she eventually says, the paper moving with a soft whisper against the stone. Her black nails gleam as she smooths a fold down. "Blood does hurt...sometimes it doesn't make sense, either."

 

[16:20] Caty Weezles: The bag shifted with her thumbs, she felt like she won something in some way. She was right. Blood hurt and Elise knew it. A huff of air blown out into a long stream and she started to back away. Her eyes were intense, pupils dialated and fixed on her. Reflecting emotions that they were both feeling in some way - somehow they shared the hurt from different sides. She tucked her chin to her chest, softly spoke, "You made Caty go away."

 

[16:25] Elise Capalini makes a final fold in the paper, and the paper slices into her finger. Blood wells bright against her pale flesh, and then soaks quickly into the paper itself. She winces at the sting of it, closing her hand into her skirt to stop the blood. She nods at Caty as the girl backs away. "I made Caty go away," she whispers, and bows her head, unable to look at the girl. "But Caty...not -all- cats are bad...don't think that. They're not." Her voice is choked with tears; there's little more she can say.

 

[16:30] Caty Weezles: She stared at folds of a memory as the blood laced Elise's white hand, one last word, "Elise has to go away now. Blood stains. And Elise goes away." Was only slightly above a whisper as she backed away. Far from the scenes others had seen her make about people bleeding. Right now, Elise -could- bleed ... it was okay.

 

[16:34] Elise Capalini swallows hard. "Elise goes away," she murmurs. She frowns and looks up, eye locking on Caty. She stands up and takes a step backward. "Goodbye, Caty." She doesn't pick up the paper; she leaves it on the walk as she heads back toward the church. Though not inside...she doesn't want to be inside just now.

Done