Chapter Seventeen: Do Or Die



Marie awoke to a chilling damp smell. It was dark and dusty, her arms were tied, her legs too, and her mouth was taped shut. She wriggled around, but it was like she confined to a tiny space, something like a box. She had a small lighter clutched in her hands, though completely unaware how it had gotten there. She flicked it quickly, lighting it first off. The small flickering light provided a glow, and suddenly, with chilling realism, she recognized where she was – in a coffin.

She screamed, though only a muffled sound came out through the tape. She kicked at the sides, and at the bottom, but to no avail, she heard no outside sign of help.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Brian looked down his watch for the 5th time in s many minutes, 12:20 it read.
“How can petrol take you 20 minutes to get?” he muttered, agitatedly
“It’s alright Rok, they’ll be here” Nick smiled, secretly wondering the exact same thing.

Guest fidgeted, and chattered quietly amongst themselves. He had a bad feeling about this, something wasn’t right

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Faith’s head pounded furiously as her eyes struggled to open. She looked around her cramp surrounding, though she saw nothing, it was pitch black and musty. Her hand moved around the unfamiliar walls that encased her, her wrists and ankles tied together. To her left side was a smooth wall, almost cushioned, the other side something strange dug into her, she felt along it, it was hard and thin, it seemed to travel the whole length of the box, she squirmed around, her eyes slowly adjusting to the damp darkness. She squinted, trying to make out what the strange object was, but unable to decipher it.

“Is little Faith awake?” Catherine snickered, her laughed muffled by the walls between them
Faith kicked her feet up, crashing into the roof with a loud banging.
“It would seem you are” Catherine replied to herself
Below her the bottom, like the side seemed to be cushioned, her head propped up on something.
“In case you’re stupid, you’re I a coffin dear” Catherine cackled “and the thing next to you. Someone’s grandmother I assume” she added, bursting out in twisted laughter

The object beside Faith became clear, it was a decomposing skeleton, lying right next to her in haunting silence. She screamed, nothing more than a muffled whimper entering the world outside the coffin.

Catherine unhooked the lock on the head part of the coffin. She lifted the heavy oak lid, revealing a petrified Faith, and her coffin buddy.
“Oh Nasty” Catherine grinned as she looked at the skeleton.
Faith turned her head catching her first glimpse of the dead women. She screamed again.
“Stop screaming” Catherine announced agitatedly as she pulled out the gun she had earlier
Faith muttered incoherently as Catherine sat atop the coffin.
“What, did Faith want to say something?” she inquired, cracking a smile.
Faith struggled against the bonds that held her.
“Well you can try and scream all you want, see this room?” she began “well it’s a stone tomb, built down into the ground, far away from anyone, unless of course if you wanna count rotting corpses. No one will find us here and no one will ever hear you scream, rich buggers weren’t they” she finished shaking the chin of the skull beside Faith
Faith silently cringed as Catherine played psychotically with the skeleton.
“What? You don’t like dead people? Shit you better get used to it Faith, you’re gonna be spending a long time with Mrs. Rotting Corpse, in fact I'm thinking a lifetime sounds sufficient, though I'm not sure how long that will be for you”
Faith tried to talk, her words nothing more that muffled sounds.
“Fine, speak, scream and I’ll shot you” Catherine sighed, harshly ripping the tape from faith’s mouth
“Why are you doing this?” Faith breathed, her eyes latching onto the gun in front of her
“Why not?” Catherine shrugged “Why does everybody need a reason for everything” she laughed
“Okay Faith, you want to know why I'm doing this” she mocked “I'm doing it because you have the life I deserve, the life I'm going to claim. It’s called the 7th sin Faith, Envy, but you know what they don’t tell you at Sunday school? That if your smart, you can get away with anything” she smiled proudly “and I must admit I'm pretty smart”
“You’re insane”
“I prefer eccentric”
She looked down at her watched and grinned
“Looks like Faith is about 40 minutes late for her wedding, what a shame” she mocked
“They’ll find you”
“Don’t be stupid Faith, they wont find me, simply because they wont be looking for me”
“What do you mean?”
“God, do I have to spell it out for you?” she sighed “As we speak, I’d be surprised if the police haven’t sent out a couple of patrol cars. Soon, they’ll find the half submerged Limo, complete with 1 body of a male driver, in case your wondering, he was in the boot” she laughed “leaving you and little old Marie. Here comes the real fun part, now listen up. They’ll head to her house first, they usually do, where they will find a bunch of strategically placed items, pointing straight to Marie. Not to mention the knife used to slit the drivers throat, which she so kindly put her fingerprints all over. So you see my dear Watson, everything will point to your best friend, they’ll try and find her, unfortunately what they don’t know is that she’s buried nearby, with the angels, and has about 1 hour to live, give or take. So they will NEVER find me, I’ll go wondering into Brian’s crushed life, perhaps with a different hair color, just incase his memory is good, then, well I'm sure you know” she smiled, pulling a small tape recorder from her pocket. She pushed play.
“Oh, god, faith, oh baby” Brian’s voice chanted, breathing heavily
She stopped the taped and watched Faith’s reaction.
“You sick bitch” Faith spat into Catherine’s face
“That my dear” Catherine announced wiping her face as she climbed off the coffin “Bought you an eternity of hell. Night, night” she laughed, slamming the lid closed.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

“That’s it, something’s wrong” Brian hissed, annoyed at security for not allowing him to leave
“Brian” Giles announced, puffing loudly as he walked into the private room where Brian was.
“What? Have you found her?” Brian inquired quickly
“No, but we found something else. The limo” he replied solemnly “It was half submerged with the drivers body in it, his throat was cut”
Brian gasped, as did the four other occupants in the room, his parents and Nick.
“Where’s Faith?” he mumbled
“We don’t know, both Faith and Marie are missing” he sighed, alluding to what he thought may have happened
“Marie didn’t do what you assuming” Nick announced, stepping into the conversation
“I understand it must be a hard thing for you to realize but all the signs –“
“Screw the signs” Nick announced, getting ready to pounce “Marie wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone her best friend”
“We’re doing everything to find Faith, Brian I assure you”
“Get out of my way” Brian gritted
“Brian please, just stay put, we don’t want to alarm anyone”
“That’s my fiancé out there, I suggest you move” Brian pushed
“Please, Brian, we’re doing –“
“I said move” Brian announced rashly, as he grabbed the gun quickly from the holster on Giles waist.
“Brian put the gun down” Harold demanded
“Dad, I have to find Faith, and no one is going to tell me to stay where I am” Brian cried, before turning the gun back onto Giles
“I'm going to ask you again, get out of my way” Brian repeated calmly

~ 5 MINUTES LATER ~

“Well, I'm going to leave you now” Catherine announced opening the coffin “I got a past to erase and a few loose ends to tie up” she added ripping off another strip of tape
“Wait” Faith urged
“What?”
“Don’t you want to know what Brian likes?”
Catherine scoffed at her, then went to place the tape on her mouth.
“I’ve done my research, I know what he likes” she smiled
“The things they don’t tell you in the magazines, if you want him, you need to know how to get him” Faith pleaded, desperate to keep Catherine here, and her alive.
“Really” Catherine questioned, suddenly taking interest

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Brian placed the gun under his belt under his jacket. He ran out through the back doors, into the churches small cemetery. He walked past headstone after headstone desperate to not been seen by the crowd inside.

He ran past what seemed to be a half buried coffin, lying with only a small amount of dirt piled on it, and a eerie pair of stone carved angels towering over it. He shuddered at the very thought of dead people as he raced out of the gate, and down to one of the parked limo’s

“Give me the keys” Brian pleaded with the driver
“Aren’t you supposed to come out with the bride” the older man chuckled
“Give me the damn keys” Brian repeated
The driver looked at him strangely then backed away. Brian pulled out the gun, pointing it in his face.
“The keys” he said sternly, holding out his left hand
The driver slowly removed the keys from his pocket and dropped them into Brian’s hand.
“I'm sorry, I’ve got to find my fiancé” Brian announced pushing him aside.
The driver just nodded and watched as Brian sped away.

He had no idea where he was going, or even what he was looking for, but no matter how mammoth the task seemed, he had to find her. he knew whoever did this was responsible for all the other things, and there had to be something in it all, some clue.

In a matter of minutes he pulled into the house and ran upstairs. He remember the night Faith had attacked him with the vase, she later told him she was so spooked out by a letter she’d received, she’d told him she’d thrown it away the day after, maybe that letter held a clue.

He raced upstairs and into the bedroom. He’d never attempted to read the letter, Faith had ripped it up, saying she didn’t want to be reminded of it. He grabbed the trash bin from under the table and cast its contents onto the bed. Her searched through a mixture of rubbish, pulling out tiny scraps of paper.

~ 10 MINUTES LATER ~

“Alright that’s enough delay tactics Faith, time to go to sleep” Catherine announced
“You’re not as smart as you think” Faith retorted
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“How do you think you’re going to get you way into Brian’s life, he’ll never love you”
Catherine’s hand came hard down against the side of Faith’s face.
“Wrong bitch” she hissed
“He never trusted Chelsea and he’ll never trust you, he’ll see right through you”
“You don’t know that”
“I know that he could never love someone as evil as you”
“You don’t understand Faith, I'm the smart on, I'm the one with the plan”
“You can kill me, and you can make things go your way for now, but you cant make someone love you”
“What would you know?”
“You’re not the only smart one”
“You don’t know anything”
“He’ll never really love you”
“I can make him” Catherine screamed, slamming down the lid of the coffin

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Brian scribbled out the note onto a pad, following the large peices of the letter he'd put together across the floor.

“And I saw, and, look! A pale horse; and the one seated upon it had the name death. And Hades was closely following him and authority was given them….to kill with a long sword…..” Revelation 6:8
That’s not the most ideal wedding gift is it?
The time has come, let the will be done. The crimson color of blood will be poured out across the sacred grounds, a silent battlefield will be your home. Lined with wood and silk, dressed in white, and smiling grimly. The sun will not set on that day for you, I’ll will be waiting in the shadows, I will emerge and take my final bow, as you will take your final breathe.

Blood will be mine, leave now and live, stay and die……….

The Pale Horse is approaching……..

He read it over, desperate to understand it, to unravel the clues that lay in the words.
“Sacred grounds” he read to himself “Silent battlefield, lined with wood and silk”
The words stuck out, but meant nothing to him. He patted his head, struggling with the message that lay before him
“Wood, wood” he echoed “what’s made of wood? Trees are wood, a forest” he muttered, there wasn’t a real forest anywhere around “wood and silk, damn” he cursed
He thought for a moment, repeating the words over in his head.
“What has both wood and silk?” he huffed
“Shit” he cursed “A damn coffin” he announced loudly
“Oh my god, she’s in a coffin” he spoke softly, the realization hard to handle
“But where?” he sighed, staring back down at the paper
“Sacred grounds”
The obvious was a cemetery, but there were at least 10 of them, in a 10mile radius. He read over the letter again, staying on the “Silent battlefield”
“What does it mean?” he huffed, staring down at it
He rubbed his temples firmly, if she was in a coffin, he didn’t have much time.
His mind scanned across the cemetery’s around the place, he stopped abruptly and stood up.
“Silent battlefields, the old church out by Grovers Creek” he announced
It had been the site where most of the soldiers from World War II had been buried, it was, you could say, a silent battlefield.

~ 10 MINUTES LATER ~

“Opsy, forgot the tape” Catherine laughed opening the coffin again.
“I really have to stop opening this thing, it’s giving you fresh air” she condemned herself
“You wont get away with this”
“Oh shut up, this isn’t a Disney Movie Faith, the good guys don’t always win”
“Brian will know”
“How? He’s cute, but he’s not physic Faith. A new hair color, a different cut, he’ll never know”
“He’ll see right through you”
“I doubt it. He’ll love me Faith, you wait and see”
Faith struggled her arms under the cover of the bottom half of the lid
“You read the bible a lot Catherine?”
“The scripture thing right?” Catherine laughed leaning into put the tape of Faith’s mouth
“The three horses, very cute”
“Fitting I thought”
“You forgot one thing” Faith smiled, her hands etching up the coffin
“And what was that?”
“There’s four horses, bitch” she announced, pulling her fists out of the coffin, her clutched hands came down hard against the back of Catherine’s head, starling her and sending her crashing to the ground.

Faith, using her free hands hoisted herself out of the coffin, kicking Catherine in the back of the head as she knelt beside her. She pulled the loosely tied feet out of their bondages as Catherine scrambled across the floor. Faith jumped down and ran for the door, she yanked it open before Catherine slammed it shut again over her shoulder. Faith spun around to see Catherine staring venomously at her. She smirked wickedly, her eyes turning a dark black color.
“Not smart” she spoke coarsely pointing the gun hazardously at Faith
She wiped the blood from a cut in her head, she received after banging her head on the brass handles.
The cold steal of the barrel was only a matter of centimeters from Faith’s head, terror ran through her body, but she wouldn’t stay here, she wouldn’t die like this.

Without a second thought she lifted her knee into Catherine’s stomach, sending her stumbling backwards, and making even more angry.

In a spilt second she’d yanked Faith to the ground, ripping the skirt of her wedding dress.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Brian ran through the gates of the expansive cemetery. He looked around in disbelief, the place was huge, rows upon rows of graves. His heart raced through his chest, he had to find her, time was running out. He ran through row after row of neatly buried graves, he was looking for a messy one, one that looked out of the ordinary, something, anything, if she was buried, it must have been a hastened job.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Catherine slammed Faith into the ground, she was stronger and bigger than Faith, and the fires of hate were burning strong in her eyes, like she’d become engulfed in it.

Faith gathered all her strength, pulling back her left leg and sending it directly into Catherine’s face, the heel of the shoe gouging into her cheekbone, causing Catherine to scream in pain.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Brian’s ears picked up, hearing the scream, his head flew around in all directions trying to find where it had come from. He ran to the back of a row, turning left – she was here, and it sounded like she was still alive.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

“You bitch” Catherine hissed, gathering her composure as the gun shook in her hands.
Faith thought hurriedly, the gun was pointed directly at her, in a split second decision she lunged straight for Catherine’s Hand, pointing the gun in any direction. The shot ran out loudly through the entire stone room as bits of stone dust fluttered to the floor.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Brian’s heart stopped as he stopped running. He’d never heard that sound live before, but he knew what it was – a gun shot, and he knew where it came from. He ran further down to an underground stone tomb.

He heard the gasping from inside, of what sounded like a struggle.

Faith’s blow smacked hard against Catherine’s bleeding face, faith’s own battle marks becoming insignificant. The gun went off again before Catherine dropped it, sending it sliding across the floor.

A second gun shot rocked Brian further as he made the choice. Catherine’s arm choked around Faith’s neck as they both scrambled to where the gun lay. The door came flying open, as Brian kicked it open with every ounce of power he had. Both girls looked up.
“Brian” Faith screamed as his eyes darted around the room.
Without thinking he pulled out the gun, the same as he’d done the previous two times.
“Back off” he announced, his hand shaking as Catherine dropped Faith, her eyes growing dark at his presence
“It’s okay Brian, we’ll be together, you cant find destiny” Catherine spoke, her voice choking into a deep roar
Brian’s furrowed his forehead, this was about him. He looked down at Faith, who was slowly picking herself up off the floor.
“Baby I'm here” Brian whispered, extending his hand

Catherine screamed as she pulled a knife from the bag behind her, she ran forward, stabbing Faith harshly in the back, Faith yelped in pain, falling face forward into the ground.

Everything around Brian seemed to be in slow motion as Faith toppled onto him. He looked up to see Catherine holding the blood drenched knife above him. He took one shot, one clear shot and she went falling backwards into a crumpled heap.

“Faith, please baby, talk to me” Brian whimpered, his first thought to her
Faith coughed quietly, her whole body ached in pain. Brian cupped her head onto his lap, and kissed her softly, as the door flew open again, sending the bright light flooding in, along with a fist full of officers.

Giles looked around, it didn’t take much to piece together what happened. Catherine groaned quietly as two officers rushed to her side. Giles knelt down beside Brian and Faith, there was blood everywhere, it didn’t look good.
“The ambulance is on it’s way” he spoke softly as Brian stroked Faith’s hair
“How did you know to find me?” Brian questioned
“We followed you, we thought you might know something we didn’t” he shrugged
Faith coughed again, trying to speak.
“It’s okay baby, don’t speak, they’re coming” Brian cried, holding her tightly
“Marie” Faith managed
“What?”
“You have to help Marie” Faith struggled to form the words, but this was her best friend she was talking about
“We don’t know where she is” Brian stammered
“Buried, under the angels, close by, close to you” Faith weakly replied

Brian thought for a minute, he’d seen no coffins that weren’t buried deep, he’d not seen any angels.
“Oh My God” he stuttered
“back at the other church, the one where the wedding is, there’s a coffin there lying in an unfinished grave, that must be it, it had two angels”
“Mark and Gavin, you go, radio the security at the church, get then out there ASAP”

~ 2 MINUTES LATER ~

Marie choked back on the stale air, she didn’t know how long she’d been there, but she knew she was running out of air. She groaned again through the tape. She could only imagine where she was.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

“What going on?” Nick inquired as one officer finished radio contact
“They’ve found Faith, she’s not doing to good, but they’re taking her to the hospital”
“What about Marie?” Nick questioned pacing around the room
“They think she’s buried outside” the officer announced as him and the others raced out side
Nick followed closely behind.
“There” the officer pointed, “that’s where they said” he added running over to the two angels
Beside it stood an older man, shoveling in dirt onto the semi-submerged coffin
“Stop” Nick screamed as he jumped into the grave

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Marie’s eyes fluttered shut as she slowly lost consciousness.

Nick dug with his bare hands.
“Marie I'm coming” he whispered as other offices joined in.

It took them only about 2 minutes to unearth the coffin, a crowbar was quickly thrown down to them. Using every ounce of force he possessed he ripped the lid open.
“Marie” he called Picking her up out of the coffin like a rag doll
She coughed loudly, before her eyes opened, she gasped for air as the sun pierced her eyes. She managed a smile as Nick hugged her tightly.



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