Jack and Jill

Chapter Nine

1

The town slipped further away as Jack and Jill climbed the hill. Their minds were both shut down with questions without answers. This was so great upon them that when they finally reached the top, they simply sat down to gather themselves without a word. Jill seemed to have accepted her fate by one way or the other, but Jack was not taking it too happily at the moment. He was simply unable to understand such human behavior! He lifted his eyes up to the darkly clouded sky as thunder began to roll.

“How could this happen? It was so perfect,” he muttered. “So right.”

“Somehow, deep down, I knew it would turn out this way, but, I don’t have regrets, Jack,” Jill said, trying to console him. “If I could go back and change it, I wouldn’t. I decided I would rather die than have the beatings continue.”

“But, I will be the one being forced to watch you die! I can’t believe I have to just sit back and accept this!”

“That is the way it is. People are not going to change their minds about me. I’ve learned that. They want me gone. Dead or gone. You know that if they actually go through with the trial, I will be found guilty. Then I will hang… ”

“How could I let this happen?” he asked himself, putting his hands to his face.

“You had no say in this. It is not your fault,” she said.

“But I promised myself I would protect you, Jill. I made that promise long ago and I intend to keep it, but… I have no idea what to do.”

“There is also another issue I am concerned about,” she said.

“What’s that?”

“Well, what if it turns out that I’m, well, you know,” she said, touching her stomach lightly.

He closed his eyes tightly in pain. He hadn’t even thought about the possibility that she could be with child. He didn’t even like the thought of it.

“I mean I don’t know much about that sort of thing, and it may be stupid, but perhaps, if they knew I was with child, they would let me live. After that though, everywhere I went, I would be talked about more and more because they would all think it was my father’s baby after what we told them. I would have to say it was. I could never say it was really yours… You would marry Sylvia and have a nice life of prestige, and I would be a pathetic nobody; one of the same that huddle outside the church window to listen, but I would only be there to hear your voice, holding the hand of my father’s child.”

“I would never have that! You think I could let you have my child and never be involved?”
“But, if you were, no one would have respect for you ever again! I couldn’t do that to you. I just want you to be happy,” she said, lowering her head.

“I was happy. I was happy until someone decided to meddle. Do you know the only time in my life that I was happy was when I was with you? You were so different! You didn’t care about material things, or have worldly opinions. You were right in what you thought. You would sacrifice your own health and blood just to keep from hurting someone else. And for what? You never got anything in return.”

“I got you,” she said, her voice trying to sound hopeful.

“You say that, though you are prepared to turn me over to Sylvia.”

“I know I will always have your heart,” she said.

“If you can’t have all of me then what is the point?” he asked, rising. “I will not have Sylvia! My father will not force me into anything anymore!”

These words once again surprised Jill. She had heard him speak them before, and she had also assumed this about himself, but aside from Sylvia was there something else?

“You say he forces you to do things… What do you mean?”

Jack turned to her slowly, his eyes cold. Then he got up from where he sat on the ground. He paced back and forth a moment as she watched him, and finally opened his mouth and began to speak his father’s words with perfect, rage-filled showmanship.

“You are a minister’s son, and you have a certain obligation to this family name. You are to stand straight and tall and smile and be kind and generous. Ah yes, your mother and I were talking today and we have decided that you should court Miss Sylvia. Don’t be silly, Jack, she’s a fine girl. She’ll make a fine bride for you. What? You don’t want to marry? You think that makes you more pious? Don’t be silly! She will pave a way of goodness for you! I said don’t argue. You will court her and you will like it! What? You don’t believe that my teachings of the Bible are correct anymore! What do you know? You are only a boy! A sad pathetic boy who is still in need of much guidance! I know what is best for you, so sit down, be quiet and don’t act like anything’s wrong! You will do as I say and you will not embarrass me!”

Jack emphasized his emotional trailing by kicking the pail in rage. The bucket tumbled down the hill all the way to the bottom upon the rocks below, rattling all the way down. Jack watched it for a moment. How free it must feel. What would it be like to tumble down the hill and let all consciousness go? A certain insane thought bolted through his mind like the lightning that tore open the sky as a light rain began to fall.

“Jill,” he said, looking back at her, his clothes becoming wet with raindrops. “Let’s do it.”
“Do what?” she asked. She pretended not; she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Let’s jump!” he said, his eyes flashing wildly.

“What?” She was more stunned than confused.

“We jump, and it will be over! No more worries! We’ll be dead, and no one will tell us what to do, or worry about us, or hit us and tell us we can’t be together! Because we will be together.”

He walked over to the side of the hill. Truly, it was quite a long way down from here. The rocks at the bottom would make a nice resting place. A few careless children had met an undesired end there when they

“That is what I dreamed last night!” Jill exclaimed, pulling herself to her feet. “I dreamt of suicide! But I don’t know if that really seems like the answer, Jack…

“My father would be forced to speak at the funeral,” Jack continued, romanticizing the idea. “Perhaps he’d break down in the middle of it, drop to his knees and start to confess every sin he’d made against me! Perhaps he’ll say he shouldn’t have pushed me so hard! Maybe he’ll say he’s sorry that he beat me with a rod until I was thirteen and old enough to hit him back.”

“But…you never did?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I never had the nerve. Besides, what would it look like if I hauled off and hit him in the jaw? He would have just made me look like the enemy.”

“I guess. But at least your beatings stopped. Mine didn’t.”

“Yeah, but it was different. You know your father was drunk, but mine was sober. He would beat me…for nothing! Every little thing! ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’! That’s what he’d always say. Just to know he’d feel pain; that would be enough for me.”

They fell silent as above them, finally, the firmament broke. The rain that had been threatening to fall for days began to come down in a smooth and quiet torrent, but neither Jack nor Jill fled from it. Others in the town below would have run to the stoops, but they had no desire to leave the hill. The rain fell coldly, soaking them. Jack shook his head through his matted hair, his shirt clinging to his form.

“But what am I saying? I have my whole life ahead of me, right?”

He turned back to her, and she looked up to him, but there were no words to be said. She turned away.

“A whole life with Sylvia,” he said smugly. “That seems to be what you want for me.”

Jill shook her head. “Of course I don’t want that! But what will I do? I don’t think you should die or be dragged down just because I will die or be sent away. You have a bright future for yourself, Jack. There are people who need you.”

“I won’t be the one to speak at your funeral, Jill. I won’t see you lynched. I know you’ll just kill yourself anyway, before it all happens. You’ll go home and slit your wrists until you die and I’ll never have known to say goodbye.”

“Perhaps that shouldn’t be a concern of yours,” she said quietly.

“You would kick me out now!?” He laughed. “Well, you can join me if you like,” he said, moving his arms up as though he was about to take a dive.

“Jack, stop this!” she screamed, covering her face.

He stood there with his arms spread apart, turning his head up to let the unfeeling rain strike his face. Perhaps it was her words, or a feeling deep inside him, but he realized that he couldn’t do what he claimed he would. He couldn’t bring himself to his own demise. He lowered his arms and slowly turned back to her.

“I – I know you’re right. This is foolish. I couldn’t desert you like that in your time of need. You need my help now. We have to get you out of this.”

As if suddenly, Jill began to feel the rain.

“Maybe we should just go back,” she said, outstretching her hand for him to come and take it.

“Yeah. Maybe we just need more time to think.”

He picked up his feet to step off of the few rocks he had climbed up onto – but, as his right foot touched down on the smooth, wet surface of the next rock before him, he slipped. Perhaps it was fate that these events take place today; perhaps it was just bad luck, but the last sound Jack heard was the shrill scream of his name from Jill as he tumbled backwards and fell.

Jill ran towards his flailing body. She had tried to grab his hand, but she did not reach him in time. All she could do was scream for him, but of course, it did no good. She had prayed that day; prayed that her beloved Jack would reach the bottom unharmed. Only for a few broken bones, she prayed; anything but death! She had watched his body double over and over itself many times as his mass had gained more speed. She could hear his bones popping, one after another, as his limbs thrashed out unnaturally. Her heart sank when his body had collapsed against the rocks at the bottom. She was finally able to see the blood, spilling out from the back of his head as it rested against a rock. He wasn’t dead – she shook her head – he couldn’t be dead! The sounds of his popping bones echoed through her mind and she covered her ears and sank to the ground to tears.

Sylvia had been the first to reach the scene. She had been watching them atop the hill from a shelter out of the rain. She had seen Jack fall, and had screamed as well, not stopping for the rain to hurry to his body. She had seen the blood, but it had been no care of hers, since it had meant his life. Without worrying about dress, she had lifted his shoulders and shaken him. The blood was strikingly red against her dark gloves.

“Jack,” she urged. “Jack!”

Her calling was of no use, for his corpse lay there bloody and empty. A few other townsfolk without faces had heard the commotion and rushed onto the scene. A few covered their mouths in shock, others stooped down to the body.

“What’s going on?” they asked.

“What happened?”

Sylvia’s eyes rose to the hilltop. Jill stood there, peering over the edge in the rain. Jill wanted to see what had happened? Fine. Sylvia would tell her.

“He is dead!” she screamed, startling a few people around her with her sudden outburst. “And it is her fault!”

Jill shook her head in denial. It was not her fault! He had slipped! I was an accident!

“I saw her! She pushed him!” Sylvia screamed, pointing a harsh and accusing finger.

No! Jill had not pushed him…had she? She couldn’t quite remember it now. No! She could not have done such a thing! She would never…

“You pushed him off! How could you!? You were jealous! If you couldn’t have, him no one could!”
“That’s two murders on her record!” yelled someone.

From there on, an uproar of anger reached Jill’s ears. She tried to shut out the angry shouts, but it didn’t work, there were too many from below.

“No! I didn’t push him! It wasn’t my fault! I – I loved him!”

Her words did nothing to override the heated roar. She clamped her ears and fell to her knees. Not Jack! She would have gladly died, only for him to be happy, but now he was dead, and she was the only one alive. No! She would not suffer in this way! She must be with him no matter the cost! With these thoughts, and a decision made, she rose, and just as lightning struck the church steeple in the distance, she closed her eyes and let herself fall, not feeling the pain as her shoulder popped loose. She ignored it when her leg broke and the bone protruded through her skin. Her life ended with the snap of her neck and her lifeless body struck down across Jack’s chest. They formed a pile of lifelessness together. They did not hear the screams of terror at the sight of their own blood as women rushed to gather their children inside. It was finished; they were together at last.

2

The funerals were held together, not by popular desire, but at the request of Sylvia Moore. Her guilty conscience her tugged at her until she could not longer take it; she guessed it was the least thing she could do. Jack’s death was mourned by all. Such a great loss he had been to everyone who knew him; even to those who didn’t. Such a fine young boy he had been, murdered at the hand of a girl he had been trying to help. His father had been sad and regretful, but he only had confessed his sins to God and his wife, not allowing the public in.

Not too many mourned Jill, being the devil’s bride as she was. No one mourned save her brother and mother, with the exception of the placing a single red rose into her coffin by Sylvia, and an apology; Jill was a far lovelier rose than Sylvia would ever be.

The children have long since changed their tune of song when remembering Jack and Jill. Though somewhat depressing and unknown to them the real story is, children still chant the rhyme happily in oblivious remembrance of the two lovers who had had not experienced a preserved childhood of freedom and joy.

‘Jack and Jill

Went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down

And broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after’

~the end~