Chapter 5 GOOD AS GONE

Lady Joan's POV

Smoke and the stench of burnt flesh hung in the air. The flames shot high into the air, casting a glow over the mayhem in front of me. I took a step back, my fur coat clutched around me, a shield from the cold night air.

It was the demise of Joyce.

The fire engulfed the psychiatric hospital, reducing it to ashes, as I had planned. No one would survive that inferno alive. Not Joyce. Not Miriam. Not any of the other wretched souls in there.

I exhaled slowly, an immense feeling of satisfaction swelling in my chest. It was over.

For years, that wretched girl had kept me imprisoned in a cell of worry. I had warned Zack; warned him that she wasn't good enough for him, that she was no more than a blemish on our family's reputation. But he had permitted himself to be blinded by emotion, by irrelevant feelings with no bearing in our world.

Love was a weakness. Love got men lost.

Just like his father. He had fallen in love with me, but where was he now?

And now Joyce? Love had gotten Joyce killed.

I put a gloved hand over my mouth, suppressing a giggle. "Poor, silly girl". She had fought so hard to have a spot in Zack's life, but in the end she had gotten burned.

A harsh voice intruded on my thoughts.

"NO!"

I glanced back just as Zack fought his way through the bystanders. His eyes were wide with shock, staring at the flames licking the air.

"This can't be happening," he whispered, his head turning back and forth. His hands came up into his hair, his chest rising unevenly. He was devastated.

Pathetic.

Mr Timothy, my guard tightened a hard hand on his arm, his expression grim. "Zack, there's nothing you can do."

Zack attempted to struggle free, his entire body trembling."Joyce is in there! I have to-"

He took one step forward, but two of the security guards grabbed him before he'd moved another step.

"No! Get away from me!" he cried, twisting in their grip. His voice cracked, pleading. The pain in his eyes was almost beautiful.

The crowd murmured among themselves, their faces pale in the firelight. Some felt sorry for him. Others were paralyzed with shock, not knowing what to say.

I turned away, a smile spreading on my face.

Silly boy.

A nurse ran towards me, her face pale with fear. She was panting, as if she'd run the whole way from the hospital before it came crashing down.

"Ma'am," she breathed in shock, holding her hands as if in fear. "The body was found in the room."

I frowned and glanced down.

Joyce's.

A gentle giggle escaped my lips.

"So it's true then?" I asked, my head tilted to one side. "She's actually gone?"

The nurse swallowed. "Y-yes, ma'am. She couldn't have possibly survived."

I inhaled slowly, my fists tight. Finally.

"She never should have disobeyed me," I breathed.

This was what she deserved for trespassing on my family. For thinking she would ever be accepted.

Zack collapsed to his knees.

The air rang with the sound of his anguish. A raw, guttural wail that rang through the air.

"Joyce..."

His voice shook as he stared into the fire. "No... this can't be... "

His fists were tight on the pavement. His shoulders shook, his body shuddering silently in sobs.

I stood watching him for some time, close enough to savor his despair. He was learning, finally. Learning the lesson of loss.

But he would recover.

Loss was a temporary condition, a phase one outgrew as time went by.

And when he did, he would obey commands.

I turned my back on him, the flames dancing in my icy, merciless eyes.

"Rest in peace, little fool," I breathed, hardly loud enough for anyone to catch.

Then, without a backward glance, I walked away.

Away from the fire. Away from her memories.

Joyce was dead.

And the future was mine.

But Zack

He will be fine. But in the meantime, I had to put on a show. A sympathy show.

Hump.... Even in death, she's still a pain. A thorn in my flesh.

*********

The flames had died.

The hospital was a shell, a skeleton of blackened walls and collapsed ceilings. Burned flesh filled the air, thick and inescapable. Firemen searched the rubble, their voices muffled beneath the roar of hoses and crackling embers.

Our legs carried us through the burned passageway. Zack holding my arms tightly.

And then-

A cry. A discovery.

A burned body.

Alongside it, a diamond ring and a delicate necklace, blackened but distinguishable.

His hands dropped from my arms. The world around him melted away.

I calmed sobbing, hanging on his arms like a grieving widow. The touch of his Mr Timothy hand on his shoulder.

He struggled on under his own power, tripping on the wreckage until he came to the edge of the debris.

The body was not recognizable. A mere shell of what had been.

But the necklace.

The ring.

His mouth trembling with weeping. His eyes swam.

No.

No, no, no.

His breath came in ragged gasps, as though something was clawing its way up his torso. The heaviness of the vision, the embracing of the event, the finality of it, pressed upon his chest like an iron weight. His heart rising up and down.

One of the firefighters was speaking. Describing the body's discovery. Describing how the fire spread too quickly for anyone inside the house to stand a chance.

My happiness reaching its climax. Happy my plans were swift and painless.

I moved closer, taking his hands. My voice soft, convincing.

"It's for the best, darling. She's at peace now."

His fist clenched.

"Peace?", His voice raspy

He looked at the charred body. My mind breaking under the strain of too many thoughts at once. "Did she say anything before now?".

He had failed her", his voice again. "She was alone. Trapped. Scared. And I wasn't there".

"You did what you could, Zack, you were there for her until the end".

"No mom. I left her all alone. The memories come unbidden-the last time I had visited her, the way she had gazed at me with tired, pleading eyes. The way she had clung to my touch, even when she was frail. The way she had shrieked when the nurse had come in with the syringe". His breath hitched

"She had been afraid", He openly sobbed

"And I had left".

A strangulated sound escaped him. I couldn't tell if it was a sob or a curse.

The same day he returned home. I knew something had happened between them. I did not plan to kill her so early, but she knows too much.

What she had said was beginning to have an impact on Zack.

If he had not made that call to Dr Jerry, to have her flown out. I would not have incinerated this place.

Maybe it is for the better.

I moved in closer. "You'll heal. We'll move forward."

He jerked his arm away.

"Move forward?"

His tense chest heaved up and down. His tears streaming down. But his face contorts into something else. Something tougher.

He turned away from the wreckage, from the grief ready to overwhelm him completely.

"I dont know why. I don't know how. But something about this dosen't feel right". Zack said. His voice low, with underlying meaning.

My heart skipped a beat. Beating faster. Knowing him, he can go to any length to find out about anything.

"And until I knew the truth, I am not moving forward". He clenched his fists. His tears fresh but the weight of his words remained on my chest.

"Not yet".