Chapter 1 - London Bridges

The London tower chimed its last hollow breath, rumbling to the bitten lands below, resounding as a tremendous cough. The dark chuckle of the billowing tower bounced off of the medieval buildings, crashing down upon the poor citizens who celebrated with tears rippling the broken streets. Coursed beat of clicking high heels and leather shoes almost drowned by sickening laughter of the downfallen population pacing towards their destination. The thick atmosphere clouded their conscience, blank faces driven forward by the melody of the chirping trumpets, reflecting off of the sharp steeled glass that pierced thickly down and through their weight fallen, sinking depth with guilt, pounding rhythmatic hearts. The London tower shakily breathed the gloomy atmosphere, recovering from its cold upon the frigid snow that glaze over the surface like a thin blanket tossed upon a new born baby. 'London Bridge is Falling Down...'

It was the year of 1348, the same year the famous bridge in London was first built, but also the year of the fallen; the citizens moved towards the area of frozen waters, chilled breaths casted ghostly, pale fingers through the people, misting against the back of their necks to act as a chill of death looming over their haunted minds. The people's eyes all followed another's feet, squinting downwards as if afraid the snow will drift to their stiff-strong bodies. No voices shared, no glances met, a single word would've been fallen by the London Tower, once chiming like a proud Robin, now silent as wind chaste a moist kiss upon the point of the arrow directing towards an enlarged, white flaked, black three. A London Bridge, once celebrated to arise, now mourned to collapse followed by the deceased of the sinned and sick children- to lead as an upcoming event of the crisp, colorless beginning of another freezing winter. 'Falling Down.... Falling Down...'

* * *

A young woman marched along with the fallen-expression people, casting her heavy lids downwards towards the snow bitten, slush covered stone pathway; her limbs bonded frigidly behind her stiff back, wielded tightly together until blood remained in-flowing from her milky white knuckles. The woman's heart pounded rapidly, thumping against the break of her rib cage, lurching her body to course through the unimaginable experience; something to newly engrave and haunt her until she can't seek another meaning. The young woman tugged at her mask absentmindedly; with the recent occurrences of famine and disease, new masks were bought almost every day to protect themselves from the plague, as well another reason people carrying the plague were- to soon be- sacrificed today. The female huffed through the confinements of the bright white fabric, tickling warmth prickled against her cheeks as she ran her silk clothed arms into a defensive position, constantly trying to regain a new found heat- but hopeless with her failed attempts to effort.

The young woman gazed halfheartedly upwards, seeing a wide clearing of ice between the cracks of people who grew larger than she personally preferred; the citizens came to a halt, or at least, those who were able to see across the frozen still lake. Her heart beat pounded faster than a repeating alarm, traveling up to her cold-bitten ears and pulsing rapidly, making her mind go half blank-much to her fortune. The woman's stomach churned, threading into a loop and tugging into a thick, uncomforting knot, her back arched in awareness, sharp, pointed adrenaline pumping swollen through her veins. She shuffled her toes against the rigged pathway, stubbing her shoes and powdering them with a soft blanket of white, shinning her shoes of early slush from its newly founded heated surroundings of civilians.

The young woman glanced up; a barbarous yelp echoed off from a prickling small horn, resting upon a small figured human, the sound echoed off of the frozen sea waters, maximizing the vivid melody so the people's ear drums thrashed through their brains. Silence blanketed London, still fear wrapped its frill claws, delicately around the apprehensive, toe tottering populace; The woman shuffled in place, wringing her hands wearily at the cold that harshly bit at her finger tips. Off in the distance, a figure met her sight, holding a large cone, seemingly ridiculous being held by a figure of such a short stature, but none the less, fitted the silhouette as they brought the cone-shaped object to their non-visible lips. 'London... Bri...dge...is...'

"Here we stand, gentlemen and ladies, to celebrate a day for the rebirth of this monument, London Bridge... Collapsed repeatedly throughout the years... Unprotected and unstable... sins caused... sacrifice to rebuild..."

The strange figure called out in a quiet, strangled voice; the silhouettes sound repeatedly faded in and out with a mumble of a side comment or the bitter breeze of the picky sky, breathing in distaste and dragging out long sighs from the churning, strained silence bestowed upon the civilization. The young lady could hear only a few mixtures of words from the unimportant speech, drifting a lazy haze into her stale lids, crusting her eyes into a close. The woman furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, was she hearing discomfort from the crowd? The woman opened her eyes half-heartedly, enjoying the sudden darkness but slightly glowering at the intrusion of the blaring sun light. She woken fully to the sound of multiple gasps caressing gently in the breeze and whistling lowly in her ear; She furiously glanced to the others around her, multiple woman had their hands roughly clasped to their face, covering their paper white masks, further more clamped their mouths from hurling sickness or pure screeching in horrified terror evident throughout the wrinkles in their faces. Men starred nervously at the bridge, hiding their children's faces or suffocating their mates in desperation for panicked protection, their bodies stood rigged, sucking in breath like a wounded fish out of water, desperate for a source of air to revive their constant attacks violating their hearts.

"No..."

"Save them! Save the children!"

"Give them a second chance! Please!"

"Stop! They have so much to live for!"

The lady turned generally confused, her brain swelling in her ears, ringing a bell in a pitched squeal constantly was enough to drive her mad, vomit pulsed in her esophagus, threatening to pour out of her mouth and surfacing a foul taste that bubbled on her taste buds. She shakily brushed her hair back, silky wet strands falling to her frozen cheek bones and shaping her thin frame like a curtain draped across the shoulders of a starving, weary child. Her eyes met the two bridges connected, upon the unstable platform; smaller shadows surrounded the speaker, seemingly from adult to child, being shuffled forward in the glimpse of the haze. Her knees locked, painful vibrations traveled numbly up her form, beating wavering as the source crawled its way up to her heart, constantly beating it down to her stomach by physical force, her throat blocked by a deafening scream, silent but filled with breathless emotion as the woman watched the people step forward. She quickly casted a phantom hand to cover the lower half of her locked open jaw, her breath heated her cheeks shortly for how much force she pressured the cloth, the mask moved with her panicked panting, brushing against her non-visible teeth and rubbing harshly against her gapped lips.

The young lady watched, as a small young child - too far to judge upon birth gender- took a step forward and plummeted their body down, cutting though air, toppling over, twisting like a rag doll, and finally ending with a short scream as the human broke through the thin, snow brushed ice- not once popping up afterwards. Others followed, jumping off together in hopeless support of another or being shoved off by those with stick looking weapons; the crowd around the young woman roared with screams, desperate cries or filled with a shockwave of tears flowing down their faces and soaking their snow drifted masks, making it drag out upon their jaws. The young lady blended in with the crowd, reaching out to the children, hoping upon another force to save the sick or mistaken people for something they may not have committed, until she was shoved forcefully from behind, knocking her last remaining breath from her heart broken calls- toppling down to the cracked stone that thundered with up bearing, bone crushing feet, soaring her body, adding to her clumsy down-fall.

"STOP!"

"PLEASE!"

"HELP THEM!"

The young woman heaved her body off of the frigid flooring, lifting stabbing pain that pierced into her skin and crawled on its disfigured nails, scratching roughly from her mid breast, down to her abdomen. A panicked look etched a ghostly slap on her pale skin, a ghostly finger-walking down her spine with a little skip to its beat. The taps of the chilled air rising from little trembles of tear drops, gradually grew harsher into nail-driven attacks-pushing the oxygen from her lungs emphasizing every thrash her heart made against her rib cage. The woman quickly stumbled to her toes; furiously finding her steps in confused panic as she hysterically reached for the children, long gone in their peril. 'Falling... Down...'

She stood in shock, heart pulsing for her to run, stomach burning with fear- bubbling with the carmine acid that coursed through her veins, lungs breathing greedily, forcing oxygen in and out as the thoughts of the performance she witnessed, fear clouded her greedy, tear filled eyes, hoping to find a glimpse of life even from the distance she stood across the thin skated, ice platform- completely able to shatter her lights of day if walked upon. Her body panicked, relieving herself from her frozen form, and finding rushed footsteps thump in constant two-beat rhythm, pushing roughly at the terror stricken crowd in desperate wishes to save a life not to be taken for the power of a bridge. The woman power swung her body forward, her mind a loose havoc as she almost forgot to apologize to the people she body-checked before whipping around to see people leaving, mindless and blank.

The woman continued on-forth, continued to shove past hopeless bearing people, searching with all her power for a moment of initiate clarity and a sense of a future for the children; her feet rapidly swaying left to right, her arms held high above her head, reaching out to the broken ice that laid, floating endlessly without another thought, her body dancing gracefully around the jumbled shadows, no longer important in her view. The woman's voice cracked as she reached the edge connected to the frozen waters, frozen by the bearers of the land, frozen as the hearts of the people for not seeking something beyond the manipulative government, shameful for their belief that death will haunt the doors they die upon; she reached the lake of the broken, watching as the dark shadow from the bridge covered the holes of the ruined heaven, bringing a false image of happiness that glittered in the uncovered sunlight. The lady stood, holding her heart in her hand, resting a fist upon her breast as for seeking the only thing she sees as human; she raised her other hand to her mask, tearing it down from resting upon her face and opened her mouth to speak dreadful words that bewared her mind and heart, but leaving unhidden from the truth.

"London Bridge in isolation.... Built upon judgment of no nation.... To give jobs to sleeping watch men... For the Lady's word of a new creation." ' My-Y... Fair... Lady-y.'