Maple: Run as fast as your feet can carry you.
From Create Your Own Story
Adrenaline floods your entire being as you tear blindly towards the village ahead. A quick glance at the willow tree confirms your suspicions. Erybelle is not there and your booth is ruined. You hear shouts coming from the Town Square and sprint there immediately.
By the time you make it you're completely out of breath and you have to force yourself to raise your head. You are horrified by what you see. A crowd has formed in the plaza everyone is shouting and several people carry lit torches. Tied up and raised above them up at the front is Erybelle. Her hands and feet are bound to a tall wooden stake atop a pile of kindling and fire wood. She's crying and you wish desperately to run up to her and hold her in your arms, but something holds you back. The mob grows quieter as the Priest, who is standing on a platform next to your beloved friend yells over them. "I will give you one last chance witch!" He cries, "Tell us where the other one is and we will spare you. If you refuse to cooperate you shall be burnt!"
Erybelle sobs and looks up, "I already told you, I don't kno--" She sees you and stops mid-sentence, her voice faltering. "I don't know where she is." She finishes steadily. In that moment her eyes lock with yours and you swear you can hear her voice in your head. Run, she seems to say to you, get away.
Spitting on her in disgust the Priest takes a torch from one of the commoners below and throws it onto the pile of wood which goes up in flames immediately. You stand frozen in place for a moment as all of this sinks in. The crowd is still unaware of your presence and you hope to keep it that way. A shrill scream from Erybelle as her dress catches fire jolts you back to life and you turn and run away from the town. You run to the tracks where a train is passing at a leisurely pace. There is an open cargo box and you leap into it in a desperate attempt at something, be it suicide or escape. It doesn't matter to you anymore what happens. If Erybelle is gone you don't see the point in continuing on, there's no point in life for you if you can't spend it side by side with her. And it's then that you realize it, all this time spent being matchmakers, all this time helping others find love, has had a purpose. To let others experience what you had, love. You've always loved Erybelle now that you think about it, you love the way she smiled, the way her voice trembled when she was nervous, the way she laughed at you when you acted all high-and-mighty, even the way she teased you sometimes about your paranoia. You only wish you'd said something before, just three simple words would have been enough. But you didn't, and now Erybelle is gone. you stare at the wall of the train cart numbly as this sinks in. Erybelle is gone, and you are never going to see her again, ever. She will never smile again, or cry, or laugh. She's dead, forever. And forever is a very long time to be away from her.
You take a deep breath and look out the door of the train. It has picked up speed by now and grass and flowers flash by beneath you. A particular flower catches your eye as it speeds past, it's an amaranth, they symbolize immortal love. Suddenly, you know what you must do. Holding your breath you lean out the side and calculate the angle you need with your eyes, then you jump.
Your head hits the tracks with a thunk and everything goes numb, and your last conscious thought before succumbing to death is that now you can see Erybelle and tell her everything you regret not saying sooner.
