Post by gear on Sept 14, 2011 8:14:27 GMT 10
Title: Subtle Ghosts
Rating: PG for implied character death
Prompt: Hauntings
Summary: Neal is being haunted.
Words: 372
It is a subtle kind of haunting, tinged with the unique flavor of loss. It’s the sort of haunting you don’t notice it until you reach for someone and they are not there anymore. They will never be there again.
The first time it appears is when you run home to tell your brother about the kittens that Daisy just birthed. You get all the way to his long-empty room before you remember. The nurse does not notice that your usual exuberance has abandoned you today.
You notice it when you reach for a piece of parchment to write to him and tell him all about your new friend Kel. You want to say how brave she is, how wise, for all that she is nearly two-thirds your age, how stubborn and kind. You have written a greeting and started the first sentence before you remember. You ball up the foolscap and throw it into the fire. When Kel asks why you missed the study group that night, you give her some rubbish answer, not caring if she believes you or not. Sitting, curled up on your bed, crying about your dead brothers is simply not something that pages do. And if you do, you certainly do not tell your friends about it. It is obvious that Kel does is suspicious, but she doesn’t press the subject. You see pity in her eyes, and wish that you could mask your emotions like she does.
You feel it on your wedding day when you find yourself scanning the crowd for them. You try so very hard not to let this dampen your mood, but you are pretty sure that Yuki notices. You see her open her mouth several times as if to ask something and then close it again. You do not offer an explanation.
You learn how to deal with it, and their presence begins to fade into the background. They are subtle ghosts, fit for a subtle haunting, but that just makes it hurt all the more when your firstborn daughter comes to you and asks why, when Uncle Dom told her stories, you had brothers, explaining that she has met all the rest of your family, but never them.
Rating: PG for implied character death
Prompt: Hauntings
Summary: Neal is being haunted.
Words: 372
~ ~ ~
It is a subtle kind of haunting, tinged with the unique flavor of loss. It’s the sort of haunting you don’t notice it until you reach for someone and they are not there anymore. They will never be there again.
The first time it appears is when you run home to tell your brother about the kittens that Daisy just birthed. You get all the way to his long-empty room before you remember. The nurse does not notice that your usual exuberance has abandoned you today.
You notice it when you reach for a piece of parchment to write to him and tell him all about your new friend Kel. You want to say how brave she is, how wise, for all that she is nearly two-thirds your age, how stubborn and kind. You have written a greeting and started the first sentence before you remember. You ball up the foolscap and throw it into the fire. When Kel asks why you missed the study group that night, you give her some rubbish answer, not caring if she believes you or not. Sitting, curled up on your bed, crying about your dead brothers is simply not something that pages do. And if you do, you certainly do not tell your friends about it. It is obvious that Kel does is suspicious, but she doesn’t press the subject. You see pity in her eyes, and wish that you could mask your emotions like she does.
You feel it on your wedding day when you find yourself scanning the crowd for them. You try so very hard not to let this dampen your mood, but you are pretty sure that Yuki notices. You see her open her mouth several times as if to ask something and then close it again. You do not offer an explanation.
You learn how to deal with it, and their presence begins to fade into the background. They are subtle ghosts, fit for a subtle haunting, but that just makes it hurt all the more when your firstborn daughter comes to you and asks why, when Uncle Dom told her stories, you had brothers, explaining that she has met all the rest of your family, but never them.
Maybe once we'd have seen it during Smackdown!