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31_days2008-06-01 10:11 am
bane-6.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2008-06-01 10:11 am
[June 1] [Lady in the Water] Finding the Ending
Title: Finding the Ending
Day/Theme: June 1 - unfinished lullaby
Series: Lady in the Water
Character/Pairing: Cleveland
Rating: PG
The last thing Cleveland remembered before he left that day was his wife humming. She had called good-bye to him, and then gone back to her song. He had never heard it before, and had left without hearing the end of it. When he had returned, hours later, the police were there, and she was dead. His wife and children were gone.
He hadn’t heard the end of the song. When the grief had cleared enough to let a thought through, he had wondered if the children had heard the whole thing. Had the killer come before the tune was finished? If Cleveland had stayed another few minutes, an hour, could he have saved them?
The despair had swallowed him. He had left the house. No matter the new paint and carpet, he could still see the spatters and stains. He could still hear the echo of his children laughing, and the soft hum of a lullaby he would never hear the end of.
He had left his job. How could he pretend to help people when he had left his own family to their doom? He gave up his practice, unable to bear the trust or the hope placed on him by his patients. He left it all.
He had found a corner to hide in, in the back of the apartment complex, behind the pool. He took care of the little things in the apartments. His stutter, always showing up when he tried to talk about something important, became constant. Everything was important now.
Sometime, the echo would come back and he would make himself as busy as possible to drown it out, so that no one else would hear it and know how he had failed. He watched over the tenants as best he could, guilty for trying to protect them when he hadn’t been able to protect his loved ones, knowing that he had lost his chance and right to be a guardian when he had lost them, but unable to help it.
When Story came, she changed all that. His stutter had gone away. He had saved her. She had saved him. He was the hero and healer he hadn’t gotten the chance to be before.
He hadn’t been allowed to watch her leave, but finally, with the rain pouring down and the heartbeat-like swish of giant wings carrying her away, he had heard what could’ve been the last notes of the song he had tried so hard to forget.
Day/Theme: June 1 - unfinished lullaby
Series: Lady in the Water
Character/Pairing: Cleveland
Rating: PG
The last thing Cleveland remembered before he left that day was his wife humming. She had called good-bye to him, and then gone back to her song. He had never heard it before, and had left without hearing the end of it. When he had returned, hours later, the police were there, and she was dead. His wife and children were gone.
He hadn’t heard the end of the song. When the grief had cleared enough to let a thought through, he had wondered if the children had heard the whole thing. Had the killer come before the tune was finished? If Cleveland had stayed another few minutes, an hour, could he have saved them?
The despair had swallowed him. He had left the house. No matter the new paint and carpet, he could still see the spatters and stains. He could still hear the echo of his children laughing, and the soft hum of a lullaby he would never hear the end of.
He had left his job. How could he pretend to help people when he had left his own family to their doom? He gave up his practice, unable to bear the trust or the hope placed on him by his patients. He left it all.
He had found a corner to hide in, in the back of the apartment complex, behind the pool. He took care of the little things in the apartments. His stutter, always showing up when he tried to talk about something important, became constant. Everything was important now.
Sometime, the echo would come back and he would make himself as busy as possible to drown it out, so that no one else would hear it and know how he had failed. He watched over the tenants as best he could, guilty for trying to protect them when he hadn’t been able to protect his loved ones, knowing that he had lost his chance and right to be a guardian when he had lost them, but unable to help it.
When Story came, she changed all that. His stutter had gone away. He had saved her. She had saved him. He was the hero and healer he hadn’t gotten the chance to be before.
He hadn’t been allowed to watch her leave, but finally, with the rain pouring down and the heartbeat-like swish of giant wings carrying her away, he had heard what could’ve been the last notes of the song he had tried so hard to forget.