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31_days2005-09-30 08:30 pm
of-carabas.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2005-09-30 08:30 pm
[September 30] [Near Dark] A Thousand Miles (26/26)
Title: A Thousand Miles (26/26)
Day/Theme: September 30th/Exeunt omnes
Series: Near Dark
Pairing: Mae/Caleb
Rating: PG
There was something terrifying about the feeling of light on Mae's skin. It didn't burn, not the way it should, but it tingled. Prickled. Pricked at her.
She had to squint, and the whole world seemed hazy.
Caleb introduced her to a horse, again, and it didn't shy away. She rode on its back, sitting in front of Caleb, and every moment of that ride she was very aware that if she fell off, she could break her neck and die.
Her heart thundered in her chest.
There were no graves to visit. The ends of their old lives, decades earlier, had been marked by missing person reports, not stones. And the end of the lives that she had known - there was nothing left behind to bury.
She held up her hands to the sunlight and watched herself not burn.
There was nothing left of them at all.
She sat silently at the table with Caleb and his family - his family! - for as long as she could stomach, and ate solid food killed by somebody else. She slept at night. She lived during the day. It didn't seem to make much difference when she slept, really; she couldn't see clearly either way.
She wanted to just cry for nights and nights. For her family. For herself, the way of life that she'd lost and had no way of getting back again.
But she didn't cry, not a single tear. She thought about calling her family - her old family, the one that she'd left years ago without a word. But she didn't do that, either. Instead, after three shell-shocked days, she picked herself up and turned toward the open road that was the only home she really understood.
"Come with me, Caleb," she whispered to him in the dusk. And he stared at her, and didn't say a word.
She understood; he still had a family here. But he was the only family she had left. She had to ask. A thousand miles of darkness had shown the two of them a side to the world most people never knew existed, and if Caleb was satisfied to leave it at that, to act as though it had never happened - well, that was his choice to make. But she wanted to see what was waiting for her at the end of another thousand miles, by darkness or by daylight.
Just days earlier, Caleb had looked up at the stars and wished he were a thousand miles away from his home. He'd learned, since then, to be careful what he wished for, because wishes had a price, and you couldn't travel a thousand miles and expect to be the same person who left. The consequences could be run from, or they could be embraced. But they couldn't be ignored.
He scuffed his feet as he thought. A single spur scraped a path through the dirt.
When the sun rose the next morning, they were gone.
Day/Theme: September 30th/Exeunt omnes
Series: Near Dark
Pairing: Mae/Caleb
Rating: PG
There was something terrifying about the feeling of light on Mae's skin. It didn't burn, not the way it should, but it tingled. Prickled. Pricked at her.
She had to squint, and the whole world seemed hazy.
Caleb introduced her to a horse, again, and it didn't shy away. She rode on its back, sitting in front of Caleb, and every moment of that ride she was very aware that if she fell off, she could break her neck and die.
Her heart thundered in her chest.
There were no graves to visit. The ends of their old lives, decades earlier, had been marked by missing person reports, not stones. And the end of the lives that she had known - there was nothing left behind to bury.
She held up her hands to the sunlight and watched herself not burn.
There was nothing left of them at all.
She sat silently at the table with Caleb and his family - his family! - for as long as she could stomach, and ate solid food killed by somebody else. She slept at night. She lived during the day. It didn't seem to make much difference when she slept, really; she couldn't see clearly either way.
She wanted to just cry for nights and nights. For her family. For herself, the way of life that she'd lost and had no way of getting back again.
But she didn't cry, not a single tear. She thought about calling her family - her old family, the one that she'd left years ago without a word. But she didn't do that, either. Instead, after three shell-shocked days, she picked herself up and turned toward the open road that was the only home she really understood.
"Come with me, Caleb," she whispered to him in the dusk. And he stared at her, and didn't say a word.
She understood; he still had a family here. But he was the only family she had left. She had to ask. A thousand miles of darkness had shown the two of them a side to the world most people never knew existed, and if Caleb was satisfied to leave it at that, to act as though it had never happened - well, that was his choice to make. But she wanted to see what was waiting for her at the end of another thousand miles, by darkness or by daylight.
Just days earlier, Caleb had looked up at the stars and wished he were a thousand miles away from his home. He'd learned, since then, to be careful what he wished for, because wishes had a price, and you couldn't travel a thousand miles and expect to be the same person who left. The consequences could be run from, or they could be embraced. But they couldn't be ignored.
He scuffed his feet as he thought. A single spur scraped a path through the dirt.
When the sun rose the next morning, they were gone.