On the fifth day ...
Title: The Wall
Fandom: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 214
Summary: At first, everything seemed all right for Merlin ...
At first, Merlin thought everything was fine.
He was so happy that Arthur and Gwen were married. The whole of Camelot seemed to glow with it. Everything was going the way it ought to.
Except that Merlin was so, so alone.
It crept up on him, somehow. He had known he was a little lonely, it was hardly news, he’d been lonely for a while. But he didn’t mind. He had Arthur and one day, everything would be perfect.
Only suddenly, he realised that it wasn’t. That somewhere, sometime, at some awful moment, a wall had grown up, a wall between him and everybody else. And there didn’t seem any way of breaking the wall down. Arthur didn’t seem to notice it was there because he had always accepted the wall between them. Gwaine tried to break it more than once and when Merlin got tired of seeing the hurt in his friends eyes, he just pushed him away more. It was easier to build the wall up higher than break it.
Even if it meant lying alone at night and dwelling on what might have been, what could have been. Even if it meant a slow, haunting knowledge that maybe, just maybe, somewhere in his past, he had told one too many lies.
Title: Being Watched
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: G
Word Count: 160
Summary: Steven loathes the nights on Mechanus.
The nights were the worst.
There was nothing he could do in the nights, nothing he could do except curl up on the little bed and clutch Hi-Fi to his chest and try and sleep. He could sometimes hear sounds from the Mecanoids, or thought he could. Them moving around, watching him, checking that he was sleeping - or wasn’t sleeping as the case might be. He didn’t want them to be watching him. Sometimes, earlier on, he would scream at them to stop it, to go away. He had to stop that, though. That way lay madness. He had to ignore the Mecanoids as much as he could, had to keep his mind focused. Someone would rescue him, eventually, or he’d escape or something like that. Of course he would be all right, he wouldn’t be left alone forever, for the rest of his life …
It was just that it was so much easier to believe during the day.
Title: Pretending
Fandom: Lewis
Rating: G
Word Count: 175
Summary: Lewis finds the nights easier at first.
For Lewis, the nights weren’t the worst time, not at first.
All the doctors and that said it would be. People always went on about how they lay awake at night and missed the person they loved and how it was dark and lonely. But Lewis didn’t actually find that. When it was dark, he found it easier to pretend that Val was still there. He could just close his eyes and tell himself that she was right beside him, just breathing very quietly. Or maybe she was staying up late, finishing a film and he had to go to bed early because it was work in the morning and Morse would be a right sod if he was late, so he had to sleep without her but later, she’d come in and cuddle up and it would be just like it always was …
Of course, eventually, he had to stop pretending. Everyone had to stop pretending. She wasn’t there. She wasn’t coming back.
And then the nights became long and cold and empty.
Title: Quiet of Space
Fandom: Thunderbirds
Rating: G
Word Count: 115
Summary: John copes quite well in space.
John doesn’t often feel lonely in the Space Station.
He’s always busy. He has signals to monitor, stars to map, phenomena to investigate, the station to keep up. Sometimes, he has brothers to talk to, or his father, or Brains. There are lots of things that he needs to do and that takes up his time, at least in the day.
Of course, there’s not really “day and night”, not so much in space. You make your own day and night. But when John chooses to go to bed, that’s when he feels it. The quiet. The sensation of being utterly alone in the dark.
He tries not to dwell on that for too long.
Title: Trapped
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Summary: Harry tries to forget his time in the cupboard.
Harry tries not to think too much about the nights in the cupboard.
They’re a long time ago now. He sleeps next to Ginny now, has noisy children that sometimes come and try and crawl into bed too. Before that he shared with Ron and the whole dormitory. And even before that, he had the bedroom and that was different.
But sometimes when it’s dark, it comes back to him. The small space, the feeling of being cut off and alone and knowing that he’ll always be alone …
He’s glad he can reach out for Ginny when that comes.
Fandom: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 214
Summary: At first, everything seemed all right for Merlin ...
At first, Merlin thought everything was fine.
He was so happy that Arthur and Gwen were married. The whole of Camelot seemed to glow with it. Everything was going the way it ought to.
Except that Merlin was so, so alone.
It crept up on him, somehow. He had known he was a little lonely, it was hardly news, he’d been lonely for a while. But he didn’t mind. He had Arthur and one day, everything would be perfect.
Only suddenly, he realised that it wasn’t. That somewhere, sometime, at some awful moment, a wall had grown up, a wall between him and everybody else. And there didn’t seem any way of breaking the wall down. Arthur didn’t seem to notice it was there because he had always accepted the wall between them. Gwaine tried to break it more than once and when Merlin got tired of seeing the hurt in his friends eyes, he just pushed him away more. It was easier to build the wall up higher than break it.
Even if it meant lying alone at night and dwelling on what might have been, what could have been. Even if it meant a slow, haunting knowledge that maybe, just maybe, somewhere in his past, he had told one too many lies.
Title: Being Watched
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: G
Word Count: 160
Summary: Steven loathes the nights on Mechanus.
The nights were the worst.
There was nothing he could do in the nights, nothing he could do except curl up on the little bed and clutch Hi-Fi to his chest and try and sleep. He could sometimes hear sounds from the Mecanoids, or thought he could. Them moving around, watching him, checking that he was sleeping - or wasn’t sleeping as the case might be. He didn’t want them to be watching him. Sometimes, earlier on, he would scream at them to stop it, to go away. He had to stop that, though. That way lay madness. He had to ignore the Mecanoids as much as he could, had to keep his mind focused. Someone would rescue him, eventually, or he’d escape or something like that. Of course he would be all right, he wouldn’t be left alone forever, for the rest of his life …
It was just that it was so much easier to believe during the day.
Title: Pretending
Fandom: Lewis
Rating: G
Word Count: 175
Summary: Lewis finds the nights easier at first.
For Lewis, the nights weren’t the worst time, not at first.
All the doctors and that said it would be. People always went on about how they lay awake at night and missed the person they loved and how it was dark and lonely. But Lewis didn’t actually find that. When it was dark, he found it easier to pretend that Val was still there. He could just close his eyes and tell himself that she was right beside him, just breathing very quietly. Or maybe she was staying up late, finishing a film and he had to go to bed early because it was work in the morning and Morse would be a right sod if he was late, so he had to sleep without her but later, she’d come in and cuddle up and it would be just like it always was …
Of course, eventually, he had to stop pretending. Everyone had to stop pretending. She wasn’t there. She wasn’t coming back.
And then the nights became long and cold and empty.
Title: Quiet of Space
Fandom: Thunderbirds
Rating: G
Word Count: 115
Summary: John copes quite well in space.
John doesn’t often feel lonely in the Space Station.
He’s always busy. He has signals to monitor, stars to map, phenomena to investigate, the station to keep up. Sometimes, he has brothers to talk to, or his father, or Brains. There are lots of things that he needs to do and that takes up his time, at least in the day.
Of course, there’s not really “day and night”, not so much in space. You make your own day and night. But when John chooses to go to bed, that’s when he feels it. The quiet. The sensation of being utterly alone in the dark.
He tries not to dwell on that for too long.
Title: Trapped
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Summary: Harry tries to forget his time in the cupboard.
Harry tries not to think too much about the nights in the cupboard.
They’re a long time ago now. He sleeps next to Ginny now, has noisy children that sometimes come and try and crawl into bed too. Before that he shared with Ron and the whole dormitory. And even before that, he had the bedroom and that was different.
But sometimes when it’s dark, it comes back to him. The small space, the feeling of being cut off and alone and knowing that he’ll always be alone …
He’s glad he can reach out for Ginny when that comes.