The Path That Wasn't Taken [For seewhatmightbe]

[a_pretty_fire]

The night was black as coal. The same colour as her heart. The same colour as a tongue that had been corrupted by filthy little lies. Usually, Drusilla would have relished that. But things were different now

Comments

[seewhatmightbe]

Alice was sprawled on her stomach, her feet in the air, resting - well, to the extent that she needed to rest, where others might sleep she took time to have her own thoughts. Seeing Drusilla, she hurriedly rearranged herself in a decidedly more ladylike sitting position, focused on some middle distance. "There are two different paths, it seems. And I've chosen to go down one and not the other."

[a_pretty_fire]

She'd seen it, then. Drusilla wasn't surprised. Her darling Alice was a clever girl. She was special. Because she was a vampire and because she saw the things that other people didn't dare to see.

"I want to tell you a story," Drusilla murmured, sitting down next to Alice.

[seewhatmightbe]

"What sort of story?" Alice asked. She was curious, though she knew she would like listening no matter what the story held.

[a_pretty_fire]

"A nice story."

Sitting down next to Alice, Drusilla made herself comfortable. It wasn't a long story - she could cut out a lot of it, for simplicities sake and because they were Daddy's adventures to tell - but it was a terribly important one.

"It's about a little girl."

[seewhatmightbe]

"Is it!" Alice sounded intrigued, and she would likely be the best audience Drusilla had ever had, just naturally. She was so very fond of most anything Dru said, really.

[a_pretty_fire]

"Once upon a time," she said, in the soft voice of a story teller, "There was a little girl. She had ribbons in her hair and a plum tree at the bottom of her garden."

It was important to set the scene.

"The plums were ripe and rich and juicy, but they shrivelled on the branches. With every year that passed, the devil crept closer. He snapped at her heels and put his pictures in her head."

[seewhatmightbe]

"Did anyone else know?"

It wasn't that she couldn't imagine how the story might end. She was just listening actively, and that meant getting engaged in the story.

[a_pretty_fire]

"She told her family. They cursed her. Cast her out as a sinner and told her she must be mad."

It was good to see the enthusiasm that was painted on Alice's face. She wanted to hear the rest of the story, even if she already knew how it would end.

"But she couldn't shut them out. Couldn't push them away. The pictures were part of her."

[seewhatmightbe]

Alice figured that she could be speaking of either of them, at that point. "They are," she agreed.

[a_pretty_fire]

"The little girl wasn't free - from the doubt and the guilt and the fear - until she died. And then she saw that the pictures were part of her. Under her skin and in her head and not something to be ashamed of."

Not either of them. Both of them.

"She could choose. She could be a prisoner or she could follow the path to the stars and to her freedom."

[seewhatmightbe]

"Of the choices, freedom wins out, I'd think," Alice murmured.

[a_pretty_fire]

"Good girl."

Such a good girl. Drusilla found herself filling up to the brim with pride. It threatened to overflow, washing across the room like the richest and darkest tide of blood any vampire had ever seen.

"Then you don't need to worry about the path you didn't walk down, do you, my pet?"

[seewhatmightbe]

Alice shook her head, a bit more certain. "No point in worrying."

[a_pretty_fire]

"I see such a bright future for us," she added, in case Alice needed further encouragement. Her mind was balanced ever so delicately. Drusilla didn't want to tip the scales in the wrong direction. "All for us."

[seewhatmightbe]

"It will be splendid," Alice nodded in agreement, impulsively leaning a bit closer seeking what could only be described as motherly affection. "Terribly splendid."

[a_pretty_fire]

When she remembered what the role entailed, Drusilla was an affectionate parent. She wrapped an arm, even so gently, around Alice's shoulder.

"I'll catch the stars for you," she vowed. "I'll give you the moon."