OrigFic Bingo - more Tick,Tock verse
Title: A Glimpse of Death
Prompt (OrigFic Bingo): Family (Meeting Extended Family)
Word Count: 450
Verse: Tick,Tock (You don't need to read the others to understand it, though.)
Warnings: none
Summary: At a funeral, Sarah runs into a familiar stranger.
Characters: Sarah (whom I didn't expect to make a return), & Lindsey (unnamed in this)
“This is your cousin, thrice removed.”
The boy her mother gestured to was no older than herself, with the same brown curls given by their mutual great-grandfather, and her grandmother’s pouty lips. Laying in the big, black box, he looked like one of her porcelain dolls.
“Sarah,” said her mother, and Sarah looked up. It was odd to see her mother in a black dress. Even now, hours after she’d donned it, Sarah was bothered by the look; her mother wore flower colours and prints, not winter and death.
The woman pursed her lips and glanced back at the motionless boy. Sarah did in kind and then shrugged beneath the motherly hand upon her shoulder. She hadn’t known her cousin, after all, what reason had she to be upset?
Another adult came to pull her mother away, and after a quick check she went without Sarah. They spoke in hushed whispers and Sarah ventured up the three stepped dais to the coffin’s edge. She braced her forearms along it and looked into the lifeless face of her cousin.
A moment later, the air stirred beside her and a pair of white leather gloves perched themselves on the coffin next to her. Sarah looked up at the man standing to her left. He was the only person present who was wearing white--or anything not-black, for that matter--and he was covered head to foot in it. The only colour he boasted was his brown hair, and even that was simply “brown.” Not “light” brown or “dark” brown or “red” brown or “dirty blond.” Brown.
His eyes were much the same, dark and undefinable, and the smile he bore, polite. Sarah found him chilly.
“Do you know what happened to him?” she asked.
The man’s eyes slid over to her and a single, thick eyebrow rose upon his forehead. “Do you?”
“I asked you first,” she stated with a frown, and then thumped the toe of one mary jane against the dais carpet. “No. My mother won’t tell me. Only that he died.”
“These things are hard for some children,” the stranger supplied with a flex of one gloved hand. “It is never easy, with someone so young.”
“I guess.” Sarah looked back into her cousin’s face and jumped. For a brief moment, she knew that her cousin had had blue eyes, and then he had shut them again and was still once more.
“Did you see...” she began to ask the stranger, only to find that he too had gone. A quick glance over the sea of mourners only returned blackness. Frown deep-set into her childish lips, she returned to her mother’s side and glued herself to it.
Originally posted at The Mouse Hole.
Prompt (OrigFic Bingo): Family (Meeting Extended Family)
Word Count: 450
Verse: Tick,Tock (You don't need to read the others to understand it, though.)
Warnings: none
Summary: At a funeral, Sarah runs into a familiar stranger.
Characters: Sarah (whom I didn't expect to make a return), & Lindsey (unnamed in this)
“This is your cousin, thrice removed.”
The boy her mother gestured to was no older than herself, with the same brown curls given by their mutual great-grandfather, and her grandmother’s pouty lips. Laying in the big, black box, he looked like one of her porcelain dolls.
“Sarah,” said her mother, and Sarah looked up. It was odd to see her mother in a black dress. Even now, hours after she’d donned it, Sarah was bothered by the look; her mother wore flower colours and prints, not winter and death.
The woman pursed her lips and glanced back at the motionless boy. Sarah did in kind and then shrugged beneath the motherly hand upon her shoulder. She hadn’t known her cousin, after all, what reason had she to be upset?
Another adult came to pull her mother away, and after a quick check she went without Sarah. They spoke in hushed whispers and Sarah ventured up the three stepped dais to the coffin’s edge. She braced her forearms along it and looked into the lifeless face of her cousin.
A moment later, the air stirred beside her and a pair of white leather gloves perched themselves on the coffin next to her. Sarah looked up at the man standing to her left. He was the only person present who was wearing white--or anything not-black, for that matter--and he was covered head to foot in it. The only colour he boasted was his brown hair, and even that was simply “brown.” Not “light” brown or “dark” brown or “red” brown or “dirty blond.” Brown.
His eyes were much the same, dark and undefinable, and the smile he bore, polite. Sarah found him chilly.
“Do you know what happened to him?” she asked.
The man’s eyes slid over to her and a single, thick eyebrow rose upon his forehead. “Do you?”
“I asked you first,” she stated with a frown, and then thumped the toe of one mary jane against the dais carpet. “No. My mother won’t tell me. Only that he died.”
“These things are hard for some children,” the stranger supplied with a flex of one gloved hand. “It is never easy, with someone so young.”
“I guess.” Sarah looked back into her cousin’s face and jumped. For a brief moment, she knew that her cousin had had blue eyes, and then he had shut them again and was still once more.
“Did you see...” she began to ask the stranger, only to find that he too had gone. A quick glance over the sea of mourners only returned blackness. Frown deep-set into her childish lips, she returned to her mother’s side and glued herself to it.
Originally posted at The Mouse Hole.