fic: Like Ashes in the Wind
Title: Like Ashes in the Wind
Author: Jenny aka silentscream821
Rating: PG
Summary: "My home is where he is," she responded softly.
Inspired by: Like A River by Sam Bradley (actually his mom,Lee Lindsey, wrote the song :)
The cigarette ash dangled on the edge and she sat there, staring at it, daring it to topple. While the wind whipped around her, tangling her long dark hair and twisting it in all sorts of knots, she maneuvered her body to block it. She couldn’t let the wind steal this battle of time with her cigarette ash.
“What are you doing out here?” The voice called to her from down beneath the coverage of the car port but she didn’t turn to look for fear the wind would sneak around and down and poof.
Instead she hunched deeper into herself, rounding her shoulders down and watching the embers climb lower and lower, desperately seeking the flesh of her fingers as if to burn them.
She heard the door slam and the heavy sigh as he walked up the small hill towards where she crouched. The dry ground crumbled and crunched beneath his feet and she contemplated lowering her cigarette to the ground, surrendering it to the dryness and death around her.
It wasn’t fair. How could it have rained so hard that night and since then… nothing?
A warm hand pressed comfortingly against her back before reaching up to squeeze her shoulder.
“Did you hear me Sadie? It’s freezing and it’s about to rain and,” he took a deep breath and she prepared herself for something awful, “And no amount of sitting here is going to bring him back.”
She didn’t respond; words didn’t really matter to her anymore. After all, how could she put into words the draw she felt to this spot? It was unfathomable to her, abandoning her post, the last place she could go to physically be near him.
Arthur got on his knees behind her and leaned forward, pressing his forehead to her shoulder. “Please Sadie,” he said quietly, his voice pleading. “Let me take you home.”
“My home is where he is,” she responded softly. Her eyes were watering but she knew there would be no more tears left. Her face hurt from crying, her eyes were still swollen from when the crying began last week. No, crying was over and done with. All that was left was the pain and the ache and the ash on her cigarette.
The head against her shoulder began to shake and she felt his hands wrap themselves tightly around her arms. He was met with resistance at first but she eventually surrendered, her arms and legs having grown weak from hours of crouching.
“Arthur, no, please,” she said, her cigarette falling as her fingers loosened and her body began to flail. “Please don’t make me leave.” She was sobbing the words but, as she expected, there were no tears to match the cries.
He turned her and cradled her against his chest while she trembled, hopeless pleas to stay going muffled against his sweater. Arthur held her close and fought back his own emotions, swallowing hard as he whispered in her ear. “He would have wanted you to be strong love,” he said softly. “And right now, being strong means coming home and taking care of yourself, ok?”
She didn’t answer and it didn’t matter; Arthur wasn’t giving her a choice and, she weakly admitted to herself that she was beginning to feel sick and dizzy here.
“Come on,” he said again, pulling her along in the direction of the car. The wind reared up again and whipped hard against their faces. They made it to the car just as the rain began to fall, freezing cold and stinging like icy pellets as it fell from the sky.
Sadie went through the motions, buckled her seatbelt and pressed her forehead against the cold glass, staring in the direction of his hill. Somewhere between the fallen leaves and the dried up dirt was that cigarette, the ashes now leaving a scattered trail in the wind. And as the weather began to turn, the dead and dirty ground opened itself up and let in the rain.
Author: Jenny aka silentscream821
Rating: PG
Summary: "My home is where he is," she responded softly.
Inspired by: Like A River by Sam Bradley (actually his mom,Lee Lindsey, wrote the song :)
Click to viewThe cigarette ash dangled on the edge and she sat there, staring at it, daring it to topple. While the wind whipped around her, tangling her long dark hair and twisting it in all sorts of knots, she maneuvered her body to block it. She couldn’t let the wind steal this battle of time with her cigarette ash.
“What are you doing out here?” The voice called to her from down beneath the coverage of the car port but she didn’t turn to look for fear the wind would sneak around and down and poof.
Instead she hunched deeper into herself, rounding her shoulders down and watching the embers climb lower and lower, desperately seeking the flesh of her fingers as if to burn them.
She heard the door slam and the heavy sigh as he walked up the small hill towards where she crouched. The dry ground crumbled and crunched beneath his feet and she contemplated lowering her cigarette to the ground, surrendering it to the dryness and death around her.
It wasn’t fair. How could it have rained so hard that night and since then… nothing?
A warm hand pressed comfortingly against her back before reaching up to squeeze her shoulder.
“Did you hear me Sadie? It’s freezing and it’s about to rain and,” he took a deep breath and she prepared herself for something awful, “And no amount of sitting here is going to bring him back.”
She didn’t respond; words didn’t really matter to her anymore. After all, how could she put into words the draw she felt to this spot? It was unfathomable to her, abandoning her post, the last place she could go to physically be near him.
Arthur got on his knees behind her and leaned forward, pressing his forehead to her shoulder. “Please Sadie,” he said quietly, his voice pleading. “Let me take you home.”
“My home is where he is,” she responded softly. Her eyes were watering but she knew there would be no more tears left. Her face hurt from crying, her eyes were still swollen from when the crying began last week. No, crying was over and done with. All that was left was the pain and the ache and the ash on her cigarette.
The head against her shoulder began to shake and she felt his hands wrap themselves tightly around her arms. He was met with resistance at first but she eventually surrendered, her arms and legs having grown weak from hours of crouching.
“Arthur, no, please,” she said, her cigarette falling as her fingers loosened and her body began to flail. “Please don’t make me leave.” She was sobbing the words but, as she expected, there were no tears to match the cries.
He turned her and cradled her against his chest while she trembled, hopeless pleas to stay going muffled against his sweater. Arthur held her close and fought back his own emotions, swallowing hard as he whispered in her ear. “He would have wanted you to be strong love,” he said softly. “And right now, being strong means coming home and taking care of yourself, ok?”
She didn’t answer and it didn’t matter; Arthur wasn’t giving her a choice and, she weakly admitted to herself that she was beginning to feel sick and dizzy here.
“Come on,” he said again, pulling her along in the direction of the car. The wind reared up again and whipped hard against their faces. They made it to the car just as the rain began to fall, freezing cold and stinging like icy pellets as it fell from the sky.
Sadie went through the motions, buckled her seatbelt and pressed her forehead against the cold glass, staring in the direction of his hill. Somewhere between the fallen leaves and the dried up dirt was that cigarette, the ashes now leaving a scattered trail in the wind. And as the weather began to turn, the dead and dirty ground opened itself up and let in the rain.