The End of Happiness
Fandom: Flight 29 Down
Characters: Daley + others
Disclaimer: So not mine.
Summary: Daley had always been the practical one, the responsible one, the one who knew exactly what she wanted from life and how she was going to get it. Daley didn’t think that anymore.
Warnings: none
The End of Happiness
She had always been the practical one, the responsible one, the one with the ambitions and desires who knew exactly what she wanted from life and how she would get it. She didn't think that anymore.
She would hear Lex's desperate cry of I can't take this anymore and would only think I'm a failure for a sister in return. She would watch Nathan strolling in her direction down the hallway at school, and would only see her own cowardice. Then she would run away if only to prove her point.
She could not remember how to be happy … she didn't think she remembered how it felt to be happy. And then she would see a random picture of a beach and a palm tree, taste the sweetness of coconut and the plainness of fish on her tongue, would smell the bitter scent of table salt, and she would be instantly transported back to "That Time". In those moments, she didn't know why, but she thought she remembered.
-
She had been a happy child. When adults talked about those years where she grew up, that's what they always said about her; how darn happy and active and fun she was. She didn't know if happy was the right word - she just loved everything.
The slightest thing would trigger a smile on her chubby face: a hopping frog; the swaying of a fire-tipped tree in the fall; the gentle tug of her mom braiding her long, unruly red hair; the sound of her dad's laughter. At the sight of these things - and a million others - the muscles in her jaw would lift, little dimples in her cheeks forming, and she would show her beautiful white teeth for all the world to see.
-
That child was a stranger to her now.
It was the fall after "That Time" and the leaves were just starting to change colour. Just a couple weeks before, she had cut off most of her hair and it was now too short to braid, so she had settled for pulling it off her face with a clip. Her mom was dead, her dad remarried, and the small pond beside their house where she used to watch the frogs on their lilypads was gone - now a new house stood over its place. Everything she used to smile over was gone.
Everything was changing around Daley. And she had changed too, as a result of "That Time"; she knew it, could feel it in her bones, and when she looked, really looked at herself, she could see it too. For the first time in her life, she looked lost. It was like the world was standing still, like she was alone in the crowd of everybody changing around her, and she couldn't make herself be like them anymore. Because she was different now. Because she couldn't be happy.
Characters: Daley + others
Disclaimer: So not mine.
Summary: Daley had always been the practical one, the responsible one, the one who knew exactly what she wanted from life and how she was going to get it. Daley didn’t think that anymore.
Warnings: none
The End of Happiness
She had always been the practical one, the responsible one, the one with the ambitions and desires who knew exactly what she wanted from life and how she would get it. She didn't think that anymore.
She would hear Lex's desperate cry of I can't take this anymore and would only think I'm a failure for a sister in return. She would watch Nathan strolling in her direction down the hallway at school, and would only see her own cowardice. Then she would run away if only to prove her point.
She could not remember how to be happy … she didn't think she remembered how it felt to be happy. And then she would see a random picture of a beach and a palm tree, taste the sweetness of coconut and the plainness of fish on her tongue, would smell the bitter scent of table salt, and she would be instantly transported back to "That Time". In those moments, she didn't know why, but she thought she remembered.
-
She had been a happy child. When adults talked about those years where she grew up, that's what they always said about her; how darn happy and active and fun she was. She didn't know if happy was the right word - she just loved everything.
The slightest thing would trigger a smile on her chubby face: a hopping frog; the swaying of a fire-tipped tree in the fall; the gentle tug of her mom braiding her long, unruly red hair; the sound of her dad's laughter. At the sight of these things - and a million others - the muscles in her jaw would lift, little dimples in her cheeks forming, and she would show her beautiful white teeth for all the world to see.
-
That child was a stranger to her now.
It was the fall after "That Time" and the leaves were just starting to change colour. Just a couple weeks before, she had cut off most of her hair and it was now too short to braid, so she had settled for pulling it off her face with a clip. Her mom was dead, her dad remarried, and the small pond beside their house where she used to watch the frogs on their lilypads was gone - now a new house stood over its place. Everything she used to smile over was gone.
Everything was changing around Daley. And she had changed too, as a result of "That Time"; she knew it, could feel it in her bones, and when she looked, really looked at herself, she could see it too. For the first time in her life, she looked lost. It was like the world was standing still, like she was alone in the crowd of everybody changing around her, and she couldn't make herself be like them anymore. Because she was different now. Because she couldn't be happy.