(no subject)
In the dark, Sarah Carter sits.
She finds the door again that morning. Hidden behind the storage shelves, deep in the basement. She's doing her laundry, carefully sifting out detergent into the metal drum, blinking unfocused, going through the motions of something so mundane. The whole world's gone unfocused again. She doesn't know when it happened, maybe with the coming of that man. Maybe for no reason in particular. She was sitting at the table, having her coffee, and suddenly the world tipped on its axis. Practicing with her bow. Jogging down the beach. Any of a handful of moments. She doesn't remember how or exactly when, but the nightmares have started again. Nightmares and waking visions, and on this morning, which seems no more special to her than any other morning, Sarah Carter finds the door.
She sits in the mouth of the passage, hunched and her hair hanging over her face. She hears voices, down the hall and behind her deeper in the caves, and she isn't sure if they're really echoing off rock walls and concrete, or all in her mind. She doesn't trust the voices. Under it all, she feels a pang of regret, she'd been doing so well, being strong for Beth, doing so well, but this is one of those moments that the world around her fractures, splinters at her feet... One hand wrapped tight around the pendant that hangs from her neck, crude metal heart biting into the palm of her hand, the other gropes at her hip for the weapon that isn't there. She stopped carrying months ago, even if she's forgotten...
She'll get up soon. She'll finish her laundry and walk back to their hut. She'll smile and struggle and at night, she'll dream, but right now, Sarah Carter sits.
[She's sitting just inside the doorway of the passage to the caves in the compound basement. Open to all, just don't expect her to be really... coherent right now.]
She finds the door again that morning. Hidden behind the storage shelves, deep in the basement. She's doing her laundry, carefully sifting out detergent into the metal drum, blinking unfocused, going through the motions of something so mundane. The whole world's gone unfocused again. She doesn't know when it happened, maybe with the coming of that man. Maybe for no reason in particular. She was sitting at the table, having her coffee, and suddenly the world tipped on its axis. Practicing with her bow. Jogging down the beach. Any of a handful of moments. She doesn't remember how or exactly when, but the nightmares have started again. Nightmares and waking visions, and on this morning, which seems no more special to her than any other morning, Sarah Carter finds the door.
She sits in the mouth of the passage, hunched and her hair hanging over her face. She hears voices, down the hall and behind her deeper in the caves, and she isn't sure if they're really echoing off rock walls and concrete, or all in her mind. She doesn't trust the voices. Under it all, she feels a pang of regret, she'd been doing so well, being strong for Beth, doing so well, but this is one of those moments that the world around her fractures, splinters at her feet... One hand wrapped tight around the pendant that hangs from her neck, crude metal heart biting into the palm of her hand, the other gropes at her hip for the weapon that isn't there. She stopped carrying months ago, even if she's forgotten...
She'll get up soon. She'll finish her laundry and walk back to their hut. She'll smile and struggle and at night, she'll dream, but right now, Sarah Carter sits.
[She's sitting just inside the doorway of the passage to the caves in the compound basement. Open to all, just don't expect her to be really... coherent right now.]