Fic: Echoes
The sound the knife made as it fell to the floor never stopped echoing in his head,
...Carmen’s ‘I do’ whispered it into his ears, chasing his heart into the distance as he kissed her,
...their son’s newborn cry rang with it and buckled his knees as he stood laughing and crying both together by the bed,
...the funeral bells tolled it into the sky as he stood beside the grave and read his parents names, carved side by side at last,
...Mary’s laughter brimmed over with it as she twirled in her prom dress, blushing and smacking him when he glared at the nervous buck twisting her corsage in trembling hands on the doorstep,
...it chimed through the phone call from Sam as his brother wept and begged him to come and for a moment he was the big brother again, protector and carer, and it shuddered through him as Jess finally opened her eyes,
...the baby in his wrinkled and aching hands gurgled it at him as Bob (who was never Bobby outside his head since he turned thirteen) introduced him to his grandson,
...it thundered in the drone of the heart monitor as once green eyes clouded with age stared into space, empty and distant,
...for a moment a voice he remembered from a lifetime ago drowned it out,
“Dean!”
Then there was silence.