Sci-Fi Big Bang - Children Through Time - David's Book
Title: Children Through Time - The Book of David
Chapter: 3
Rating: R
Characters: Team Torchwood, David Ortiz, OC's
Spoilers: Children of Earth
Disclaimers: I do not own Torchwood or the characters therein, they belong to the BBC and RTD. Any original characters and places are my property.
Author's Notes: The series of events in Children Through Time take place after Children in Time. It is not necessary to read Children in Time but it can be found here.
Special Thanks: To my awesome beta faithharkness, and to my artist laura_guerin, and great cheerleading from knitchick1979, chicago_girl_07 and all the others. It was rough going this time, but we did it.
Chapter 2 - The Book of David
Chapter 3
David’s bleary eyes looked out across Lake Michigan, watching the lightning storm over the middle of the water. He watched with fascination as a powerful strike lit up the sky with such brilliance and jagged down into the black water. Flash and then it was gone. Just like his memories of late. That’s all he seemed to have left anymore - memories. Now, he had what felt like someone else’s memories cluttering up his brain as well.
Hands shaking, he brought the mouth of the bottle to his lips and took a solid drag of the whiskey. It sailed down his throat easily. He had drunk enough of it, tonight alone, that it no longer stung. At least the stinging had made him feel something. A small bit dribbled down his chin. David wiped it with his hand and swiped the wetness on his jeans.
He had felt lost before, but the last eleven years had been a continuous sense of loss. First he had to take the blame and the questions from the girls’ families. Why had he been the only one to come back? What had happened to him in the five years between when they went missing in Cardiff and when he suddenly recalled who he was? He could remember waking up in some dingy motel off I-57 in some po’dunk town he didn’t even remember the name of in Southern Illinois. But, how he had gotten from Cardiff to Illinois? No one could shed any light on that. He took another swig of the whiskey, concentrating on his hands, trying to make them not shake.
Holding the bottle up, David saw he had just taken the last swallow and tossed the bottle to the side, landing it on top of a stack of financial reports that were scattered across the floor of his lakeshore condo. He slumped down into his brown leather chair so he could still watch the light show, and his body screamed at him. David punched his stomach, arguing with the blossoming pain.
Rain started splattering against the floor-length windows. David slowly blinked, his mind going one way, but he did not want to go down memory lane again. He looked away from the rain and found himself concentrating on the empty bottle, which was slowly spilling the remaining residue of whiskey onto the white papers. He watched with fascination as the liquid spread out, mucking up the clean papers, making parts of them unreadable. His eyes flicked back to the windows.
Allison spun around, waving her arms. It was late, and everyone had left the reception. Perhaps they had had too much to drink. She kicked off her heels and was walking barefoot in the rain, still wearing her wedding dress. David carried the umbrella, half out of his tuxedo. He had lost the jacket and waistcoat at some point.
“You’re going to hurt your feet,” David called to her.
“Then you’ll have to carry me!” Allison laughed back at him. “Wouldn’t you do anything for your beautiful bride?”
“Not throw my back out.” David held the umbrella close. “And it’s freezing out. Why did you want to go out now instead of heading back to the hotel room?”
“We can fuck each other anytime we want,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. “But it’s after midnight. Today is the first full day we are married, so why not let people know!” She let out a shout of joy.
“So we’re going to be arrested for disturbing the peace on the first full day we are married? Fucking great.”
Allison ran up and gave him a hearty kiss on the lips. Some random kids driving by whistled out the car window and David flipped them off while still kissing Allison. She giggled against his mouth and then took off running, splashing through the puddles. Suddenly she let out a cry and fell to the ground in an undignified heap. David ran over to her, throwing the umbrella down.
“What happened? Are you okay?” He held her shoulders.
“I think I twisted my ankle,” she grimaced. “Owie, owwww...”
David let out a sigh. “Can I say ‘I told you so’ now?”
“You just did,” she said.
He found himself staring at the dirty water slowly soaking into her white dress, the mud coloring it anew. David grabbed her up under the shoulders and pulled her up, getting her to balance on one foot.
“Here, take the umbrella,” he said as he swooped down and picked her up. “Oh fuck! You’re lucky we’re near the hotel, so I don’t have to carry you far.”
“That’s not very Prince Charming of you.”
“Sorry, but you are a bit heavier than Snow White. She was practically a child,” he muttered, staggering with her towards the Drake Hotel.
Allison smacked him on the shoulder. “That’s not very nice.”
“It’s the truth,” he said as he got them to the front door and the bellman held it open for him. He set her down on the couch, despite the glare from the concierge. “I’ll get them to call for a doctor, or an ambulance.”
“So we can tell our grandkids we spent our honeymoon in the ER?”
“Not my idea,” he said, and started to pull away.
She grabbed his tie and pulled him back down to her. “I love you,” she said and gave him a kiss.
David pulled back and nodded his head yes, and then headed for the concierge.
David shook his head and swore he felt it rattle inside his skull. The morphine made the pain stop for once, but it made him have these lucid memories; thoughts that were so real, and yet he didn’t know why he had them. Pushing the tears back, David’s eyes burned so badly he felt as if they were on fire.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he slumped further down into the chair. He had made so much money for himself, but to do what? There was no one left to share it with. He rarely talked to his older sister, she had a busy family all her own. David was alone in this strange, new world, and he hated it. He hated being alone, always had.
It always seemed like he preferred company compared to aloneness. He could sleep through any noise, but alarms woke him instantly. He had never been quite like the rest of his family, but he had been the only grandson. So much pressure from his abuela to lead the family had hardened him, but his friends had helped provide the release he needed - the fun he needed.
Dropping his head into his hand, David curled his fingers in his hair, nearly clawing his own skin. His breath came out in ragged bellows as he attempted to keep his composure. Looking through his fingers at the rain splattering the windows, he was suddenly transported back to Cardiff in his mind.
David craned his neck trying to stretch out the knot the size of a bowling ball that had lodged itself in his body. He knew it wasn’t that big, but his body reacted in odd ways to stress, and it was under a fucking ungodly amount of stress all of a sudden. Seeing the rain suddenly start outside and begin pelting against the windows, he shook his head in disbelief.
He glanced at Jillian as she looked up from Lynnae’s laptop. She gave him a weak, encouraging smile, but he didn’t believe it for a minute. It was her eyes. Her eyes always betrayed how scared she was. That had been the first thing he noticed in group therapy - her eyes.
Not wanting to hear any more bad news, his eyes drifted to the main door of the Starbucks that was around the corner from what had been the hotel they were staying in. He had seen the news reports as soon as it happened. He had also been watching the CCTV footage from the area, when he wasn’t getting his ass handed to him on a platter from some asinine little prick of a wannabe-hacker full of shit.
He sat up straight in his chair, his heart thumping as he saw Samantha and Lynnae storm through the main door. David locked eyes with Samantha and what he saw scared him. Her eyes rarely got that dark. Swearing in Spanish, David pushed himself up and maneuvered through the thinning crowd and straight for them.
“Where the fuck have you been?” David demanded. “Why the hell haven’t you answered your phones?”
“Couldn’t quite hear them with a building falling down next to us,” Samantha retorted as she shook out her wet hair and tied it back.
“God damnit! Don’t you think we fucking knew that happened? How do you think it feels not knowing if we just lost two more friends?”
“David-“ Lynnae started.
“No. Shut the fuck up.” He breathed heavily through his nose. “Did you find out anything about Elizabeth?”
“Nothing new, but she’s not the only one missing,” Lynnae replied, looking down at her feet.
“I don’t fucking care about the others. I want Beth back,” David said as he turned on his heel and flopped back into the chair in front of his laptop.
He began typing away, snaking his way into the government database again, barely acknowledging the cup of coffee Samantha set down in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Lynnae took her place in front of her computer and Samantha pulled out her own Mac. David gulped down the scalding coffee, thankful for feeling something and merely grunted as it was replaced with a fresh one by Jillian. The rain continued to pelt the coffee shop as Samantha slid her computer back into its bag, giving up. Like fucking hell he was giving up. He would not be without his family again.
David looked at his reflection in his bedroom mirror. He looked like shit. No. He looked worse than day old shit that has been doused in piss and pooped on by a pterodactyl. He looked at the perplexed look on his face as he wondered why he thought of pterodactyl poop. The red-rimmed eyes only accentuated how pale he had become with this influx of memories.
With shaking hands, he pulled open the top drawer to his dresser. In the drawer he kept some of his most personal mementos - things he was grateful his sister had kept for him while he was gone. He stuck his hand in, moving past the pictures of him and Allie, past the saint medallion his abuela had given him on his confirmation, and past the ticket stub for the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. He let out a half-hearted chuckle as he thought of how they had traumatized poor Lynnae by opening the door to their Ferris Wheel car while it was 150 feet up in the air. Bypassing all those good memories, his fingers encircled the one thing he had been looking for.
Pulling out the pocketknife his Dad had given him on his 16th birthday, David opened the blade. He gently ran his thumb over the sharp edge. It still worked beautifully. It had been 21 years since he dared hold this knife in his hand, ever since the last time.
His stride was purposeful as he turned and walked into the bath off the bedroom. David removed all the stuff from the bathroom countertop, placing it neatly on the floor. The alcohol in his system suddenly kicked in and he stumbled backwards, sitting on the closed toilet seat.
Akira sat down on the hard cement, watching their little blue tails cut through the water and across the Bay. He giggled as he meekly waved bye to them. A shadow fell across him, and he nervously looked up. Uncle Andy looked down on him, arms crossed against the shirt of his uniform.
“Hi Uncle Andy!”
“Okay, what are you doing up here alone?”
“I had a big job to do.” He nodded his head up and down to emphasize the point.
Uncle Andy squatted down next to him. “Dare I ask what that big job was?”
“I had to let my friends go.”
“Your friends? What friends? Where did you let them go?” Uncle Andy turned his head, looking around the dockside.
“I don’t know their names, they don’t tell me. But they said they had to be free.” He looked at Uncle Andy very seriously and Uncle Andy leaned in even closer. “They didn’t talk to Mother or Dad. But they talked to me!” He was beaming.
Uncle Andy stood up, picking up Akira in his arms. “Something tells me we better find your Mum and Dad, very soon,” he said. “But can you tell me where you let them go?”
Akira was about to respond when five blue lights, the same number of blue friends he let go from his Dad’s office, suddenly shone in the water of the Bay, and a big blue egg fell with a splash in the middle of them.
“There they are,” Akira said, pointing to the circle as another blue egg fell in the middle of them and into the water.
He looked at Uncle Andy as the officer pulled out his mobile and was saying, “Gwen, I found him, and you lot have a big problem.”
David huddled over the bathroom sink, clutching his arm as he suddenly became aware of the pain rising along the length of his arm. The underside shone white against the trickle of red running along it, making him grit his teeth so as to not cry out. His breath came in short, shallow gasps.
With fascination he watched as the blood dropped onto the white porcelain. Each drop quicker than the last, making a puddle that quickly spread out. As it pooled, David focused on the pain, but even that wouldn’t let his mind stop.
-- Akira cried as the nurse stuck the needle in him as the strange woman who kept saying she was his mother held him tight. He didn’t like this doctor: he wanted his Dad to do what was needed, but not this stranger who said he was his padre. The nurse picked him up, and he cried for his Mother and his Dad. Why did no one go after the aliens? Why did no one recognize the number his Mother had taught him? He cried out again as the nurse gave him another injection.
-- David held tight to Allie’s hand. She was so pale, almost like Snow White. If only he could be her Prince Charming and wake her with a kiss. He bent down and his lips lingered over hers, the tears streaming down his face. They had made him decide. Those bastards had made him choose. He found himself staring at the dried trickle of blood that trailed from her ear. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Samantha’s red eyes. His throat closed off rather than try and speak as he choked on his own sobs.
-- David stood face-to-face with the creature, its long, grey face betraying any sign of emotion. He dug his fingers down into its arm, pulling at the dark cloak it wore. He wrestled with it, not letting it get near Beth again. The thing was nearly beat, as David struggled to get it to the ground, not paying attention to the firefight around him, only on protecting Beth. A quick beam of light came from behind Tosh and his body suddenly seemed on fire. He clutched at his stomach, keeling forward, every nerve aflame. The knowing he was dying did not scare him: it was the knowing he had failed at protecting them.
Slumping over the sink, David turned on the faucet with shaking hands and watched as his blood swirled down into the sink. The crimson turned to a morbid pink and still he watched. The pocketknife clattered to the floor.
“I am sorry,” he hoarsely whispered to the ghosts in his mind. “I can’t do this anymore.” David felt the tears cascade down his cheeks as he fell to the ground and blacked out.
Chapter: 3
Rating: R
Characters: Team Torchwood, David Ortiz, OC's
Spoilers: Children of Earth
Disclaimers: I do not own Torchwood or the characters therein, they belong to the BBC and RTD. Any original characters and places are my property.
Author's Notes: The series of events in Children Through Time take place after Children in Time. It is not necessary to read Children in Time but it can be found here.
Special Thanks: To my awesome beta faithharkness, and to my artist laura_guerin, and great cheerleading from knitchick1979, chicago_girl_07 and all the others. It was rough going this time, but we did it.
Chapter 2 - The Book of David
Chapter 3
David’s bleary eyes looked out across Lake Michigan, watching the lightning storm over the middle of the water. He watched with fascination as a powerful strike lit up the sky with such brilliance and jagged down into the black water. Flash and then it was gone. Just like his memories of late. That’s all he seemed to have left anymore - memories. Now, he had what felt like someone else’s memories cluttering up his brain as well.
Hands shaking, he brought the mouth of the bottle to his lips and took a solid drag of the whiskey. It sailed down his throat easily. He had drunk enough of it, tonight alone, that it no longer stung. At least the stinging had made him feel something. A small bit dribbled down his chin. David wiped it with his hand and swiped the wetness on his jeans.
He had felt lost before, but the last eleven years had been a continuous sense of loss. First he had to take the blame and the questions from the girls’ families. Why had he been the only one to come back? What had happened to him in the five years between when they went missing in Cardiff and when he suddenly recalled who he was? He could remember waking up in some dingy motel off I-57 in some po’dunk town he didn’t even remember the name of in Southern Illinois. But, how he had gotten from Cardiff to Illinois? No one could shed any light on that. He took another swig of the whiskey, concentrating on his hands, trying to make them not shake.
Holding the bottle up, David saw he had just taken the last swallow and tossed the bottle to the side, landing it on top of a stack of financial reports that were scattered across the floor of his lakeshore condo. He slumped down into his brown leather chair so he could still watch the light show, and his body screamed at him. David punched his stomach, arguing with the blossoming pain.
Rain started splattering against the floor-length windows. David slowly blinked, his mind going one way, but he did not want to go down memory lane again. He looked away from the rain and found himself concentrating on the empty bottle, which was slowly spilling the remaining residue of whiskey onto the white papers. He watched with fascination as the liquid spread out, mucking up the clean papers, making parts of them unreadable. His eyes flicked back to the windows.
Allison spun around, waving her arms. It was late, and everyone had left the reception. Perhaps they had had too much to drink. She kicked off her heels and was walking barefoot in the rain, still wearing her wedding dress. David carried the umbrella, half out of his tuxedo. He had lost the jacket and waistcoat at some point.
“You’re going to hurt your feet,” David called to her.
“Then you’ll have to carry me!” Allison laughed back at him. “Wouldn’t you do anything for your beautiful bride?”
“Not throw my back out.” David held the umbrella close. “And it’s freezing out. Why did you want to go out now instead of heading back to the hotel room?”
“We can fuck each other anytime we want,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. “But it’s after midnight. Today is the first full day we are married, so why not let people know!” She let out a shout of joy.
“So we’re going to be arrested for disturbing the peace on the first full day we are married? Fucking great.”
Allison ran up and gave him a hearty kiss on the lips. Some random kids driving by whistled out the car window and David flipped them off while still kissing Allison. She giggled against his mouth and then took off running, splashing through the puddles. Suddenly she let out a cry and fell to the ground in an undignified heap. David ran over to her, throwing the umbrella down.
“What happened? Are you okay?” He held her shoulders.
“I think I twisted my ankle,” she grimaced. “Owie, owwww...”
David let out a sigh. “Can I say ‘I told you so’ now?”
“You just did,” she said.
He found himself staring at the dirty water slowly soaking into her white dress, the mud coloring it anew. David grabbed her up under the shoulders and pulled her up, getting her to balance on one foot.
“Here, take the umbrella,” he said as he swooped down and picked her up. “Oh fuck! You’re lucky we’re near the hotel, so I don’t have to carry you far.”
“That’s not very Prince Charming of you.”
“Sorry, but you are a bit heavier than Snow White. She was practically a child,” he muttered, staggering with her towards the Drake Hotel.
Allison smacked him on the shoulder. “That’s not very nice.”
“It’s the truth,” he said as he got them to the front door and the bellman held it open for him. He set her down on the couch, despite the glare from the concierge. “I’ll get them to call for a doctor, or an ambulance.”
“So we can tell our grandkids we spent our honeymoon in the ER?”
“Not my idea,” he said, and started to pull away.
She grabbed his tie and pulled him back down to her. “I love you,” she said and gave him a kiss.
David pulled back and nodded his head yes, and then headed for the concierge.
David shook his head and swore he felt it rattle inside his skull. The morphine made the pain stop for once, but it made him have these lucid memories; thoughts that were so real, and yet he didn’t know why he had them. Pushing the tears back, David’s eyes burned so badly he felt as if they were on fire.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he slumped further down into the chair. He had made so much money for himself, but to do what? There was no one left to share it with. He rarely talked to his older sister, she had a busy family all her own. David was alone in this strange, new world, and he hated it. He hated being alone, always had.
It always seemed like he preferred company compared to aloneness. He could sleep through any noise, but alarms woke him instantly. He had never been quite like the rest of his family, but he had been the only grandson. So much pressure from his abuela to lead the family had hardened him, but his friends had helped provide the release he needed - the fun he needed.
Dropping his head into his hand, David curled his fingers in his hair, nearly clawing his own skin. His breath came out in ragged bellows as he attempted to keep his composure. Looking through his fingers at the rain splattering the windows, he was suddenly transported back to Cardiff in his mind.
David craned his neck trying to stretch out the knot the size of a bowling ball that had lodged itself in his body. He knew it wasn’t that big, but his body reacted in odd ways to stress, and it was under a fucking ungodly amount of stress all of a sudden. Seeing the rain suddenly start outside and begin pelting against the windows, he shook his head in disbelief.
He glanced at Jillian as she looked up from Lynnae’s laptop. She gave him a weak, encouraging smile, but he didn’t believe it for a minute. It was her eyes. Her eyes always betrayed how scared she was. That had been the first thing he noticed in group therapy - her eyes.
Not wanting to hear any more bad news, his eyes drifted to the main door of the Starbucks that was around the corner from what had been the hotel they were staying in. He had seen the news reports as soon as it happened. He had also been watching the CCTV footage from the area, when he wasn’t getting his ass handed to him on a platter from some asinine little prick of a wannabe-hacker full of shit.
He sat up straight in his chair, his heart thumping as he saw Samantha and Lynnae storm through the main door. David locked eyes with Samantha and what he saw scared him. Her eyes rarely got that dark. Swearing in Spanish, David pushed himself up and maneuvered through the thinning crowd and straight for them.
“Where the fuck have you been?” David demanded. “Why the hell haven’t you answered your phones?”
“Couldn’t quite hear them with a building falling down next to us,” Samantha retorted as she shook out her wet hair and tied it back.
“God damnit! Don’t you think we fucking knew that happened? How do you think it feels not knowing if we just lost two more friends?”
“David-“ Lynnae started.
“No. Shut the fuck up.” He breathed heavily through his nose. “Did you find out anything about Elizabeth?”
“Nothing new, but she’s not the only one missing,” Lynnae replied, looking down at her feet.
“I don’t fucking care about the others. I want Beth back,” David said as he turned on his heel and flopped back into the chair in front of his laptop.
He began typing away, snaking his way into the government database again, barely acknowledging the cup of coffee Samantha set down in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Lynnae took her place in front of her computer and Samantha pulled out her own Mac. David gulped down the scalding coffee, thankful for feeling something and merely grunted as it was replaced with a fresh one by Jillian. The rain continued to pelt the coffee shop as Samantha slid her computer back into its bag, giving up. Like fucking hell he was giving up. He would not be without his family again.
David looked at his reflection in his bedroom mirror. He looked like shit. No. He looked worse than day old shit that has been doused in piss and pooped on by a pterodactyl. He looked at the perplexed look on his face as he wondered why he thought of pterodactyl poop. The red-rimmed eyes only accentuated how pale he had become with this influx of memories.
With shaking hands, he pulled open the top drawer to his dresser. In the drawer he kept some of his most personal mementos - things he was grateful his sister had kept for him while he was gone. He stuck his hand in, moving past the pictures of him and Allie, past the saint medallion his abuela had given him on his confirmation, and past the ticket stub for the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. He let out a half-hearted chuckle as he thought of how they had traumatized poor Lynnae by opening the door to their Ferris Wheel car while it was 150 feet up in the air. Bypassing all those good memories, his fingers encircled the one thing he had been looking for.
Pulling out the pocketknife his Dad had given him on his 16th birthday, David opened the blade. He gently ran his thumb over the sharp edge. It still worked beautifully. It had been 21 years since he dared hold this knife in his hand, ever since the last time.
His stride was purposeful as he turned and walked into the bath off the bedroom. David removed all the stuff from the bathroom countertop, placing it neatly on the floor. The alcohol in his system suddenly kicked in and he stumbled backwards, sitting on the closed toilet seat.
Akira sat down on the hard cement, watching their little blue tails cut through the water and across the Bay. He giggled as he meekly waved bye to them. A shadow fell across him, and he nervously looked up. Uncle Andy looked down on him, arms crossed against the shirt of his uniform.
“Hi Uncle Andy!”
“Okay, what are you doing up here alone?”
“I had a big job to do.” He nodded his head up and down to emphasize the point.
Uncle Andy squatted down next to him. “Dare I ask what that big job was?”
“I had to let my friends go.”
“Your friends? What friends? Where did you let them go?” Uncle Andy turned his head, looking around the dockside.
“I don’t know their names, they don’t tell me. But they said they had to be free.” He looked at Uncle Andy very seriously and Uncle Andy leaned in even closer. “They didn’t talk to Mother or Dad. But they talked to me!” He was beaming.
Uncle Andy stood up, picking up Akira in his arms. “Something tells me we better find your Mum and Dad, very soon,” he said. “But can you tell me where you let them go?”
Akira was about to respond when five blue lights, the same number of blue friends he let go from his Dad’s office, suddenly shone in the water of the Bay, and a big blue egg fell with a splash in the middle of them.
“There they are,” Akira said, pointing to the circle as another blue egg fell in the middle of them and into the water.
He looked at Uncle Andy as the officer pulled out his mobile and was saying, “Gwen, I found him, and you lot have a big problem.”
David huddled over the bathroom sink, clutching his arm as he suddenly became aware of the pain rising along the length of his arm. The underside shone white against the trickle of red running along it, making him grit his teeth so as to not cry out. His breath came in short, shallow gasps.
With fascination he watched as the blood dropped onto the white porcelain. Each drop quicker than the last, making a puddle that quickly spread out. As it pooled, David focused on the pain, but even that wouldn’t let his mind stop.
-- Akira cried as the nurse stuck the needle in him as the strange woman who kept saying she was his mother held him tight. He didn’t like this doctor: he wanted his Dad to do what was needed, but not this stranger who said he was his padre. The nurse picked him up, and he cried for his Mother and his Dad. Why did no one go after the aliens? Why did no one recognize the number his Mother had taught him? He cried out again as the nurse gave him another injection.
-- David held tight to Allie’s hand. She was so pale, almost like Snow White. If only he could be her Prince Charming and wake her with a kiss. He bent down and his lips lingered over hers, the tears streaming down his face. They had made him decide. Those bastards had made him choose. He found himself staring at the dried trickle of blood that trailed from her ear. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Samantha’s red eyes. His throat closed off rather than try and speak as he choked on his own sobs.
-- David stood face-to-face with the creature, its long, grey face betraying any sign of emotion. He dug his fingers down into its arm, pulling at the dark cloak it wore. He wrestled with it, not letting it get near Beth again. The thing was nearly beat, as David struggled to get it to the ground, not paying attention to the firefight around him, only on protecting Beth. A quick beam of light came from behind Tosh and his body suddenly seemed on fire. He clutched at his stomach, keeling forward, every nerve aflame. The knowing he was dying did not scare him: it was the knowing he had failed at protecting them.
Slumping over the sink, David turned on the faucet with shaking hands and watched as his blood swirled down into the sink. The crimson turned to a morbid pink and still he watched. The pocketknife clattered to the floor.
“I am sorry,” he hoarsely whispered to the ghosts in his mind. “I can’t do this anymore.” David felt the tears cascade down his cheeks as he fell to the ground and blacked out.