Dollhouse ficlet: Penance (pg)
Title: Penance
Author: sabaceanbabe
Rating: PG
Word count: 244
Characters: Echo, Adelle
Disclaimer: Dollhouse belongs to many people who aren’t me. I promise not to damage it beyond all recognition by those owners. And there is certainly no money changing hands. Sadly.
Author’s note: written for Challenge 001 at dollhouseflash. Thank you to rebelliousrose for the quick once over and the title. I hate coming up with titles.
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The scratch of pen on paper was the loudest sound she had ever heard. Louder even than the horrible echoes of shattering glass that haunted both her dreams and her waking hours, or the screams that followed. She’d wanted to make a difference. Well, she’d done that, and with a vengeance, but this wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
She lay the pen down on the newly signed contract. It seemed that the instrument of her destruction should be more imposing than a Bic fine point.
“Welcome to your new home, Caroline.”
She looked up at that. At the sound of her name. Looked at the woman’s smiling face, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Caroline’s attention shifted back to that innocuous pen, pinning that lone sheet of paper to the table’s surface. Around her, the world… tilted. Nothing had changed, and yet everything was different.
“I have no home.” As she’d said, they’d given her no choice. It was for the best, really. She was clearly a danger to herself and to everyone around her.
Slowly, she pushed up from the chair. Her gaze fell on her signature, her name printed beneath it, both partially obscured by that mighty pen, the one she had used just moments ago to sign control of her own destiny, her very existence, to Ms. DeWitt and her company.
Her eyes met Ms. DeWitt’s. “And my name isn’t Caroline anymore.”
Oh, God, what have I done?
Author: sabaceanbabe
Rating: PG
Word count: 244
Characters: Echo, Adelle
Disclaimer: Dollhouse belongs to many people who aren’t me. I promise not to damage it beyond all recognition by those owners. And there is certainly no money changing hands. Sadly.
Author’s note: written for Challenge 001 at dollhouseflash. Thank you to rebelliousrose for the quick once over and the title. I hate coming up with titles.
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The scratch of pen on paper was the loudest sound she had ever heard. Louder even than the horrible echoes of shattering glass that haunted both her dreams and her waking hours, or the screams that followed. She’d wanted to make a difference. Well, she’d done that, and with a vengeance, but this wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
She lay the pen down on the newly signed contract. It seemed that the instrument of her destruction should be more imposing than a Bic fine point.
“Welcome to your new home, Caroline.”
She looked up at that. At the sound of her name. Looked at the woman’s smiling face, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Caroline’s attention shifted back to that innocuous pen, pinning that lone sheet of paper to the table’s surface. Around her, the world… tilted. Nothing had changed, and yet everything was different.
“I have no home.” As she’d said, they’d given her no choice. It was for the best, really. She was clearly a danger to herself and to everyone around her.
Slowly, she pushed up from the chair. Her gaze fell on her signature, her name printed beneath it, both partially obscured by that mighty pen, the one she had used just moments ago to sign control of her own destiny, her very existence, to Ms. DeWitt and her company.
Her eyes met Ms. DeWitt’s. “And my name isn’t Caroline anymore.”
Oh, God, what have I done?