Advent #9: Match Girls.
Title: Match Girls.
Rating: R.
Fandom: Sparrow Hill Road.
Synopsis: What is Rose doing for Christmas?
***
The trucker who picked me up just outside of Cleveland slows as he approaches the rest stop, asking, "Are you sure this is where you want to be dropped off? I can take you all the way to Columbus, if you don't want to go back into the cold..."
The haze of accident ahead, probably fatal, that was curling around him when I sidled up to him in that two-bit roadside diner is gone. Having me in the cab kept him awake and alert, enough so that he managed to take the blind curve that was going to kill him without a hitch. I cast a smile his way, saying, "This is where I need to be."
"If you're sure."
"I'm sure."
The truck glides slowly to a stop, bleeding momentum until it's safe to cut the engine. I lean over, press a quick kiss to the stubbled cheek of the man in the driver's seat-he'll live into his seventies, and when he dies, that kiss will call me, and I'll come to see to it he makes it the rest of the way home-and slide out of the cab, letting my heels crunch down into the snow. The wind is cold enough to make me want to jump right back into the truck. I don't. Instead, I step away, wave to the trucker, and begin slogging through the snow toward the distant glow of the rest stop window.
This is an old-style rest stop, with a visitor's center and an office at the center of it. The lights are on because somebody's home: Janice Littleton, age fifty-eight, local ranger. She'll be found dead in the morning, victim of an early heart attack. But first, she has work to do.
"Hello, Rose," she says, when she hears my footsteps in the doorway. "What brings you out here tonight?" She doesn't turn, doesn't look around. She just keeps filling out her paperwork.
"Family off the road on one of the frontage lanes," I reply. "Thought you might like someone to walk you there." My voice is casual, too casual, but I can't help that; I hate these ones.
Janice finally lifts her head and turns to face me. "You're here to save them?"
"I'm here to tell you that you can." I shrug. "I can walk you to their car."
There's a pause while Janice considers the implications of my words. She knows me, knows what I am, knows that I only show up like this when there's someone to be saved, or when someone's going to die. I make myself meet her eyes. It's a small thing, but it's what I have to offer.
"Fuck it," she says finally. "I was tired of this job anyway." And then she stands, my angel gone to save the Match Girls, and this time, we won't be too late. That's the good part. I make myself keep that in mind as Janice takes my hand, and I lead her out of the warmth and the light, into the cold dark night of Christmas.
Today's fandom and characters were suggested by kyburg. To suggest a fandom, pairing/characters, or theme for the next advent, please comment here. Only comments left on THIS ENTRY will be considered. Due to posting issues, Advent #10 will be going up tonight; this is catchup for yesterday.
Rating: R.
Fandom: Sparrow Hill Road.
Synopsis: What is Rose doing for Christmas?
***
The trucker who picked me up just outside of Cleveland slows as he approaches the rest stop, asking, "Are you sure this is where you want to be dropped off? I can take you all the way to Columbus, if you don't want to go back into the cold..."
The haze of accident ahead, probably fatal, that was curling around him when I sidled up to him in that two-bit roadside diner is gone. Having me in the cab kept him awake and alert, enough so that he managed to take the blind curve that was going to kill him without a hitch. I cast a smile his way, saying, "This is where I need to be."
"If you're sure."
"I'm sure."
The truck glides slowly to a stop, bleeding momentum until it's safe to cut the engine. I lean over, press a quick kiss to the stubbled cheek of the man in the driver's seat-he'll live into his seventies, and when he dies, that kiss will call me, and I'll come to see to it he makes it the rest of the way home-and slide out of the cab, letting my heels crunch down into the snow. The wind is cold enough to make me want to jump right back into the truck. I don't. Instead, I step away, wave to the trucker, and begin slogging through the snow toward the distant glow of the rest stop window.
This is an old-style rest stop, with a visitor's center and an office at the center of it. The lights are on because somebody's home: Janice Littleton, age fifty-eight, local ranger. She'll be found dead in the morning, victim of an early heart attack. But first, she has work to do.
"Hello, Rose," she says, when she hears my footsteps in the doorway. "What brings you out here tonight?" She doesn't turn, doesn't look around. She just keeps filling out her paperwork.
"Family off the road on one of the frontage lanes," I reply. "Thought you might like someone to walk you there." My voice is casual, too casual, but I can't help that; I hate these ones.
Janice finally lifts her head and turns to face me. "You're here to save them?"
"I'm here to tell you that you can." I shrug. "I can walk you to their car."
There's a pause while Janice considers the implications of my words. She knows me, knows what I am, knows that I only show up like this when there's someone to be saved, or when someone's going to die. I make myself meet her eyes. It's a small thing, but it's what I have to offer.
"Fuck it," she says finally. "I was tired of this job anyway." And then she stands, my angel gone to save the Match Girls, and this time, we won't be too late. That's the good part. I make myself keep that in mind as Janice takes my hand, and I lead her out of the warmth and the light, into the cold dark night of Christmas.
Today's fandom and characters were suggested by kyburg. To suggest a fandom, pairing/characters, or theme for the next advent, please comment here. Only comments left on THIS ENTRY will be considered. Due to posting issues, Advent #10 will be going up tonight; this is catchup for yesterday.