Haunting
Title: Haunting
Rating: PG
Summary: Post-Haunted, Spoilers for My Noon, My Midnight
Words: 500- Exactly!
Prompt: 11- Red
Extra notes: First time I saw Haunted, I swore that Cassie called her sister Tess… That's where the idea for this came from.
Disclaimer: Not mine, but thank you for thinking they were.
"I didn't think to ask..."
That night, Claire lay awake, lights burning bright. She dared not close her eyes or shut off the light, because every time she did, all she saw was the blood- on her hands, down her pants, dribbling out of Cassie's mouth.
Those last moments, all Cassie could think about was her sister. As much as Claire's head said the circumstances were different, her heart refused to believe and her head reeled with possibilities. With what ifs.
Tess was walking past, on her way to bed, and saw the light on. It was unusual for her sister to leave electricity running when it was unnecessary and even more unusual for her to be awake for very long after she had retired for the night.
Tess peaked around the corner of the door, and then snuck in and onto the bed next to her sister. They lay there in silence for a while, before Claire turned over to face Tess.
"What if it had been us?" Claire asked, voicing both their thoughts. "What if you hadn't come back and out of the blue, I'd received a wedding invitation and didn't make it down? Would you have cared? Would you have even known? Not many people around here would have thought… remembered to tell you." She let out a bitter laugh. "Hell, they didn't even contact you when Jack died. You would have just assumed I wasn't coming. That I didn't care."
Tess knew she shouldn't ask but her mouth was open before she could stop it. "Would you? Would you have come? Would you have cared?"
Claire wouldn't... couldn't answer. She just didn't know.
When the Ute plummeted, she heard Tess' scream, and thought back. To that moment. And that conversation. She knew, in that instant, what she would have done. She wouldn't have gone. But she would have regretted it. Jack would have disappeared for the weekend, and when he returned, he'd reek of beer, and refuse to tell her where he'd been. But she'd have known. She'd know that he'd gone down, but chickened out, at some stage. Not wanted the confrontation with Ruth, but wanting to see his daughter grown up and beautiful.
Her last thoughts were filled with hope. Because her sister had returned, she held no fear for her baby daughter- the baby she probably wouldn't have had without Tess and her relentless crusade to make the world a better place, beginning with the most unlikely friendship with Becky Howard.
Claire owed a lot to the baby sister she had missed more than life, but had turned the love to hate because it was easier. Because it didn't hurt as much. Because it was easier not to care. It had been easier at the time, but Claire knew, in that moment before her breath was expelled one last time, that it had been the wrong decision to make. She was glad she didn't have to live with that knowledge any longer.
Rating: PG
Summary: Post-Haunted, Spoilers for My Noon, My Midnight
Words: 500- Exactly!
Prompt: 11- Red
Extra notes: First time I saw Haunted, I swore that Cassie called her sister Tess… That's where the idea for this came from.
Disclaimer: Not mine, but thank you for thinking they were.
"I didn't think to ask..."
That night, Claire lay awake, lights burning bright. She dared not close her eyes or shut off the light, because every time she did, all she saw was the blood- on her hands, down her pants, dribbling out of Cassie's mouth.
Those last moments, all Cassie could think about was her sister. As much as Claire's head said the circumstances were different, her heart refused to believe and her head reeled with possibilities. With what ifs.
Tess was walking past, on her way to bed, and saw the light on. It was unusual for her sister to leave electricity running when it was unnecessary and even more unusual for her to be awake for very long after she had retired for the night.
Tess peaked around the corner of the door, and then snuck in and onto the bed next to her sister. They lay there in silence for a while, before Claire turned over to face Tess.
"What if it had been us?" Claire asked, voicing both their thoughts. "What if you hadn't come back and out of the blue, I'd received a wedding invitation and didn't make it down? Would you have cared? Would you have even known? Not many people around here would have thought… remembered to tell you." She let out a bitter laugh. "Hell, they didn't even contact you when Jack died. You would have just assumed I wasn't coming. That I didn't care."
Tess knew she shouldn't ask but her mouth was open before she could stop it. "Would you? Would you have come? Would you have cared?"
Claire wouldn't... couldn't answer. She just didn't know.
When the Ute plummeted, she heard Tess' scream, and thought back. To that moment. And that conversation. She knew, in that instant, what she would have done. She wouldn't have gone. But she would have regretted it. Jack would have disappeared for the weekend, and when he returned, he'd reek of beer, and refuse to tell her where he'd been. But she'd have known. She'd know that he'd gone down, but chickened out, at some stage. Not wanted the confrontation with Ruth, but wanting to see his daughter grown up and beautiful.
Her last thoughts were filled with hope. Because her sister had returned, she held no fear for her baby daughter- the baby she probably wouldn't have had without Tess and her relentless crusade to make the world a better place, beginning with the most unlikely friendship with Becky Howard.
Claire owed a lot to the baby sister she had missed more than life, but had turned the love to hate because it was easier. Because it didn't hurt as much. Because it was easier not to care. It had been easier at the time, but Claire knew, in that moment before her breath was expelled one last time, that it had been the wrong decision to make. She was glad she didn't have to live with that knowledge any longer.