occhallenge: Quiet
Prompt: Quiet, Table 3
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Any other characters mentioned in this don't belong to me. Wes belongs to diamond9697. Frank, April, and Aidan belong to muses_inc.
Notes: Takes place today.
Word Count: 605
Crossposted to occhallenge.
The morning of Wes' birthday, Mia hit another low. As if his wedding anniversary to Aidan three days ago hadn't been enough to handle for the week, a week which needed to just end right now. She'd almost left the apartment on the anniversary, wanting to get out, then remembered it would be hard for April. She'd tried to keep her mood at least a little cheerful and be supportive. But today, on Wes' birthday, she was sullen and quiet. She felt like asking someone what the kriff the boys had been thinking, getting married when they did so close to one of their birthdays. But she didn't.
Instead, she called the floral shop in New York that she liked. She'd used them to decorate Wes and Aidan's grave with massive amounts of yellow flowers on Aidan's birthday several months before. She couldn't be in New York this time, but still felt like doing something to remember Wes on his birthday. So she paid the floral shop a little extra to deliver the bright yellow floral arrangement to the cemetery and gave explicit directions straight from memory on how to find the right gravestone.
And then, there was nothing else to do except feel like she'd failed.
It'd been months since she had the encounter with Wes at the cemetery. It'd been months since she had promised him she'd do something, that she or someone would help him and that they'd find Aidan and what had happened to him so they could be reunited. It'd been a long time since she'd called Frank and told him Wes' spirit was haunting the cemetery and that he couldn't find Aidan anywhere. She hadn't heard a word since then.
It was quiet. Too quiet. Everything had stagnated.
She assumed Frank was still looking into things and hadn't been able to find anything on Aidan yet. She'd known this would take a lot of time. She'd been patient, at first. But as time wore on, and she didn't hear anything, she began to question if patience was the right route. And especially for the past month, she'd been getting more restless as she sunk further and further into self-doubt, losing hope along the way.
Jaida had helped. Mia knew that. But even the puppy's playful nature couldn't shake her owner out of her mood today. She'd brought Jaida on a walk, needing to get out and do something, anything. But everything seemed quiet, muted, far too subdued for the city she'd gotten used to.
At Mia's lowest moments, she questioned herself. There were times she questioned her sanity, wondering if she'd imagined the whole thing at the cemetery, wondering if she'd imagined that encounter with a ghost or spirit or Force essence or whatever you wanted to call it. She wondered if she'd made more out of everyone's dreams than was really there, because a part of her couldn't seem to let go.
But in a few moments, those notions always passed. She knew she hadn't imagined it. She'd only failed him. She'd failed both of them. After all this time, she often still felt guilty that she hadn't done more. She didn't know what, but something. Frank was the one with the contacts, not her, so she'd given him time and space, but she couldn't wait any longer. Even if things had come to a standstill, she didn't have to.
She couldn't be patient anymore. She couldn't handle the silence any longer. She'd call Frank soon, whether an update existed or not, and she'd break through the quiet, hushed stillness that seemed to have settled on her life.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Any other characters mentioned in this don't belong to me. Wes belongs to diamond9697. Frank, April, and Aidan belong to muses_inc.
Notes: Takes place today.
Word Count: 605
Crossposted to occhallenge.
The morning of Wes' birthday, Mia hit another low. As if his wedding anniversary to Aidan three days ago hadn't been enough to handle for the week, a week which needed to just end right now. She'd almost left the apartment on the anniversary, wanting to get out, then remembered it would be hard for April. She'd tried to keep her mood at least a little cheerful and be supportive. But today, on Wes' birthday, she was sullen and quiet. She felt like asking someone what the kriff the boys had been thinking, getting married when they did so close to one of their birthdays. But she didn't.
Instead, she called the floral shop in New York that she liked. She'd used them to decorate Wes and Aidan's grave with massive amounts of yellow flowers on Aidan's birthday several months before. She couldn't be in New York this time, but still felt like doing something to remember Wes on his birthday. So she paid the floral shop a little extra to deliver the bright yellow floral arrangement to the cemetery and gave explicit directions straight from memory on how to find the right gravestone.
And then, there was nothing else to do except feel like she'd failed.
It'd been months since she had the encounter with Wes at the cemetery. It'd been months since she had promised him she'd do something, that she or someone would help him and that they'd find Aidan and what had happened to him so they could be reunited. It'd been a long time since she'd called Frank and told him Wes' spirit was haunting the cemetery and that he couldn't find Aidan anywhere. She hadn't heard a word since then.
It was quiet. Too quiet. Everything had stagnated.
She assumed Frank was still looking into things and hadn't been able to find anything on Aidan yet. She'd known this would take a lot of time. She'd been patient, at first. But as time wore on, and she didn't hear anything, she began to question if patience was the right route. And especially for the past month, she'd been getting more restless as she sunk further and further into self-doubt, losing hope along the way.
Jaida had helped. Mia knew that. But even the puppy's playful nature couldn't shake her owner out of her mood today. She'd brought Jaida on a walk, needing to get out and do something, anything. But everything seemed quiet, muted, far too subdued for the city she'd gotten used to.
At Mia's lowest moments, she questioned herself. There were times she questioned her sanity, wondering if she'd imagined the whole thing at the cemetery, wondering if she'd imagined that encounter with a ghost or spirit or Force essence or whatever you wanted to call it. She wondered if she'd made more out of everyone's dreams than was really there, because a part of her couldn't seem to let go.
But in a few moments, those notions always passed. She knew she hadn't imagined it. She'd only failed him. She'd failed both of them. After all this time, she often still felt guilty that she hadn't done more. She didn't know what, but something. Frank was the one with the contacts, not her, so she'd given him time and space, but she couldn't wait any longer. Even if things had come to a standstill, she didn't have to.
She couldn't be patient anymore. She couldn't handle the silence any longer. She'd call Frank soon, whether an update existed or not, and she'd break through the quiet, hushed stillness that seemed to have settled on her life.