Sound the Bells; Lil Adamson
TIMING : The end of White Crest, Dec 3rd
LOCATION: White Crest, or what was left of it.
PARTIES: @lilian-adamson
SUMMARY: Lil, while waiting for the end, is reminded that she’s never been truly alone. For once, that makes her comfortable.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Parental Death, Emotional Abuse (maybe)
Death wasn’t something that had ever been far from Lilian’s mind. After all, most of her time was among the dead; even now, as the town evacuated and the - volunteers- stayed, the dead surrounded her. Faces of people that were long gone shimmered in and out as she nodded to the still-living as they finished up their final plans.
It was grim, but Lil tried to give a smile here and there. She had a joke on her lip and a smile as she tried to calm down others. After all, there were two things every Adamson knew, and one was that Death came for everyone, and the second wasn’t a damn thing you could do about it. So she refused to do a dirge for herself or the others instead of leaving them with a soft smile and a wave.
Maybe that’s why she wasn’t scared even as she started walking her way, alone a wave to the people behind her as she went through the crumbling town, working herself carefully through the thunderous everything ignoring the wind whipping around her as she steadied herself, following from the tower. There wasn’t anything she could do differently now. The letters were sent out, her phone was smashed, the warnings from the dead were given, and now it was just the time to do what needed to be done.
She just needed to get to the place and wait for Death to meet her. Of course, it would be the longest few minutes of her life - but hey, maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.
She was starting to get wet as she pushed through the streets, the ghosts seeming to follow her even now as her Death drew closer. She didn’t know if the others could see them - following the exorcist as she made her way to sit near the bench, waiting for the time to stand and finish the ritual on the exact spot.
Tucked close to her, Lil’s fingers tapped a poetry collection as she waited for the apocalypse to come to an end - either way. It had been silly, a habit from years of waiting for things to happen, but she had carefully picked a book to read, waiting for the end. Pulling open the book, she started reading where she had left off in the collection - irony be damned that she couldn’t possibly finish it.
“Because I could not stop for death -” Lil muttered under her breath, trying to steady herself - only a few minutes left on this plane. She could do this alone.
“He kindly stopped for me –,” She heard a soft voice in her ear, a young woman sitting next to Lil on the bench - the only way she knew she was dead was the old Victorian clothes she wore - the time loop seemingly making even the dead around her look solid. Her face was kind as she put her hand over Lil’s - she could almost feel it there as she squeezed Lil’s hand.
“The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.” Lil heard another voice, this of a young man whose eyes were fixed on the tower that Lil couldn’t figure out was still standing. Something in his jaw reminded her of Jamie when he was in his twenties, his arms folded in front of him, a twinge of sadness mixed with comfort as she focused back on the words.
“We slowly drove – He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility –”
Lil said, a thunder strike coming so close to herself she could taste the electricity in her mouth as she tried not to cringe. Her hands clutched the book as she felt someone almost touching her shoulder.
Looking, she saw an older woman, her soft smile glinting encouraging as she continued the poem in a strained whisper,
“We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess – in the Ring – We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – We passed the Setting Sun –”
Before Lil could continue the poem, she felt someone tug at the book, a small child looking eagerly at the page and carefully saying the following words in a confident voice,
“Or rather – He passed Us – The Dews drew quivering and Chill – For only Gossamer, my Gown – My Tippet – only Tulle –”
Another voice layered the child as a man plucked the child into his lap as he sat next to Lil, his voice reminding her of a dad as he tucked the kid under his chin and leaned his head on Lil’s shoulder to read his hair almost tickling at her neck,
“We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground – The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice – in the Ground –”
Eyes focused on Lil - even the young man turning around slightly to look behind him as they examined her. Knowing without them saying, Lil started to say the last bit of the poem - here voice trembling with her understanding that they wanted her to finish it
“Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses’ Heads Were toward Eternity –”
She said, her voice getting softer at the end as she felt other ghosts that had been further away coming closer, circling the ones living around them.
It occurred to her then that the ghosts surrounding her weren’t taunting her like they so often had done before. On the contrary, they seemed to almost be keeping a vigil around her. Keeping her from seeing all the chaos surrounding the area as the time drew nearer. Trying to comfort her by reading out loud to herself as they all knew what she was doing. In a moment that they could have made her last moments worse, there was kindness instead. They wanted her not to be alone. Even now, as she caught the eyes of the dead, they all looked at her with pity and sadness. She didn’t even know their names - she doubted they knew hers.
“T-thank you,” Lil said softly, her eyes focused on the sky, waiting for the bells to ring, her body shaking as the softness of comfort wasn’t something she had known. But, instead, it made her tremble, in a loss; she wasn’t sure she understood. She tried to will herself to stand and get into her place, but she kept hoping for just one more moment. For just a bit more courage or comfort - or hell, just one more moment of life.
She was going to die. She was going too far away from her family and friends, with only dead strangers to keep her company. It caused her to freeze for a moment.
Still, she felt soft tugs from the ghosts - words she couldn’t quite hear that sounded more like they were trying to drown out the crackling lighting and wind. It wasn’t harsh and grating like she usually heard, but soothing. Even now, they were trying to keep her calm, to keep her resolve here. Did they know? Did they know what she had to do? Did they see how she had tried to calm the others, not letting her fear show? That if she moved from this area, the town was doomed? They must have been trying to make it less scary for her, at the very least.
They must have, as she felt a shuffle happen and a tap from the woman on her hand to look up a small smile to Lil as she got her to focus.
For a moment, Lil blinked; the tears she didn’t know filled her eyes when she saw a woman who looked an awful lot like her looking back.
“Come, Sweet Girl, I’ve got you. Let’s get you home,” The soft voice of June said as Lil looked up, her book falling to the ground as she reached towards her Auntie, a sudden feeling of wholeness as the destruction reached an unbearable cacophony around them. Like she had known, June stood where Lil needed to be, and once she reached her, Lil could swear that she could feel her Auntie just like she had been a little girl again, not a grown woman. It made June look as young as she had been. Her firm grip around her as she pulled her in for a moment, the smell of oranges and violets on the tip of her nose as she swore she could hear the bells ring. For a moment, she looked at her Aunt and smiled, knowing she wasn’t alone. She was never alone.
“I’m coming home, Auntie - I’m coming -”
