till human voices wake us

Madeline Ainsworth Forty-two | Mother | Human Professor of Astronomy"She let out a laugh, and then she put her hand over her mouth, like she was angry at herself for forgetting her sadness.”

[onebrokenrecord]

You’re out of sight

[alasterwhyte-blog]

Barton Hollow was a town of the undead if you knew how to talk to them. It was still in it’s very early stages of course but Alaster had been working very hard on his project and with that came a lot of extra hours in a place that most would call inhospitable. No one liked graveyards because it reminded them of their definite mortality, providing they were human of course. But not Alaster, all he could see was the world of possibility that lay six feet under his shiny Italian leather loafers. “It’s not so cruel if you can see what lies on the other side.” He’d spotted her a few graves over and didn’t hesitate in gravitating towards her, it was polite to check in. “How are you, Madeline? Visiting someone?”

[madelineainsworth]

"It's not so much death that I find to be cruel, in fact it can be, depending on the state in which one enters it, kind and welcoming. But it's what we leave behind us," Madeline looked around, her eyes skimming over the crumbling gravestones. "Monuments erected in our memories, spurred on by grief, that eventually are left forgotten. Who will remember us, when our loved ones are gone? Who will remember us, once sunlight and grout have erased our names?" There was something about Alaster that put her at ease, that allowed her to speak thoughts she often kept to herself. Madeline knew that he shouldn't, knew that his reputation inspired many to keep their mouths shut, but she couldn't help it. There were so few in this town that provided her the same opportunity and so she had to take it, no matter the possible consequences. "I am well, thank you, Alaster. And yourself?" Madeline's hands tightened around the flowers she held, her eyes glancing towards the grave she'd come to sit before and beg forgiveness from. "I'm visiting my daughter, Autumn."

[emilie-cross]

     Emilie had always been the one to visit her parents’ graves often; Jeremiah only ever came on very special occasions, or when she had dragged him along. Since their separation, she would’ve liked to believe that he’d continued to visit the graves, but their dwindling appearance proved otherwise. She couldn’t blame him though; the last thing either of them needed was a reminder that they were both completely alone in the world now. Still, though, the graves did need to be maintained, and she’d made an afternoon of pulling the weeds around their headstones and placing fresh bouquets in the small vases she kept in front of them. She’d just finished filling them with water when she heard a woman’s voice behind her. Spinning around, she spotted an unfamiliar (yet somehow simultaneously familiar) woman a row back. 

"S-sorry…what did you say?" 

[madelineainsworth]

Grief and loss makes an individual feel different things. It is said that when a child loses a parent, they feel their own mortality. But what of a mother who's lost their child? Madeline had heard that they lose a sense of immortality, but she'd never had such a sense to begin with. It is so easy to perish in this world. One wrong step, one wrong word and you're gone, wiped from existence. She'd felt sorrow, and she'd felt guilt, but for all the wrong reasons. With her eyes on the girl before her, she wondered at what she had felt when she had lost her loved one. 

"Oh, nothing of real consequence, just musing aloud. I'm sorry if I disturbed you." Madeline offered a polite, almost motherly smile. It surprised her, as it always did, how easy it was to give such a smile to a stranger. "My condolences," she nodded towards the girls recently placed flowers, her grip tightening around her own.

[autumnainsworths]

"What is?" Autumn couldn’t sound more monotone or disinterested if she tried, but there was nothing that gave her the inclination to seem emotionally invested in the conversation. Sure, she’d seen her mother in the distance, and resolved to speak to her, but the space that always remained between them was growing with time — and somehow, she had no idea how, or if, she wanted to close it. "This?" She took a moment to survey the scene, the crumbling gravestones that were withering with age, proclaiming names long forgotten. "Everyone goes. That’s simply a fact. I wouldn’t say that there’s anything cruel about it. It’s just…reality."

[madelineainsworth]

Madeline had seen the figure in her peripheral vision, a blur of moving colours wedged in the corner of her eye, making it's presence known but not demanding the attention she would reluctantly give. Often these figures, these people, weren't really there. They were a flicker of light, the sway of a branch, a figment of her imagination. Seldom did Madeline look over her shoulder, acknowledging whatever had caught her eyes' existence, and she was about to move on when she heard it. A voice; one that she never seemed to escape, spoken with a clarity that it had lacked in the last several months. Autumn. 

By instinct, Madeline closed her eyes, took a breath and counted to three. Only when she opened them again, Autumn was still there, her voice continuing to echo through Madeline's head. Her brow creased as she looked her daughter over. Either she was dreaming, or her delusions and reality had finally merged into one, or...or maybe, somehow, Autumn was still alive. But how could she be? Madeline had seen her, eyes lifeless and body cold. "...wh-what? I don't...I don't understand."

[idunn-svensson-deactivated20150]

Idunn walked deeper in the forest, half wondering if the woman would be inclined to follow her. “Is that why you’re here? To see Mars?”

[madelineainsworth]

With a slow step Madeline began to follow the girl. She appeared to be heading in the same direction and she wondered, just briefly, if they were both headed towards the same clearing. "Mars, constellations, anything and everything my eyes can see. I'm not out here all too often so I like taking advantage of the minimal light pollution whilst I am."

[madelineainsworth]

Madeline felt a tinge of guilt as she moved past a patch of crumbling, unkempt graves, long forgotten by the ones who buried them. Faded names, chipped stones, cracked surfaces; life erasing them slowly but surely from history. It was saddening to think that one day her own grave would look like this. Autumn's grave would look like this. Perhaps anonymity would be a good thing, after all who in this world truly knew her, knew the real Madeline Ainsworth? "So this is the end, how cruel" she muttered, not realising the being within close proximity to her.

[idunn-svensson-deactivated20150]

Idunn paused, contemplating her words, wondering what she would say. “Is there a major astronomical event tonight?” She said looking up at the night sky, the moonlight making her hair shine in the darkness.

[madelineainsworth]

"Not exactly, no," Madeline smiled softly, her eyes drawn to the glow of the girls hair, it's luminous shine hard to look away from. "I mean, tonight Mars hangs at it's closest to Earth, and with the clarity of the sky one can see it perfectly."

[siennasaldrich]

A hand traveling up to her face, Sienna tilted her head curiously, meeting Madeline’s eyes with her dark brown ones. “Where is it? Sorry,” she asked, giving the older woman an apologetic grin.

[madelineainsworth]

"It's just, um," Madeline began to point by the side of the woman's lips before retracting her hand and placing it on her own face. "Right about here," she smiled softly. What and idiot she was.

[keeganomalley]

Keegan sighed, glad that someone else validated her emotions. Turning her head to look at the woman next to her, she sighed slightly frustrated and also very slightly amused. Rolling her eyes, she sarcastically remarked “No, not at all. I desperately wanted to hear all the insignificant details of what he ate for breakfast.” She was being impatient and maybe a tad cruel, but she’d told the man sitting next to her she wasn’t in the mood for trivial conversation at least four times already. 

[madelineainsworth]

Madeline let out an irritated sigh, throwing her gaze to the body beside the girl. Of course it was a man, wasn't it always? Forcing conversation, harassing women under the guise of 'determination' and 'flattery'. Couldn't they get the hint? They aren't wanted, and they certainly aren't entitled to a females attention. "Excuse me," she began, catching the attention of the man who seemed to continue talking to the girl, despite receiving attention from her. "Excuse me sir, would you mind not harassing my friend? She doesn't want to converse with you, and she certainly doesn't want to suck your dick. Your efforts here are wasted, move along."

[keeganomalley]

Keegan sat at the countertop swirling her drink around. “Does my face just scream "tell me your whole life story I really want to hear it" or something?” She questioned the person sitting next to her.

[madelineainsworth]

Madeline's attention turned from her drink to the young lady sat beside her. "To a perceptive eye, no, not really." She appraised the girl further, "but you do have large and soft eyes, which can often be mistaken for kind. Is the person next you being bothersome?"

[idunn-svensson-deactivated20150]

"Do you know how to get back to town?" Idunn crossed her arms, knowing that in the darkness of the night the forest changes, making it still unknown the the human eye.

[madelineainsworth]

"But of course. I come this way every time there is a major astronomical event. There's a clearing not far from here that is the perfect place for open stargazing." Madeline smiled.

[siennasaldrich]

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

[madelineainsworth]

"Like what?" Madeline averted her eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't realise I was staring, it's just...you've got a little something...There."

[leonardobradshaw]

"Look, I’m sorry, but it’s the best I can do. If you wanted more money back, then perhaps you shouldn’t have spent $10,000 on a weekend trip to Fr—" Leonardo said frustrated with the customer in front of him. The man furiously left the shop and slammed the door to his office. Leonardo groaned. Tax season.

[madelineainsworth]

Madeline jumped as a door slammed and a man stomped past, his fists clenched at his sides. Her first thought was not one of query, but rather of concern. First for the man left inside the room and the tantrum he may have just been at the centre of, and then for herself. Had the man's anger been simply due to an unquenched greed, or had it been justified? With the secretary now ushering Madeline into the next room, she supposed she'd just have to find out first hand.

[idunn-svensson-deactivated20150]

"What are you doing here?"

[madelineainsworth]

Madeline turns her gaze from the sky to the woman who seemed to appear in the darkness. "Gazing. Hoping. Praying."

[littlesalvatore]

Hearing the faint ding of the bell to her shop, her head popped up. Chloe managed to tear herself away from her notebook long enough to give a warm smile to the person who had entered the bookstore. Bringing herself to her feet, she walked out from behind the desk she had been sitting at. “Welcome to Felicity’s Fairchild, is there something I can help you with today?” 

[littlesalvatore]

[madelineainsworth]

Madeline couldn't remember the last time she'd been in an actual book store. With modern technology and two library cards, there was little need for her to venture further than her own study or the BHU campus. However, for all the triumphs of online shopping, there were also many failings, and the most recent of which had bought the quasi-hermit to the numerous shelves offered at Felicity's Fairchild. "Um," Madeline began as the shop keep approached. "Yes, thank you. I'm looking for a specific cook book. It was part of a series released years ago called Tastes of the South; a Culinary Guide to Louisiana. The volume I'm after relates to Barton Hollow. The publishers website listed this store as a potential seller."

[kylizzlekristen]

"Today alone, I’ve seen three fake Prada bags, six girls with no make-up and a boy who wore the dirtiest, cheapest sneakers in the world." Summer shivered in disgust just thinking of such horrifying things, “So, pray tell, is this a recent thing with the residents of this town, or does everyone always wear such atrocious things and I have merely been blind to it?” 

[kylizzlekristen]

[madelineainsworth]

"Unfortunately this is what happens when one is constantly distracted by their reflection, or blinded by a glint of light as it bounces from the silver spoon they are fed with." Madeline offered a weak, if not, fake smile. Normally she'd just nod politely and move along, but she was already in a rotten mood and was feeling somewhat reckless. "This is the human race. These are what you'd call the lower classes. Welcome to the real world."

[tsarchived-deactivated20150713]

The Mystic always managed to soften her spirit. There was something about the shop, something, well, mystic that usually coaxed her into a comfortable void. Terra had been back for a day precisely, and while her bones still buzzed with the remnants of Chicago, it was lovely to be back. She had surprisingly grown fond of the town, and so spent the entire day wandering the streets; as if she had expected it to change substantially in the three weeks that she was gone. But Barton Hollow was as she remembered it: peaceful in the early morning, ordinary during the day, perhaps slightly strange in the evening. Terra, however, loved strange.

Five o’clock was by far the busiest hour and Terra wiggled her way through a crowd of indecisive customers towards the front of the line. She wasn’t very adventurous with her coffee, and so the wait limited itself to thirty seconds altogether. Then she turned and nearly, very nearly, ran into somebody. Terra was quick to react though, and so avoided a disaster by merely an inch. She looked up at the person with a half frustrated and half amused expression, “You ought to mind people’s personal spaces,” she said. “Someone else might not be able to hold onto their cappuccino.”

[madelineainsworth]

It had been a strategic move, arranging for the submission of all assignments the day before Valentine's Day. If someone should ask, not that they ever did nor they ever would, Madeline would have a truthful reason to decline. By staying at home and marking papers she would save her already aching heart the pain of beating alone on this day dedicated to lovers. By staying at home she'd avoid the normally zombie filled streets that would become overrun by the throngs of people and their overt displays of affection and public indecency. Work was a distraction she not only wanted but needed, and something of which would best be set into motion at this very moment. First, though, coffee.

The crowd at The Mystic was larger than she'd been expecting. Having seldom entered the walls of the local establishment, Madeline had garnered the belief that she could enter, order and exit within a matter of mere minutes. Oh how wrong she had been. With a take away cup in her hand, Madeline tried to manoeuvre through and around a group of slouching youngsters, only to be shoved back into another being. "Sor.." she began, the apology almost spilling in it's entirety from her mouth before she recognised the being beside her. Madeline's lips curled into an amused smile. "When you're not tripping over me, you're bumping into me. If these occurrences continue one might start believing them to be anything but little accidents." She laughed. "I do appreciate my shirt not being soaked with coffee, so thank you, I guess."