Joshua doesn’t expect to be welcomed back with open arms – not after all he’s done – but he is.
He wakes up after God knows how long, and hovering above him is his sister. She’s older, her face worn, but she’s still Eliza; she’s still his little sister.
“Thank the Lord, you’ve awoken,” she says. Her voice is the same, soft and low, and her eyes are kind. Tired, but kind.
“Eliza?” Joshua asks; for a moment he thinks he’s hallucinating, or dead; maybe Caesar didn’t let her go all those years ago. Maybe he had her killed, and lied.
“You’re home,” she says, and she sounds so relieved that Joshua knows that this isn’t heaven, that he’s alive by some miracle and that she’s alive, too. “What happened to you?”
“I’m sorry,” he says suddenly, reaching for her hand only to discover that his own is bandaged but for the tips of his fingers, which are dark and discolored. What happened to you?
The past few months are hazy, delirium-filled, desperately dragging himself back to his childhood home after… after…
“He set me on fire,” he rasps, then coughs; his throat is dry. Eliza helps him sit and brings a cup of water to his lips, making him drink. “And he had me thrown into the Grand Canyon.”
“Ed – Caesar?” she asks. He nods.
“I was foolish. I am foolish. I abandoned you – I made so many mistakes.”
Eliza smiles a little. “Love does the strangest things to us. The Lord forgives.”
“Even when it makes us monsters?”
“Even then.”
No – she doesn’t understand. All he’s done, all the atrocities he’s committed; she has no idea. “You don’t know the things I’ve done,” he protests. “Eliza, I have ripped sons from their mothers, torn tribes apart, and I enjoyed it. Because it was what he wanted me to do.”
It is only now that he realizes what he has done, looking into his sister’s eyes and seeing the eyes of every woman he’s condemned to a life of slavery. He remembers those eyes begging him to leave, to come home, telling him that there was still time to turn back.
(He remembers glancing at Edward and seeing someone righteous, brilliant, holy; he remembers turning his back on Eliza. How can she forgive him?)
“So repent,” she says. “Fight, Joshua. Stop him from taking anything else. Heal, and return to the Lord. He allowed you to survive so you could come back to us. Any pain you feel is a reminder of your wrongdoing; you will survive it.”
She sounds so certain, his little sister, as if she has not lost her faith in him.
“I have fallen so far,” he says. Eliza places a gentle hand over his heart.
“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Remember, O Lord, The Children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said, "Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation.” O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed. How happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.“
“I have to get a solid two to three hours of brooding in per day. Filling quotas.”
dream daddy starters - accepting
the comment pulls a laugh from him, a deep rumble that sounds more like it comes from his chest than his throat. behind bandages, his lips pull into a smile — one visible in the crease of his bright blue eyes, the way his fingers loosen their grip on the gun he’s in the midst of cleaning. joshua finds it humorous mostly because it caught him so off-guard; it reminds him almost of something his sister would say. ‘ oh, yes. the lord certainly would not want you to ignore your quotas. work is, after all, an important part of life. ’ were it not for the way his eyes remain lit with humor, it would be nigh-impossible to discern whether his tone was serious or sarcastic.
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator Sentence Starters
“Betrayed by my own butt yet again.”
“Can you explain memes to me?”
“Contrary to popular belief, penguins are… birds.”
“Did you think I was gonna stab you just now?”
“Don’t cry. Don’t cry. I swear to god if you cry again.”
“Don’t write checks your dick can’t cash.”
“Here’s to bad decisions and relaxed moral values.”
“How’s the…… jeeeeeeeeeesus?”
“I am a happy little cheese monster.”
“I am spinning a web of lies that I fear will one day consume me.”
“I don’t want your stupid fruit leather.”
“I have to get a solid two to three hours of brooding in per day. Filling quotas.”
“It’s called ‘string cheese’ and not ‘chompy cheese’ for a reason.”
“I’ll probably end up standing uncomfortably in the corner with a plate of food and hope that nobody talks to me.”
“I’m so many levels of irony deep I’ve forgotten what humour is.”
“I’m suddenly struck with the overwhelming need to crawl back into bed.”
“Mothman is bullshit.”
“My ultimate sexual fantasy is sleeping in on a Saturday.”
“OH SHIT THAT’S A KNIFE.”
“See you in class… bitch.”
“Sharks are tight.”
“So, you ever kill a man?”
“Stop being so desperate to please your hot friend.”
“That… that is a good butt.”
“The key to being cool is acting like you don’t care about anything but actually care very deeply about everything to the point where it’s debilitating.”
“This ice cream cake is my new boyfriend.”
“This is where I come to masturbate.”
“Wait, I’m a wreck.”
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE.”
“You can never be too careful. See that baby in that stroller over there? Government operative.”
“Your face… is… good.”
“Your unending thirst will be your ultimate downfall.”
baratheonpilled
prguitarman
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
