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Disclaimery stuff at the end.
View From My Window Some called it home. The buildings were grey and dingy, corners chipped and roofs slipping off slowly. Windows were boreded up or cracked glass in panes that used to have gilt on the crosspieces. Roads were dusty and worn, leading nowhere and coming from nothing. It was a forgotten place, but more talked about than remembered. Making sense of it was possible, if you lived there. If you didn't, you were meat. There were churches on every corner, some half-torn down, a few still standing. Cracked stained glass decorated the windows and peeling white paint the walls. The faiths were all different, but the intention the same. Hope. "Mama, why are we doing this?" "Shhh, darlin'." The Rogue was old and tired-looking. Her life worn out before it began. Just like her mother's and her mother before her. Her daughter, Caitlyn, would be the same in the end. The little red-haired sprite looked trustingly at her and smiled. "Okay." And then she skipped ahead. ~Be careful...~ Oh, how she wanted to say that to the girl. But it wouldn't help. It never did. Ahead of her daughter, the building loomed, covered in cracked paint and falling shingles. The front steps were concrete that was old and full of holes. Above the warped and slightly open oak door was a drooping sign. The peeling paint read, "Shantytown Hospital." --- Her red hair was fading into white-ish brown. The blue skin more grey and dull than the vibrant blue it had been. The eyes that looked out at you were yellow'd and full of a deadness. "Momma?" The head continued staring listlessly out the window. Rogue sighed and looked down at Caitlyn. "Ah'm sorry, hon." "Gran'ma?" The little girl smiled up at her mother and skipped into the room, "Gran'ma, we're here." The child hopped onto the chair next to the bed and reached over to set down the little fluffy teddy bear on the bed. "We brought you something, gran'ma." The silence from the bed continued. Rogue stood in the doorway, frozen. Not wanting to move forward and unable to move back. Caitlyn crossed her legs in the dilapidated chair and assumed a lecturing, story-telling pose. "And, gran'ma, we have a new pet! 'S a puppy!" The child bounced slightly in the chair. "Caitlyn..." "Not yet, mama." The child smiled and turned back to her grandmother. "And the puppy is brown and fluffy--like the bear, here." She held up the teddy bear, her eyes not seeing the worn fabric it was covered in. The eye falling out of one socket, the arm chewed on by the puppy. Rogue closed her eyes and leaned against the doorjamb, remembering herself as a child. Her happiness and naivete. She'd had a puppy once, too. It was killed when a Writer forgot they had a set of Marauders and the Arclight got hungry. Oh, her mother hadn't told her that was what had happened. But the pup was out in the yard one night and gone the next. And she knew. "...And then mama and I came up to see you." Caitlyn bounced again in her seat and smiled. "Caitlyn, it's time to go." "Okay, mama, but I'm gonna hug gran'ma, first." She hopped out of the chair and stepped up to the side of the bed. It was too high for her to get on, and she glanced at her mother pleadingly. "Caitlyn..." "Please, mama?" Rogue shuddered as she stepped into the room, feeling the hopelessness drag her further under. She'd do so much for her daughter. So much and yet so litle. "Here, honey." She gently lifted the little girl onto the bed. It creaked as Caitlyn reached out and leaned over her grandmother, hugging her tightly. "Love you, gran'ma." She whispered into the old woman' hair. She looked up at her mother. "Mama, you hug her too." "Caitlyn..." "Please?" Caitlyn's eyes shown with sudden tears. "You have to. She's going away soon." "I..." Rogue closed her eyes and leaned forward, carefully slipping an arm under the woman she called Momma. Caitlyn had slipped to the other side and she held the woman, too. They both lifted her into a sitting position, then held her tightly. "I love you, Momma." "Rogue?" The cracked and tired voice sounded loud in the suddenly silent room. "I... love... you... too." And the tired blue eyes closed. Closed and stopped looking out the window. Out the window at the old and faded church that had stood since time immemorial. Or, from the creation of Shantytown. Whichever came first. --- End
Shantytown was discovered by Seraph.
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