Title: All So Quiet
Author: Susan 
E-mail: susanf@ticnet.com
Classification: VA, post-colonization(I know...I was 
surprised too...)
Keywords: Mulder angst
Rating: strong PG for disturbing images
Archive: Anywhere, just ask first please.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to each other, 
not me.

Summary: When he opened his eyes, there were dark 
green clouds twisting in the sky and the wind was 
a hot whisper against his skin...
*****************************************************

All So Quiet
by Susan 
~~~~~~~

He had called her at noon and told her it was time for 
the sky to fall and she believed him.  

There was a time when she wouldn't have, it wasn't in 
her nature to believe so easily...

but she did this time.

She had calmly told him on the phone that she would be 
there in ten minutes and he had smiled at the certainty 
he heard in her voice. 

In ten minutes, she would be there beside him and they 
would find someplace safe where they could hold each 
other as the sky fell...

      When he opened his eyes, there were dark green 
      clouds twisting in the sky and the wind was a
      hot whisper against his skin.

      Grains of sand clung to the dead skin on his arms 
      and hands and his throat felt rough and thick and 
      he tried to swallow...to speak...to say her name

      but it was all so quiet.

She had said ten minutes...she had promised him that she 
would be there in ten minutes and he believed her just 
as he always had.

And yet she wasn't there.

The hairs on his arms sizzled and his chest ached as he 
had stood on the corner of the dirt road waiting waiting 
waiting...     

      The green clouds continued to swirl above him, but
      they were stronger now and when he tried to speak...
      to say her name again, the wind took his voice up 
      to the clouds 

      and left it there.

They had agreed that there would be no cars and that 
whoever had gotten there first would wait for the other 
on the corner, but the minutes kept passing and he began 
to wonder if he'd made a mistake.
  
Maybe they should've come up with a different plan, chosen 
a different place.  Maybe he should've kept insisting that 
she go be a doctor... 

but then he saw her.

      He tried to sit up, but the grass was soaked with 
      beet red blood and dark green tears and when he put 
      his hands on the ground, it burned...oh God, it 
      burned...

      and yet everything was so still, so quiet.

Standing at the edge of the field across the street, 
she had seen him too, and she began to run to him and 
he began to run to her

but then the clouds had opened their wombs

and hot green liquid had spilled from the sky 

and in an instant

the earth was changed.

They were changed.

      He had to see her, to touch her, to hear her voice, 
      and so he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw and 
      he stood.
      
      Gray smoke hung heavy in the air and the clouds 
      angrily swirled above him.  Puddles of toxic green 
      pulled at his ankles as he walked, but he had to 
      know.  He had to see.

      And then he did.

      The heat rising from her skin burned his hands as 
      he lifted her limp body up onto his lap, but he 
      pulled her closer...closer...he had to get closer.

      And that's when he heard it, a whisper stronger 
      then any storm...

      "Mulder."

The silence was 
broken.


~end~

*Wow...was that as emotional for you to read as it 
was for me to write?  No wonder I've only written two 
post-colonization pieces.:) They're too gut-wrenching...

If my words touched your emotions too, please let me 
know. susanf@ticnet.com