Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000

Title: All So Quiet
Author: Susan Frankovich
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 Frankovich
~~~~~~~

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

~All my poems and stories can be found at:
https://members.tripod.com/sfrankovich/index.html