poisonangel | Sunshine and Shadows

Characters: OOC Alford’s world and parents
Rated: R for disturbing themes

It took only hours to destroy.

Something went wrong or perhaps it went tragically right. There was no one left to care which. Which box, which key--it didn’t matter. But there had been such massive devastation in such an ordinary-looking box. It ravaged the world--scarring, killing, and polluting.

Hours to destroy and years to work on rebuilding. How long was uncertain. Decades? Centuries? Millennia? With no one to record its passage, its struggles, the past had no meaning.

There were scant few if any left who knew it had ever been different. Most people didn’t know the tales of lush, fertile land that easily accepted seeds and would burst forth with life. They didn’t remember the political and social infrastructures that seemed so important they were worth fighting and dying for. They had no way of knowing that their lives could have been anything different--anything better.

They had no time to worry about such things. Life was about reacting to each situation. It was a struggle to survive. Happiness was purchased in small quantities through hard work or stolen in back alleys.

In such a world, people were hard and selfish because they had to be. Manipulation, aggression, defensiveness, and mistrust were common assets.

So, when Guthrie Markina found a woman who radiated like pure sunshine through the darkness he had to have her. His affections rang of greedy possessiveness, but her light would not be dimmed even through the haze of malicious acts. And slowly he changed.

He brightened.

He softened.

But he was not bright.

He was not soft.

The change was too small to be real change. It was Helene’s reflection cast upon him, and for a time, he appeared different--better. He cared for his sunshine. She was his most treasured possession. She bore him a child. He paid little attention to the boy. He had her eyes. That made him tolerable, but he had no time for children. He was aloof and distant as the youth clung to his mother.

He didn’t like their bond. The child took too much of her radiance. It was his radiance! That glow was for him--not some child who couldn’t appreciate it. But he remained impassive--indulgent. Helene was fond of the child. He allowed her that.

Until....

Until it happened. Her light burned too brightly for the world as it was. She was an anomaly. Something too fresh and pure and it was swallowed by the cold, thick cloak of darkness.

It didn’t matter how. She was gone. And he was angry.

But the world left no time for anger. There was a business to run, customers to attend to, and a son to raise--a son with her eyes.

Alford was a constant, painful reminder of what he had lost. He wanted the child gone. He came so close, so many times. His thick fingers wrapped around that tiny, delicate neck. He just needed to squeeze a little. Just a little tightening of muscle and bone and his loss would be hidden--forgotten. But then those eyelids would part and her eyes that were his eyes would stare back at him in disbelief.

Too similar to kill him. And too similar to let him live.

If he couldn’t end his suffering, he would punish the child for causing the suffering. The boy had been bad. He had to be punished. Helene was gone. Someone had to pay.

And it wouldn’t be him.