Participants:
| Scene Title | Alone |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | And lost in paradise. |
| Date | December 24, 2018 |
The Ark - Morgue
I've been believing in something so distant
As if I was human
And I've been denying this feeling of hopelessness
In me, in me
He's too pale. Too still. For a long time, it's all Odessa can do to just stay in the doorway and not turn and run away. He's already been stripped of essentials that can be repurposed by other residents of the Ark. There's just a sheet over his body now, and it makes her feel cold just to look at him. Or maybe that's her own despair.
All the promises I've made
Just to let you down
You believed in me
But I'm broken
Hesitant steps carry her the distance between the open door and the table he lays upon. He's not clean. It isn't as though there'll be a funeral and a proper burial. Trembling, her hand rests against the curve of his cheek that she knows so intimately. The first tears fall then. Her lips part to let out a thin sound of agony. There was no body when her James had died. No remains for her to identify, just an urn to set on her fireplace and surround with flowers.
I have nothing left
And all I feel is this cruel wanting
We've been falling for all this time
And now I'm lost in paradise
"I know you aren't mine," she says quietly to the dead man in the darkness of the room, "but… Please indulge me if I speak to you like you were him." A hard blink sheds more tears. "I loved you, James Woods. I will always love you. Any version of you in any universe, whether you'll ever love me back or not."
As much as I'd like the past not to exist
It still does
And as much as I'd like to feel like I belong here
I'm just as scared as you
Falling silent, Odessa traces the curve of his cheekbone with her thumb, back and forth affectionately. "I never… I keep thinking about the last time I spoke to my husband. I don't remember if I said I love you when I hung up the phone. I know I didn't have to tell him. I know Destiny didn't need to tell you. You knew you were loved. At least… I hope you did."
I have nothing left
And all I feel is this cruel wanting
We've been falling for all this time
And now I'm lost in paradise
A soft sniffle punctuates the end of her thought and begins the next. "It takes a special person to take in a little girl like you did. To raise her in this shitty world and help her find the good. She was happy, James. And that's because of you." Odessa smiles fondly and makes a soft sound in the back of her throat as she fights back a sob. "I always knew you would make a great father. Even if you didn't."
Run away
Run away
Shoulders sag and tears run freely. That hand lifts from his face so she can wipe away some of the damp trails on her face. The tears just forge new rivers from the basin of her eyes to the tip of her chin. "I have the power to save you." Holding one hand out in front of her, she can feel the power stirring within her. "I can… I can bring you back." That hand lowers to rest on his chest a moment and she heaves a shuddering sigh.
One day we won't feel this pain anymore
"But I know what it could do to me. And I saw what that did to him." A curl is felt between her fingers, the hair is softer than she expected for someone out to sea so much. "I can't… I don't think you'd want to live like that. On borrowed time, haunted by a ghost of a woman you don't even know. Not really. Because this would all catch up to you. That's how it works. It's a reprieve, but only just…"
Take it all away
Shadows of you
"And I love you too much to condemn you to a life of knowing your days are numbered, and that you'll never know which moment will be your last." Even if that's already the sort of life the two of them led in parallel worlds. This, somehow, feels different. No amount of caution could ever protect him from the inevitable moment where this all happens again.
'Cause they won't let me go
Such cruelty.
So I have nothing left
And all I feel is this cruel wanting
We've been falling for all this time
And now I'm lost in paradise
"I'm going to look after her." Destiny. "Because I know that's what you would have done." As much as her other self rubs her the wrong way, as much as she thinks she's been too sheltered from the world, maybe that's the way it always should have been. Destiny is the product of the life Odessa was robbed of. "I'm going to make sure she makes it out of this hell safely. I hope that can bring you some measure of peace."
Alone
"I love you."
And lost in paradise
It does nothing for her.
