Echoes.
Repetitions. Altered just enough to come back with a different tone, often more haunting than before.
Echoes can be welcome when something good is the cause of the reverberation. Etheral tones reply, blessing the patiently waiting journeyer.
But ugliness, thrown out into the world with a booming voice? It can grow in its impact, becoming sharper and more dangerous through its travels back to the one standing at the maw of the cavern.
Echoes can echo, repeating the cycle. At least they can until time or distance kills the sound. Or interference. Interference - something to absorb the echo - can stop it as well.
Ziva David's life was filled with echoes. No, she would not have thought so, but that was the way it was. Words thrown out carelessly years ago still reverberated through her active mind, cruel deeds still repeated themselves through the cycle of hard living that she had come to accept and expect. She had gotten caught in the soundwaves and now she herself was conducting the echoes that tormented her day and night.
Time had passed.
Distance had been provided.
Still the echoes haunted her.
But unknown to Ziva, interference was about to rescue her.
Whether or not she would allow herself to be physically rescued was questionable but it would be achieved with or without her cooperation. Whether or not she would let her soul be doctored was another issue altogether.
The echoes did not know that their time was nearing an end so they continued their torture.
The two people who cared for Ziva the most were patiently biding their time for the moment to intervene.
...
Yay! The new story for the summer is started! I will be trying to post one long chapter each week. In your comments please vote for which day you would like to see the chapter posted!