Title: Those Who Dream
Fandom: The Scarlet Letter
Summary: They see what she lets them see, because it's far easier to be the villain than the wounded.
Disclaimer:I do not own The Scarlet Letter.
They see a sinner. They see a symbol of adultery and corruption and depravity. They see what she lets them see, because it's far easier to be the villain than the wounded.
They don't espy her at night, alone and muffled, when she cries. She cries, even though she knows all the salty, scorching tears in the world won't be enough to get him out of her system. That all her silent sobs will never be enough to erase his decision.
They don't notice her clenched hands when she encounters him when they try to take her child away. They don't notice her fingernails digging into her palms harshly, see the indentations start to bleed when he stands there, looking holy and saintly like they all believe him to be.
Her daughter is her salvation and her curse. Pearl is a reminder-a reminder of Hester's foolish dreams and the letdowns that came with them.
Arthur Dimmesdale is what the congregation calls a "good man." A figure of God and an angel of the earth. Hester supposes he is, somewhat. Because he's guilty-so guilty-but it's destroying him slowly and painfully. She sees him become more frail and broken with every passing day.
The past is eating him alive. Their past is eating him alive.
But she doesn't regret it.
She wonders if he does.
His life is a lie now, all because of a moment of debility and darkness and beauty. Arthur was never supposed to fall in love, and certainly not with a married woman such as herself-an abandoned woman such as herself. But he did. And he gave in.
And now he's dying.
Was it worth it?
Yes, yes-say, "Yes, it was."
But he never does.
He never says a word.
But still she remains. Because even though he wants nothing to do with her anymore, even with his refusal to accept his part in the making of their child, she still loves him. She loves him more than she ever could have loved her husband or anyone else.
Forbidden.
That's what their relationship is. It can never be. And in a sense, it never was. Because he succumbed to her in a moment of perfect weakness; and while perfect it was, real it wasn't. Their relationship has no place in reality.
But she can't bring herself to leave the place where it happened-the place she fell in love for the first time, the place her daughter was born, the place her heart was torn to shreds. It's a part of her-more so than Roger Chillingworth and their collective universe ever was.
So she stays, in this town of blissful agony, even as the years pass distressingly and her husband returns with revenge in mind.
Arthur's torture becomes hers. Roger's vengeance deteriorates her just as it does her former lover.
And then-suddenly, it feels, even though it's been such a long, long, long time coming-it's over. Arthur Dimmesdale is gone.
And so is Hester's heart.
Pearl goes off to live her life, free of her mother's outcasting shadow. If they happened upon each other, their souls would no longer be connected and recognized. And when Hester's era ends, it doesn't hurt. Life is never simple for those who dream, and Hester has been dreaming of a better life for them-a dead man and the living dead-for too long.
Death begins, and the pain ends. Freedom commences.
And Arthur and Hester meet again, entwined in their shared destiny of adultery and death.
Her last earthly thoughts are of him.