Hello there! It's been a while since I've written any fanfiction, but this idea sort of hit me and I couldn't get it out of my head.
It's loosely based on the Alex Rider fandom, but can also be read and understood independently.
Have fun reading!
Time Flies
The last time it happened, he disappeared for three days, nowhere to be seen, nothing to be heard, not even a hastily scribbled message on the kitchen table. Nothing but a bloody footstep near the front door indicating his former presence.
Once – which now seemed so long ago – she had tried to keep the house clean – a mirror of the happy family they had been -, but as time passed she just couldn't bother to care.
"I killed someone", he said.
"I know", she answered.
There was dirt on his shoes and blood on his hands, little red drops of guilt splattered across his very pale body. He hid not seem to notice it.
"I had to do it.", he added.
"I know."
"He deserved it."
Silence.
She didn't have to say anything for there was nothing that could be said, there was nothing she could say to make things better. Now it felt like it was always like this.
And what did she really know? Know about him and this life they were supposed to lead?
He had always seemed so righteous, ridiculously even, very brave and good to the core.
Never would she have thought that he was capable of something like this. But then, people change, don't they?
Or had he been this way all along, and she had simply failed to notice it?
"It needed to be done."
Finality. Such finality in his voice and in his eyes. Eyes which used to be so vibrant, so full of life, which now had been reduced to seemingly endless pits.
Like the beady eyes of a doll. Like a puppet.
"Come on in. You must be freezing! Are you hungry at all?"
He nodded.
Dull repetitions of a dull life. Too abstract really. Too absurd to feel real.
They ate in silence. She felt pathetic.
It wasn't always like this and hadn't always been.
They used to be so happy, just the two of them, their little family. They had carried a strong fondness of each other, developed over the years, which now felt strange and foreign.
Somehow she found that they had nothing to say to each other.
"This is really good, what is this?"
"These are some fresh spices I got at the market. You like them?"
"Yes. Very."
Sometimes he would disappear just for a few hours so that she had barely noticed his absence when he returned. And then they would go on as if nothing had happened, as if there wasn't this suffocating void between them, as if he had simply taken a walk and forgotten to tell her.
And before long she had convinced herself that his partake in dubious activities was nothing frightening at all, merely a rebellion against her and his ordinary life. Nothing but a phase.
And when he was back, back for her, she felt as if he had finally adjusted, and she would ignore the bruises on his chin and the heavy look in his eyes.
It's nice to pretend, you know?
"How was your day?"
And they would talk and talk and laugh for hours, chatting about a life they couldn't remember, joking about friends she knew he never had had.
She was no sceptic at all. She never doubted anything. In fact, she knew that this damn dream would end far too soon, and she would be thrown back into a reality she had neglected far too long.
"It's really a lie, isn't it?"
"What?"
"All of it. Everything."
They both knew that this was a game they couldn't win, had known all along that this was but a struggle against their own vanity.
As time passed their conversations grew shorter and far in-between, cryptic even. She could never believe anything he said and he would never be ready to tell her the entire truth. Truth was that she had simply learned not to care. Not because she wasn't interested anymore. In fact she was shaken with an undeniable desire to know, to understand. But she was too scared of the answer.
Sometimes she would look back and ask herself: Where did all that time go?
She missed how they used to share everything between them, their future a daring promise ahead.
But time only flows in one direction, and happy moments never last long enough for us to remember.
But if you keep these memories in your heart, as long as you believe hard enough, everything will be good, there will be no ghosts between us. And just for a single moment the man on your doorstep will not be dead, will not be an infinite reminder of a chance you let go to waste.
"How do you feel?"
"I'm fine."
So, what do you think? Please let me know in a comment below :)
The characters were not named on purpose as they can stand for several characters in the novel.
By the way English is not my mother tongue, so advise is very welcomed.