AN: I got inspired to write this after watching the movie Elvis and Anabelle. If any of you have seen I will be pretty much basing this fic from that movie but changing things up to make it more Brittana awesome. Also this is a good movie in my opinion so I definitely recommend it. I just liked the idea and thought this would be so much better if it was two girls and if those two girls were Brittany and Santana lol. Like I said I will change things up a bit. This story will have fluff, humor, drama and touch upon sensitive issues.
To add more to the summary: Brittany is participating in a beauty pageant contest and tragedy strikes. Santana works as a mortician and this is how she officially encounters Brittany. Thanks to Santana, Brittany is magically brought back to life. These two begin to form a bond afterwards learning more about each other and falling in love along the way.
Just to add a warning on the safe side, that there are a potentially few triggers in this story. I won't go into detail about any of them but it will be touched lightly upon. Triggers are Bulimia, Death, Suicide Attempts and potential abuse. These will be mentioned but I will not go into detail about it. If anyone has seen the movie it will be just like that.
I hope you enjoy.
Brighter than Sunshine
Chapter 1. Forced Dreams
It was a scorching summer day which was the norm. From the outskirts of town a light breeze traveled over from the barren soil to down the field following its path up to a lonesome, white house. The sound of the light wind tapping against the window of the house was covered up by the voice of Vincent Price playing from inside the cool room. A naked body was lying on a table with tubes attached to the body as it removed the fluids from within it.
Her hands pressed down on the table in front of her as two cold blue eyes stared right back up at her. She turned her head side to side observing the stern face which appeared as stiff as always. She lifted the woman's arm up and began rotating it around slowly then laid it back on her torso. She repeated the same move with the other arm, followed by checking all the tubes. Once again she was staring at the motionless woman in front of her, this time with a smirk on her lip. Her face hovered over the corpse.
"So you finally croaked coach. Kind of ironic don't you think? Yelling how important it is to stay fit and putting me through rigorous exercises during P.E just because I didn't join your Cheerios." She scoffed at the non-responsive body as she took out and lit a cigarette, blowing smoke towards the coach's face. "Always ordering me around, making me run extra laps just because according to you, I had low self esteem thanks to my melon jugs. You always hoped you could pop one of my jugs. Calling me Tweedle McFakeboobs every chance you saw me." She leaned in closer to the face. "Well Sue what do you think now, here I am and there you are. Who has the last laugh now." Moving back she proceeded to seal Coach Sue's mouth shut.
With a grin on her face she blew another puff towards the body before closing the eyelids and placed the cigarette on the sealed mouth. There was a camera set up on the opposite side of the table she walked towards it, telling Coach Sue to smile she took a picture. Taking out an album with a collection of different corpses she placed the photo inside. To complete the job she drains the rest of the fluids out.
Santana finished the embalming process and dressed up Coach Sue in her popular red tracksuit that her family requested she be buried in. She took a peek at the funeral in progress, watching as family members paid their last respects to her cruel coach. Santana couldn't understand the point of being buried in a hideous tracksuit that everyone will see you in for the last time but even more baffling was the fact that Coach Sue had people who cared for her. Seeing everything was in order she headed back to her office down the hall.
Leaning back in her chair with her feet on the desk, she exhaled from her cigarette as she looked out her window. She watched her father play a game of golf outside.
Santana Lopez is a mortician. Technically her father was the mortician before he became ill. She has been managing the embalming practice for a couple years now, under the guise of Mr. Lopez. Everyone that has come by has believed Mr. Lopez has been the one taking care of their loved ones when really it's been her the whole time. She learned everything from her dad throughout the years but is not licensed to be a mortician and the business would fail if this truth came to light. She must continue letting everyone believe it is her dad embalming the bodies. She must also continue to hide him from clients to avoid this secret from getting out. They were constantly busy due to being the only undertakers within miles in the area. Santana felt it was her duty to take over the business and help her ailing father since he was no longer capable of ever working again. She loves him very much and would do anything for him even if it meant doing something she didn't love. Her father is the only person she has left in her family so she does her best as the funeral director.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock behind her. It was Coach Sue's mother and sister at the entrance of the room. She immediately put out her cigarette, straightening her black skirt and blouse as she rushed over to the women.
"Hello there is there anything I can help you with? Do you need anything?" Santana asked politely.
"Oh it's you Santana, I expected to see Mr. Lopez." Sue's mother said with a slight tremble in her voice. "Everything was so beautiful, she looked so peaceful. I'm going to miss her so much."
Santana looked at them sadly. "I'm sorry for your loss." She stood there awkwardly, taking a quick look out the window.
"We wanted to find your father dear. I don't remember when was the last time I've seen him since he stopped coming to church after your mama died." Santana merely nodded her head. "We wanted to thank him for taking good care of our Sue. Can we see him?" Santana stood up straighter getting a little nervous.
"Uh I'm sorry my father is occupied at the moment. If you would like I can pass any message you have along to him." She said quickly, hoping to end the conversation.
"Okay if he is not in then please tell him thank you for everything he did. He did such a wonderful job. Thank you for your help as well Santana." Sue's mother lightly squeezed Santana's arm as both women turned around to leave.
Santana let out a breath in relief. Once the coast was clear she went out to the field behind the house.
She watched her father play a game of golf in the middle of dead pasture.
Mateo Lopez swung his golf club as best as he could, it took him several tries before he could make it in the hole. He slowly walked over using the club as a cane, to retrieve the ball out. Mateo had formed a large hump on the left side of his back, he hunched at all times, and this led maintaining his old routine difficult on him now. After a head injury incident a couple years back Mateo's mind never fully recovered which added more difficulty to tasks he used to easily do before he became sick. He spends most of his day playing golf on the desolate field as Santana runs the family business.
She stands there for a few more minutes before calling her dad in.
"You know Tana I'm going to reach 72 one of these days you'll see." Said Mateo smiling as he explained the score he hopes to reach during a game of golf.
"I know you will dad. Will you stop playing with the radio." Santana chuckled at her father constantly changing the station. She was driving them out to do some errands in town.
"I had 80 today. I'll keep playing until I get that 72." He switched the radio station again to loud country music.
"I know you can do it papa." She switched the station back to some smooth R&B.
"I will get 72." Mateo repeated.
"I know and you will." Santana answered confidently.
After a while Mateo changed the station again, Santana rolled her eyes but was bored of changing it back. Plus she did like the song that was playing, "Can't take my Eyes Off of You." She began tapping her hands along on the steering wheel at the same time her father started swaying side to side completely offbeat to the music she blames him for her inheritance of rhythm less genes.
"You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you
You'd be like heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you"
She began singing lightly while her father continued dancing in his seat, still offbeat. Caught up in the song until halfway through the chorus Santana caught sight of bright blonde hair up ahead on the side of the road.
Santana doesn't know why she felt the urge to slow down her car just a tiny bit, she didn't want to slow down too much and come off like a creep. She instantly noticed the girl with the bright blonde hair, the second thing she noticed was the two other people with the girl and third thing she noticed and couldn't help giving a confused look to was at how strange all three looked standing in front of a giant billboard. She just couldn't turn her head away. She felt compelled to see who this blonde stranger was. Taking advantage that the girl looked away, she took in her appearance her long straight blonde hair, long lean body, thin lips and weary eyes. She found bright blue eyes staring straight back at her, even though the girl looked faintly tired, she found her to be gorgeous even more so with the way the light was shining on her. The girl was simply standing there yet Santana felt mesmerized. Deciding it wasn't safe to keep her eyes off the road she turned back and sped up the street. After driving past them Santana felt a little intrigued by the bright blonde girl.
The song Santana had been listening to had just finished before Mateo played with the radio once more.
She feels silly posing for a photo in front of a bigger photo of herself. It doesn't make sense to her. She doesn't even understand why there is a big photo of her, it's not like she's a lost kid or why anybody wants to see a picture of her in the first place. None of this makes sense to her.
"Come on hurry up I set up the camera." Her step father shouted as he rushed by her side making sure to put his arm low on her waist.
"Stand up straight honey, I want you to look good. Now look at the camera." Her mother told her, as she stood on her other side putting on a wide smile.
Brittany just didn't understand how those two could find this remotely exciting but if her mother was happy, she would continue to smile at the world. She would smile the exact same way her giant replica in the billboard was smiling.
Ever since Brittany was a child she has been groomed by her mother into achieving perfection. Transforming her only daughter into the perfect beauty pageant contestant. To attain this her mother stressed the importance on physical beauty, making her believe the only way to succeed in life was by being beautiful and people would love her if she was beautiful. Brittany had to maintain that image by any means possible. It was drilled into her head to get anywhere in life it all depended on her looks and she never questioned this. She did as her mother told her to do, she felt she had no other choice.
When her mother married a second time, her step dad took over as head of the house and supported the both of them since. Brittany did not get along with her step father and tried to distance herself from him as much as she could. It proved difficult to not have him be a part of her life when he paid for all her expenses and importantly all her beauty pageant costs. The only thing he asked for in return was for her to stay appealing.
There was a Brittany who beamed brightly wearing a sleek blue dress with a sash with her name on it. She was standing in front of her promotional ad in contending for Miss Texas Rose where the winner goes on to compete in Miss America pageant. The moment everything she had done was leading to. This was why she always put on a smile.
Now under her ad Brittany felt embarrassed to be standing there but was relieved when it appeared no one else was around.
"Dennis did you set up the camera right?" said Katelyn, Brittany's mother.
"Of course I did what kind of question is that? Now smile wide sweet pea." Dennis said as he lowered his arm around Brittany's waist pulling her in tightly.
Brittany made a disgusted face. "Don't ever call me that." She tried to put some space between them. "Oh shit." She should have known with her luck, in the middle of nowhere a car would come by at that moment. Now she was wondering why anyone thought it was a good idea to put a billboard in this spot.
"Sweetie, language." Katelyn scolded.
Brittany didn't understand what was taking longer, the photo to be taken or the car to drive by. She just wanted to hide maybe if she stood still she could blend in with her billboard like a lizard would.
She wanted to look anywhere but at the car so naturally she looked directly at it. The fact that the car was a Hearse caught her attention for some reason. She felt captivated to keep watching, as it felt like hours before the car finally drove in front in them. There her eyes fell instantly on the woman who was driving. She felt entranced by dark haired stranger who stared back at her with a slightly confused face. She knew she should just have stopped staring but she couldn't help it, besides the other girl wasn't looking away either. It felt as though time had indeed slowed down, but in a different way from when she first wanted the car to drive by quickly, this gave her enough time to memorize the girls face. She observed her dark hair, her light caramel skin, and her slightly pouty lips up to her stern eyes. Brittany found her to be astonishingly beautiful. She then saw another head pop up beside the dark girl, an older man who was just giving her a wide joyful smile. She swiftly looked back at the girl, and was met with dark brown eyes, falling in a trance until the stranger finally drove away.
"Whew that was creepy it gave me goosebumps. They looked so weird" Her mother said appallingly, snapping Brittany back to the moment suddenly remembering what she was doing. She couldn't help turning her head one more time towards the direction the car went, wondering who that girl was. Brittany's stepfather gave her a violent shake telling her to pose and look back at the camera.
She put on one of the many smiles she was trained to do.
PS.
A/N: I don't plan to make this story too long maybe around 10-ish chapters and I do plan on finishing this story. If anyone was reading my other superhero fic I apologize I haven't updated its just man Glee zapped all inspiration out of me. Like when I thought I was okay with what happened with Brittana they threw in another curve ball that smacked my heart. I get it they broke up let the wound heal stop showing them with other people so quickly lol, it hurts. I think I'm over glee and I can finally focus on writing a story. For those brittana fans out there that still enjoy these two before glee wipes us all out. Just remember brittana is an amazing couple just remember what you loved about them and if they helped you, how they did help you and forget about RIB they are the ones who wasted the potential in this beautiful couple. Glee and RIB are not worth getting sad over or raging over.
I hope some of you will enjoy this story.
We will learn more about Brittany next chapter and Santana too of course. No "brittana" next chapter but its building up to their first real interaction just needs a little time before that happens.
If you like this story please tell me :D
