DISCLAIMER: I owneth this not. Please sueth me not also.
STORY SUMMARY: Scully was born lacking life and only the death of Samantha can save her. Scully makes a deal with the highest powers: save Mulder and be redeemed. The cost will be great, but if it is her destiny, can she sacrifice her family to save the boy she has never met?
A/NOTE: So scully is fallen. Okay, so fallen may be the wrong word. Try 'born to earth empty'? that'll do. And she will be saved. Yeh, it's a metaphor and foreshadowing. English studies taught me some useful words.
*try reading this chapter as fast as you can...
8:32pm
November 22nd, 1973
Scully residence, Silver springs, Maryland
"Far out, where is she?" Bill asked himself. He walked down the trail that led through the forest and down over the river that was down the hill from their house. The moon was a few nights short of full, not that it mattered, the overhead cover made the forest pitch black. With his flashlight in his hand, his other grasping at the front of his jacket to keep the cold out, Bill searched through the forest.
He had seen Dana an hour or so earlier walking down towards the trail. He hadn't thought too much of it at the time, though now he wished he had. The family became worried when the sun had gone down and she hadn't returned. He was surprised to hear the sounds of the river rushing ahead of him. It meant he was nearly half a mile away from the house. He didn't expect she had gone this far from the house. He was ready to turn back but knew he would regret not checking the other side of the bridge, just in case.
"Dana!" he yelled out loudly. He was twelve years old and wasn't far off of puberty. He had started to grow tall and was beginning to dwarf his siblings. His voice was getting deeper and he had begun to sound more like his father.
He scoffed and ran his sweaty hands through his hair. The sounds of the river increased and the glow of the moonlight shone through at the end of the trail. He could see the corner of the bridge at the water's edge. The light from the moon was bright enough for him to see without the aid of the flashlight and he turned it off.
He found her.
The bridge was arched and at its highest point it was 3 meters above the surface of the water. The shallow river water flowed quickly and the bed was very rocky. As kids they had always been told to stay away from it. The wooden boards that lined the old monument needed replacing a long time ago.
Dana sat on the metal railing of the bridge; her legs swinging over the side in circles. Her hands were planted on the rail at her side as she looked straight up at the sky. She looked in fascination at the stars above; undeterred by the wind and the cold bite.
"Dana? What are you doing?"
He took one step towards her, and her head snapped quickly towards him; a hardened and ice cold look plastered across her face. He pulled that foot backwards to where it was. Her eyes were black and in the moonlight they offered an eerie insight into the abyss.
"Dana, you gotta..." he trailed of as she stared at him; she tilted her head, silently daring him to continue. He stuttered to start again.
"You... you gotta come back home. Everyone was getting worried. It's dangerous out here at night Dana!" he called to her with undue desperation.
Her face softened and for a moment, she looked sympathetic. He took this as a cue to come forward. He had gotten very good at reading his sister over the years. He could tell which way she would go, the ways she did things and to a certain extent: how her mind worked; though not even he could profess to understand.
She slid down the outside of the rail to stand on the side.
"Come on..." he reiterated.
She went to swing her leg up and back over the rail. With one leg in the air, her other foot slipped and she dropped straight down.
"BILL!" she squealed aloud. Her cry to her brother ended as the sound of her body collided with the rushing water underneath.
He watched in a shocked silence as his sister fell and hit the rushing water under the bridge before his eyes. He didn't feel the flashlight fall out of his hand as he began running down the river.
"Dana? Dana!" He called to the river.
He was frantic, he couldn't see her and the seconds ticked by as he ran alongside the flow of the current. He stumbled on something and got up quickly. His hands had leaf litter and mud splayed across them and his forehead ran with sweat and dirt.
"DANA!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
He saw a flash of white emerge from the water for a second; that was all he needed to run straight into the water ahead of the object. He kicked all the water in his path and ran with the current until he was waist high.
He spun and looked and felt around for anything. Anything that was part of her.
He felt a piece of fabric brush his arm and he fumbled to grab hold of it under the water. He felt it slide between his fingers and he clenched his fist. Did he get it? He put his other hand over the top and felt more fabric. He ran back to the edge as fast as he could run in the opposing water, dragging a heavy weight behind him.
Dana's body floated up to the surface. Bill grabbed her around the waist and locked his arms in place. He ran awkwardly onto the bank, falling down when they were away from the water.
She wasn't conscious.
"Dana? Come Dana, wake up!"
He pushed her hair out of her face a few times. Her face was colder than the air surrounding them. Parts of her face got darker in the moonlight... and warm... and sticky. Blood. He held her head in his arm and frantically looked for the wound on her head. He gave up and wrapped her small, limp body up in his. The wind felt so cold but his blood was so full of adrenaline his skin was on fire. He had no idea what was going on. He looked around.
"SOMEBODY!" he tried. The cold air burned his throat.
"SOMEBODY HELP!" he cried out like a wounded animal into the night skies. Nearly half a mile away, someone could have easily heard him.
Damn, I can't write dramatic and frantic. But that's the idea anyway.