Sins of the Mother
Episode 24: Speaking with the dead
"Excuse me, Ma'am? Where am I?" Megan looks around her, recognizing very little about her surroundings. "Am I still in Camp Wawanakwa?"
Courtney does not respond. She sits on the edge of the pier, holding a blue haze in her arms. Her gaze is fixated on the water.
"I don't know where this is. And all this fog…" Megan sits down on the dock, right next to Courtney. "Please, don't mind me."
"Talk to her." A voice speaks to Megan. She turns around, and sees a young boy. "Please, talk to her."
"Who are you?" Megan is surprised to see such a young boy, all alone in the fog.
"My name's George. People call me Georgie, as a pet name." Georgie extends his hand. "Please, talk to her for a while, would ya?"
"Uh…but I don't even know her." Megan is nervous now. "And…where am I?"
"You're here." Georgie smiles. "I have to go now. Be back later, ok?"
Georgie turns around, and runs. He disappears into the fog. Megan sits back down again, nervous. She looks over at Courtney, and begins wondering what that blue haze is.
"What's that?" Megan asks Courtney. She does not respond.
Meanwhile…
"Hey, Jeff, it sure is good to see ya!" Owen shakes Jefferson's hand enthusiastically. "So tell me, how are Bridgette and DJ? Are they ok? Is the food down on Earth still as delicious as ever?"
"Uh…sorry, Mister…Larson, was it? I don't really…" Jefferson was at a loss for words.
"Oh! Sorry, I guess I am still a stranger, after all." Owen laughs. "I knew your mom back when we were teens."
"Really?" Jefferson is pleasantly surprised. Rarely does he meet people that knew his mother from when she was a teen.
"Yeah. Tell me, are she and DJ happy together?" Owen looks at Jefferson, the joy in his eyes still there after all this time.
"How do you know about that?" Jefferson is shocked. "How do you know about DJ!"
"Oh…you mean you don't know?' Owen is puzzled. Then he figures it out. "Oh, see this is the Afterlife. Didn't you know?"
"Wait…Afterlife…" Jefferson's eyes bug out in horror.
"No, wait. YOU aren't dead yet." Owen quickly assures Jefferson. "My old girlfriend brought you here. The both of you."
"The two of us?" Jefferson asks bewildered.
"Yeah, you and Heather's girl." Owen smiles at the young man.
"Who…Megan?" Jefferson grabs Owen. "She's here? I need to talk to her!"
"Calm down, son. I'll take you to her." Owen begins walking towards a bar. "Follow me."
In the world of the living…
Ryan and Bethany walked around the old Gopher cabin. Bethany looks at the old, cracked mirror. Janey enters.
"Hey guys…I'm worried about Megan. She's been gone a while now." Janey sits down on the old chair.
"It's only been a half hour, Janey." Bethany plays with her hair a bit. "I'm more worried about Jefferson. How long has he been gone?"
"Jeff's been gone, about two hours, I think." Ryan kneels down, inspecting a whole in the wall. This hole served as a peephole once. Owen once used this peephole, and saw Izzy take her skirt off.
"Maybe we should look for them?" Janey suggested. Both Ryan and Bethany agreed, and exited the cabins.
Back with Megan…
"Please, leave me alone." Courtney's voice is bitter. "I have no reason to talk to you."
"Sorry." Megan thought she was rude, but dared not say anything. "I'm just lost. I'll leave you alone, Ma'am."
"Go away already, Heather." Courtney says bitterly. "I've nothing to say to you."
"My name's not Heather." Megan's voice is suppressing her anger at Courtney's rudeness.
Courtney turns around, and looks at Megan. "You sure look like her, though."
"A lot of people have told me that." Megan sits down next to Courtney, dumbfounded. "You knew my mom?"
"Correction, I know your mom."
Megan sighs, sadness in her eyes. "Ma'am…my mom died, thirteen years ago."
"I know. This is the Afterlife." Courtney returns her gaze to the water.
"Afterlife…?" Megan's eyes are filled with horror.
"Relax, you're not dead yet." Courtney keeps her gaze at the water. "Long story."
"So…"
"Look. Leave me alone, ok!" Courtney snaps at Megan. "I'm in no mood to talk to that bitch's daughter!"
"I'm sorry." It hurt Megan to hear someone call her mom that. But she had to admit, it was true. Heather was not a nice person.
"Look, I'm sorry. Don't start crying." Courtney snaps again. "Why the hell did you come here?"
"I don't know." Megan is crying now. "I thought…I don't know!"
"Stop crying." Courtney felt a lot of shame well up inside her. "I'm sorry. I…"
"It's ok. I'll be leaving now." Megan gets up, and starts to leave.
"Wait." Courtney holds onto Megan's hand. "The fog will lift soon. You can go then, it will be safer."
"What do you care?" Megan didn't want to yell at Courtney. It just happened.
"…When I was still alive…I didn't care about anything except winning. Getting ahead in life." Courtney rubs her eyes. "The things I did…"
Megan dries her tears, and listens intently to Courtney's story.
"I used to be a stickler for the rules. I thought of myself as a good woman, a defender of law and truth. Hah, a pleasant lie, that. When I got 'unfairly' eliminated from Total Drama, I stopped being such a goody two shoes, and became the biggest bitch on the planet." Courtney chuckles. "How the mighty Courtney fell. I became as bad as Heather. No, worse. I became worse than Heather. At least Heather never put anyone's lives on the line."
Megan was stunned.
"After Total Drama, I convinced myself that coming on top was all that mattered. I was so convinced that everything that mattered in life was money and power. Money to make the world go around. Power to make the money move as you wish." Courtney sighs. "To get those things, I practically sold my soul."
Megan's eyes widen as Courtney tells her the tale of how she got to become so powerful.
"I had it all, Miss. I had money, and power. I was feared, I was hated. I loved it. But, as time went by, I realized how empty it all was. I began to lose my sanity, my grip on reality. I began seeing my so again." She points to the blue haze she's been carrying. "I aborted my son, so I wouldn't be held back in my ambitions. I chose my ambitions over my child. At the time, I thought a child would have been only a burden."
"So, why didn't you put him up for adoption, instead?" Megan asked without thinking. She quickly clasps her mouth.
"I didn't want a pregnancy. Just being pregnant was an obstacle. So…I terminated my pregnancy as soon as I found out about it." Courtney wipes a tear from her eye. "But I didn't need to. I had more than enough money to take care of the child. I could have made time for a child."
Megan places a comforting hand on Courtney's shoulder.
"Why did I kill my child? I didn't need to." Courtney is now in tears. "The guilt I felt, over my sins…was too much. I stepped on so many people, killed my only child… I put an end to it all. I wonder if anyone cared that I was gone forever. I wonder if anyone went to my funeral."
Megan started to cry, too. She cried because of how bad she felt for Courtney.
"Are you crying…for me?" Courtney wipes the tears from her eyes, then places a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't cry, ok? It's all in the past."
"Sorry, Courtney. I just…" Megan didn't know what to say.
"Don't be like me when you grow up, ok? Money, power, those things are meaningless." Courtney stands up. The fog clears. "Friends, family, time, joy, laughter…all those things are the real things that matter. It's ok to have some ambition in life, but you should always have room for the things that matter. And if your ambitions call for you to sacrifice any of those things I told you, I hope you realize, it isn't worth it."
Courtney looks at the blue haze in her arms, then looks at Megan. She lets go of the haze, which promptly disappears. "Your name was Megan, right? I know where your dad is. I'll take you to him. Would you like that?"
Megan is stunned. She didn't remember her father much. But, she nods her head. Butterflies in her stomach, she follows Courtney to meet the man who loved her mother…
Meanwhile…
"Mister Larson, is Megan really here?" Jefferson enters the bar cautiously. He sees many faceless people walking around the streets.
"Well, she isn't in THIS place specifically. But…someone's here that you need to meet." Owen fiddles with his collar nervously. Jefferson gives Owen a curious look. He looks around the bar, and sees someone raise his hand, calling to him. Jefferson walks over to him.
"Hey son." Geoff takes a sip from his drink, staring coldly at Jefferson. "Sit down. We need to have a talk."