The ground squished beneath his feet as they hiked up toward Edge Rock after they had eaten breakfast. A bottle of water each had been purchased at the convenience store next door before they then made their way to the outskirts of town.
It was a beautiful day, crisp and cool, but sunny after the rainstorm the previous night. Aside from the wet ground and the subsequent mud it had created, it was a perfect fall day.
"Suppose we'll run into anyone out for a hike this morning?" he asked, turning his head to look at Scully.
"If they had sense, they'd stay home and out of the mud and the cold," she said and he smiled.
"By the time we reach the top, I'm sure you'll be wishing for it to be cooler," he replied and she nodded.
"Undoubtedly."
The trail they walked was wide and lined with large trees, the branches and leaves touching so it felt as though they were walking in a tunnel. It was quiet and peaceful, birds chirping and an occasional animal scurrying in the bushes and along the branches.
"Stop," Mulder said, putting a hand out and stopping Scully from walking any further. "It's so quiet." She looked around and nodded. "Our car is what, five minutes away? Maybe ten? But it feels like we're miles away. It's beautiful and humbling, isn't it? We'll leave here after this, and go on about our day, but this beauty remains day in and day out. It's humbling when you think of the unnecessary importance we place on meetings and phone calls, deadlines… anything really. That all goes on outside of here and yet the forest remains quietly steadfast."
"Wow…" Scully said, meeting his eyes with a smile.
"What?"
"That's a really poetic way of thinking about it."
"I am quite a romantic," he stated somewhat teasingly and she raised her eyebrows. "What? Why does that surprise you?"
"It doesn't surprise me at all," she said, shaking her head.
"But?"
"But nothing. I was simply agreeing with you. It's a poetic way to look at it. Our lives are lived in a city where things move quickly. It's…" She looked around again and smiled. "It's nice to take a moment and reflect. Even if we are on the way to a rock overlooking the valley below, which an ostracized woman used to frequent before her death."
"Jesus," he said, shaking his head. "I think the romance is gone. Time of death… seven after ten in the morning, October twenty eighth." She laughed and started walking again, leaving him watching her as he shook his head.
They continued on the path, meeting a few people who had braved the muddy trail, coming down as they made their way up, obviously not privy to Scully's advice to stay in where it was warm.
A large dog suddenly came barreling down the trail and threw himself at Scully, barking at her and putting his feet on her legs and then her midsection, her coat becoming covered in the mud he seemed to so happily have rolled in.
"Potato!" A woman shouted as she came around the corner and spotted them, hurrying over to get her dog. "Oh my God, I'm so, so sorry! Potato, get off of her! I'm so sorry. He slipped off his leash."
"It's okay," Scully said, pushing the dog off with a grunt.
"He's very sweet. Just a puppy, actually. He doesn't know his own strength yet," the woman said, grabbing the dog by the collar and securing his leash. "Again, I am so incredibly sorry."
"Just a little mud. It's no big deal," Scully said, attempting to wipe the excess mud from her coat.
"I'll pay for the dry cleaning. Please," the woman said, trying to keep a handle on her rambunctious and happy puppy.
"It's not a problem, I assure you," Scully said, smiling at the woman. "I used to have a dog. I know that accidents can happen. He's cute. And Potato… that's an interesting name."
"My niece named him. She's three and thought it was funny. We thought she was joking, but…" The woman shrugged and Potato barked happily at Scully again, who reached out to pet him. His tail wagged as he sat down and this time remained calm.
"Hey there, Potato. You be good now and stay on your leash. It can be dodgy out in the woods."
He barked again and licked her hand, his whole body wiggling.
"Again, I'm so sorry," the woman said. "Thank you for understanding. I really wish you'd take me up on my offer."
"It's fine," Scully said, smiling at the woman and giving Potato one final pat. "Have a nice day."
"You too. Goodbye."
She walked away, Potato pulling at the leash to come back to Scully, whining as the woman urged him to follow her.
"Seems you made a friend," Mulder said, watching Potato look back once more before they disappeared from sight.
"A messy one at that," she said, looking down at her coat. "I'm really hoping this is only mud and not… other things." He laughed and stepped closer to gauge the mess.
"It's hard to say for sure," he said, looking at her and smiling. "Let's think mud and not shi-"
"Yes, thank you," she said, holding up a hand. "I'm already thinking it, you don't have to say it." She shook her head and he laughed as they began to walk again.
"We'll find a dry cleaners once we leave here. Hopefully it won't take too long to clean it."
"Hopefully," she said, sighing as she brushed at it again. "He was cute though. Happy and excited is all."
"Yeah."
"Sometimes I miss having a dog," she said, stepping around a large tree that had fallen. "But then… Maybe one day I'll have another one."
"Maybe," he agreed, smiling at her and nodding.
"And I'll go the route of that woman's niece and name him something wild like Soup."
They both laughed and followed the path to the right. The incline became greater, and their focus fell to walking without slipping and breathing deeply.
Reaching the rock, they stopped and caught their breath, looking out at the valley below them.
"Wow," Scully said, stepping closer to the edge. "It's so beautiful up here. Quiet and lacking people to pester you with their inane questions and thoughts."
"Probably why Sarah came up here so often. To get away from everyone."
"I'd say that's accurate," she whispered and he looked over at her, watching as she took in the view around them.
"Do you think she thought about ending her life while she was up here? Considering all she had lost and how she was treated?"
"Hmm," she said, and then shook her head slowly. "I don't think so. And if she did, I don't think it would be for the reasons we may think."
"How do you mean?"
"Well…" she said thoughtfully. "She'd had lots of loss in her life with Obadiah and her parents. Not to mention how horribly she was treated. I could see the draw to it, to end the sadness and no longer feel anything." She shook her head again and sighed. "But I think she was quite religious and would view it as a mortal sin. She would think about that and what it would entail if she did end her life."
"Purgatory?"
"Yes and no. I'd say it was more so that it would be the question of where she would spend her afterlife if she took her life. Would she be made clean enough to enter heaven?"
"Hmm," he said, looking back out over the valley.
"But, you know what I think about above all else?" she continued, and he looked at her again.
"What's that?"
"I think she came here to make them talk about her. Make her a story. A person who should be avoided, to a degree. I think after a while she probably thought, fuck all of them, who cares what they think?" she said with a shrug. "Of course, at the time, her thoughts were probably more along the lines of, thouest will not make a mockery of me. A pox on you all."
He laughed and she smiled, shrugging as she looked out at the view again.
"No, I don't think she would take her life, although I'm sure those thoughts did enter her mind. I think she was wiser than the time period allowed."
"You and she would probably have been good friends," he said and she smiled as she glanced at him. "Opened an apothecary like Fauna did, wanting to help people."
"I would most likely have been given away to a man that offered the highest price or status for my family. The younger I was, the better," she said with a deep sigh as he stared at her. She looked at him and shrugged. "You would have most likely done very well for yourself. An affluent white man. You would have had your pick of women. But me… no. It would have been very different for me."
"That's…"
"Different times," she said quietly. "Life expectancy was lower. Sicknesses had no cures. I would have been married by sixteen, possibly dying in childbirth, which would leave my widowed husband a chance at marrying again and finding a wife for his child. Or, if the child died too, then at least he would find another mate and not be alone for the rest of his life. But a woman remarrying, was not socially acceptable. Especially if she was older, past her childbearing years."
"Jesus," he said. "I didn't think…"
"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "So like I said, thouest will not make a mockery of me."
She held her fist up and smiled at him. He did not smile back, but shook his head as he reached for her other hand, squeezing it gently.
"Fuck all of them," he whispered and she squeezed his hand as she nodded.
"Fuck all of them," she repeated. He nodded and interlocked their fingers as the wind blew and they looked out beyond the edge of the rock.
