Authoress: Michelle C.

Date: March 26, 2003

Series: Cowboy Bebop

Disclaimers: See other chapters

From the Eyes of a Shrew Chapter 4 Family (Part 2): Discovery

            The picture of Mom, Dad and my elder brother and sister of nearly a decade (A/N: um… I think I phrased that right. I mean that they're older by about a decade, if I didn't get my point across) faded as I stood stiffly, staring at the misty-grey 'void'. Then, a picture of Dad, smiling, came up. As Mom's took his place, I noted that I had gotten my violet hair from Mom, for Dad had soft, golden locks.

            Mom's face was very pretty. She had a small smile and you could tell that when she was happy that even though the smile was small that it could light her whole face up. She had beautiful blue eyes that were very wide yet calm, the total opposite of Dad's bright green eyes.

            My father's eyes were my eyes. Except that his were full of boyish joy and excitement—eyes that deserved to be large and friendly looking—crammed into small slit, where as my eyes were just what they were—slits.

            Then, my brother, Andrew, appeared, smiling as well. He was so handsome with his blonde hair and green eyes. He could have passed as a younger clone of Dad. Only, if you looked very closely, he had very cool eyes. Though his face showed the boyish enthusiasm that my dad had and the ecstasy of a seventeen-year-old boy should show, his eyes were calm, almost sad.

            Lastly came Beth. She had beautiful golden hair, just like Dad's but it was so smooth and sleek that it almost shined, unlike Dad and Andy's messy, unruly tresses. Beth's eyes were a smoky blue and looked kind of sad. She wore a half smile on her face and her large, delicate eyes were so distant. She had Mom's eyes.

            Beth had the calm, cool facade that Mom had too. She and Mom looked distant in all the other memories I had of her. Even Andy and Dad didn't look all too happy in the later memories I had of them. Mostly, I was a young child, about 6 or 8. They all looked so sad playing with me. It was like they knew my fate even though it was years away…

            They all looked "that way" towards my later memories… and some of the last caught my attention, for they looked slightly happier, and yet more burdened at the same time if that possible. The memories were the ones where Beth was holding a small bundle in her hands. Memories of the small, happy face of a baby resurfaced in my mind. She was so beautiful, and most of all, carefree unlike the other members of our little family. Beth was playing with the 2-month-old's hair.

            The infant had golden hair like Beth, wide blue-grey eyes and a petite, rose-red mouth. I think the little one had gotten her slim face from the father. Beth had slightly rounded features.

            Another memory was of that little girl around the age of 4, playing around some large boulders. This memory came with a rush of sounds and senses. I felt my hair whipping around my face again and I smelled, and even tasted, the salty ocean of Earth as if it was only yesterday that I was there with my niece. I actually saw my pale hand lift a few strands of my hair out of my then-teenage face.

I was 15. Beth was 24, and Andy was 25. They were both standing over beside me. It was so real that I felt that if I lifted my hand, like I had in my memory, that I could have reached out and touched them—that I could feel Andy's course hand or Beth's soft evening outfit. Or even the child's small head.

            The little girl was in the last memory. She was about six or seven, though; in this recollection and we were by the ocean again.

            "Auntie Faye-Faye," she cried happily. "Auntie Faye-Faye! Lookit me! Lookit me climb," she said as she scampered up some large boulders by the roaring ocean side. The waves crashed against the rocks spraying some water droplets on the child. She giggled again and took one hand off the rocks to wave at me and I remembered scolding her earlier for doing that. I was afraid that she would fall but she didn't before.

            Suddenly, I saw her slip on the rocks and fell into the rampant ocean below. I saw/ remembered running towards her, calling her name. I remembered not seeing her surface and I remembered diving down and dragging her up onto the sandy beach.

            What I remembered next was waking up next to… a cryogenic chamber. One that held the little girl in it. A cryogenic capsule that my niece was placed in while I was unconscious; a chamber my sister's first and only daughter was in.

            My niece, Beth's own flesh and blood, my parents' first grandchild… The beautiful blond hair, blue-eyed angel…

            Julia.