Warning: There is a character death in this chapter. I'm sorry! I had to!
Chapter 9
~**~**~**~
Around 4 ½ years later
Brittany sighed as she set her Biolgoy 2 book down on her computer table. Her lab had been especially hard, but she had passed it with flying colors. She shed her jeans and sweater and threw on a pair of jogging pants and an oversized t-shirt that belonged to her boyfriend, Nick, who was in her psychology 2 class. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and slipped her running shoes on. She called out to her roommate--Shauna, who was still her best friend--and told her she was going for a run.
As she jogged away from campus it began to lightly rain, reminding her of the reason she had traveled so far from home in the first place. The day they buried her sister. Now they say that a parents loss of a child is the hardest to bear, she didn't doubt that, but losing a sister trailed close behind, especially one that was so close to her. Alicia had been her best friend, her confidant, and the day that they committed her to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, it had lightly rained, as if the heavens were weeping for the loss.
They had found her sister 6 months after she went missing, she was miles from home, in a field in Kansas. She was barley clothed and had scares all over her body, painful scares, scares that Brittany wouldn't forget as long as she lived, scares that plagued her every time she closed her eyes.
She looked at her watch and fought back a sob when she saw the exact time, it was 5:11. Remembering her sister's quirky habit with 11's was one of the many things she did every day, more so they had been born on May 11th, 5/11. She shook her head stopping the tears that threatened to fall. When her sister had been abducted, and then when she had been found, Brittany's only defense mechanism was to remain strong, and not falter, tears were a weakness to her.
She sat down on a bench as the rain continued to fall. Her mind traveling to distant times, the yesteryears, when she had been happy. When her family was complete. She remembered summers spent at the beach, moving from here to there because of her father's job in the marines, sharing her secrets with her twin sister who was younger by two minutes. Holding the fact that she was younger over her head. How she yearned for those days. But, she knew that all she had left were memories.
She didn't sleep much, the dark bags under her eyes showed the signs of her being an insomniac. Not because she couldn't sleep, she had no trouble falling asleep, it was that when she did she would have nightmares, of the experiments that Alicia went through, for a reason that was still unknown to her. A reason that would forever be unknown to her.
Her cell phone rang and she picked the device up, "Brittany." She said nonchalantly into the tiny silver phone.
"Hey hon, where are you at? Shauna said that you went out."
She sighed, "yeah, I went for a jog. Why?"
"I had the day off and was wondering if you wanted to get together before you had to go to work."
She shook her head, although she knew that he wouldn't see her do so, "not today Nick. Maybe some other time."
He paused for a second, then it dawned on him, "oh God Brittany. I'm such an idiot. I should have realized what today was. Forgive me."
"No, no, Nick, it's not your fault. I shouldn't be so mopey anyway."
"You have every right to mope Brittany."
She sighed, "I've got to go Nick. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Alright babe, I'll talk to you then."
She smiled sadly, "bye hon." Then she hung up and started jogging once more along the empty sidewalk. That was the good thing about rain, It could make the once busy city as empty as the countryside.
She knew Nick was mentally kicking himself at the moment, maybe even physically, today was the five year anniversary of when Alicia went missing, abducted rather.
One of the best things about Nick was he knew of the things she saw that night, and he believed her. He knew that she wouldn't openly make something like that up, and he loved her anyway. Although he wouldn't have believed in little gray men from outer space otherwise. But, nonetheless, he trusted her enough to know she wouldn't lie.
Now, normally she wouldn't still be at school today, she would be at Alicia's grave, for hours upon hours, talking. But, she couldn't get off work, and although today marked 5 years they wouldn't allow her that small piece of closure. Heartless bastards.
She hadn't spoken to her parents for well over a year, not since she moved out and went to college. She knew that she should at least call them, but it hurt that they still didn't believe what she said. Nonetheless, she had left that life when she left Tennessee. She was no longer 'that spooky chick' who's sister was abducted by aliens and returned dead. She was Brittany Adkins, Biology Major--Psychology Minor. And a damn good student. And she was content with her life, although there were a few aspects of her old life she never let slip through the cracks. Alicia being the main one.
She often wrote letters to Alicia, she kept them in a box underneath her bed. Nick had found them once, but she wouldn't let him read them. Although she knew Alicia would never read them, it was nice to have them there, safely tucked away under her full sized bed. They were hers, and nobody else's. Her last link to her long lost twin sister.
She often picked up the phone and started to dial home, to have Alicia pick up. She normally got all the way to the last number before she realized that Alicia wasn't there anymore. And if she was alone, she would cry. If she was with somebody, she would hold off until she was alone.
At some point the rain must have stopped because tourist once again filled the busy streets. She cursed herself for not realizing this and heading back to campus, but at the same time she loved being just another face in the crowd, nobody knew who you were, if you lived in the city or were another annoying tourist. She smiled to herself as she pushed through the crowd of people, not really running anymore, not jogging either. Barley even walking.
She saw some familiar faces as she struggled to get through the people, but she didn't call out to them, they, like her, were trying to get away from campus life, and other students just complicated that. She finally made her way to her favorite spot in the whole city and sat down on a bench in time to watch the sunset. She closed her eyes and memories of her and her sister ran free. All of the inside jokes, the laughs shared, the cries, and the fights. She smiled as she remembered the summer before Alicia had gone missing, they went to Key West and Alicia was a dolphin trainer for the day, Brittany on the other hand just swam with the dolphins. They're parents had shelled out the extra dollars because Alicia had wanted to be a Marine Biologist. And she would have been a good one too. Alicia would have probably been good at anything she would have done. That was one of the many things that made her sisters death such a tragedy, her sister could have been such an asset to the world. She was an asset to her family, always making them smile at her ditziness, although in all truth, she was the smartest person in her immediate family itself.
Her cell phone rang again and she sighed putting it up to her ear, "Brittany."
"Hey Brittany," there was a pause, "it's Brandy." Of course she knew this, her sister didn't need to indicate she was on the other end. They hadn't talked in well over two years--Brandy went off to college not long after they found Alicia's body--but she still knew her now only sisters voice clearly.
"I know that Brandy."
Her sister sighed into the phone, "God Brittany, it's been 5 years."
"I know."
"I miss her so much." She said, a small sob coming through the line. "I still can't believe that she's gone."
"Neither can I Brandy, but at some point, you just have to move on." It had taken Brittany many years, but she finally did move on, well, as much as she ever would.
"I've tried Brittany, God I've tried, I have kids to think about, but its so hard. What did we do to deserve this? Why did this happen to us?"
"I don't know Brandy. Life isn't always fair."
"I'll say. But, you're so sure about what happened to her, how can you not know why?"
"Because Brandy, something's are just better left unsaid…or unknown. I'm not entirely sure we'll ever know. And, particularly, I'm not sure if I want to know. Do you?"
She could now hear the tears in her sister's voice, "no." She heard muffled voices, something along the lines of 'mommy, why are you crying?' and then her sister spoke into the receiver, "I have to go Brittany. Alicia's awake (Brandy named her daughter after Alicia) I'll call you. I promise. We don't talk like we should."
"I know Brandy."
"Brittany, I want you to know something. No matter what I think happened to Alicia. I know you wouldn't lie." She paused, "I love you Brittany."
Brittany could feel the hot tears falling down her cheeks, "I love you too Brandy. Take care, tell Alicia and Noah that I love them. And tell Thomas hello for me."
"I will Brittany. Goodbye."
"Yeah." She hung up and wiped the tears out of her eyes. She sat on the bench for awhile, looking at the calm, unmoving water in front of her. She heard laughter and the sound of a small child giggling. She looked up, and smiled at the imagine in front of her. The couple and their young son store at her for awhile, before the man got a knowing look on his face.
"Brittany?" Agent Mulder said, "what are you doing here?"
She smiled, "I'm in my Sophomore year over at Georgetown University." She smiled at Agent Scully, "It's nice to see you two again. It's been a long time."
Mulder blinked, "over four years. Why didn't you tell us you were coming here the last time we talked with each other?"
"Well, I was only planning on coming, I wasn't sure if they would accept me or not." The last time they had seen each other was Alicia's funeral. Mulder had helped her a lot that day. But she had phoned him a few months before her graduation. She smiled at the small boy in the stroller, "something you two care to tell me about?"
He smiled and wrapped his arm around Scully's waist. "Brittany," he said motioning down to the boy, "this is William. Our son."
"Congratulations. How old is he?"
"8 months." Scully said happily, "and getting more and more like daddy every day."
The little boy squealed at the word 'daddy' and said it over and over again. Brittany imagined it was one of the few words he knew. He was such a cute little boy, he had a brownish auburn hair and bright hazel eyes, one's that matched his father's perfectly. She smiled when she noted that he had inherited his mothers nose, but his fathers jaw. "He's adorable."
"Thank you." They said in unison, then laughed slightly.
Then, Mulder did what she feared. He got serious, he looked her straight in the face, holding her gaze, not letting her look away. "How have you been doing?"
She smiled sadly and looked down at the engagement ring that Nick had given her only 3 days prior, she looked up at him, this time being the one to lock the gaze, "I'm ok."
THE END
~**~**~**~
A/N: God! What a freakin' sad chapter! I cried whilst typing it. I hope you liked it, and I hope it ended good. And I know, character death, curse me. But, I had to do it! Don't hate me! Please! I beg of you. Please, please, let me know if you liked this story. I live for reviews. I really hope that you liked this story. I did...but then again, I like all my stories.
Chapter 9
~**~**~**~
Around 4 ½ years later
Brittany sighed as she set her Biolgoy 2 book down on her computer table. Her lab had been especially hard, but she had passed it with flying colors. She shed her jeans and sweater and threw on a pair of jogging pants and an oversized t-shirt that belonged to her boyfriend, Nick, who was in her psychology 2 class. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and slipped her running shoes on. She called out to her roommate--Shauna, who was still her best friend--and told her she was going for a run.
As she jogged away from campus it began to lightly rain, reminding her of the reason she had traveled so far from home in the first place. The day they buried her sister. Now they say that a parents loss of a child is the hardest to bear, she didn't doubt that, but losing a sister trailed close behind, especially one that was so close to her. Alicia had been her best friend, her confidant, and the day that they committed her to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, it had lightly rained, as if the heavens were weeping for the loss.
They had found her sister 6 months after she went missing, she was miles from home, in a field in Kansas. She was barley clothed and had scares all over her body, painful scares, scares that Brittany wouldn't forget as long as she lived, scares that plagued her every time she closed her eyes.
She looked at her watch and fought back a sob when she saw the exact time, it was 5:11. Remembering her sister's quirky habit with 11's was one of the many things she did every day, more so they had been born on May 11th, 5/11. She shook her head stopping the tears that threatened to fall. When her sister had been abducted, and then when she had been found, Brittany's only defense mechanism was to remain strong, and not falter, tears were a weakness to her.
She sat down on a bench as the rain continued to fall. Her mind traveling to distant times, the yesteryears, when she had been happy. When her family was complete. She remembered summers spent at the beach, moving from here to there because of her father's job in the marines, sharing her secrets with her twin sister who was younger by two minutes. Holding the fact that she was younger over her head. How she yearned for those days. But, she knew that all she had left were memories.
She didn't sleep much, the dark bags under her eyes showed the signs of her being an insomniac. Not because she couldn't sleep, she had no trouble falling asleep, it was that when she did she would have nightmares, of the experiments that Alicia went through, for a reason that was still unknown to her. A reason that would forever be unknown to her.
Her cell phone rang and she picked the device up, "Brittany." She said nonchalantly into the tiny silver phone.
"Hey hon, where are you at? Shauna said that you went out."
She sighed, "yeah, I went for a jog. Why?"
"I had the day off and was wondering if you wanted to get together before you had to go to work."
She shook her head, although she knew that he wouldn't see her do so, "not today Nick. Maybe some other time."
He paused for a second, then it dawned on him, "oh God Brittany. I'm such an idiot. I should have realized what today was. Forgive me."
"No, no, Nick, it's not your fault. I shouldn't be so mopey anyway."
"You have every right to mope Brittany."
She sighed, "I've got to go Nick. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Alright babe, I'll talk to you then."
She smiled sadly, "bye hon." Then she hung up and started jogging once more along the empty sidewalk. That was the good thing about rain, It could make the once busy city as empty as the countryside.
She knew Nick was mentally kicking himself at the moment, maybe even physically, today was the five year anniversary of when Alicia went missing, abducted rather.
One of the best things about Nick was he knew of the things she saw that night, and he believed her. He knew that she wouldn't openly make something like that up, and he loved her anyway. Although he wouldn't have believed in little gray men from outer space otherwise. But, nonetheless, he trusted her enough to know she wouldn't lie.
Now, normally she wouldn't still be at school today, she would be at Alicia's grave, for hours upon hours, talking. But, she couldn't get off work, and although today marked 5 years they wouldn't allow her that small piece of closure. Heartless bastards.
She hadn't spoken to her parents for well over a year, not since she moved out and went to college. She knew that she should at least call them, but it hurt that they still didn't believe what she said. Nonetheless, she had left that life when she left Tennessee. She was no longer 'that spooky chick' who's sister was abducted by aliens and returned dead. She was Brittany Adkins, Biology Major--Psychology Minor. And a damn good student. And she was content with her life, although there were a few aspects of her old life she never let slip through the cracks. Alicia being the main one.
She often wrote letters to Alicia, she kept them in a box underneath her bed. Nick had found them once, but she wouldn't let him read them. Although she knew Alicia would never read them, it was nice to have them there, safely tucked away under her full sized bed. They were hers, and nobody else's. Her last link to her long lost twin sister.
She often picked up the phone and started to dial home, to have Alicia pick up. She normally got all the way to the last number before she realized that Alicia wasn't there anymore. And if she was alone, she would cry. If she was with somebody, she would hold off until she was alone.
At some point the rain must have stopped because tourist once again filled the busy streets. She cursed herself for not realizing this and heading back to campus, but at the same time she loved being just another face in the crowd, nobody knew who you were, if you lived in the city or were another annoying tourist. She smiled to herself as she pushed through the crowd of people, not really running anymore, not jogging either. Barley even walking.
She saw some familiar faces as she struggled to get through the people, but she didn't call out to them, they, like her, were trying to get away from campus life, and other students just complicated that. She finally made her way to her favorite spot in the whole city and sat down on a bench in time to watch the sunset. She closed her eyes and memories of her and her sister ran free. All of the inside jokes, the laughs shared, the cries, and the fights. She smiled as she remembered the summer before Alicia had gone missing, they went to Key West and Alicia was a dolphin trainer for the day, Brittany on the other hand just swam with the dolphins. They're parents had shelled out the extra dollars because Alicia had wanted to be a Marine Biologist. And she would have been a good one too. Alicia would have probably been good at anything she would have done. That was one of the many things that made her sisters death such a tragedy, her sister could have been such an asset to the world. She was an asset to her family, always making them smile at her ditziness, although in all truth, she was the smartest person in her immediate family itself.
Her cell phone rang again and she sighed putting it up to her ear, "Brittany."
"Hey Brittany," there was a pause, "it's Brandy." Of course she knew this, her sister didn't need to indicate she was on the other end. They hadn't talked in well over two years--Brandy went off to college not long after they found Alicia's body--but she still knew her now only sisters voice clearly.
"I know that Brandy."
Her sister sighed into the phone, "God Brittany, it's been 5 years."
"I know."
"I miss her so much." She said, a small sob coming through the line. "I still can't believe that she's gone."
"Neither can I Brandy, but at some point, you just have to move on." It had taken Brittany many years, but she finally did move on, well, as much as she ever would.
"I've tried Brittany, God I've tried, I have kids to think about, but its so hard. What did we do to deserve this? Why did this happen to us?"
"I don't know Brandy. Life isn't always fair."
"I'll say. But, you're so sure about what happened to her, how can you not know why?"
"Because Brandy, something's are just better left unsaid…or unknown. I'm not entirely sure we'll ever know. And, particularly, I'm not sure if I want to know. Do you?"
She could now hear the tears in her sister's voice, "no." She heard muffled voices, something along the lines of 'mommy, why are you crying?' and then her sister spoke into the receiver, "I have to go Brittany. Alicia's awake (Brandy named her daughter after Alicia) I'll call you. I promise. We don't talk like we should."
"I know Brandy."
"Brittany, I want you to know something. No matter what I think happened to Alicia. I know you wouldn't lie." She paused, "I love you Brittany."
Brittany could feel the hot tears falling down her cheeks, "I love you too Brandy. Take care, tell Alicia and Noah that I love them. And tell Thomas hello for me."
"I will Brittany. Goodbye."
"Yeah." She hung up and wiped the tears out of her eyes. She sat on the bench for awhile, looking at the calm, unmoving water in front of her. She heard laughter and the sound of a small child giggling. She looked up, and smiled at the imagine in front of her. The couple and their young son store at her for awhile, before the man got a knowing look on his face.
"Brittany?" Agent Mulder said, "what are you doing here?"
She smiled, "I'm in my Sophomore year over at Georgetown University." She smiled at Agent Scully, "It's nice to see you two again. It's been a long time."
Mulder blinked, "over four years. Why didn't you tell us you were coming here the last time we talked with each other?"
"Well, I was only planning on coming, I wasn't sure if they would accept me or not." The last time they had seen each other was Alicia's funeral. Mulder had helped her a lot that day. But she had phoned him a few months before her graduation. She smiled at the small boy in the stroller, "something you two care to tell me about?"
He smiled and wrapped his arm around Scully's waist. "Brittany," he said motioning down to the boy, "this is William. Our son."
"Congratulations. How old is he?"
"8 months." Scully said happily, "and getting more and more like daddy every day."
The little boy squealed at the word 'daddy' and said it over and over again. Brittany imagined it was one of the few words he knew. He was such a cute little boy, he had a brownish auburn hair and bright hazel eyes, one's that matched his father's perfectly. She smiled when she noted that he had inherited his mothers nose, but his fathers jaw. "He's adorable."
"Thank you." They said in unison, then laughed slightly.
Then, Mulder did what she feared. He got serious, he looked her straight in the face, holding her gaze, not letting her look away. "How have you been doing?"
She smiled sadly and looked down at the engagement ring that Nick had given her only 3 days prior, she looked up at him, this time being the one to lock the gaze, "I'm ok."
THE END
~**~**~**~
A/N: God! What a freakin' sad chapter! I cried whilst typing it. I hope you liked it, and I hope it ended good. And I know, character death, curse me. But, I had to do it! Don't hate me! Please! I beg of you. Please, please, let me know if you liked this story. I live for reviews. I really hope that you liked this story. I did...but then again, I like all my stories.