Author's note: as of 4-28-19 these last two chapters have been revised ever so slightly. The reason being is when I first wrote this story I was certain I'd never ever ever write post musical. And... well... I did. So instead of being canon in my friend's stories, they are canon to my own and fit the universe and timeline I created.
Chapter Thirteen:
April 26 1965
Such a lovely dream. The sky had never before appeared so blue. The flowers were something special. Seymour had seen Mushnik's shop in springtime, but this cascade of rainbow put even that little shop to shame. And the green! In all his life he had never seen so much green!
Seymour was a little kid again. Admiring all of this with wide childlike wonder. He glanced down and saw his old sneakers. He had both the toes stuffed with newspapers to keep them from falling off. His clothes were too big as well and had been passed down from the older boys in the home. Both of the knees of his jeans were frayed and dirty, no doubt from leaning down to admire plants in the yard. On the bridge of his nose he felt the scrap of tape that had desperately held his first pair of glasses together. He smiled at these things like old friends.
Turning around to admire the field he stopped when he saw something. Just off in the distance there was a woman. One he had never met in his lifetime but he knew immediately who she was.
"Ma!" the child cried as his legs took off running, "Mama! Mama!"
He was growing closer and outstretched his arms. Suddenly a sound behind him made young Seymour's feet stall. A growl similar to a lion. He'd heard it before. It sounded like Orin's bike, but it wasn't Orin behind him.
"Dad?" he gasped stopping and spinning around.
There was nothing there though, just more green field as far as he could see. Behind him his mother screamed and he spun back around. She was gone but her scream was still echoing.
"Mama?!"
He continued running but it was pointless, she was already gone. Spinning around he saw nothing. Nothing but the field, so green and beautiful. The sound of his mother continued to wail. He couldn't see anyone but heard his parent's voices loud in his ears.
"Stupid woman!"
"Erik that hurt!"
Seymour clasped his hands at the sides of his head as he continued to spin. They were nowhere, but so loud. His mother kept screaming. The sound of pounding followed, similar to punches.
"Erik it's not my fault!"
"Of course it's your fault! Everything is your fault!"
Seymour squeezed his face and started screaming himself.
"Dad! Stop!"
The sounds of striking and his mother's screams still pierced his ears.
"Dad don't hurt her!"
The pounding continued.
"Stop it! Stop it! It's my fault!"
Immediately all noises ceased. All the pounding, all the screaming, all the wailing disappeared. The only sound he heard was his own crying.
"It's my fault! It's my fault!"
Seymour fell to his knees. He pulled his hands off his face and saw they were wet with blood.
"I did it," he sighed, "I killed her. Orin, Mr. Mushnik… my own mother. I killed them."
He cried.
Suddenly he heard a laugh he knew all too well. The ground began to rumble and a vine shot out at him like the tentacle of a sea monster.
"No!" He screamed stumbling down to the ground, "No! Not you!"
It's head emerged from the ground cackling with laughter. Seymour scrambled to his feet and tried to take off running. One of the vines snapped forward, grabbing his wrist pulling him back. He screamed as he used his other hand to try and pry the vine off his arm but it wasn't budging. He was much smaller and younger than he had been at their last meeting. Though, had Seymour been his normal age and size he still wouldn't have been able to defeat this beast now. Audrey ii continued to roar with laughter as another vine grabbed Seymour by the waist and pulled him forward. His feet began to scrape against the grass as he was dragged forward. That's when he felt two hands lightly being placed on his shoulders.
"Just tell it to go away," his mother said calmly.
"W...What?" he struggled, keeping his eyes fixed on the monster as it continued to tug his arms.
"It's not really here. It can't really hurt you. Just tell it to go away."
Struggling for breath from the effort of pulling back he stuttered, "g.. Go away."
Nothing happened and Audrey ii continued to laugh.
"Louder sweetheart."
He yanked his arm back, pulling the vine with him. "Go away!"
The vine loosened its vice on his arm only enough for him to pull it free from it's grasp.
"Go away!" He shouted again.
The vine on his waist loosened and unraveled before falling on the ground. However, Audrey ii didn't move, but continued to look at him licking its teeth.
"Go away!"
Slowly all the vines slithered away and retracted back into the ground.
"GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!"
And just like that the head sunk back into the earth. The ground around it returned to its normal state of greenery as if nothing had happened. Seymour stood back panting until finally he let out a laugh of relief. It was then he looked up at his mother, still holding him by the shoulders, and stepped away aghast.
She had been hurt. He could hardly make out her face behind a range of purple and green bruises and swelling. There was an open wound on her temple still dripping, staining the front of her pink floral dress. Bruises were along her neck the size and placement of fingerprints.
"Ma," he gasped.
She didn't say anything but continued to look at him.
"Oh ma!" he blubbered bringing his hands to his face and breaking down emotionally, "Mama I'm so sorry! I did this! This is my fault! I killed you!"
He continued to scream and rant as she moved forward and got down on her knees so their eyes were level. She took his chin in her hand and gently pushed it up so he could see her eyes. To his complete surprise she was smiling shyly.
"Sweetheart, you didn't kill me," she said shaking her head.
He opened and closed his mouth completely dumbfounded. "But… But you're dead. If you hadn't had me you… dad did… you died having me so…"
"Shhhh," she cooed pushing his hair out of his face with one hand and grabbing his hand with the other, still crimson with blood.
"Sweetheart you didn't kill me. He killed me."
"Wha… what?"
"He wanted to kill you. I wouldn't let him and he hurt me. And I was too weak to go on."
"But… but he hurt you BECAUSE of me."
"He hurt me because he was a bad man. You didn't kill me."
Seymour tried to find words but they got caught in his throat. She continued to look on him so lovingly with her grey blue eyes. Seymour couldn't look at her and hung his head ashamed, keeping his eyes fixed on his sneakers. "If you weren't having me he wouldn't…"
"Look at me," she interrupted.
Reluctantly Seymour rose his head and looked at his mother's battered face as tears filled his eyes again.
"You didn't do this. He did, and he paid the price for it."
This caught Seymour off guard. She was quickly shutting down all the things he had been telling himself over the years.
"But mama… I…"
"Shhhh." As she spoke she lifted his hand to her cheek and rested it there. Seymour saw her face begin to heal before his very eyes. The purple bruises slowly turned yellow and disappeared. The cut ceased bleeding and stitched itself closed leaving no trace it was ever there. It was then Seymour saw his mother's face properly for the first time, not hiding behind bruises or a grainy black and white photograph, but who she was. She was beautiful.
A warm smile spread across her face. "I'm so sorry I died sweetheart. I was just so eager to meet you but I guess I wasn't strong enough." she passed her hand through his curly hair again and continued to smile, "You turned out so beautiful."
His face broke into a sheepish smile before he frowned and turned back to their hands.
"No. This isn't real. You said it yourself, you aren't really here."
She rested her hand on his cheek and stroked it back and forth with her thumb.
"I've always been here sweetheart."
He lifted his head again. This felt real. He desperately wanted it to be real. Maybe it was. Maybe this was his mother visiting him in a way she could.
"Ma, are you in heaven?"
She smiled. "Your Grandpa says 'hi'."
Seymour's eyes lit up. "Is… is this heaven?"
She paused and glanced about the field.
"No," she said shaking her head, "It's even more beautiful than this."
His eyes widened with interest. She turned her gaze back to him. Her expression was suddenly very serious and she lowered her voice.
"Sweetheart, I know things have been… hard for you lately with everything that has happened. And we will see each other again. I promise. I just… need you to take your time."
He sat back stunned, not knowing what to say. How could she have known? He chewed on his lip and turned his eyes away briefly before bringing them back. Slowly he nodded.
"Okay," he breathed barely audible.
She brought her hand back to his cheek but he flinched and pulled away.
"It… it just gets really hard sometimes ma."
"Good."
Her bluntness caused him to look up.
"If it was easy you wouldn't be human."
Seymour pondered this. It was true. He had done terrible things, because he was human. He had lied and hurt people, because he was human. He had love, because he was human. He felt guilt, because he was human. He felt hurt and broken, because he was human. All the while he had felt so alone in his pain but he wasn't and no one would ever be.
She smiled. "It gets hard, I know. Believe me, I know. I made my fair share of bad decisions and mistakes in my life. I'm sorry to say it, but they don't go away. But over time, you do learn to live with them."
He found a hard time meeting her face and continued to chew his lip.
"But you wanna know something?" She said, at which he glanced back up, "Even with what happened, I don't consider you one of those mistakes. Not for one second."
A wide smile lit up his face. Stepping forward he wrapped his small arms around his mother. For the first time ever, Alana held her child. He lay his head on her chest and was momentarily startled when he didn't feel her heart beating, but it wouldn't have been. He closed his eyes.
"I've done terrible things, ma," he whispered. As he spoke he rose his hand back up to glance at the blood which had now left stains on his skin. "Orin and Mr. Mushnik. I…"
"You saved her," she interrupted.
And just like that the blood on his hands was washed away. He moved back and brought his gaze back to her face wide eyed.
"What?"
She glanced over his head and smiled. She took both his hands in hers and worked her way to her feet. He moved up with her, growing and aging like magic until he was level with her. She nodded just over his shoulder.
"You saved her," she whispered pushing him to turn around.
Before him stood his angel. So beautiful in her white wedding dress from the night she barely made it out of the monster's jaws. The night Seymour had saved her and destroyed that plant for good, making it impossible for it to hurt another soul. Her smile was beaming. She looked radiant.
"Audrey?" he gasped as his mother let go of his hand.
She extended her arms and he ran into them, pulling her in a tight embrace.
