I am the most horrible person on the planet to do this to you.
Two years. I put this off two years. I am going to finish this.
oo00oo
One month had passed since then, the feeling of rapture's cold heart was still beating in our minds, in our ears. But we were happy. All the girls no longer drank blood to fill the endless hunger of a slug, and I no longer had to guard her from the very same task that would keep her living. They each had their own bed, with actual sheets and actual pillows. They ate actual food, and did what every little girl wants to do. When they sang, it wasn't about the upside-down houses, or the fluttering of angels wings, but of carols and short rhymes of the green new world.
Today was important. Today we were giving them back the life that they took from them. Today, we were going to give them to their real parents.
Jack sat in the front of his pickup adjusting his tie. He took a cursory glance at the little girl in the back seat. She fiddled with the lace trimmings on the edge of her dress, her chocolate curls lightly bounced with the movement.
"Abbey, are you ready? Or really Penelope. They're waiting inside for you." Jack pleaded.
"I'm scared. What if they don't recognize me? I want daddy." she was obviously nervous.
"Your daddy is in there, sweetheart." Jack replied.
She looked up and with a sigh opened the truck door. Jack got out and came around to meet her, he helped her down and lead her to the front door of the suburban home. Jack knocked on the door twice and went to ring the doorbell but the door opened before he could.
"Penelope.." The woman that answered gasped. Tears started strolling down her face like the Niagra Falls.
"Mama?" Penelope cried. She remembered. She remembered the summer days spent with her mama and papa. Laughing and smiling. Papa drank, but not too much. Mama made her dresses from store bought cotton. They embraced each other and held on tight, Jack knew they would never let go.
oo00oo
Subject Delta stared at the mirror. He stared hard and long. He imagined his face, all wrinkled and pale, no teeth or hair. He imagined his eyes. The orbs would reflect his emotion through the fluid and glass pane that held him together, would they glow in open air? He touched the welded bronze on the side of his helmet. What would he look like? Would he be able to feel the cold breeze or the warm sun?
Because he knew he couldn't feel it right now, as he his.
"Father are you sure about this?" Eleanor nearly whispered by his side. She stood ready with towels in case anything happened.
He nodded, but still hesitant. His hands quaked as they found the buckles. He was shaking so hard. He felt a hand on his glove almost instantly stilling the shake in his body.
"I am, and will always be here for you, Father." Eleanor said.
Oh how I wish I could say the same.
I undid the belts faster, fear leapt out of my stomach to be replaced with anticipation. I turned the right knob as the pressure decreased, same with the left. I placed two hands on each side of my helmet and shifted it right. I was giddy. I was so excited to see what I appeared to be. I lifted then, holding my breath. Fluid seeped out from the head orifice like a freshly cut wound.I heard it slash but did not see, I did not dare look in the mirror. I put the helmet off to the side, it settled on the floor with a clunck. I had nothing covering me but the internal head gear that fed me air. I could not feel my face, It was numb like the rest of my skin.I screwed my eyes shut and removed the breathing tube from my mouth and nostrils, It made me feel sick to pull the plastic tubes from my face. I grabbed the strange material that settled about my face and pulled it off slowly, the feeling of it gently ripping away from my skin made shiver roll up my spine. I felt cold. I felt strange and wet, what was this? I heard a gasp, and my worst fears were confirmed. I was hideous most likely, my skin was probably shriveled up and disgusting, I bet my hair is falling out right now. I probably wouldn't even have that. The fear was back, nesting in the pit of my belly, eating the courage I once had.
I risked it and cracked my eyes open, then widened them in surprise.
There the face that stared back, It was pale, very pale, and the skin around the eyes showed dark veins. There were tubes protruding from my neck that ran to the inner back of its suit, no doubt. It wasn't… a monster. It wasn't a god though mind you, but thirty something man. A red thin scar went from the side of its jaw only to get thick and disappear into dirty brownish locks. The face looked like the man I had seen in my vision when Lamb injected me with a new bond. Upon closer inspection, the faces looked similar, but definitely not the same. Was that a father? A brother? Was is something from the past I could not remember?
"Father…" Eleanor smiled.
I suddenly felt very self conscious. I looked away, maybe I am ugly, I mean compared to splicers this is a much better option, but to her I must appear beastly.
She started giggling. I looked at her and she stopped only to have her little giggle turn into outright laughter. I frowned, I made a grab for my helmet.
"No-ppft-no You-he you have funny facial expressions father. Don't put -hue your helmet back on." She said between fits of laughter. "Its just unexpected! Not bad, Father, not bad."
I felt warm in my cheeks.
"Oh you're blushing! You blush!" she yelped. My6 face seemed to move on its own, it evolved into a pouted frown.
"Oh father don't give me that look I'm only teasing," She smiled,"You know, you should take a shower, get this weird funk off you."
I sniffed the air, it smelled something assaulting. This was new. I expected everything to be dull, but this bit the inside of my nose. My breath caught in my throat. Oh god, whats happening? I kept inhaling and inhaling until finally my breath burst forth from my lungs, I spat the air out like a dislodged tooth.
"Bless you! You've quite the lungs father." Eleanor stated with mild amusement as she dropped her towels on the floor to soak up the fluid mess. What...just happened? She's acting like my near death experience was an old party trick! Maybe my lungs aren't ready for surface air? Maybe-
"Its called a sneeze father."
That- oh. Oh yeah, you tend to forget normal bodily functions when you've been in a suit for as long as you could remember.
"Well I'll leave you to your privacy, yell if you need help." She added as she stepped out of the bathroom and shut the door gently. Now the medium space carried only me and the sound of my uncaged breathing.
oo00oo
Eleanor stood against the wall next to the bathroom. She leaned back and slid into sitting position on the floor. The reddened skin on his temple was the scar from the bullet that took his life the first time. That was the first time I saw him die. She clamped a hand over her mouth as the tears fell from her eyes. I saw the bullet through the fever dream, a cascade of roses flew from the side of his head. Then I saw the unfiltered version; the blood was pooling about his corpse as Mother pulled me away. I remember that day as clear as crystal, I remember every step we took and every breath he took.
But that...won't happen is okay! He is living! He is breathing and walking and best of all, he is here. No more fighting. No more splicers, or maddened mothers, or trauma. Nothing will stop us from being happy, and I'll be damned if I let anyone step in our way. Eleanor wiped her tears away and smiled. It was the dawn of a new era for us refugees. There was no more need to shed tears.
She stood and walked to the kitchen. Filling the kettle up with water, she set it on the stove to boil. Absently, Eleanor looked out of the window, admiring the clouds and the pearly blue sky.
oo00oo
Jack pulled up the long driveway of his home, it had been a long day. He had delivered the last of the ex-sisters to their rightful parents, leaving the last three girls to deal with.
Idony had no files, no one had been looking for her. While in town Jack overheard a conversation while buying groceries. A local orphanage owner was chatting up a clerk, they were just rambling but something made him want to listen in.
"So, did the li'le runt ever come back?" The clerk asked.
"Nah, that one was useless, she was never adopted. No doubt she would have been one of the states children." The owner answered while picking her teeth.
"What if she was kidnapped? You know, like all the reports on the tele?"
"Bull. She'd always walk by the harbor at night, I told her that if she disappeared no one would look for her. One day she came in all smiles 'I've got a Big Sister now' she said. So full of shit she was. Never came back. And honestly? I welcome it! Pain in the ass, she was."
Jack stopped listening and bought his food.
Cindy had a mother, but she committed suicide months ago. The father was Mark Meltzer, a good father who would stop at nothing to get his little girl back. He was turned into a big daddy, his skin was gone and the mind replaced with that of a beast. He still couldn't bring himself to tell her about them.
Edith was the only one born in Rapture, her mother was a loyal follower of lamb who didn't want to splice. When she was born, she was offered up on a silver platter. This was the first name she was ever given.
Jack parked the truck and sat for a moment. He thought to himself,'What will be broken now?'He got out of the truck to find three little girls coloring on the concrete with chalk. He picked out blue birds and fluffy green trees, a red fox and- oh no. Edith and Cindy were daul coloring a large drawing of a sitting Delta and the three of them hugging him. Idony was doodling what looked to be a lithe version of a big daddy but pale and with a green porthole.
"Girls! Uh, you can't draw Delta on the sidewalk." He said trying to think out a plan. Those men might come back and he doesn't want to take any chances.
"Why not Mr. Ordinary?" Edith asked still filling out his orange helmet. Jack smirked at his newly appointed nickname.
"Because...because if people see the pictures they'll want him for themselves and they'll take him away." Jack put his hands on his hips. The little girls gasped, Jack's tactic had worked after all.
"Mr. Ordinary, Thats awful! No one can take away our daddy!" Idony stood and told the girls her piece. They agreed and began to scribble over the drawing with a big white stick of chalk.
"Girls I can take care of it, why don't you go inside and see what Eleanor is up to?" Jack reasoned.
They all agreed with resounding giggles. Jack watched them scurry for the front door like rabbits running away from a fox. Jack went to the garage and turned the hose on, he sprayed over the colorful chalk and watched as the big daddy dissolved away with the water.