CYOA Page 78
Sep. 14th, 2013 04:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12You try to focus on the kid and quit looking at what remains of his parents. "Look. David," you begin tentatively. Should I put my hand on his shoulder? ....nah, too intimate. "You know it's not... uh... normal, to keep people around after they die. Right?"
"They're protected in here. Really bad things happen to people outside. I've seen it."
"Okay, but... they're dead." Blunt seems to be the way to go here!
"Yeah. And outside, animals would eat them." He might not know the word "duh," but if he did, you bet he would say it here.
"Oh, so you mean... bad things happen to dead people?"
"Yeah. Well, both."
"Okay. That's... true. But see, that's why they should be in the ground. So they can... you know. Rest in peace or whatever."
It seems like David is getting more angry than annoyed now. He fixes that cold stare on you. "They rest just fine in here," he says through gritted teeth.
"They're not resting the same way that-- it's like their souls need to rest." Er... wait... "Or not rest, exactly, but... they're not in there anymore, right? They're dead, so... their souls need to go to... wherever they go. And you're not letting them. I know I suck at explaining this shit, but..."
He doesn't look angry now, though. Just confused. "If their souls are... not there... if they're already gone... then how am I not letting them go?"
"Okay, forget about that part. You should bury them so you can... say goodbye."
"I don't want to say goodbye -- they're the only family I have."
Still very calm... stoic... like his words aren't connected to his heart or something, but at least the words are ones that a kid who loved his parents might say. A kid who feels stuff, or used to at one point. "I'm sorry. That... really sucks."
He doesn't answer. Just looks at you.
At least he's listening and hasn't thrown me out? "What were they like?"
He shrugs, and keeps staring at you. If he doesn't want to answer something, he simply just doesn't answer. You can respect that, you suppose.
"Do you... talk to them? Now?"
"Yeah."
"What do you tell them?"
"...Whatever I feel like."
Okay, so this isn't going anywhere... Then a thought occurs to you that should have occurred earlier. "Oh! You just need help with the burial. Right? Of course you couldn't do it by yourself... you were pretty little when they died, right?" He's still little, so, yeah.
"Burial? Burying them underground?"
"Yeah. Maybe we could..." Joel's not going to like this, but-- "What if we had like a funeral for them? Where you can say nice things about them, nice memories... and then say goodbye, once and for--"
"I told you, I don't want to say goodbye! I don't need any help."
"Maybe you don't want to," you acknowledge, "but sometimes... we have to do things we don't want to do, because it's the right thing to do."
"I don't have to do anything."
"You do. You do have to."
"Why?"
"Because... well, cuz you just do. It will help you heal. Help you move on."
"I'm not hurt. And I'm not moving anywhere."
You don't know how to get through to this kid! You can understand where he's coming from, but... -Oh! I know! You step closer to him. "Hey, listen. I know you said you don't have any other family. I didn't, either. My best friend had just died, and I've never had parents... I was really alone, you know? But I moved forward. With my life. I didn't let all the shit from the past weigh me down. Then I met Joel. Now he's my family. The only family I have. See? If you move forward... things happen -- things get better. You don't have to just... stay in here talking to dead people. You can--"
"Ellie?"
Joel must have come inside looking for you, because his voice doesn't sound very far away. Dude has the worst timing sometimes, you grumble to yourself. "It hasn't been ten minutes yet!" you call back to him.
"It's been long enough -- come on out."
"You better go," the kid says... blankly. His face is a clean slate.
"I can stall for more time. We were in the middle of an important conversation."
He shrugs. "Not important to me."
You can't tell if he's being a brat on purpose, or if he seriously just doesn't know how to talk to people. You're leaning towards the latter theory.
"Ellie!"
"Jesus, Joel, I'll be out in a minute!" you snap back. You don't know what else to say to the boy, but... you feel like you ought to say something else. Something more. "Hey, are you sure you don't want... Joel could dig a nice big hole, pretty fast..." Or so you assume. If he had a shovel. Maybe he could use that ax.
"I'm in a nice big hole." He's not even being sarcastic.
You snort. "Yeah, I guess you are. You could even say it's underground, I guess? A little?
Well, nice doing business with you. Take care of yourself, dude."
He silently watches you go; you wonder if Mom and Dad are going to get an earful now. You didn't expect him to offer to walk you out, or even to ask you if you remembered the way out... a goodbye of some sort would have been cool, though.
If you don't remember the way out, all you have to do is wait a minute and Joel will holler for you again. Then you can follow his voice! But, you do remember, as it wasn't exactly a complex labyrinth -- there was just that one fork...
...which you've just passed. You look back at it -- and you swear to God, you almost hear the other passageway calling your name, as loudly as Joel was calling it. You take a few steps back and peer into the near-darkness.
You're curious as fuck.
But David said there's nothing over there, and even if he was lying, how interesting would it be, really? Maybe Grandma and Grandpa live down there... no, wait, he said there's no other family. Ha! Maybe that's where he keeps his enemies...
You should probably just proceed to the mouth of the cave.
If you check out the tunnel on the right, turn to page 144.
If you head for the exit, turn to page 146.
Carlos
Date: 2021-02-01 03:26 am (UTC)Re: Carlos
Date: 2021-02-01 03:36 am (UTC)RE: Re: Carlos
Date: 2021-02-04 05:34 am (UTC)