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 Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 2:47 am
Fiona felt a wave of warmth go through her entire body and kindle a fire when he touched her. Somehow, those three words had completely changed them - they could never go back or forget about this, and she was okay with that. When she said what she had said to him, it was completely true and straight from her quickly beating heart. He was going to be okay, and the panic she had earlier felt was gone now. There was no fear or despair, her heart was so full of her sudden realization of love for him, until he mentioned the fate of Dead Park.
She returned his gesture of very gently touching his skin, his still cold skin, and thought. She thought about the horrible man and she thought about the horrible things he had said. Monday was too soon. Three years later would be too soon. Dead Park couldn't go, it just couldn't. Why were they the only ones that saw?
The words he said in his own eloquent way pierced her straight through. Of course she knew how much the park meant to him, and it meant a lot to her too. It was the only real, living link to the happy childhood Nick had lived with his mother before the tragedy - the slide, the swings, the trees to hide behind during childish games. And maybe they would all be ripped out, like the years of memories made there meant nothing. Like the sacred place to her best friend was nothing.
They had to do something. Why did nobody else see?
We'll find a way, Fiona said in a voice that was still soft to avoid eavesdropping but with a courage, too, that she wasn't entirely sure she felt. They can't take Dead Park away from us.
There had to be a way. If she had to chain herself to a tree, then let it be. If she had to make picket signs, let it be. And if she had to do it alone, let it be. She loved Dead Park, she loved all of the memories both there and forever in her heart, and she loved Nicholas so much. Maybe she had always loved him, all those notes she wrote to him in times gone by, all the times she begged him to sleep over. She knew he might not be released from the hospital for a couple more days, just because of protocol and paperwork, and if she had to fight for Dead Park alone at least he would be there in her mind's eye to encourage her.
Fiona's parents could see the sudden light of determination in their daughter's eyes and knew that she was going to fight for Dead Park. But what could they do against a large company bent on destruction?
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Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:53 pm
"Having hope is good I'm sure, but with less then one percent of the towns population even knowing of it's existence through memories, the percentage of us finding a way to save the town is also below one percent..." Nicholas uttered, his stats something that shouldn't be overlooked.
"My second home... my safe haven to those of this cruel world... a place where my art soars through my lost emotions and emulates them on a clean slate... Lost as if it was never even there..."
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Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 5:44 pm
When Nick told her the statistics, Fiona actually felt physical pain. It was an aching pain deep in her core, as though her heart was actually about to break right there in front of him.
Megan Martin, the charge nurse on duty, had somehow found time among the two dozen patients to pick up her phone and dial a number.
You've reached Rufus Martin. I'm sorry I can't take your call right now but please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible ...
Her husband's phone was probably off. It usually was during his entire workday, something that he knew frustrated her to no end.
"R? It's M ... we need to talk when I get home."
And just as she turned back off her own phone, a patient's bed alarm went off and she had to rush away again to help them.
It hurt so much to see Nick like this. Paler than the snow outside, weaker than a whisper, losing faith. Even despite what she had told him, Fiona knew they would be fighting a losing battle. If only she could do something about it. If only that horrible man had never showed up, they could have Dead Park forever. As irrational a thought as it probably was, Fiona wished Dead Park could stay where it was forever. And why couldn't it?
Why did no one else see?
It hurt so much to know that the first emotions Nick had expressed in years upon years, were anger and sadness. She had dreamed so many times of seeing him smile, but it seemed that it would never come true now.
It hurt so much to know that if she couldn't do anything about Dead Park, it would be gone. Lost as if it was never even there.
They couldn't lose it.
The ache continued on, a sharp pain in every beat of her heart.
Fiona wished she could do something, but how?
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:48 pm
(Um... I'm kinda in a blockage... I don't know what to do! Should we time skip? I don't know! >o< )
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:20 pm
(I know right? I think we should timeskip too, but to when?)
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:40 pm
(I don't know! I was thinking have it time skip to the day where the park is destroyed, but I don't know if you had any ideas concerning Rufus's wife or something to save the park as well)
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:48 pm
(I think timeskipping is the best idea. xD Will Nick be discharged, or no? I don't know how long it takes to treat preunomia.)
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:00 pm
(I don't either. Lets just use roleplay magic and say that he is lol) [ size=9]Today was the day. It was a regular for any other individual, but not Nicholas. He was out of the hospital, treated and well, but cold skin and even colder feeling of emotionless expressions made it seem otherwise. He stood, outside of his second home. The work crew was already there, the machines starting up to begin their demolition.
All he could do was watch...
Watch as each second went by...
Memory after memory going by...
As Dead Park was slowly going away forever...
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 11:40 pm
"The library has needed a new site for years. You remember how cramped they were. Remember how they couldn't even fit all of the books they had in there?"
"I know," Megan said reluctantly. "But these kids --"
"What's two kids in the big scheme of things? The park never benefitted anyone. Think about how the new library will benefit people. New computers, new bookcases ..."
"What about memories?" After coming home from the hospital, Megan had done some research. The death of Nicolas' mother had been a short article in the newspaper when it happened, due to its traumatizing and cruel nature. Even though Megan had no children and wasn't able to, her heart quietly broke for the child with pneumonia. Because that was what he was, a child.
"What about taxpayers!" Rufus was practically in her face, making her see his point of view through force and anger. Megan backed away, but still she looked into his eyes - nobody was going to stand up for these kids, and she knew that. "Our taxes have already gone to fund this new library, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let two kids ruin that!"
Megan knew her argument was moot in the mind of her husband, and finally she just had had enough of the shouting.
Monday just came too soon.
People first came by to mark trees with spray painted "X"s. These would be the trees they would need to cut down to make room for the larger, more innovative building.
There were people with blueprints, machines, and there were construction workers in neon vests.
Rufus was there too, looking like he hadn't slept last night.
People opened their front doors and sat on their porches, dressed for the cold in jackets and parkas, watching as things proceeded. Although never having visited Dead Park during the time it was here, they watched as it was demolished.
"I can't even look at you right now," she had said ... she went into their room and locked the door ...
Fiona wished she would just wake up already. Her parents held her close as a machine started to pick up the slide, and hugged her as she began to openly sob. She'd been having nightmares.
She saw the park as it was when they were very young, laughing and running and carefree. In her dreams, she remembered what Nick's smile looked like.
When horrible, ugly, disgusting, evil Rufus came along she would try to climb up a tree and hide even though in reality she actually had never tried to climb. He came in a car Fiona could swear she recognized deep down in her buried subconscious, and in her dreams he was nothing short of a devil reincarnate. He cut down the tree she was hiding in and pulled up the swingset by its hinges ...
She would wake up shrieking and crying, and her parents were always there to tell her everything would be okay. "It's okay," They would say. "It's all over. It was just a dream."
She could see Rufus now, and her father grasped her shoulder as her muscles tensed and it looked like she might have gone over and slapped him. She remembered morbidly thinking that Nick's mother was buried here, even though she obviously knew otherwise; it was her spirit that was here - and they would be taking that away. Along with the slide that would go to the dump or maybe a metal scrapery, they would demolish her spirit.
Fiona squirmed against the grasp of her parents, crying for the things she had no control over.
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 9:58 pm
The loud rumbles of the large demolition vehicles overpowered every other sound. The Xs were made, the crew was ready, and the carnage began...
First went the trees... The crunch of the dead bark as it easily toppled to the ground... They worked quick, all the trees down in a matter of minutes due to them being dead...
They moved on to the slide... Beginning to dismantle and throw it into the truck to take it to the scrap heap...
It was all just so fast... Each thing gone just another blow to Nicholas' memories and feelings...
They moved on to the last thing... The lone swing that Nicholas sat in every... single... day...
"Goodbye... My haven... My comfort.... My home...."
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 7:48 pm
(Oh my gosh, this is getting really sad. I really feel bad now for making Mr. Stick-in-the-a** come along.)
They can't take Dead Park away from us. We'll find a way.
Her own words, spoken as a promise she hadn't kept. A lie, a hopeless lie. She looked over at him, trying as hard as she could not to watch as they began to dismantle the swing. She wanted to remember it as it always had been, not as an empty piece of land with the imprints of the swingset's legs.
No matter what her love for Nicholas was, Dead Park was really his first love. There were no picket signs demanding that the park be left alone and no chains to bind to a tree.
The trees were gone now, being taken away in large trucks.
How could the world have let them down like this?
Fiona's parents kept a close eye on both her and on Nicholas, knowing they probably wouldn't do anything drastic but staying there anyway. Their Christmas break would actually be coming around in about a week, and they were thinking about getting permission from Nick's dad and taking the two teens on vacation somewhere. To take their minds off of this.
But Fiona would never forget. She could hear them dismantling the swingset, even though she didn't look, and vowed to herself right then and there that she would never forget Dead Park. It would always be their first love.
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 8:09 pm
The day slowly began to make it's end, the demolition crew now gone.
Nicholas walked to the site, aware that he was trespassing...
He sat down where he swing used to be...
Sat there... staring off into nothing... dead silent.... (never expected the park to actually go away huh?)
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:45 pm
(I never actually thought it would go away. I thought there would totally be like, a strike or something weird like that. Holy crap, what are these two going to do after this?)
Her parents had brought Fiona home once the demolition crew had left, and even if she wanted to she couldn't leave. After hitch-hiking away from the hospital the other day, she was going to be grounded for a very long time. Yes, her parents had made completely sure to lecture her about how much danger she could have gotten herself into, and what was she even thinking to go like that, young lady? Hadn't they taught her better than that?
She was in her room now, stuck with her thoughts and an overwhelming sense of grief. She didn't want to be grounded. She wanted to be at Dead Park, where she knew Nick probably was, but at the same time she didn't want to see it as an empty piece of land. She wished she could even just call him, but she had no cell phone and she wasn't sure if Nick did either. And unfortunately, being grounded meant she couldn't even use the stupid phone without permission from her parents.
The sketchbook was still in here with her, sitting on her nightstand. Drawings from the swing that they would never see again. Feeling totally and completely spent from too many tears that had been cried, Fiona couldn't bring herself to even open the sketchbook back up and look. All she wanted was to dream and not have another nightmare, and then to wake up and have Dead Park still be there.
But neither would be happening.
"Fiona, dear, do you still need to take a shower?"
Her mother was in the doorway, speaking to her a bit cautiously. Upon arriving back home, Fiona had declared that she wanted to be alone and had come up here.
Yeah, Fiona admitted. As her mother walked away and Fiona stood up to go shower, she lightly brushed her hand over the cover of the sketchbook.
Why did all of this have to happen?
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:41 pm
(Don't worry, I have some tricks up my sleeve wink ) Darkness overtook the town as nightfall came. The moon was gone, and the starts couldn't be seen, as if they were avoiding onlookers. Nicholas was still sitting there, staring off into the unknown depths of his mind.
A few hours pass and it becomes after midnight, the town soon quiet. However, something was knocking on the window of Fiona's bedroom. She could see though that it was surprisingly enough Nicholas actually at her window, out in the chilling cold still.
"I want it back... I need it back..." He uttered, looking into Fiona's eyes. "I need my home... my nirvana... my swing..."
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:51 pm
(Yay! :'D heart )
"Fiona, it's time for you to go to bed. You have to go to school tommorow."
Now both of her parents were in her doorway, giving her a relatively early bedtime of 10:00 PM. Just a few nights ago, she had come back from Dead Park long after eleven. If only!
I know, Fiona said dejectedly to her parents. She got up and hugged both of them as she usually did, and they squeezed her a little harder than usual in return.
We just have your best interest in mind, sweetie, they seemed to be silently telling her. We just want the best for you ...
Bonne nuit.
"Bonne nuit."
"Bonne nuit chérie."
This was their tradition since she was very young, hugging and then saying goodnight to one another in French. It was nice, Fiona supposed, to have at least a few constants in her life. Her heart silently ached for Nicholas.
Then her parents walked out of her room and closed the door. Again, she was alone.
The sketchbook beckoned again.
Fiona had a hard time falling asleep, afraid of another nightmare. So she felt a mixture of surprise and relief when she became aware of a knocking at her window. She got up, walked over to the window, and saw Nicholas. A little confused now to see him, she opened her window. Nick, what are you doing here?
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