sparklebutch

Title: Be Careful What You Wish For
Character: Ethan
Time: pre S2
Summary: Ethan drinks and thinks

*

It is All Hallows Eve, and Ethan sits and drinks, toasting the memories as they come, one by one.

Today of all days, the veil is thin, which is a good reason to do nothing but sit on his arse, like most creatures of the night plan to do. He has no particular wish to encounter long lost loved ones, or less loved ones. Those who are gone, should stay gone.

Still he drinks in their honour; the little girl in the orange dress who stood by the side of the road on a darkening evening; the pale-faced teen, lips almost colourless, with the dark circles around his eyes; the old man who died silently in his bed, pain turning to relief as death took him over. Ethan toasts and drinks only a sip to each, but the night progresses with no end in sight, and he's getting a bit tipsy.

To Randall; to Randall, who knew what he was getting into, who was a grown man like the rest of them - young, but fully aware, and not a novice. To Randall, who paid the price they all wagered.

Personal responsibility was a dying concept, he thinks bitterly. Everyone expects someone else to pay for them, their mum and dad, the government, some Higher Being who could care less. They all play without a worry, never bothering to clean up after themselves, so sure the world will catch them when they fall. Playing with ghouls and ghosts on Halloween, turning a blind eye to the real monsters.

He gets an idea. It'll take a while to perform, and it's too late an hour now. Too late a date. He puts the bottle down. Next year, perhaps. Next year, he will shine alone in the empty black skies of the Halloween night, and the cheerful things who parade in the streets with no care in the world will tremble as their safe little nest turns into a lion's den.

[end]