Time Turner
. . . fiction by Odyssea
. . .All The Lonely People. . .
Sydney hates to be alone in her house. It feels like she's rattling around in this huge, echoing space, without anyone to hear or see her. She's never really lived alone before - first with her parents, then just with her father. After she left home, she was never alone - there was always Francie.
Francie had been her freshman roommate turned best friend. Sydney had been so excited to have a close friend that she never thought of the consequences. It meant so much to her to have someone there when she got back, someone who was interested in her day, even when she had to lie. It turned out in the end to be a terrible idea, a horrific ending - just because Sydney couldn't stand to be alone.
Funny how it turned out, then. Sydney is all alone now. Francie's dead, or at least both Francies are dead. She has no idea where the real Francie is buried, a fact that worries her some nights. Apparently they gave the other body, the fake Francie's body, to her parents. Somewhere there's a grave reading "Francine Calfo" with the wrong body in it. At least there's something there, something physical, to remind you of the person.
It's not that way with Will. There's nothing left of him, like ashes swept away on the wind. Everything she had that reminded her of him - pictures, letters, gifts he'd given her - all destroyed. He doesn't exist for her anymore. Somewhere out there, in America's great expanse of land, is a man who looks like her friend Will, but wears a different name, a different life. All because Sydney couldn't save him from herself.
Then there's Vaughn, and that's the worst kind of alone there is. Francie's dead and Will's gone, but Vaughn is still there, everyday, pretending they still have that easy relationship. It's gone, though, hidden behind flashes of emotions she doesn't remember, events that they haven't shared. He has a wife now, not her, someone who won't get him shot or beat up or doused in hazardous materials. He left all that behind, to teach high-schoolers French while his pretty wife works for the government - not in a job like Sydney's, but one where she dresses up in pretty outfits and has nice little meetings without a cross word or weapon drawn. A nice world, which Sydney ripped him out of.
It doesn't matter. They're all gone now. Gone from Sydney, leaving her all alone in a world of people she can't trust. The first day of training at SD-6, they told her never get involved. Never bring your world into someone else's. It's a risk and it's deadly. Sydney never learned that lesson until now. Now, she's alone.
The way it should be.
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