Chapter 8: The Grave
Scully walked along watching her feet. She desperately wished that Melissa was alive so that she could talk this over with her – but she wasn’t, so this was the next best thing. She was on her way to Melissa’s graveside. Mulder had nearly killed her today.
It had been the sheer force of his will (and his love) that had stopped him. Modell was permanently comatose but Scully’s eyes were wide open now. She loved him, but she could not tell him. Something in her head told her not to. Some little voice held her back and, for reasons she couldn’t explain, she trusted the voice. Maybe their love was the way it should have been in a distant reality where things were different but she had to live in this reality and so she would not tell him. Scully knew that Mulder already knew that she loved him. In the same way that she had known that he loved her long before he told her. It changed nothing. They would go on as they had before.
Scully looked up when she heard a noise. A figure dressed in a dark suit and long black coat was standing beside her sister’s grave.
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The young woman stood watching Scully as she watched the man at Melissa Scully’s graveside. She was standing just out of Scully’s eye-line, so there was no way that she could be seen in her present position. She smiled as she watched the man, and pushed a lock of red hair away from her face.
“He’s a fool.” The woman’s voice said behind her.
“You’re a cynic Caroline.” She replied.
“And you’re naïve Susannah.” A third female laughed.
“What are you two doing here?” Katherine asked her sisters.
“What do you mean two?” Angelina said with a laugh from next to her. The first three girls turned to see two more women join them.
“A family reunion.” Caroline said derisively.
“Shut up Caroline.” Evelyne laughed.
“Leave it out Evelyne.” Caroline snorted. “This is stupid. We might as well just walk over there and introduce ourselves to the lying bitch.”
“Don’t say that Caroline.” Susannah warned.
“We all know that she didn’t know what was happening.” Angelina added.
“It’s not our place to judge her.” Katherine joined in.
“I can’t take any more of this!” Caroline exclaimed.
“You promised Caroline.” Katherine told her sternly.
“You said that you wouldn’t go near her.” Angelina said forcefully.
“No matter what *they* tell you to do.” Susannah added.
“I can’t not do what they order me to.” Caroline replied dead-pan.
“Now that’s a lie.” Angelina laughed bitterly.
“They’re afraid of us.” Evelyne said softly as she looked around the group. Four faces identical to her own stared back at her with full comprehension of her meaning.
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Scully could make out none of the man’s features. She just watched as he reached down and placed a single flower on the grave – then hurried away to a dark chair with tinted windows. The car drove off at high speed.
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“He’s gone.” Susannah said, gesturing towards their aunt’s grave. Caroline laughed.
“I’ll bet the idiot’s left a clue, after all we’ve done to hide the truth.” She remarked bitterly.
“They *wont* find out.” Katherine said quietly and her sisters turned to her.
“She’s right.” Angelina added. “If they’re ever to be happy then they can’t find out about us.”
“But we’re the truth that he’s looking for.” Susannah pointed out softly.
“Which is why he’ll *never* find the truth.” Caroline said bluntly.
“And he’ll never know that he’s one of us.” Evelyne remarked, looking squarely at her sisters.
“I hope that he never finds out.” Angelina said on an outward breath and all her sisters echoed her sentiment.
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Scully picked her way over to her sister’s grave and stared at the single white rose lying by the stone. A card was attached, so Scully picked it up and read the two words scrawled there in a strong black hand.
“For Quietus.”