Faith
By Melanie E.

This is just something that popped into my head while I was trying to fall asleep. I hope a few people here enjoy it.

The caution is only due to a fairly subdued reference, but I still felt it better to have the caution than to leave it out.

-==-

I'd always liked the fall. The crispness in the air, that smell the world gets when everything starts to transform in preparation for the hard, cold weather ahead, even the sound of the wind whistling through the trees, rustling the last of the red and gold leaves as the clung on desperately to the limbs that bore them.

This particular fall night was extra special though. Or at least I hoped it would be.

No. It would be.

I had faith.

I had been sitting on the hood of my car for a couple of hours already, waiting and listening to Eric Clapton wail from the stereo, "Can't Find My Way Home". Nobody came down these old dirt roads any more, not since the creeks had dried up a few years back thanks to the new dam and the fishing went south. An industrious digger could still find a few crawdads here and there in the muddy, sludgy mess that was left from the runoff, but all that remained of the waters of my childhood's summer getaways was this one small, silty spring-fed pond.

It had been a whole year since I'd been here last, but a promise was a promise.

I recognized the clattering sound of the engine even before its lights peeked through the underbrush behind me, and a smile spread across my lips when I watched the old S10 pull up next to my little trans am. The paint was the same white and rust mix I remembered seeing every day for such a long time. It had been exactly a year since I had seen either it or its occupant, but there was nothing new or changed about the old work truck at all.

The person who stepped out of it, though, was completely new.

It took all my willpower, but after a single curt nod I turned away from my new companion and stared out at the pond before me, listening to the frogs and crickets and idly wondering if the wavering grass growing at the edge was a snake, a rabbit, or something else. I felt the hood of my car shift, and I knew that the woman I had watched exit the truck was sitting next to me, staring out at the pond too. We'd sat like this a lot, once upon a time, talking about anything and everything, and sometimes not talking at all.

Even after all the changes both of us had gone through since the last time we had seen one another, the silence between us was still a surprisingly comfortable one.

"You came," she said quietly.

"I promised," I answered, shifting a little so I was laying on my back, staring at the stars instead of the pond.

"And if I hadn't come back?"

I smiled. "I knew you would."

My hood shifted again, and I knew that she was laying next to me, staring at the stars too.

"Did you bring it with you?" She asked, just as quietly as she had spoken before.

Instead of answering, I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the pistol I had taken from her a year ago. There was one round in the chamber: the same round that had been there when I had taken it from her in the first place.

"Can I have it?"

I nodded. "It's been a year, and I promised." I placed the pistol between us on the hood, the barrel facing toward the pond.

I didn't watch as she picked the gun up, though I heard the unmistakable click of the safety going off.

"Are you happy?" I asked her, continuing to look at the stars.

"Are you?" She asked.

I thought about everything that had happened in the past year. My wife was waiting for me at home with our one month old daughter, worried about what was going to happen tonight. I had a good job, and friends to stand by me.

"Yes."

More silence followed.

It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours, but as soon as I heard the 'plunk' of the pistol disappearing into the pond I felt a tight spot in my heart begin to release. I felt my car shift again, then the telltale sound of the S10's door opening.

"You should stop by home," I said, never looking away from the stars. "Mom's been worried sick about you, and I'm sure she'd be thrilled to meet her new daughter."

"What makes you so sure?"

For only the second time all night I looked over at my former twin brother and smiled. "Because I have faith."

--END--

Not much, I know, but like I said, it was just a little idea for a scene that popped into my head while I was laying in bed, and I felt compelled to share it.