Chapter Text
Sienna Morgan had had five soulmates over the course of her life. The first when she was only a kid, eleven years old, the last she still had today. Today, though, she wasn’t thinking of either of those extremes.
Today, she was mourning her second.
It had taken her a few minutes to realise Maureen was dead. She’d stared at the screen, watching the boy from twelve set her down into the water, staining it all red. It wasn’t until someone switched off the screen that it all snuck up on her.
She hadn’t paid much attention to where she was going after that. She figured it was right, in some sort of way, that it was here. The bench was probably rotting by now. She remembered how much of a nightmare it had been to build.
“Hey, Sienna?”
“Just a minute, ‘Reen, I’m just getting this screw in.” Sienna battled with the thing until it finally stuck in, then rushed over to her girlfriend.
“Um….. I don’t think sawing that plank agreed with me.” Maureen said, showing Sienna her open palms, which were covered in splinters.
“Oh, Reen! Your hands!” Sienna grabbed her hands, holding her wrists as she picked out all the splinters. “There, all gone. That okay?”
She’d moved to go back to the building, but Maureen hadn’t let her.
“No, not quite,” her girl had replied, a little smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Kiss it better?”
“Alright, alright.” Sienna leaned down, pressing her lips to each of the marks, feeling Maureen’s palms tense under her, hearing the little exhales she let out every time.
She’d straightened up, and placed one more kiss on Maureen’s lips. “Perfect. We’re not letting you anywhere near a saw again, though.”
Sienna handed her a screwdriver, and the box of nails. “Here, have a go with these. We’ll paint it soon, you’ll be much better than me at that.”
Maureen knelt down, trying to attach one of the arms to the seat of the bench. She looked beautiful, like an illustration in a story book, with her dark hair clinging to her face from the sweat, and her dress pooling on the ground. “You’re so pretty.”
Sienna ended up redoing all the screws tighter that evening. The ache in her hands was worth it.
Sienna sighed, gaze sliding over to one of the arms of the bench. The paint was flaky, so the inscription was cracked, but she could just about make it out. S & M Forever. What a joke that turned out to be.
She’d wanted Maureen to choose her. She’d wanted to stay. That was what soulmates did. They stayed together, throughout everything. Addiction, loss, flood, fire. All of it. And Sienna did. She’d tried to help her, to fix all the problems, to be the knight in shining armour. All to make it work.
And Maureen had ended it anyway.
Sienna had wished her peace. At that time, it was a lie. It had taken her a long time to realise that Maureen was her soulmate, but she wasn’t Maureen's. It had taken her longer to accept that.
In the end, when it came to peace, Sienna had found it, as best she could. A few other loves and a new place ended up doing her some good. She wasn’t sure Maureen had. Every year, she looked worse and worse. Maybe there was some kind of peace for her in death. She hoped so. In the stories Sienna read as a child, dead characters did always look sort of content. They never did say, though, how to save someone when they were already entangled in the thorns.
Sienna didn’t realise she’d been picking at the paint on the bench until she felt a piece slice her finger. She pulled it out, looking at the little speck of blood on the letter M she’d peeled off, then dropping it to the floor with the rest of the flakes. All that was left on the bench was S &.
She really was all that was left of Maureen, huh? Poor girl didn’t even have family left. Her father’d always been nice, never judged her or ‘Reen for what they had. Sienna knew some parents did. Maureen’s sister, too, should really be here, jabbing at the two of them like she used to. Maybe if she was, Maureen wouldn’t have gotten so bad. Maybe they’d be sisters too. It’d be nice to have a sibling again.
Sienna hadn’t quite realised she was crying. She figured she probably should’ve expected it. It takes a lot to lose a soulmate. She sprawled on the seat of the bench, letting her feet dangle over the arms, and screamed up at the sky. She’s too big for it, and probably too heavy, given the rot. Maybe, somewhere else, she got to see Maureen in that white dress.
After a while, she hears footsteps behind her. Sienna sits up, turning to face her fifth soulmate.
“Hey, Sienna. I saw what happened.” She shuffles up, letting her lover next to her. “How’re you feeling?”
“Dunno,” Sienna sighs, resting her head on her soulmate’s shoulder. “I guess I thought I’d be sadder.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, obviously I’m sad, but…….. Feels like I actually lost her a long time ago.”
“Oh, Sienna….”
“It’s fine. Feels mostly like I’m mourning what could’ve been, at this point.”
“You….. You want to talk about it?”
“It’s fine.”
Sienna stood up from the rotting bench, dusting paint flakes off her shorts. She takes the hand of her fifth soulmate, the one she knows can call her a soulmate too. “Let’s go home.”