[It's interesting how much two strangers lives can mirror one another.
Not that Carter is thinking about that in the slightest as he slides into the mineral waters, all he is thinking about is soothing his tired body. The locals had told him that a trip to the lotus bath would help ease his aches and pains and after what had happened to him on the last island he needed it, more so he thinks he deserves it. He deserves a chance to just relax and let himself unwind.
And so he is completely caught off guard when things start to change. He feels so warm and comfortable in the waters and it's only when he opens his eyes does he realize he's seeing something that isn't there, more so it almost seems to be doubled. As if two memories have been set on top of each other, like two panes of colored glass.
His own memory is of him, much younger and much smaller, sitting on the couch happily drawing with markers and pencils. His mother sits next to him reading a copy of the Weekly World News, she glances up briefly and favors him with a smile. It's a smile that he would give anything to see again. He leans forward and she reaches out, stroking the top of his head, smoothing back his hair in an impossibly gentle, tender gesture...
Carter jerks as if someone has slapped him because for a brief moment he actually felt that touch but it wasn't his mother, it was....]
What the fuck?!
[He pulls himself out of the water, wiping it off his skin as if it was something corrosive and painful. His eyes are wide and frightened, ironically making him look much more like his eight year old self. He looks up and sees the shaking woman next to him but almost doesn't register her.]
ii. the lotus baths
Not that Carter is thinking about that in the slightest as he slides into the mineral waters, all he is thinking about is soothing his tired body. The locals had told him that a trip to the lotus bath would help ease his aches and pains and after what had happened to him on the last island he needed it, more so he thinks he deserves it. He deserves a chance to just relax and let himself unwind.
And so he is completely caught off guard when things start to change.
He feels so warm and comfortable in the waters and it's only when he opens his eyes does he realize he's seeing something that isn't there, more so it almost seems to be doubled. As if two memories have been set on top of each other, like two panes of colored glass.
His own memory is of him, much younger and much smaller, sitting on the couch happily drawing with markers and pencils. His mother sits next to him reading a copy of the Weekly World News, she glances up briefly and favors him with a smile.
It's a smile that he would give anything to see again.
He leans forward and she reaches out, stroking the top of his head, smoothing back his hair in an impossibly gentle, tender gesture...
Carter jerks as if someone has slapped him because for a brief moment he actually felt that touch but it wasn't his mother, it was....]
What the fuck?!
[He pulls himself out of the water, wiping it off his skin as if it was something corrosive and painful. His eyes are wide and frightened, ironically making him look much more like his eight year old self. He looks up and sees the shaking woman next to him but almost doesn't register her.]
What....what the fuck was that?!