Masks

Posted on Mon Sep 21st, 2020 @ 9:10pm by Lieutenant Commander Estella Stratton
Edited on on Mon Sep 21st, 2020 @ 9:14pm

Earth. It had been a long time since she'd been home or anywhere close to it. Now that she was, she'd chosen to spend much of her time in isolation, away from everything, and and in a sense, everyone. In place of bars and overcrowded dance floors, she'd taken solace in museums, familiar parks and streets, to dust riddled shelves. Books wouldn't dull her mind and cloud her judgement. While she knew she'd promised Jon and Sam she would, she couldn't bring herself to let go. Not yet. Then, Jon had always been more outgoing and sociable.Where she enjoyed her solitude and the quiet that came with it. After all he'd been through, he deserved a break. And she wasn't about to be a downer when he was making so much progress. As the two had shared an experience too, a night out would be therapeutic. Allow the two to bond and put what happened behind them.

Opening up hadn't been easy for her, it stung her, much like taking a knife to a wound and undoing the sutures, stitch by stitch. Estella wasn't okay and she knew it. She hadn't been since Sachzny had left. Not completely anyway. She still couldn't get past how her friend had promised her a family, then left, without so much as a word to her. Much like her own mother and remaining brother refused to have anything to do with her after...

She was exhausted. Tired of telling half truths. Tired of going through the motions. Tired of pretending. That had been apparent in her session with Sam and Jon. While it had felt good to help them, she wasn't sure what how to go about helping herself.

She'd lost track of time. Somewhere between the books and her thoughts, the hours passed with the ease she turned the page. Before she knew it, her head had sank into the pages of another familiar title and she was being roused by the librarian. Apologetic, Estella had walked out with the librarian, her face slightly flushed and stepped out onto the street to take in a deep breath as she took in the cool night air.