talking stage- a sokeefe human au

alternate ending pt.1

The year was 2023, and Sophie Foster was just now beginning to come to terms with the fact that she would eventually lose everyone she loved, assuming she hadn't lost them already.

Sophie had already started distancing herself from them. She couldn't remember the last time she talked to her parents, though in her defense, it was merely a result of irresponsibility. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Dex's face; she was too busy to call. And more than anything, she couldn't remember the last time she enjoyed the company of her friends. It had been so long, hadn't it?

But there was one thing she could never forget, despite her strenuous efforts. A tugging feeling in her chest: longing, perhaps, or something greater. It festered there, heavy and all-consuming. She loathed it.

Being a sophomore in college, she, of course, had much better things to fill her time with. It had been three years, after all. But that didn't make it hurt any less.

It finally occurred to Sophie that she had fallen ill. Columbia was no walk in the park, despite her photographic memory, and she spent a majority of her day studying. The rest she spent drinking copious amounts of coffee and volunteering endless nights at the local food bank. She knew she didn't need to, but something inside of her-perhaps the masochist-told her she had had it too easy for too long. She also knew that if she let herself breathe, she would think, and her mind was a dangerous place.

Yet, here she was. Bedridden on her couch with dark circles under her once bright eyes, an ache in her stomach, and an intense migraine; she had nothing to do but think.

It had been three years, but she thought about him everyday.

Thought about them.

Sophie reached to her coffee table and grabbed her ragged copy of Persuasion. She read it out of hope, hope that she too could have a happy ending. Sophie ran her fingers along the frayed edges, feeling for her bookmarked page. She had read it multiple times, obviously, but she liked to pretend that every endeavor was her first. A bookmark was the best way, she figured. Opening the almost ancient relic slowly, she glanced at the page number in the bottom left corner and began to read.

"There could have never been two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison-"

Sophie snapped the book shut immediately, and to her horror, chucked it across the room. Her beloved book hit the wall with a dull thud and fell to the ground open faced, the crinkling sound of paper bending sounding through the silent room. She laid underneath the blankets, petrified by her own actions, her own thoughts.

There was a knock on the door.

Sophie didn't know when she had become so disillusioned. Or, maybe she did. Yes, she did.

There was another knock on the door.

She had become disillusioned with the rest of the world three years ago. Or, perhaps, it was before then.

There was a third knock on the door.

She had always known loss and disappointment. But maybe things were actually going her way. In hindsight, that was the best year of her life. She had had real, meaningful relationships-

"Sophie Elizabeth Foster, if you don't open this door this very instant I am going to beat you to a pulp!"

-which was something she had never had before.

"That's it!"

It was nice, wasn't it? Until it wasn't.

There was a bang as the apartment door flew open, and out from the doorway stepped a wavy-haired woman with the most beautiful teal eyes.