From erica.miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Sat Mar 15 04:50:35 1997 Subject: The Progeny Cull (1/1) by Erica Miszti From: "Miszti, Erica" Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 10:50:35 -0000 -------- TITLE: The Progeny Cull AUTHOR: Erica Miszti EMAIL: Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk RATING: G CLASSIFICATION: V.A. SUMMARY: Samantha is scared by the sound of her parents fighting and seeks refuge with her elder brother. NOTES: This is a story from Mulder's childhood, before his sister's disappearance. It's got stuff about his parents and the conspiracy. DISCLAIMER: X Files, Mulder, Scully = Chris Carter, Fox, 10-13. Erica = this text, nothing much else, no liability for this text (triumph of hope over wisdom) because it's not for profit. Erica also = much groveling and non-intention of infringement of copyright. The tone of this story owes a lot to my relationship with my elder brother. When my parents argued I always crept to him and that made things seem better. Of course, my parents always made up by the morning and weren't involved in any interplanetary conspiracies. At least as far as I know. So this story is dedicated, with love, from Frog Face to the original Monkey Features with thanks for being the only person who can scare the pants off me with theories of alien ancestry and technology-mad futures (apart from CC). I love your twisted logic bro and thanks for contributing to the creation of my warped psyche. I'm just off to have long chat with my mother about that conspiracy stuff.. XXXXXXXXXXXXXX The Progeny Cull by Erica Miszti XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Early November 1973 "Fox? Are you awake? Fox?" Samantha whispered as she crept into his bedroom. "Yeah, I'm awake." He replied into the darkness. "Mom and dad are arguing again." She said quietly as she walked over to stand next to his bed. He swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. He'd been trying to block out the sound of the argument which had been raging for the last half hour. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" Her frightened voice came again. "Sure." He said as he threw back the cover to let the little girl slip into the bed. She cuddled up next to him and he put his arms around her. "Why don't they like each other?" Samantha asked into his chest. "Get some sleep Sam." He told her, not wanting to talk about it. "They always argue. It scares me." She hugged up to him. He closed his eyes, it scared him too. He knew that something was very wrong with his parents. His father wasn't there most of the time but, when he was, he was always angry. Their mother ignored them half the time and then spent ages fussing over every little detail of their lives. The only constant the siblings had was each other. It was him that protected Sam when his father flew into an irrational rage over something stupid. It was Sam that would get angry and defensive when their father beat Fox for breaking some abstract new rule. Their mother always retreated out of the situation rather than rising to their defense. He tried hard not to blame her but he couldn't help it. Something in his head just kept repeating that she should be defending them. There was no where to escape from the building tension. The once calm atmosphere of the summer house wasn't comforting anymore and the town house was almost impossible to live in. Fear and tension permeated every day of their lives. He was almost glad that he was getting out. "Fox?" His sister whispered. "Are you asleep?" "No." He told her. "I don't want you to go. Do you have to go?" Boarding school. They were sending him away. He was torn between wanting to get as far away as possible from the constant tension and staying here to look out for Sam. Who would look after her when he was gone? "I don't have a choice." He whispered. "You could tell dad that you want to stay with me." She insisted with childish determination. He smiled sardonically into the dark. "Yeah, I'll walk up to dad and tell him that I'm not going.." "Yeah." Samantha agreed happily. "..And you can bring me iced tea and sunflower seeds in bed next week when I'm too bruised to move." He joked without any real humour. "I wont let him hurt you." Her voice was determined. He tightened his hold on her and kissed her forehead. "Where would I be without you to protect me?" He joked. For a second there was silence. "Fox?" "Yeah babe." She giggled at the endearment. "What if...if you leave and something bad happens?" "Don't be silly kiddo. What could happen?" "I was hiding on the stairs and they were yelling about people killing each other." She sounded scared and he stroked her shoulder reassuringly. "You probably heard wrong." He insisted. "No. Dad said that Uncle David killed somebody." "Now why would Uncle David kill somebody?" "Something about meaties." "Sam, what's a 'meatie'?" "I don't know." "You're sure it was a 'meatie'?" Teasingly he asked. "Sounded like." She replied in a defensive tone. "Go to sleep." Silence. "You're completely out of touch with reality." Their mother's voice came loudly up from downstairs. The children lay awake - pretending to sleep - trying not to listen, but hearing anyway. "What do *you* know about reality?" Their father shouted back at her. "You can't do this. It's throwing away everything you've worked for." "I'm tired." He sighed. "Bill..." Their mother pleaded. "Just make the choice!" He yelled back suddenly. "No. I wont. You can't ask me." She was crying. "What's so wrong with carrying on as before..." "It's killing me." His voice was choked with pain and Fox almost felt sorry for his father. Samantha's hand gripped his firmly. She was sobbing softly. "It's over. Everything's over." Their mother whined. "I wont choose." "Then I'll choose." Barely audible. "Please Bill..don't do this.." "You don't know what they're capable of." "Then talk to me. Tell me. But don't ask me to choose." "I love you." "Don't..." "I know you don't love me anymore..." "That's not true." "...but please don't hate me." "Just go back and say you'll..." "I can't. Don't ask me to. You don't know...." "Why can't you do this *one* thing for *me*?" She was angry now. "You don't know what you're asking me to do..." Barely audible. "And what are you planning on doing afterwards? How will you explain things?" "These things happen..." "What? I don't believe this! Why are you doing this?" "If you only knew..." "Then tell me!" "I can't..." "Then get out." She interrupted. "Make your damned choice but don't you dare speak to me ever again!" "But..." "Get out!" Her tone broached no disagreement. "Fine! I will!" Their father yelled back. Doors slammed. Their mother cried. A car engine started outside and headlights flashed across the ceiling as it turned out of the drive. It roared into the night. "Fox?" Samantha asked into the heavy silence that followed. "Yeah." He replied. "Will dad come back?" "I don't know." "Are you still gonna leave?" "Probably." "Fox?" "Yeah." "Who'll look after me when you're gone?" "Everything's gonna be just fine Sam." "Are you sure?" "Course I'm sure kiddo. I wont let anything happen to you." "Promise?" "Hey, have I ever lied to you Frog Face?" He teased and she giggled. "All the time, Monkey Features." She teased back. Fox grinned as he held his little sister close to him. "'Night Fox." She whispered. "'Night babe." He whispered back, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was *very* wrong with his world. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 'Meaties'? What rhymes with meaty? 'Uncle David'? Your guess is as good as mine. Erica ****** Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk EMMISZTI@AOL.COM "It's not yet the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory." Classified Writings http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm The Clones Network http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/cnet.htm "I do not believe that the kind of society I describe necessarily will arrive, but I believe that something resembling it could arrive." George Orwell "The future is inevitable - the form it takes is not." Michael Shallis - 'The Silicon Idol' "We are witnessing the end of the scientific era. Science, like other outmoded systems, is destroying itself." Michael Crichton - 'Jurassic Park' "We don't know what we don't know." William Spear, Feng Shui expert