Death shall have no dominion (Drabble, PG)

[electricalgwen]

Inspired by the prompt "Dominion" at open_on_sunday. The title is of course from Dylan Thomas.


He’s glad Tara’s dead.

Death is vague when you’re a kid. It gains reality and form slowly. Grandma’s not baking cookies anymore; the class guinea pig lies unmoving on the cage floor.

Eventually, you’re old enough to attend funerals. And despite the minister’s assertion of the Resurrection and the Life, you know death is final.

Only… then you get a little older, and meet the Slayer. You learn about vampires and zombie cats, and eventually one of your best friends brings another one back – from heaven.

So, yeah. He’s not glad Tara died. But he’s glad she’s still dead.

Comments

[shinodabear.livejournal.com]

Living in Sunnydale is hard enough, when you know things others refuse to believe, and then dying isn't exactly what it used to be. Wishing Tara stay dead is really an ultimate form of respect and love, in this sense. Wonderful.
I love the examples of Grandma's cookies and the hamster. :)

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think you're absolutely right, it is respect - not wanting to interfere (further) with the natural order of the world, and recognizing that Tara wouldn't have wanted that either.
Glad you liked the examples. Death is very concrete in that sense, in the early years.