Disclaimer: Daria and all related characters are the property of MTV and Viacom productions


Seasons End
By
Wildgoose


It had been a rather mild winter this year, not very cold and hardly any snow at all. A relief Daria thought as she walked down the side walk from the store to her home, she didn't mind the cold weather but it made it so damned hard to get around or to get anything done by herself. Being stuck in the house was almost maddening at times. Daria hated that, being stuck home alone without anyone to talk to, or to hold on to was at times almost to much for her to bear. So she tried to get out and about as much as she could in her old age, despite warnings and lectures that were almost constantly given to her by her doctor and by her own children. "I can get around on my own just fine dammit, I'm no highschool teenager on a field trip anymore but I'll be damned if my own family is to become my warden" she said pulling her Jacket a little tighter as she walked.

After a long walk, one that seemed to get longer every day she made it, Daria finally reached her home and sighed in relief as she closed the door behind her and felt the warmth of the heater around her as she let herself out of her winter jacket and sat down in her chair in front of the computer desk that had served her for so long, almost eighty years in fact. Daria looked up at the computer screen before turning it on to notice her reflection in the screen, she stopped and stared for a long moment at her grayish white hair and each little wrinkle that she had earned through her years. " Umph heheh, when nine hundred years old YOU reach, look as good you will not." She said doing her best Yoda impression for the sake of her own amusement. Daria pressed the button on the monitor and the computer came to life, beeping and chiming as it carried out it's various functions during the boot up process. Once the computer was finished with it's business Daria then felt it was high time that she got on with hers, she clicked on the icon that said my journal.

A rather large file it was two, damn near ninety five years of her deepest thoughts and emotions from her first day at kindergarten to her wedding night to her latest entry yesterday, all of it was transcribed her into this digital version of the notebooks she once kept hidden under her bed. She wasn't foolish though, she new the hard drive wasn't the safest place to keep her journal so she backed the whole thing up every few days onto a one hundred gig floppy, more than enough space then she'll ever need for her journal she thought. Daria sighed tiredly as she began to type into her journal her latest entry. "It's been a long life" She wrote, "My one hundredth birthday was a few days ago as I noted on that day in this journal, god I never thought I would live this long. I've outlived everybody who was ever close and dear to me, frankly I don't know how I manage to go from day to day with no friends to talk to. Sure my family stops by regularly to check up on me and to do their best to keep me company....but they aren't the friends I once had. Nothing could ever replace friends like that, they themselves are like a family. One that comes MAYBE once in a life time if your lucky. My best friend Jane Lane has been gone now, god it must be going on twenty years. I still can't believe it, the image of her dropping to the floor in front of her easel from a stroke haunts me at least a couple of times a year. At times I feel almost as though I want to join her, I'm so alone here now. My husband, well he died maybe five years before Jane did. If it weren't for her I don't know how I ever would have made it through that, My parents funerals were a piece of cake compared to that. But Jane was there for me when I needed her, she always was. "Till we come to bad ends we're freakin' friends", Lyrics from one of Trent's old songs. Truer words I've never heard in my life."

I did manage to come across one old friend today, one I haven't seen since I was a teenager, and also one who would seriously make you wonder if his appearance was a blessing or a warning to another friend, Especially at my age. His name is Paul, I remember him one because he has always shown up well dressed despite the fact that he always wears the same outfit, and two...he's the angel of death. Go figure right? He strolled up to me while I was sitting on a bench in the park and I have to admit that when I saw him I thought I was going to have a heart attack, but I calmed significantly when he just sat down beside me and started to talk to me. Asking me how I've been and so forth, I replied with my age old sarcasm and we shared a few laughs. I stopped joking for a moment when I actually thought of the possibility that everyone passing by would think I was talking to myself and that I had gone senile. God, like I need that at my age. Paul noticed my awkwardness and assured me that everyone else was being allowed to see him as well for the sake of my own comfort. I wasn't sure exactly how I should take that but let it slide non the less. He talked to me of friends and family long past and that when he made it known that he was going to pay me a social call they all asked about me, I have to admit my heart almost melted at that point as it felt so good to know that no one had forgotten about me. It was at that point that I decided to get down to business and asked him why I had lived for so long when the times for all of my friends and family had come so long ago. Paul took a solemn look upon himself and confessed a truth to me dating all the way back to Quinn's murder eighty some years ago. "I erased your date in my computer a long time ago" He stated, I couldn't help but like you as a friend which is extremely rare in my profession, and since I granted your father a favor way back when he had his first heart attack...why should I leave you out?." "What kind of favor is that?" I asked him, His only reply was "so that YOU might choose when, not anyone else." Words that just sank into my soul as I contemplated their meaning, basically what he was telling me was that I could have been run over by a steam roller and If I didn't feel like going at the time then I would recover and go on with life. Great, now all I need is for him to tell me that I have to run around with a sword cutting people's heads off and yelling there can be only one. Damn, I would have heard an earful from my belated husband Duncan. He hated those jokes with a passion. I'm tired I told him, I have no friends here anymore. I have my grandchildren and great grandchildren and I love them a great deal, but they aren't the same as those I cared about when I was young. Paul looked at me with understanding seeing that his favor was now becoming a burden. "You decide when, ....I'll be around when you do." With that he got up and walked away fading more and more with each step he took. That was the last I saw of him so far, but I know I'll see him again.

I'm going to call my granddaughter as soon as I'm done here and ask her to come over in the morning. I'll feed her some B.S story about wanting to go shopping with her or something, she's just like Quinn was in some ways I guess. My only hope at this moment is that someone in my family finds this journal and does something productive with my memories, write a book with them or pass them on in some way, basically so that the so called misery chick, as I was known as by some in high school, will never be forgotten. And maybe my thoughts will serve as inspiration or even some sort of lesson for a future cynic and writer.

Daria saved her work and then backed it up before logging off the computer for the night, she then gave her granddaughter a call. Needless to say the girl was only too happy to have the chance to go out shopping, and she didn't seem to care about what it was that they would be shopping for. Daria said her goodby's to her granddaughter and hung up the phone so that she might get ready for bed. She was tired today, more so than usual, so Daria drank her usual cup of tea before bed and walked into her room to climb under the covers. Daria closed her eyes and fell to sleep even though it was still light out, and more quickly than she had thought as she normally tossed and turned a little bit trying to get comfortable so as not to cut of her circulation anywhere. Daylight faded to evening and evening into nightime, Daria still remained asleep and at some point during the course of the night....Daria took her last breath, and died.



Needless to say Daria's family grieved deeply at her loss, they gave her a beautiful funeral. One that was dignified and respectful, Daria was proud as she watched from a distance as she stood beside her best friends Jane and Trent, her husband Duncan, as well as Quinn and the rest of the Morgendorffer family, even aunt Amy. She was finally reunited with those who meant most to her.



The epitaph on Daria's stone that was placed on the grave some time later read,

Here Lies Daria Morgendorffer Macleod

Great friend, Loving daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother

You are an inspiration in our hearts and you're memory shall live forever

Born November 17, 1983 ~ Died November 20, 2083