8 Apr 2021, 01:37
To Be Back Home
Rhea struggled to drag her case out of the minivan, hands wrapped around the rubber handle cover, as she gritted her teeth and yanked at. One of the wheels caught on the half-open sliding door and she grunted, nearly stumbling backwards. Her fingers were tight and the callouses on her palms were sticky with sweat.
"I can help with that," said Marvin Miller, her father, his voice on the edge of desperation. He wore his half-moon spectacles on the tip of his nose, his grey tie was askew, and his salt-and-pepper combover had been ruined by the wind, leaving is bald head partially exposed. He was wringing his empty hands awkwardly, clearly wishing to be helpful. She refused to grant him the opportunity.
"No, dad, I've got it," she replied, finally managing to unhook the wheel from the car door. Perhaps she was being too harsh on him, but... he had purchased this car in the past month without even informing her. A whole minivan. He insisted that it was cheap, and had even had elation in his eyes as he pulled open the car door and stretched out his arm invitingly like a chauffeur. He expected her excitement: a huge grin was supposed to expand across her face. Instead she had watched the glee drain from his eyes as she crossed her arms and her brow creased in a frown. She had glanced back behind her at King's Cross Station, half-wishing she was still blissfully unaware of her father's decision.
"Dad, did you seriously buy a car?" she had demanded, almost disbelieving, gesturing at the thing. It was beat-up and a dull reddish with rusty brown showing through where the paint peeled away.
"I did," he had said, nervousness creeping into his voice. Rhea had felt a pang of guilt then, but ignored it. It was his fault that he made a stupid purchase and he was going to suffer the consequences, including people being angry with him about said purchase. Not to mention all the financial problems.
"Dad..." She met his eyes disapprovingly, her stance cold and unmoving. "We can't afford this. Why a minivan? You could've at least bought something smaller. There are only two of us."
"A man can hope." His voice was helpless; the man was already aware that he had lost. It was immensely satisfying to defeat an adversary this easily. Weakening them with a glare was not an opportunity available to Rhea often due to her height and fragile frame. But her father knew her well enough to see that she was a worthy opponent in any sort of debate, especially one where he was obviously wrong.
"Hope for what? A bigger family? Are you going to marry? Have seven children and pile us all up in the backseat to go on an adventure? That's a lovely fantasy, father, but the reality is that you cannot afford a new car. Used or otherwise. Besides, owning a car is not necessary─Hadley's is always available. We need to return this immediately, after we get home."
She had been scolded, told that she could not speak to her father like that, but her indignance and displeasure translated into a cold unmoving disposition that made him trail off eventually. The two sat far away from each other in the van: Rhea had climbed in the way back, taking advantage of the expansive space despite her irritation. They arrived home after approximately forty minutes and Rhea stood behind her father at the door of their flat as she carried two cases, one that she dragged across the pavement and up the stairs on wheels and one that she hefted over her shoulder. It slid down to the crook of her elbow and she did little to fix it.
"I don't understand why we didn't go to Hadley's. His house is so much bigger," she complained. Marvin ignored her. Almost embarrassed, she smoothed out her red skirt and looked around as he knocked on the door.
This was so familiar. The grid layout of the pale yellow brick buildings, the metal, widely-spaced stairs, the bright blue sky with giant fluffy clouds, the chill in the air and the smell of rain, the cracked pavement stretching out beneath everything (the kind the you skin your knees on), the rattling of keys in her father's pocket... her crossed arms transitioned into a self-hug and she was suddenly vaguely uncomfortable. This wasn't her life anymore. She had expected it for years to come and now it would barely be available to her.
The door opened and Hadley's mother Lili opened it, beaming. "Welcome home!" she cried, flinging her arms out in a hug gesture.
To be continued
It is often said that fortune favors the bold;
If only fortune determined how stories unfold.
Fearless | Sta 6 • Eva 6 • Str 4 • Wis 8 • ArcP 5 • Acc 6
If only fortune determined how stories unfold.
Fearless | Sta 6 • Eva 6 • Str 4 • Wis 8 • ArcP 5 • Acc 6
8 Apr 2021, 21:47
To Be Back Home
She accepted the hug reluctantly; tolerating Lili's affections and compliments - "You look so fancy" - and muttering basic affirmations in return, Rhea strained to catch a glimpse of Hadley Gomez, who was certainly back inside the house. Perhaps setting up the gifts, or serving her a plate of biscuits. Yes, that had to be the reason he hadn't run over to say hello.
She saw him through the crook of Lili's arm as the women lifted it to express something emphatic, and took the opportunity to duck underneath and run across the room. It was her standard layout: a short walkway beside a cramped kitchen leading to a royal-purple-painted sitting room with two ancient mismatched plush chairs and a small telly. They didn't have a hearth, and the heating system was faulty, so it often got cold in the winter. Behind that a peeling white door led to the master bedroom. Finally, Rhea's room, which was a step down from the rest of the house for some reason, was directly beside the toilets.
Hadley sat at the hastily set up plastic table in the center of the kitchen, moodily stirring his tea. He looked vexed. She assumed it was because of something his mother did, some irritating punishment that she was always administering on him. Or something. Whatever strict parents did. Nonetheless, she was so happy to see him, and maybe she could distract him from his unhappiness somehow.
"Hadley!" she said, smiling a little. "It's so good to see you."
He looked up from his mug, regarding her with distaste. "Why are you dressed like that?"
"Hadley!" his mother scolded immediately. "Be nicer! She's your friend, and we are welcoming her home."
Rhea winced. Parents should never get involved with their children's petty arguments. Especially if they're not even arguments.
"No, Mrs. Gomez, it's okay," Rhea assured her. "Hadley's right. My outfit isn't anything I'd usually wear, so it makes sense that he'd question it." She turned to Hadley with the intention to calm him. "I curled my hair this morning because I wanted to know what it was like to have this kind of hair. My friend Cal from the boarding school has it wavy like this - at least some days, because on some days it just lays flat - so I wanted to kind of be in her shoes. But I regret it. The weird outfit's just there because I wanted to have the whole look." She smiled sweetly. "Are we alright, then?"
"I suppose we are," said Prof. Miller meekly. Rhea glared at him, effectively shutting him down.
"Excellent. Hadley, join me in my room? I have a lot to tell you about."
All was going according to plan. She had taken control of the awkward situation and returned it to its former state of slightly uncomfortable near silence. That was, until Hadley said two words that made her freeze in her tracks. Two words that made her head spin searching for an explanation, a reason for this outrageous response.
"No, thanks."
She didn't even reply to him. Instead, she leaned on the kitchen counter, shocked but refusing to display it on her visage. Why would he turn her down? There was no mistaking the fact that he had been talking to her, as much as she wished there was; but, no one else had spoken, much less a sentence that merited a response phrased like that. The only explanation was that he was refusing her offer to go in her room. That was what they always did, though! And he knew it was important for her to feel like she was in control, so he would provide her with that impression whenever he could. The only reason he'd refuse in this situation would be to get on her nerves.
Was he angry... at her?
This had never happened before. There had been frustration, perhaps, brought on indirectly by the other, but never any real hurt. Rhea didn't even know what she had done wrong. How could she correct it if she didn't know? And how could she know if they didn't talk?
"Fine," she said, utterly expressionless, straightening from the table. However, Mrs. Gomez had other ideas.
"Hadley!" she snapped. "What's this behavior? Go talk to her! She's your best friend!"
"Fine, mum." He groaned, like this was a miserable chore. Rhea couldn't help feeling hurt. As she traipsed in the direction of her room, Hadley trailing behind, she was so immersed in her thoughts that her foot caught on the down step in front of her door and she stumbled. It was over in a moment, and she quickly straightened, but her cheeks flushed with humiliation. She had avoided this step a thousand times. Had she really been away from home that long?
To be continued
Last edited by Rhea Miller on 13 May 2021, 23:29, edited 1 time in total.
It is often said that fortune favors the bold;
If only fortune determined how stories unfold.
Fearless | Sta 6 • Eva 6 • Str 4 • Wis 8 • ArcP 5 • Acc 6
If only fortune determined how stories unfold.
Fearless | Sta 6 • Eva 6 • Str 4 • Wis 8 • ArcP 5 • Acc 6
19 Apr 2021, 22:31
To Be Back Home
The bedroom looked eerily similar to how it had when she had last seen it in September. Her bed with the worn quilt and the tangled white sheets pushed into the corner, her blinds diagonal and casting an angled shadow on the dark green wall below it, her Bobby Fischer poster stuck one or two meters above the bed-frame. The permanent layer of dust on her ever-untouched bookshelf had nearly tripled in density. Not to mention her bedroom's best attraction: the tall PacMan machine in the corner. The W-shaped crack on its screen was still prominent, as was the twisted black cord plugged into the socked behind it.
Her feet automatically took her over to her dresser and she opened the top drawer as Hadley made himself comfortable on her bed. She was pretty sure he had taken out his phone, but before she worried about that there was something that needed to be confirmed.
Yes, it was still there. The photograph of her mother lay at the bottom of the drawer, partially wrapped in a square of fabric that she had haphazardly cut from her bedsheet to protect it. If this had been a movie, Rhea would have sighed with relief. She watched it, waiting for her mother to move somehow as she sometimes had before Rhea had received her Hogwarts letter. When nothing happened, disappointment pricked her and she seated herself beside Hadley, swinging her legs and trying to meet his eyes.
"Look, I can tell you're mad at me," she expressed finally. In her experience, he appreciated honesty, and maybe ripping off the bandaid was the only effective strategy in the situation.
"Ok," he replied, still staring at his phone. She could feel annoyance starting to creep into her mind, replacing some of the confusion. "You gonna tell me why?" she asked quietly.
He continued to ignore her for a few seconds, and she immediately began concocting and revising an eloquent statement to persuade him to elaborate, but he interrupted her thought process. "What's in that drawer, Rhea?"
Hearing him say her name was a bit jarring for some reason. She shook it off and replied, "We've been over this. It's just a photo of my mum. Now can you-"
"No, I can't. The photo moves, doesn't it?"
She froze for about a microsecond. That was not what she had expected him to say. It had been a terrible idea to tell him about that.
"Hads, it doesn't move. We both know that's not possible. I was probably hallucinating when I told you that last year."
"I might believe you, except that I saw it too," he snapped. Her eyes widened in surprise and hurt. "We videotaped it together and watched it. If you need a reminder, she yawned and stretched, plus looked around several times. Don't do this anymore."
"I- I tampered with the tape-"
"Stop lying, Rhea. Even if you had the software, you didn't have the time. I stayed over at your house that night and we both looked at it at six a.m. There was twelve hours of straight footage. Also, why would you even do that? You didn't have the means, the opportunity, or the motive to fake this."
She didn't know what to say. Maybe there was nothing to say. No excuses to be made. "What the hell is your point, Hads?" she said, her voice unsteady.
"My point is, you're hiding something, and I think it has to do with the unusual stuff that's been happening to you. I also think it has to do to this mysterious school that you were transferred to this year. I mean, you had just gotten into Akehurst's. I can't even begin to think of a logical reason why you would leave that. Nor one.... why you'd leave me alone here." His voice broke a little on the last word.
To be continued
It is often said that fortune favors the bold;
If only fortune determined how stories unfold.
Fearless | Sta 6 • Eva 6 • Str 4 • Wis 8 • ArcP 5 • Acc 6
If only fortune determined how stories unfold.
Fearless | Sta 6 • Eva 6 • Str 4 • Wis 8 • ArcP 5 • Acc 6
18 May 2021, 02:54
To Be Back Home
Oh. He was mad at her... because he missed her. Because he missed Rhea. She had never been missed before, and wasn't really sure how to feel about it.
Evidently Hadley regretted his miniscule emotional display, and tucked his knees to his chest, looking in the other direction. She desperately hoped he wasn't going to cry, because crying people were difficult to speak with, and even more so to console. Part of the reason she never cried was to make it easier for the people around her. It was selfish to burden them with her emotions.
At least he was trying to swallow his tears. The adam's apple bobbed in his throat and he blinked quickly, a few times for good measure. Six, to be precise. She counted while trying to come up with a response to soothe him.
Finally, the young girl swallowed, and began carefully: "My intention... was not to abandon you, Hads. I just-"
"Oh, your intention?"
He rose from the bed, staring directly into her eyes, red-hot fury burning in his, spitting the words like he had been waiting to his entire life. The transition from meek discomfort to rage was so abrupt and disorienting that Rhea had to pause for a second to catch up.
"Yeah? Wh-"
"You say the bullies aren't so bad. You say that they'll leave you alone if you tell them to. But we both know it was you who always did that, who always told them to get away, and they did. You can deal with them in a way that I never could. Stupid blokes always teasing and trying to get to us, but you just... you snapped. Every time. You frightened them off, you did. I could never. And I still can't. They think that I'm an easy target now that you're gone." He paused to collect himself. Inhale. Exhale. "You knew that'd happen. But you still went away. Why would you do that?"
She tried to think. This was all happening to fast. Concentrate on what you have to respond to now and go from there, she reminded herself, because there was really nothing else to be done.
Think about what you know first. The only piece of advice from her former therapist that she had taken.
Hadley was mad at her. Why? Because he missed her. No, that was the result, not the reason. Because she couldn't protect him from bullies.
That was the center of it. What needed to be pinpointed, comprehended, and replied to. But there was no explanation, really, that could adequately defend her. He was right. Distracted by the thrill of magic and the hope for her future, she had left him to to fend for himself in the pit of lions. Obviously he was going to be devoured.
And yet... there was a part of her, a tiny, wicked part, that was glad she had angered him, because now he has distracted from his suspicions about magic. That wasn't so bad, right? The Hogwarts professors would approve. But ─ no, this was exactly what Hadley meant. Her whole world, her whole universe, used to center around her friendship with him, and now ─ that center had shifted to Hogwarts. Her school. She had abandoned him entirely, with no explanation. Of course he was angry.
He was absolutely right.
She stared at him with wide eyes. In the presence of others, she usually did her best not to spend too long in blank silence, but Hadley was used to it, and gave her the time she needed to think. Not on this particular occasion, though. He side-eyed her impatiently, sitting down now. There was still with an unmistakable glint of anger in his gaze.
"I have no excuse," she confessed. "You're... you're right. About this."
To be continued
It is often said that fortune favors the bold;
If only fortune determined how stories unfold.
Fearless | Sta 6 • Eva 6 • Str 4 • Wis 8 • ArcP 5 • Acc 6
If only fortune determined how stories unfold.
Fearless | Sta 6 • Eva 6 • Str 4 • Wis 8 • ArcP 5 • Acc 6