Hi! Here's the next chapter. I hope you liked the first! (You'll need to read it for this to make sense; you can find it here: https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=75176 ) 

In this chapter, our heroine Ellie has finally talked her husband Damien into letting her get back home.


Memory is a nasty thing,
With all its fragile kin-
Happiness, contentment, recognition, and sin
Washed away with who you’d once been.

HOMECOMING

Ellie was practically bouncing in her seat as the train chugged towards the south, eyes dancing as she looked out the windows as the speeding landscape. An expression of pure joy was painted on her face, and she spoke with a light, trilled voice that seemed ready to break into song. She was as happy as Damien had seen her in months.

It was killing him.

Oh, jeez, he thought. This is perfect. Just perfect! What’s she going to do when she gets home? She doesn’t know. She’ll be devastated…

“Why are you so dar n perky?” he barked, annoyed by how she reminded him of a child riding the train for the first time. “You’re eighteen years old, for goodness’ sake! Act like it!”

Ellie giggled. “I love trains,” she said, and it irritated him how, even now as she was acting so childish, he wanted to both strangle her and kiss her, possibly at the same time.

The train screeched to a halt, and a voice over the P.A. said, “End of the line, folks. This is Tseur, the end of the line. Thank you for riding with South Line, and we hope you will choose us again.” Then it repeated. “End of the line, folks. This is Tesur, the end of the line.”

Ellie frowned and stepped off the train, considering she didn’t have much choice. Her rapt glee was slowly being replaced with confusion. “Tseur is three stops away from Haven,” she murmured. “How can it be the end of the line?” She sat down on a bench, aimlessly kicking her feet, as she often did when she was thinking. “Unless… maybe we got on the wrong train…” She pulled out the ticket and glanced at it again, her frown deepening. “No, we didn’t…”

“We must have, dear,” Damien said. I should’ve put us on a train farther away than three stops. This is too close. At this rate, she’ll just take another, or walk- she’s so stubborn, I bet she would! He sat next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Trains shrieked around them, P.A.s droned, and civilians massed around, busy as always. Damien hated how small train stations made him feel. He could only imagine what Ellie was thinking, and he didn’t like what he did.

Ellie brushed his hand off her shoulder and turned to glare at him. “Damien…” she said, with a tone that worried him. “You didn’t get us on the wrong train… on purpose, did you?”

“No… Why would you think that?”

But she knew his ticks well enough to ascertain the truth. “Damien! Why tell me we’re going to visit if that’s not your intention?”

Because you’d never shut up about it, Damien thought. Four years of her complaining, he had to endure. Four years of ‘I want to see my father and my sister, why aren’t you accommodating, I made a giant sacrifice coming up here to marry you and you can’t even handle a couple hours on a train to visit the south?’ It wasn’t even that she nagged often, which made it worse when she actually did.

“I have no comment,” Damien replied.

“Of course you don’t,” Ellie snorted, and started to stalk off.

“Wait! Where are you going?” he called after her, scrambling to his feet.

“To find a rail map. I’ll buy another ticket if I have to- and this time, I’m getting on the train.”

“Drat it, woman! Let’s just turn around and go home.”

When she turned, he swore he saw the slightest hint of tears in her eyes. “Damien, this is the closest I’ve been in four years. I’m not turning back now.”

“Four years isn’t that long,” he muttered under his breath, and her glare intensified. “Fine. Let’s go find a rail map.” I should have said no. I shouldn’t have brought her here. It’ll only be an hour or two until she finds out. What am I going to do? Why can’t she listen to me? I should just tell her the truth. She’d understand.

But he knew she wouldn’t believe him, even if he told her.




The second train ride was much colder than the first. Ellie sat with her arms crossed, staring out the window. Damien was next to her, and every now and then he’d attempt to make conversation, but Ellie didn’t want to listen to his talk, as it was mainly telling her how bad of an idea this was. She couldn’t believe that he’d get them on the wrong train! She didn’t know what was getting into him. He was getting noticeably antsy the closer they got to Haven. If anyone should have been nervous, it was her.

“Ellie, I’m serious. We really shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Please shut up,” she said.

And he did.

When they disembarked at Haven Station, it was another ten-minute walk to the house. Haven was a relatively small town, but the sight of even the dully-painted station was overwhelming. Ellie leaned against the trunk of a tree near the platform and took a deep breath.

“What?” Damien asked. “You dizzy? Don’t remember the way back?”

“Four years, Damien,” she said. “It’s not long enough to forget the way to my house.”

“Right!” Damien sniffed. “Because four years is an eternity back in Gett City, but here, it’s nowhere near!”

She had half a mind to tell him to shut up again. How was she supposed to explain that it was an eternity? Gracie had been ten years old when she’d last seen her. Who knew what she looked like now? Would they even recognize her? So much could have changed in that time. She felt like a stranger, here in her own hometown.

“Is it- it is! Ellie Giata?”

Ellie turned. A strawberry-haired young woman bounded up to her. “Ellie Giata!”

“Actually,” Ellie said, “it’s Giata-Morvant now. This is my husband, Damien Morvant. Damien, this is… Iris, right?”

“Yes!” Iris said. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Morvant.”

“Likewise,” Damien replied, acting sullen. Ellie raised an eyebrow. “What now?”

“You’re not going to shake her hand?”

Grumbling, Damien stuck his hand out and shook it. “So, who’s this lady, anyway?”

“Iris was a classmate of mine in school,” Ellie answered, “before I got married and was withdrawn.”

“Ellie was top of her class,” Iris offered. “I remember that no one could beat your scores. Now that you’re gone, I have no competition.”

They both laughed, and Damien edged away a little. He must have seemed like the odd man out. Well, good for him. He deserved it.

“So, where’ve you been for all this time?” Iris asked, looking over her. Iris was wearing a simple winter dress and coat, but Ellie was dressed in a style suitable of a Baron’s wife. “You’ve done well for yourself.”

“Damien and I live up in Gett City,” Ellie said.

“No way! He’s that Damien Morvant?”

“How many are there?” gruffed Damien.

“Ellie, that’s spectacular!” Iris squealed. “My gosh, I always thought I would be the one to marry into money! How’d you steal his heart?”

Oh, joy. Ellie glanced at Damien, and he smirked. His eyes told her, ‘All yours, sweetheart.’

“He stole mine,” Ellie said, which was actually quite close to the truth. “Enough about me, though. Tell me about you. Anything life-changing?”

“Not like getting married, no,” Iris chuckled. “I’m graduating the Academy this year, that’s all. If you’re in town, you should pay a quick visit to Miss Highwater. I’m sure she misses you.”

“I think I will, as soon as I’ve seen Father and Gracie,” Ellie answered. “How’s Father’s business coming along?”
“Blooming quite well, actually. He made some investments four years ago with some money that suddenly appeared, and now he’s one of the richest in town,” Iris said.

“A rich Intangible Pawnbroker?” Damien said. “That exists?”

“Well, Father had stocks on the side,” Ellie defended. “Besides, being an Intangible Pawnbroker pays well.”

“And you’d know all about it,” he retorted.

“Actually,” Iris said, “Ellie was his apprentice until about five years ago.”

“So I would,” Ellie smirked. “I learned how the ledgers worked, and all the rates. And I’ve got some knowledge of the theory behind the services- the methods behind extracting Memories, how to sell them to others, the curing of Nightmares- so on and so forth.”

“So where’d it go sour?” Damien said.

Ellie’s gaze flitted down to the ground and a butterfly perched on the grass. Amazing Haven still had butterflies in December. “I wasn’t able to actually perform those services. I don’t have the gift.”

“You have other gifts, though,” Iris said. “I’ve yet to meet someone with a mind like yours. Damien must be a lucky man.”

“I am,” Damien replied.

“You’re both too kind,” Ellie murmured, but she leaned against the tree trunk again. Being reminded of her apprenticeship brought back a question she’d been trying to quash. If she had been able to be an Intangible Pawnbroker, if she could have taken Memories and chased away Nightmares, would that have helped Father get enough money to avoid this?

The butterfly flitted towards her. She reached out a hand and it landed on her palm for the scantest of moments before flying away. Ellie let out a long, deep breath and then said, “It was nice seeing you, Iris, but I’ve really got to get going. Right, Damien?”

“Right.” He slipped his fingers between hers, and they started down the path she had once walked every day.

“Bye!” Iris called.

“Goodbye,” they said in return.

Ellie almost tripped on a rock, and Damien steadied her. “Careful there,” he said. “Wouldn’t want your dress getting muddy. I want your father to know that I’ve been taking good care of you.”

No one met them as they continued on the small lane, for which Ellie was grateful. In a town as small as Haven, where everyone knew everybody, they were bound to have been stopped, and the nearer she got, the more anxious she became. She was almost out of breath by the time the house came into view.

“Less drab than I remember,” Damien commented. Ellie gave him a playful swipe at the shoulder. “What? What’d I say?”

Ellie climbed up the wooden steps of the patio, her heart thumping with every step. The sound seemed too loud as her feet struck the wood, and then she was right in front of the door. She couldn’t understand why she was so nervous. After all this time, she should’ve been barging through!

Instead, she rang the doorbell with a trembling hand.

They waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Damien sighed. “They’re not home. Oh well.” He turned to go when the door was opened by a beaming copper-headed girl. She looked a little like Ellie, if Ellie had chubbier cheeks and perhaps was a little shorter, and the girl’s eyes were green instead of blue, but there was no mistaking the family resemblance.

“Hello?” the girl said. “Can I help you?”

“Gracie?” Ellie said weakly.  “Is that you?” Her voice shook as she spoke, and her chest felt like it was on fire.

“Ellie?” Gracie furrowed her brow for a moment. Her grin widened and she threw her arms around Ellie. “Ellie! You’ve come back! Where were you? Did you get caught up at school?”

“At school?” Damien scoffed.

Ellie frowned at him. “Gracie… sees the world differently.” She returned the hug and said, “No, I wasn’t at school. I got married, remember.”

“Oh, yeah.” Gracie pulled away and made a face. “You’re all grown-up now. How old are you again?”

“Eighteen, Gracie.”

“Too old. Weren’t you fourteen? I’m fourteen too. We’re the same age now.”

“No, Gracie. I grew up too, just like you did.” Ellie ruffled her hair. “You’ve gotten taller.”

“Growth spurt, Daddy called it,” Gracie said. “Daddy’s busy. He’s always busy. When you call, I tell him, ‘Daddy, phone for you,’ and he says, ‘Tell them I’m busy, I don’t have time to talk.’ And I say, ‘But Daddy, it’s Ellie,’ and he says, ‘Whoever it is, tell them I’m busy.’”

Damien tensed next to her. Ellie had to wonder why her father would always say he was busy when she called, but she figured there must have been a reason. Though why was Damien acting so…?

“Could I see Father?” Ellie asked, peering past the doorway.

“Ask her to let us in, first,” Damien said.

“Don’t be rude!” Ellie reprimanded.

“You can come in,” Gracie said. “It’s your house.”

“I got married, remember?” Ellie said gently as she stepped inside, Damien following suit. Gracie shut the door behind them.

“It’s still your house.”

That made Ellie give Gracie another hug, which the younger girl clearly enjoyed.

“I’ll go get Father,” Gracie chirped, and dashed off.

“Sees the world differently, all right,” Damien muttered. “She sounds low-cortical to me.”

“She is not,” Ellie said. “She’s plenty smart in other things.”

“This,” said Damien, “is the first time I’ve heard you make a grammar mistake like ‘plenty smart.’”

“What can I say? I can’t think straight, I’m so nervous.”

“I’m nervous too,” Damien said.

Ellie wondered if the last memory Damien had of her father was a fond one, and if her father had totally approved of the man offering to marry his daughter. Yes, the marriage had been of last resort and of necessity- perhaps her father hated it as much as she did, maybe even more so.

Baxter Giata stumbled out of a room across the hall and came towards them. He did not look like Ellie remembered. He was paler than a wraith, his eyes sunken and hollow. His brown hair, which had been so full and unruly, was now thinning, and though he was dressed in fine clothes, they hung off of his slight frame like burlap.

“Who’re you?” he grumbled.

Of course he didn’t recognize her. Fourteen-year-old Ellie wouldn’t recognize herself if she saw her. It’d been a while, after all.

“It’s me, Ellie,” she said.

“That woman who keeps calling Gracie?”

“Um, yes.” Something about the way he looked at her made her extremely uncomfortable. The look wasn’t hostile, but empty. Unknowing.

Surely he wouldn’t…

“Your daughter,” Ellie continued when he gave no further reaction.

“My daughter…? I don’t have a daughter named Ellie,” Baxter said, wrinkling his forehead.

Ellie was beginning to panic. Surely, surely he wouldn’t… no, he just forgot my nickname, that’s all. He’s getting old, it’s only natural… is it? It must be…

“Eleanor,” she said. “My full name is Eleanor Giata.”

“Eleanor?” Baxter reached out and took her hand. “You do look a good deal like Eleanor…”

Yes! He remembered her! Ellie smiled.

“It’s not a very good joke,” he continued. “You’re my wife, not my daughter.”

The smile vanished.

He thought she was his mother!

“Never mind,” she said. And suddenly it made sense. Her father made a living by taking people’s memories from them and selling them. What if… what if he had taken his own memories of hers… and… and…

Ellie sagged against the wall. He doesn’t remember me. She didn’t want to cry in front of Gracie and Damien and this man who saw her as a stranger, but she couldn’t help it. He doesn’t remember me. The tears came hot and fast, and they poured down her cheeks. She sank to the floor and covered her face in her hands, and when Damien reached out a hand to help her up, she didn’t take it.

And then she thought of something else, and suddenly everything made sense.

“You knew,” she spat.

“I knew what?” Gracie asked.

“Not you.” There was no way Gracie would have known. Gracie wouldn’t have even considered their father doing such a thing. But early on in the marriage, Ellie had complained that her father never answered her letters, and Damien had promised to call. He’d told her that Baxter was simply not feeling well and didn’t have the strength.

He’d been lying.

“You knew!” Ellie repeated, nearly shouting. She stood and pointed an accusing finger at Damien. “You knew this whole time, didn’t you?”

Damien sighed. “I did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded. “Why… why didn’t you… you should have…” She found she was at a loss for words. Who wouldn’t be, when they found out their own father had chosen to pretend they never existed?
Earnestly believed they never existed?

“You wouldn’t have believed me,” Damien said. “Didn’t I tell you that coming here would make things worse?”

“What’s going on?” Baxter whispered to Gracie.

“That’s my sister that you forgot,” Gracie whispered back.

“I wouldn’t forget my own daughter.”

“Apparently, that’s what she thought too,” Gracie said. The words stung, because they weren’t meant to. Gracie, in her plain way, was simply stating the truth.

“You- I can’t believe you! You should have said something! He’s my father, Damien! He… he was my father!”
And, unable to stand it a moment longer, she pushed past him and tore down the lane.

“Where’s she going?” Damien said.

“Ellie always goes to the lake when she’s upset,” answered Gracie. “I can take you there, if you’d like.”

“Please, do,” Damien said, and one thought repeated itself as he followed Gracie. I screwed up. Epically.

Very nice second chapter! I hope you get to post another chapter today or tomorrow, as I am really enjoying this story, and I want to know what happens next!

tyranit : Chapter 3 is in the works, but you probably won't see it until Sat. (I don't have much time during the weekdays).

A user of this: Thanks! Practically everyone I show this chapter to says something similar about that line (my sister and cousin had the same reaction). And yeah, I'm quite mean to Ellie... and this is before things get really bad for her...