“I do. Thank you.”
“Would you like to go over some literature tonight?”
No. “That sounds good.”
“Noah,” Dad called from inside.
“Yes?”
“Can you come into my office for a minute, please?”
“Sure. I’ll be there in a second.”
Mum smiled. “Alright, you are officially let off gardening duty.”
“Thanks.”
His door was open and he was sitting back on his chair behind the desk. “Come in,” he said.
I closed the door behind me and sat on the armchair in the corner. “What’s up?”
“How is Scarlett doing?”
She was starting to remember. That was huge and I should tell him but something stopped me every time I opened my mouth.
“She’s okay. Now she’s home she’s back to normal.”
Dad smiled. “Good. That’s good. I was very concerned for a while there.”
Me, too, but I think for completely different reasons.
“If she’d have died what would have happened?” I asked.
“Nothing. Nothing can happen without her. We need to keep her safe and well.”
I nodded, crossing my legs at the ankle. Evelyn was already gone; we needed to protect Scarlett’s life until we got her to Ireland. “I know that.”
“How are you doing? The pressure isn’t getting to you, is it?”
“No. Hanging out with her isn’t stressful. She’s a great girl.”
“She is,” Dad agreed. “Jonathan and Marissa have done a good job raising her. I’ll give them that. I had visions of a teenage brat but she’s polite and kind.” And beautiful, funny, trusting, considerate, and loving.
“You care for her?” Dad asked.
“We all do. You have just listed some of the reasons why.”
He laughed. “Yes, you are right about that.”
After talking to my parents, I felt like I was on trial. They trusted me. Trust was a huge part of Eternal Light. We didn’t betray. There had been just one case: Jonathan and Marissa. I wouldn’t let them down. They were what made me me. I didn’t exist without them. I just had to get Scarlett out of my head, remind myself that I was doing the right thing for everyone here.
I am doing the right thing.
Scarlett
JEREMY WAS OUT with friends so it was the perfect time to finally speak to my parents about what was going on. Only I was terrified to. They didn’t like going over the past and discussing the fire. I understood why, it must’ve been awful, but I had questions that just got louder and louder until I wanted to scream.
They were sitting on the sofa watching Grand Designs when I walked in the living room. Here goes. “Mum, Dad, can I talk to you about something?”
Looking up, they both smiled. “Of course, sweetheart,” Mum said. They looked happy. Like I was about to tell them something great. I felt worse.
Sitting down, I avoided eye contact. “When I was waking up from the accident I had dreams, as you know. They seemed so real that it made me wonder about before.”
“About before?” Dad said, prompting me to elaborate. He knew what I meant, though, but he didn’t want to be the first one to say it.
“Before the fire.”
I was met with silence and finally had to look up. They watched me carefully.
“I’m sorry, I know you don’t like talking about it but there are things that I think I remember.”
“Like what?” Mum asked.
“Like a girl named Evelyn. Who is she?”
“Darling, that was your doll.”
Yeah, Jeremy had said that, too, but the ‘doll’ I remembered was running around.
“I remember a girl, this wasn’t a doll.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Scarlett. Evelyn was your doll. This was a dream not a memory.”
“It felt like a memory. Everything was so familiar that I…”
Dad sat forward, straightening his back and asked, “That you what?”
“I went to see a hypnotist.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell us? Why is this the first we’re hearing about it?” Mum asked, sitting up far too straight.
“Because I know how you feel when we talk about the accident.”
“Hey,” Dad said softly. “It’s hard, I won’t deny that, but I don’t ever want you to feel like you can’t come to us. Nothing is off limits, Scarlett, no matter how difficult the conversation may be.”
“Okay,” I replied, dipping my head. “Then will you tell me about it again?”
Dad took Mum’s hand. “The hypnotist couldn’t help?” he asked. I shook my head. “Right. Well, it was just after two in the morning when we were woken by the smoke alarm. We ran out of our room and grabbed you and Jeremy. You were hysterical, screaming and crying on your bed, you were so scared. Your mum picked you up and covered you with a blanket to try to limit how much smoke you inhaled. I got Jer and we made our way downstairs.”