"This is a new flight and the check is still good obviously. The original flight I'm afraid left a few days ago. When you didn't check into it, and then when you didn't arrive at the gates your aunt hired me to come and find you." Roger Lark said to me.
I sat silently absorbing his words.
I had an aunt.
She had left me her home.
"If she knew you were alive, this entire time. Why now?" Decklen asked from beside me.
I repeated his question out loud.
He shrugged, "I don't know. Don't really care to be honest. Not what I was paid for. She did say to tell you that she would explain everything when you arrived. A woman named Jackie will be picking you up as apparently your aunt is a bit of a recluse and doesn't leave her home."
"And if I choose not to go anywhere?" I asked him.
He shrugged once more, “I found you, my job is done. I'm getting paid regardless. And listen, here’s her number if you decide not to go, call her.”
I didn't say anything to his cavalier words. If anything, they helped convince me that this was in fact real. As if proving my point, he stood suddenly.
"Well my job is done. My advice, take the trip. Even if nothing comes from it, you can still say you got to take a vacation in France." He said.
"France." Decklen said suddenly.
I turned to face him and quickly realized my mistake. Lark turned his head where mine had turned to as well.
"Someone else here?" He asked curiously.
"No, just a twitch. Well, thank you for everything. Please tell my aunt you've seen me. Whatever you have to say so you get paid. But as to whether I'm going. I haven't decided." I said standing as well.
He nodded and what I may have been able to call sympathy crossed his face.
"Must have been tough, growing up alone. But if it means anything, she hasn't stopped calling since she hired me."
"Yeah well, she's been trying for days, I've had years." I said more stiffly than I had intended.
He nodded and let himself out.
I sat in silence as Decklen walked through the door to make sure he left. When he came back inside the house, it was to see me sitting on the living room floor with my knees drawn to my chest.
He sat down on the floor next to me.
"You've been to France." I said somewhat accusingly.
He sighed, "I was born there."
"When?" I asked.
"Rheya." He said.
"Why won't you tell me anything!" I said to him.
"You." He stopped, "Are redirecting."
"So what." I snapped.
He didn't answer me, instead he stood and walked towards the kitchen. I knew he was putting on tea.
Sure, enough he came back with a mug and placed it beside me on the floor. I gripped it and the warmth helped to steady me, but not by much.
"Who says this is even real." I said sometime later.
"Who else could it be?" He asked.
"It could be a trafficker." I replied automatically.
Decklen laughed at that. "A trafficker would not go through all this trouble for one girl. No matter how beautiful they may be."
I flushed. I was pretty maybe, but certainly not beautiful. Decklen just knew how to tease me.
"France is a long way away." I said.
"And the flight is in one week." He said biting his thumbnail thoughtfully, "perhaps we should spend the day looking up this Cherise Alacourt. I wonder if that means your sir name is Alacourt as well?"
"Rheya Alacourt." I said softly.
"It has a nice ring to it." Decklen said.
"No. It doesn't." I said defiantly.
An hour later we leaned back annoyed. We had found next to nothing except for a brief mention of her being an affluent recluse. After calling my old orphanage, I learned that I had been found in the woods of France wrapped up in a blanket with my first name and no last name. After more investigation, I learned that my Aunt Cherise had apparently spent years trying to find me, but had no idea that a sponsor had sent me here in Maine. After getting sick, she had decided it was time to conduct her will. Knowing it would spur a new investigation to find my whereabouts, she left her house and everything in it, to me. She had sent the ticket and enough money for me to expedite a passport so that I would be able to quite literally hop onto a plane and go see her.
"Which works out in your favor doesn't it kid? Considering the allowance your benefactor had given you is about to be up. You wouldn't have been able to afford your place anyway." My social worker had said before hanging up.
"That woman, is quite awful." Decklen had said as I laid the phone down.
"We should deposit this check, to see if it bounces." I said in answer.
"That would be best. It should take a few days, plenty of time for you to make your decision.”
Three days later, the check cleared.
It was too much. When I had first met Decklen, I'd been angry at everyone and everything. It was startling to realize that the anger I had thought I'd forgotten and left behind had come bubbling to the surface.
"Just think of it like that man said. Think of it as a vacation." Decklen soothed.
I didn't reply as I buttoned up my work shirt over my tank top. Tonight, I would somehow have to ask for leave without getting fired. Pulling my hair back, I walked away from Decklen and laced my shoes. My phone vibrated, and I knew it was the cab telling me they had arrived.
Walking out we climbed into the back and made the drive to the club in silence. Twenty minutes later we arrived and after paying made our way to the doors.
"Looking good." One of the bouncers said to me as I walked past.
I smiled and continued on. The door opened into a haze of smoke. Decklen grimaced and I smiled wider. I honestly don't know why he insisted on coming here with me.
I walked into the back and greeted a few workers as I put my things away and got my bank. When I was ready I made my out back out and into my shift.
Four hours later I walked back into the break room. I'd made my goal and more in tips. I sat down and kicked my feet up as a girl named Bridgett walked in.
"Good night huh." She asked throwing herself down next to me.
"Yeah definitely better than the other night." She said to me.
"Still some of those guys are being exceptionally creepy tonight. I thought that one guy was going to grab you for sure." Bridgett said suddenly.
I cringed mentally, sure enough from the corner of my eye I saw Decklen stand up in outrage.
"I had him handled." I said not looking at him.
Stop talking. Of course, she didn't.
"But he was huge." She replied.
I tried not to roll my eyes. Bridgette was tiny, everyone to her was big. But we had bouncers for a reason.
"But still, for the money we make." She continued.
"It definitely pays rent." I said in answer staring at Decklen.
He didn't say anything as he sat back down.
"Oh well whatever you have to do right?" She stood and left me still sitting on the couch.
"This place,” Decklen declared, “is for the dogs."
"Well it’s over, why don't you wait for me at home?" I suggested.
"And worry? What good would that do me. Besides it's nice to be out of the house sometimes." He said.
I sighed. I would rather never leave the house. The door opened, and my boss Nick walked in.
Nick was an alright guy. In his forties he had the air of someone who had one point had made a lot of money and out of boredom decided to open a business. I took a breath.
"Hey, Nick. Can I have a minute?" I asked.
He looked at me, "What’s up?"
"I'm having an emergency. I'm not going to be able to come in for a while."
"How long is awhile?" He asked me frowning.
"I don't know." I admitted.
"What do you mean you don't know? Am I replacing you? One week is alright but three, four, a few months. What am I looking at here?" He asked me.
"Honestly, it's probably going to be two weeks to a month if I had to guess." I replied.
He stared at me frowning. "Well, you can’t expect me not to replace you. But whenever you come back, we'll talk and if I need the help you can have some shifts."
I nodded knowing that this was as good as it could be. "Thanks."
"No problem." He said.
Silently I grabbed my things and left.
"Did he just fire you?" Decklen asked as we walked down the street.
"More or less." I replied.
"Well you did dislike it there."
"That job paid my rent, bought my food. How am I going to live and go to school?”
"There are other ways to make money."
"Like what? Prostitution?" I snapped at him.
"That would not damage your reputation as a respectable young woman." He continued as if I hadn't spoken.
I didn't answer as we made our way home. When I came back, it would be to no job that much was certain.
A week later I stood in front of the airport my bag beside me as I contemplated what I was even doing here. As I stood uncertain, Decklen wandered around curiosity on his face. It was his first time in an airport.
"This is amazing. And these things fly in the air?" He said to me as we joined the line for check in.
I nodded as handed over my paperwork to the woman at the desk. He frowned as I started to walk.
"This isn't going to be as bad as you think." He said to me.
"Isn't it though?" I muttered as we headed for the gate. We took a seat faraway from everyone. And I leaned my head back.
"You need a distraction." Decklen said.
"What could possibly distract me from all of this?" I asked.
"How about this, as a distraction." he said, "Planes didn't exist when I was...living."
I looked at him. I must really be worrying him for him to randomly drop information about his past.
"What do you mean they didn't exist?" I asked despite myself.
"Exactly what I said." He said. "They weren’t a thing."
"So you were around when they were invented?" I asked.
"No." He said.
"What does that mean?" I asked him.
"I was born before they were around, but I have no memory of being around when they were invented. I just woke up one day in the park by your house." He said to me.
"What was the last thing you remember?" I asked him despite myself.
He frowned, “I told you its to gruesome.”
“So edit it.” I said, “Please?”
He sighed in defeat, “I remember going to sleep, and waking up to darkness. I remember blurred lights and pain. And then nothing. Then, I woke up in the park."
"Where I found you." I said.
"Yes."
They started to board, and we stood. When my turn came, I handed my ticket in and was ushered into first class. I took my seat and Decklen sat next to me in the overly large chair. I pulled my book from my bag and after drawing the curtains around me leaned back in my seat.
"How many times are you going to read that?" Decklen asked me almost exasperatedly.
I shrugged in answer.
"Well if you won't talk to me then, I suppose I'll go to sleep." He said.
In silence he put a pillow behind his head and reclined our seat. In moments I could hear his breathing become steady and deep. Decklen didn't need to sleep, but sometimes he went through the motions especially when I was being unsociable.
I sighed, it wasn't Decklen's fault that this was happening. I took a breath and started to read but in moments, I too was asleep...
***Authors Note***
I'm sort of on the fence on the location that I'm sending Rheya and Decklen here. I love France, always have and always will. I don't know why, I just love the country! So I try to include it in a lot of things, but I'm aware its extremely limiting as a writer to continuously do this. Obviously there is a lot of beautiful places out there. I've been thinking maybe keep them in America? Maybe send them to Maine instead of having them live there? Or Louisiana. Both places have coasts and strong ties to otherworldly stories.
Let me know what you think!