(24) It’s My Party

(24) It’s My Party

     Riley sat among her Ash shrine until she couldn’t sit on the floor anymore. She got up and stretched a little. It must have felt good because she packed everything back into the backpack and then went for a little jog around the first floor.

She was just crossing through the kitchen for the second lap when a stable hand’s face appeared right next to her own outside the window. The stable guard screamed in return and then had to let the rest of the stable brigade know that it was not a problem.

Riley stood staring at him trying to catch her breath. With a sour face Riley went back to the living room. The stable guard took a steely breath and entered the house.

     He called out, “Riley.”

     No answer. He followed her through the door, discovering for himself he was in the living room. Riley looked at him with pity. After a minute she said, “I’m sorry I am really bad with names.”

     He pointed to himself, “Jesse.”

     Jesse was trying be a brave boy but it was clear he was terrified. Riley looked genuinely confused at his little square mouth until it seemed to dawn on her. Jesse had watched the house get up.

     “Ok. Why are you here Jesse?”

     His fear turned into a more perplexed human fear. “Bliss is coming. I offered to come in here with her.”

     Riley was confused again. “Why would you need to come in here with her?”

     “Ah.” Jesse looked at the door, likely praying Bliss would make her entrance and explain this for her. But with another look at Riley, he seemed to crumble under her calm. “They said you were crazy.” He stumbled over himself to reassure her. “You don’t seem crazy.”

     Riley raised an eyebrow. “Who said I was crazy how?”

“They said you were acting like Lou. Lou is crazy. You don’t seem like that.”

     He was so young and new. A perfectly open book. Riley looked at him levelly, “I don’t feel crazy like Lou. I feel angry and sad.”

     For whatever goodness he had done in the world Jesse was let off the hook as Bliss entered.

     “I think you two can handle this. Nice to meet you, Riley.”

     “It was nice to meet you, too.”

     Jesse likely didn’t even hear it as he was scampering out the door. Bliss was not as friendly. In fact, she was full of indignity for it all.

“How dare you make me come back into this house.”

     Riley looked up at her, face full of sadness. “I didn’t make you come in here.”

     Bliss softened. “Yes, you did. I wasn’t just going to let you go crazy in here.”

She took a moment to asses Riley. It didn’t remind her anything of her new baby duckling, Lou. “Ok what exactly is happening here.”

     Riley was on the verge of tears again, “Ash is gone.”

     Bliss took a seat next to Riley, leaning in.

“Saint told me.” She gave her a hug. “Look, they are throwing us a celebratory dinner.” She made a face, “You should take a shower, eat, sleep and then we can figure something out about Ash, right?”

     Riley wasn’t having it. “There is no way Carter cares about me being there.”

     Bliss was just as stubborn. “I want you there. I will celebrate you. Girl, you bombed the basement, and that’s insane.”

     Riley didn’t acknowledge it. Bliss sighed, and got up from the couch. Riley stopped her on the way out and asked her, “Will you tell Saint to come see me?”

     Bliss wasn’t hopeful. “Carter has him pretty busy before the dinner.”

“You know what never mind.”

“I will see, ok. I’ll ask.” Bliss tried one more time. “You really should come to the dinner and be proud of what we did. And take a shower.”

     Riley nodded, “I’ll think about it.”

     It’s a while, but Saint did show up for a brief visit before the dinner. There was none of the preamble there had been with Bliss.

     “You wrote a poem for Ash?”

     “So, you know that he time traveled.” Riley stayed silent. “It was when he first showed up. He asked the Magic Keeper to write a poem for him. Mom wanted Carter to do it, but Carter made me.”

     Riley rolled her eyes, but appeared unsurprised. “What do you know about time travel?”

     “Ash knew more than any of us. What you see there is it.”

     “And the archive?”

     “A lot of poems like that from a lot of different years. Why are you interrogating me about this? Ash time traveled. That’s all there is.”

     Riley started to get heated. She got up off the couch to meet Saint where he was. “Why are you so sure he time traveled!”

     Saint was frustratingly calm in his response. “He told me he hadn’t been anywhere for a year in a long time.”

     There was silence while Riley soaked in the undeniable truth. “Riley. Why do you care. Why are you still in this house?”

     Riley answered honestly. “I don’t know.” She tried to answer better. “It seemed like the where I needed to be.”

     Saint looked at her, annoyed. Riley goaded him. “I’m not coming to that stupid dinner.”

     Saint chewed on his lips. “Yeah, I think that’s probably the right choice.”

     That was clearly not the answer Riley was expecting. Saint kept going. “You’ve got some choices to make.”

     She looked convicted. “I feel like they’ve already been made.”

     Saint nodded, and left.

During the dinner the town was even more empty than it had been before. Even the stable brigade went into the warmth. Riley sat at the breakfast nook watching as the last of the sun set, and the full night fell in.

Eventually what was left of the town came flooding out of the temple like an exodus. The house was officially declared not a threat. Jesse shows up to bring a plate of food, and then left again as quick as he felt he could. The food smelled amazing, and Riley couldn’t help herself.

Bliss showed up not long after, and she looked like she had been through it. Riley tried to hide her smile, but not well enough because Bliss called her out. “Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and say it, you were right.”

Riley chose instead a friendly bit of taunting. “Enjoy the dinner then?”

Bliss didn’t miss a beat. “Your sister sucks.”

Riley couldn’t argue with that. “How bad?”

“Carter was basically being worshipped in there.”

Riley’s eyes go wide, hoping that Bliss was exaggerating, but she as just getting started. “There was no talk of what we did inside. Just Carter’s brilliant plan that fixed everything. She has a plan for recovery, everything.”

Riley stops eating, her appetite suddenly gone. She can only manage to add, “Uhoh.”

“Saint didn’t even try. He’s the new golden boy, the one who got the plan done. He is just letting her have every bit of it.”

Bliss continued, “For what it’s worth I tried to corner my dad after. Maybe ask him what the fuck?”

Riley plays along, “Oh yeah, how did that go?”

“He told me, quote ‘Take what praise you are given.’ Then he walked away to go polish Carter’s asshole some more.”

Riley couldn’t help but laugh at Bliss’s colorful language. Such a storyteller. She rounded it out with, “Carter fucking sucks.”

Riley can’t argue with that. “Carter fucking sucks.”

They shared a rye laugh. Riley told Bliss sincerely, “I am sorry Carter is being like that to you.”

There was a beat and Bliss asked her, “Ok, enough pity. What’s the plan?”

Riley gave Bliss the same look she gave Saint earlier when he asked why she was in the house. “I am really trying to figure that out.”

Bliss was far more convinced. “Good.” She looked around, remembering again where they were. “You aren’t going to sleep here, are you?”

Riley answered, “I haven’t even gotten that far yet, sweetie.”

Bliss gave her a sly grin. “Well, I wish I could join you on that journey, but I have to go check and make sure Lou has survived without me for five minutes.”

Riley looked at her guilty. “Is he that bad?”

Bliss gave a whole-body nod. “Crazy. Honestly. Still talking about a heart. Writing all over his walls. But at least he’s in his room, and we aren’t having to tie him down anymore, so there’s that.”

Riley cringed. The house had really done a number on all of them. “Damn. Please let me know if I can help.”

Bliss got up and stood in front of Riley. Bliss took Riley’s face in her hands, and told her. “My dove. You could help everybody by taking a shower. Seriously.”

For what it was worth she still leaned down and gave Riley a kiss on the forehead, and then she left through the backdoor. Riley wandered her way back to the couch, slumping down low within a few minutes. She even shoved the bookbag under her head as a makeshift pillow.

She hadn’t quite fully committed to sleeping on the couch yet, just sitting and thinking. And then. The little ghost girl came skipping out of the basement door. Riley looked genuinely relieved to see her whole and happy as ever. Riley didn’t say anything she just cocked her head.

The little girl walked right up to her, “Here, this is for you.” And she shoved something into Riley’s hand. “I knew you would come back.”

Riley’s eyes were wide, and she had no argument. It seemed so ominous at the time, she couldn’t have imagined how different it would feel now. “You should come play with me again. I like playing with you.”

Riley nodded, “Of course I will. I promise.”

Her mother came into the living room. She hit Riley with an intense withering glare, honed from hundreds of years of practice. She swept over to the dining room door. “Come now, Holly. Let’s set the table for tea.”

Riley looked down at the little girl. “It was nice playing with you, Holly.” The little girl smiled brightly, and then skipped off through into the dining room. Sweater set looked back to Riley, “It would be better if you didn’t join us.”

Riley looked earnestly at the ghost woman, “I am sorry that I hurt the basement.”

Sweater set eyed her back, lips pursed. “Yes well. Just try not to do any more damage if you could.” And then she left.

Riley finally looked into her hand at what Holly had given her. A piece of paper, seemingly torn from a poetry book, but there was barely even enough there to say for certain.