Where in Merlin's name have you been?

S

Skyle Anne Irene Darnelle

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OOC First Name
Annie
Wand
Bloodwood Wand 15 1/4" Essence of Phoenix Ash
Skyle had been having a normal day running on autopilot. Feed Kairi, do laundry, Play with Kairi, Make Lunch etc. It was hard being a stay at home mom, but she made good money working at home translating things into Japanese or English. Plus there was the insurance money she received from Damien and her mother. She wished she didn't get the check every month, she wished more than anything there was someone to be responsible for not only her but little Kairi. But that was a fantasy she didn't let herself indulge in very often. She loved Kairi with all her hear and she had been taking care of her virtually by herself for four years. She had learned quickly at fourteen how to be a mother and run a family, but she didn't regret it. Taking care of a child changed you, watching her grow and learn filled Skyle with joy.

Skyle had just finished taking a shower, and was walking back into Kairi's room to make sure she was still behaving watching TV and playing the way she had left her. Seeing that everything was fine she got dressed. It was then she heard the doorbell. It was unusual, she hadn't been expecting anyone. 'Probably a solicitor.' Skye thought to herself. Quickly running her finger's through her blonde hair she walked to the door and straightened herself trying to look presentable, and opened the door.
 
Angela had done her walk of shame, she had gotten something to drink and something for the slight headache she had. What she really needed was a hot shower, and somewhere to sleep. She walked down the sidewalk, watching her shoes more than anything else. Once again, it was like walking through memory lane. past the park, through the streets, and across the street to the flat that Angela had once lived in. The door was right there, but Angela turned away from it. How was she going to explain herself to Skyle? She hadn't spoke to her in so many years. She didn't even write a letter to her, not even one.

Finally, Angela made her decision and knocked on the door. she hoped Skyle wasn't in the middle of something. What if there was a guy living there? What if Teddy was there with her? Angela wasn't prepared for this. But the door was already opening. And there she was, tall, blonde, and beautiful. "Can i come in?" Angela asked, after a long bout of silence.
 
Skyle couldn't believe that after all these years Angela had come back. But there was no denying it, here she was at her doorstep. After a long silence she asked if she could come in. Skyle stepped back and opened the door to expose the flat only slightly different then when Angela had left. All of Damien's clothes and things that weren't sentimental to the time Skyle had spent with him had been donated away. What was left was the frame of their old home, the furniture and decorations with the addition of lots of pictures of Skyle and Kairi, and one sole picture of Damien and Skyle on the mantle. It was the only one she had and it was great, the two of them both making funny faces. It was hard to believe Skyle had been so happy then. "Where in Merlin's name have you been? It's been years Angela! Not one phone call, not one letter. Never knowing if you were dead or alive.." Skyle didn't really yell at Angela but the tone said it all. Skyle wasn't going to yell, not with Kairi in the other room, but she honestly could not believe Angela. Leaving her and Damien, then Damien..., and just when she needed Teddy most he left too shortly after Damien died. Skye had felt so alone with no one to turn to for advice, no one there to help and support her.
 
Angela prepared herself for yelling. She prepared herself for the worst things possible that Skyle could say. Honestly, Angela expected Skyle to kick her out. Out of all the things that happened that surprised her, Skyle not yelling wasn't the biggest of them. When Angela looked inside of the apartment, she was shocked to see that there were no men's cloths lying around. Damien either moved out or learned to pick up for himself. And honestly, it would be more believable if he had moved out.

"I know." Angela responded, having hear most of what Skyle had said. "I know, I know." She said with a frown. She didn't have much more of an explanation for it, she had just decided leave. Just like she had just decided to come back. She sighed. "Is Kairi home? May I see her?" Angela asked. She wanted to be back in all of their lives, and knew Kairi was supposed to be her baby, she was supposed to be the one caring for her. Sarah and Kari had left it up to her, after all.
 
Skyle was mad and frustrated, but one of the things she had learned while Angela was away was self control. "Not right now Angela. I need to know where you've been, why you left. It's...It's been really hard since you left." Skyle looked down most of her anger she could withhold but the happiness that her cousin was alive was a bit harder to conceal in such a serious moment. "You don't even know all that's happened since you left." Skyle was pacing now, it was something she tended to do when she was in a rant, "And it had to be right after Damien..." Skyle trailed off and came to a stop in front of Angela. Turning to face her Skyle was sure the pain was clear in her eyes. "You don't know about Damien do you?" Skyle knew Angela had never been very close to Damien, but he had been Skyle's teacher, someone who understood her when she was going through her goth faze, her friend. Not to mention Teddy had to kick her while she was down and right after the major meltdown from Damien's death leave her as well. Raising Kairi had kept her occupied most of the time as Damien had left her legally emancipated in his will, but being so young and raising a child by herself had been a really life-changing experience. Skyle looked at Angela and sighed, "Angela Damien died right after you left. He was diving into the pool and he..." Skyle looked away holding back the tears she felt might come on if she didn't.
 
Now came Skyle's emotions. They weren't very strong, but at least she was acting more appropriately by Angela's standards. "I know, but..." Angela tried to interject, but, as usual, once you got Skyle going, she didn't stop. "Skyle, I was..." She then paused and waited. To hear about Damien. She got that knot in her stomach that she'd get when bad things happened. "What about him?" There was an unbearable pause between them. Angela felt goosebumps on her skin, and before anything was said, Angela's knees started to shake.

"No..." Angela whispered. Angela hit the ground. Everything was quiet and moved in slow motion. Angela felt sick, dizzy, and hurt. Her heart twisted in her body, and she felt like she was going to pass out. Her head started to feel like. Damien was dead? Right after she left? Angela had been so selfish. She had decided to leave and not call, and never come back. She didn't know what to do. Her hands were clammy, adn two light tears spilled over her cheeks. Just as she closed her eyes to being crying again, she saw little green ones peeking from around the corner.
 
The noise woke her up. Kairi had just laid down for a nap. she wondered if her mom had friends over. She had heard banging and some voices. She heard a name, Damien? She didn't recognize the other voice. As she stepped gingerly around the corner, she found that it was a dark haired woman. Something seemed oddly familiar about her. Something almost comforting.

The woman out in the living room hit the ground, and suddenly, Kairi rush out to her and hugged her. She was old enough to know that when someone cried, you hugged them. You hugged them and kissed their boo-boos, just like mom did for her. "Mom?" She asked.
 
Skyle saw Angela hit the floor and was on her knees in a flash, she had good reflex's now. She figured it was something about constantly worrying about Kairi, and whether she was okay. "Oh Ange." Skyle said brushing her hair back from her face. It was then that Skyle noticed Kairi, she was hugging Angela and now turning to her for answers. Quickly wiping the few tears that had escaped her eye's she smiled at Kairi, "Honey when did you get up?" She looked at Angela and wondered what to tell Kairi, it was a very complex thing to try to explain to a child. "Sweetie this is Mommy's cousin Angela, don't worry she's just really sad okay?" She hoped that that would be enough to calm Kairi's curiosity for the moment because she really didn't know what else to say. Looking back at Angela she hoped she wouldn't pass out. In a soothing voice she spoke to her, "Ange look, it's Kairi. Can you say hi to Angela sweetie?" She smiled tenderly at the little girl who had become her daughter.
 
In a movie, when everything goes wrong, the characters move in slow motion. This, was what was happening to Angela. Her eye sight was blurry and it was like every minute of her time with Damien flashed before her eyes. She had never treated him right. She was always angry at him for one reason or another, always yelling at him. Her words of spite echoed in her head. 'you aren't my father'. Those were the last words Angela had ever said to him. The last words she had mustered up before he died. He was dead?

She absentmindedly wrapped her arms around the young baby. She knew who it was. And her heart felt a sting of jealousy as Kairi called Skyle mom. Skyle wasn't even closely related to her mom. "Kairi?" Angela asked her. As if she would really answer. The arms left her body and she felt cold. She just starred at the picture on the mantle, the picture of Damien and Skyle. The picture of the family Angela had left behind.
 
Kairi was so confused and she didn't answer Skyle's question. She had only just gotten up after all, why didn't Skyle know that. Didn't her super powers tell her that? she released Angela and looked at her. Cousin? The one she had heard Skyle mention? The one that she had seen pictures off. Where was her red hair? Where was her smile? Kairi didn't think it was her. instead of saying hi, she ran over to her 'mother' and looked from behind her legs. "No!" She exclaimed with a little bit of childish fear and resistance in her voice. Why say hi to someone you didn't know?
 
Skyle was glad to see that Angela was at least responding. She figured the fall hadn't hurt her much, but the emotional blow she had just received may take a while to heal. Skyle watched as Kairi ran around to hide behind her legs. She knew Kairi was normally like this around strangers, but had hoped as much as she had told her about Angela she might take to her easily. "Okay sweetie you don't have to if you don't want to." Looking down at Angela she knew how hard all this must be hitting her, "Are you okay Angela? Can you get up?" Skyle hoped they could sit down and talk about things. It had been so long since they had seen each other, they had so much to talk about. But Angela would need to calm down first something that could take awhile. But now that she was back home, where she belonged, they had all the time in the world.
 
Angela looked down in the empty space where Kairi had been hugging her. It was the first hug she had gotten that felt like that. Of course Alfie's hugs were wonderful, but, this was family. A family oriented hug was more magical than what she had learned at Hogwarts. She felt a few more tears escape her eyes and she ignored Skyle's questions. Finally, time seemed to return back to normal, and Angela let her head hang for only a moment.

"How long. The exact day, time." She asked, getting to her feet. "She turned around and stared at Skyle. She then looked to Kairi who hid behind her like a lost dog seeking shelter. Was she afraid Angela was going to hurt her? Angela felt terrible. She was already ruining her chances to be the mom she wanted to be.
 
It was obvious that Angela was going to need a minute, "Kairi honey, why don't you go watch cartoon's while me and Angela talk okay?" She said to the little girl and was glad when she was compliant and walked off to her room leaving the two of them for a little while at least. "It was 4 years ago on October 14th. I don't know what time Ange it was before I came home. The elderly lady next door found him in the pool. I was coming home with Kairi and the police were here. it must have been early because I had been walking Kairi in her stroller." Skyle thought back to that terrible day and was glad she didn't see everything as vivid as it had seemed back then. It wasn't the first time Skyle had dealt with death but she was still very distraught for awhile. Teddy had helped at first, but then even he too had left her. This time had changed her though, now she was more mature, she was more independent than ever and knew she didn't need anyone to rely on. Still trust was important to her and she had thought Angela, the one person who understood all she had been though, would never leave her. That was something she was going to have to earn back, and Skyle wasn't sure how long that would take.
 
"No..." Angela whispered, her voice trailing off to a quiet rumble. Her eyes wouldn't stop wittering at this point. She didn't want to believe what Skyle was saying. Damien was so full of life, so young. just like Sarah, just like Kari, just like everyone that Angela knew that died. Her dad, her brother, everyone. Everything that Angela loved was dying. What if Skyle was next? Angela couldn't blame herself, though, she wouldn't do that again. That's way she left in the first place, because she was blaming herself. Angela left the room in a hurry, searching the small flat for him. Any sign of him. She went into his old room and realized it wasn't a lie. There weren't any cloths, nothing of him. His sheets were made up neatly, the room had been cleaned out.

Then Angela say something that made her knees weak, and she walked over to the bed. She sat down and slowly grabbed the picture off of the dresser. There were three. Angela, Skyle and Kairi. But, Angela was there. "He kept a picture of me?" She asked Skyle, her eyes wide in disbelief. "He kept my picture by his bed?" Out of all the emotions Angela could have felt, remorse was the biggest one. Remorse for how she had treated him, for how she had acted. Remorse that she couldn't make it up now.
 
Skyle followed Angela at a distance not wanting to interrupt her. She knew she had to see for herself, it was like that for everyone. Looking in Damien's old room it was basically how he left it, the saw comforter, same pictures and watches on the dresser. It was mainly the clothes and other things that could be donated that were gone. It would have been to hard to leave them and pretend he was coming back someday. Skyle nodded at Angela's question, "He loved us. He loved you, even though you left he said you would come back and it would be better than before..." Skyle trailed off she could remember them talking the days that followed Angela's disappearance. She had been so scared and worried and hurt, but Damien had seemed so sure that it wouldn't be long before she came back. But he never did get to see her again. It was less than two weeks after Ange left that he died, but now years later she had done what he said. Come back home.
 
Angela looked around the room again. She then looked down at the picture. Her hair had been red and curly, she was smiling a little bit. Maybe someone had said something funny, maybe not, whatever it was, it had made her laugh. A few tears dripped on the picture frame. Angela wanted to ask how this happened. She almost asked why no one tried to get a hold of her. Then she remembered what she had done. She had left. No goodbye, no passing glance. She had left them wondering what was going on, if she was dead, pregnant, alive, or married. If she had completely moved on, if she had been able to make friends. If she had been trying to let go, or trying to come back. She had left them with all of those thoughts, and no answers.

Angela looked at Skyle, who was standing tall and strong. She understood now why Kairi called her 'mom'. Skyle had been single handed-ly taking care of that baby, with no help from anyone. She had been working hard to keep this place afloat. Angela had been so selfish, thinking only of why she was there. Thinking only of why she was jealous. Suddenly she made a move, two swift steps over to her blonde cousin, and she hugged her. Though Angela was considerably shorter, she managed to get Skyle's head onto her shoulder, while standing on tip-toes. She then muttered a promise that she would never break.

"I'm never going to leave you again."
 
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