FINAL CHAPTER: Cecilia: Room With A View

[Seon]

"Well," Jack said. "I think that we should risk it for the kitten."

He walked over to the plate, picked up a knife, and began chopping one of the hams into fine pieces as the kitten looked on hungrily.

[Laraqua]

The kitten doesn't so much watch as struggles to get loose and lunge forward to try to plunge itself face-first into the ham.

[Kadael]

"Where did you find this kitten, anyway?" Cecilia looks on with surprisingly tolerant eyes as the kitten flails. It's so cute. "In the bar, right? How long was it there?"

She takes another cookie from the tray. It's not like the kitten can eat them.

[Seon]

"No idea," Jack mumbled, feeding the kitten a thin strip of ham. "It was in the closet."

[Kadael]

"The closet? Who puts a kitten in a closet?" she asks between bites of cookie. "Let me guess, no food or water in there for it?"

It really shouldn't be thirsty now, though.

[Seon]

"Yup," Jack said, chewing on a piece of ham as he put another strip into the kitten's mouth.

[Kadael]

"Poor kitty. You've been through a lot, haven't you?" Cecilia sets the cookie tray on the table, picks up a bit of ham, and offers it to the kitten once it's done with its current piece. "Katie's gonna be so happy to see you, yes she is..."

[Seon]

Jack picked up a little side plate, put a handful of thinly sliced ham upon it, and placed it on the floor along with the kitten. "Well, I don't know about you," Jack said, leaning on the table and popping one of the roasted vegetables into his mouth. "But I think this food's safe enough. I don't think I've had anything to eat for days... It seems as if today just stretched on for weeks."

[Kadael]

"Well, it had better be. After all that's happened, I'm not willing to die from poisoned gravy." She's tempted to reach for some of the remaining ham, but she knows she should leave it for Jack. She just had a full meal, and he's probably famished.

Instead, she reaches for another cookie. As she's biting into it, she suddenly realizes something.

"Oh, God! What's Katie going to think about you - us? I know things have been hard for me, but she hasn't been taking it well either!" Cecilia nibbles frantically at an edge, the cookie practically being shaken apart by her hands. "Her daddy left mommy for another man, and now mommy's with the guy who's crazy pants!"

She shoves the cookie into her mouth and grabs at her hair, like a sad picture of maternal angst. "What am I doing?!"

[Seon]

"C...crazy pants?"

[Kadael]

"She said that. In the hospital. I'm sorry, I just thought about Katie and how she didn't like you before." Cecilia relaxes a bit and tries to smooth down her hair. "I know that all of that was a while ago, but... Katie remembers things."

[Laraqua]

The door opens and standing there, leaning her hip against the door frame is Katie, looking wet, bedraggled, and more than a little cross. She looks more like an irritable pre-teen than a teenager with her eye roll at the pair of adults. "Thought I'd find you here. Let's just go, okay?"

[Kadael]

Speak of the devil.

Cecilia stares at her daughter, trying to sort out her feelings. "Katherine..." She takes a deep breath, letting it out in a heavy sigh. "I'm glad you're safe."

The way she's acting is so strange. She wants to punish her somehow, make sure she understands that it's dangerous to run off by herself. Especially when the town is full of hideous monsters.

But the all-consuming coldness of the water is becoming a distant memory. And Cecilia knows that if she were a better mother, Katie wouldn't have run off in the first place.

She's angry. Who's to blame? Herself? Katie? Jack?

"Where were you?" She folds her arms, trying to keep the tone of her voice even and cool.

[Laraqua]

"Amusement Park, as I said." There's a flash of rebellion in her daughter's eyes. "Look, why don't we just go, okay? You can scold me later when we're not surrounded by monsters!"

"I mean, I saw your car's outside, so we can just take that, right?"

Her eyes roll over with infinite irritation toward Jack.

"And we can even bring him along."

[Seon]

Jack quickly turned aside when Katie glared at him. Something in her eyes disturbed him greatly.

[Kadael]

"Don't you use that tone with..."

Monsters?

"Katie, there aren't any monsters out there." Cecilia turns to Jack, looking for confirmation. "In fact, there's nobody else here, right?"

"My car is back at the bar, isn't it?" She shifts her weight, letting her arms hang at her sides. "And I don't think either of us can drive right now... honey, we were going to look for you as soon as we could. But we're really tired and I've been worried sick and- and Katie, why did you run off like that?"

[Laraqua]

"Really tired? Wait ... what?" Katie stares at her, slack-jawed. "Tell me you're not thinking of sleeping here. Wait, were you going to take a nap?"

She stares at her mother, accusation strong in those eyes.

[Kadael]

"Only long enough to recover from... I know you weren't there, but some scary things happened. When we got here, it was safe." Cecilia bites her tongue, and she hates it. There's a part of her that wants to lash out at her daughter, to make her sorry for this attitude.

To her, Katie's being unreasonable, and she's only six, and what right does she have to judge, and what on earth is she so angry about?

"Katie, is there something you need to talk about?"

[Seon]

"Cecie," Jack said. "She's dripping wet and she probably went through hell just like us, waiting for us at the amusement park. She has all rights to be annoyed."

[Laraqua]

"Oh, I get it, you were safe," she said, punctuating her statement by pointing at Cecelia. "You were safe and tired and scared having been out there with a man with a gun so you figured you'd have a short nap while it was nice and safe."

She paused, and her voice becomes dangerously low. "It really is all about you. Isn't it?"

"Well, I'll tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna get in that car and we're gonna leave to a place where I get to be safe. Where I get to have naps. Where I matter!"