Chapter 22: It’s Raining, It’s Pouring, The Old Man Is Debating Moral Philosophy
Cecily heard the door open behind her and groaned, burying her face into the cushions of the couch she was laying on. “Keep, I really appreciate all you’ve done for me, but if you try to cheer me up again I swear I will vomit on your couch,” she said through the cushions.
“Good thing I’m not Keep, because I know that’s not an empty threat,” an amused voice came from the direction of the door.
Cecily quickly sat up and looked. “Ravioli Girl! You’re finally here!” Cecily tried to smooth down her hair, which was full of static from the couch. She had been laying on that couch for a good 20 hours, ever since August had left for home the previous evening. She didn’t know if he had gotten to Puddle and Glow first, or if he’d even arrived at all. The suspense, along with the shock of realizing that she’d been abducted by a five-year-old deity, hadn’t left her in a great headspace.
Ravioli Girl leaned against the back of the couch and grinned at her. Her hair and eyes were maroon today and she was wearing a pink knit hat and a gray tunic with a literal cape draped over her back. “That’s quite the outfit,” Cecily observed, raising an eyebrow. It was ridiculous, but at the same time, the witch kind of pulled it off
Ravioli Girl smiled. “Do you like it? I borrowed it from some new friends at the End of the World.” She looked around. “Anyway, is August here?”
Cecily realized that she hadn’t planned how to explain the situation to Ravioli Girl. “No,” she said slowly. “August had to go on ahead so he could get home quickly. He rode his giant kitten.”
“Why did he have to get home so fast? Did you at least get the chance to talk to Baby first, like you’d planned?”
Cecily nodded but didn’t say anything. Ravioli Girl’s expression turned worried and she walked around the couch to sit on it next to Cecily. “What went wrong?” she asked.
“We… learned something we shouldn’t have,” Cecily said carefully, “and now we don’t know what to do with that information, and we’re worried that Amy is going to do something bad.”
Ravioli Girl pursed her lips. “The fact that you haven’t said it yet must mean it’s pretty serious. You usually like speaking your mind.”
As little as Cecily appreciated being read like that, she also couldn’t argue with it. Discretion had never been Cecily’s strong point, and she decided that now was not the time she wanted to start developing that skill. “Screw it. We found out that our neighbor Glow is the Creator.”
Ravioli Girl’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes, which means she’s the one that dragged me, August, and Amy here from Earth and she may be the only one that can send us back, but she apparently doesn’t know how to use her own abilities. Plus, Baby said we shouldn’t tell anyone about it.”
“The secret is safe with me,” Ravioli Girl promised. “I don’t know if Glow is the only way back to Earth, though. Don’t forget that you still have dibs on my next batch of ravioli, so that might be able to help!”
“That’s true,” Cecily said, her spirits lifting slightly only to immediately sink again. “But you said it could be months before you have another ravioli day, right?”
“It could be,” Ravioli Girl admitted. “But it could also be tomorrow! There’s just no way to know ahead of time.”
“There never is,” Cecily sighed.
Ravioli Girl frowned, then stood up and grabbed Cecily’s hand, pulling her to her feet. “Alright, let’s get you out of here. I don’t like seeing you all mopey like this. My house is well rested and can pull off one more teleport today, so we’ll use it to get you home with August.”
“Okay,” Cecily mumbled, letting herself get pulled along. Ravioli Girl took her out of the house, then paused.
“Do you want to say goodbye to anyone here?” she asked. “They all spoke very highly of you when I arrived and asked after you.” That was weirdly sweet to hear, but Cecily shook her head. Everyone was busy with their long dinner preparations, and she knew that if she said goodbye she’d have to be ready for a whole farewell ceremony from each individual villager, which she definitely wasn’t in the mood for. August would throw a fit if he knew she’d pulled an Irish goodbye after mooching off these people for three days, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
She followed Ravioli Girl out of the town and through the forest until they reached a break in the trees, where the teleporting house had parked. Even though she’d been lying on a couch all day, Cecily felt inordinately tired: physically, mentally, and emotionally. Waiting helplessly had drained all the energy out of her, but as she sat down at Ravioli Girl’s table, ready to be zapped home, she started feeling a little more alive. In a few minutes, she would finally be home to confront whatever was waiting for her there. The world hadn’t ended, so Glow was probably fine, which meant Cecily would have the chance to give the little cretin a piece of her mind, and she could get Puddle and Amy while she was at it. Hell, I can even throw in some choice words for Bright if I’m already on a roll.
Ravioli Girl gave the instructions to her house, then the door and curtains shut for a few seconds, opening back up to reveal trees that were all the wrong shapes and colors. Cecily had almost forgotten how weird they looked after spending a while in a normal forest. Home, sweet, home, she thought as she stood up and walked to the door.
“Woah, you meant it when you said you were taking me home!” Cecily said, stepping outside. Ravioli Girl’s house was right next to hers, so close the sides were nearly touching.
“Oops, I guess I forgot to leave a buffer zone,” Ravioli Girl said, joining Cecily. “Good thing it didn’t land any further to the right!”
“Good thing,” Cecily agreed absently.
“Do you want me to come in with you or stay here?” Ravioli Girl asked.
“Would you stay out here?” Cecily requested. If her predictions were correct and the rage that had been building up inside her bubbled over, she would rather not have a witness that she actually liked and wanted to like her.
That was clearly not the answer Ravioli Girl had hoped for, but she was a good sport about it and agreed, giving Cecily a squeeze on the shoulder before going back inside. Normally, Cecily didn’t like extremely positive people, but Ravioli Girl was a rare exception. It would be a little sad to have to leave her behind when Cecily went back to Earth. Just a little.
Cecily found the front door of her home unlocked, which was fortunate because she hadn’t brought her own key. “August?” she called out.
Her brother burst out of the bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief. “Silly!” He wrapped her in a hug, which he held for even longer than the last time they were reunited.
After a few seconds, Cecily pulled back to look him in the eyes. “What’s the update? Did Amy go after Glow?”
“No, apparently Bright talked her out of going to Puddle’s house in the middle of the night,” he said, blushing slightly. “I did, though, so I talked to Puddle about the whole situation.”
“And?”
He grimaced. “It’s not great, Silly. Glow doesn’t know she’s the Creator and thus doesn’t know how to send us back to Earth, and neither does Puddle. What’s worse, since Glow subconsciously causes whatever she wants to happen, even if we did get to Earth she might bring us right back if she wanted us here.”
“Shit, so she can really just hold us hostage forever? Or at least until we get too old to be fun for her to have around?” Cecily couldn’t imagine babysitting a child for the rest of her life. In ninth grade she’d taken a career test in school that said she should be a kindergarten teacher, and her own teacher had promptly thrown out everyone’s results, claiming that the test was obviously garbage. Cecily had agreed, and she still did. She just wasn’t built for dealing with children. Leave that to the positive people like Ravioli Girl or the patient people like August. None of the adjectives that described Cecily were kid-friendly, and she preferred it that way.
August nodded, looking almost sick. “I’m so sorry, Silly. If I hadn’t spent so much time humoring her, maybe she wouldn’t even want to keep us.”
“Well, can we just make her dislike us? I know you don’t like being mean to children, but if it could get us back to Earth I’m willing to–”
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“I don’t think that will work, either,” August interrupted. “She doesn’t know how to send us back on purpose, so we’d still have to find an alternate route home, and pissing off the Creator could have other consequences.”
Cecily scoffed. “August, what consequences could be worse than being stuck here forever? I say it’s worth the risk! Let’s devastate this little punk.” That last part may have been a bit too strong, because August’s expression hardened.
“Silly. I want to get home, too, okay? I had a whole life and a future back on Earth that were taken from me and I want to get them back, but I’m not willing to endanger this entire world. What about Echo and Seed and the other good people we’ve met here? If Glow freaks out, she could cause massive emotional storms, monsters, and who knows what else. Plus, there’s a good chance she’ll just kidnap a new batch of playmates from Earth and we would just be consigning someone else to the same fate.”
Cecily threw up her hands. “Then let them have a turn! It’s not our job to take care of this world or its residents, August. We just need to take care of ourselves and each other, and right now, you seem to have given up on both of those things.”
August’s eyes filled with hurt. “Silly, I will never give up on you; you know that. But I can’t–”
“You can’t be mean to save your life, or mine. I get it.” Cecily brushed past him into the bedroom. “It’s my week for the bed.” She could tell August was going to say something else, but she shut the door before he could, then flopped face-first onto the unmade bed.
“Why can’t he get his damn priorities straight?” she muttered into the sheets, clutching them in her fists and feeling the urge to tear them in half. Compassion had its place, but shouldn’t he care more about being compassionate to his own sister? Why couldn’t he swallow his pride and just be a jerk for once in his life? Maybe I can be mean enough for both of us, Cecily thought. She sat up in the bed and started to put her thoughts in order. If I go without August knowing, I could convince Glow that he doesn’t like her anymore. Yes. That could work.
She found a piece of paper among August’s writing supplies and wrote out a quick note: “Glow, I don’t like that you always force me to tell you stories, it isn’t nice. I don’t want to be your friend anymore. August.” It was brutal, but brutal was what the situation demanded. On second thought, Cecily wasn’t even sure if Glow could read, but the note could be a good backup if the situation demanded it.
It took a while to force herself to get off the bed, and when she did, she realized she was getting hungry. She’d gotten used to being fed farm-to-table meals by the eccentric immortals at the birthplace of humanity, but she realized now that she would actually have to make food herself if she wanted to eat it. Not worth it, she thought, flopping back onto the bed. She didn’t feel up to bullying a child tonight, so she decided to go in the morning, once she was rested and had planned out what to say.
She lay on the bed for a good hour, thinking through her script, then there was a knock on the door and August cracked it open. “Hey, Silly,” he said softly. “I’ve got some dinner here if you want it.”
Cecily wanted to be left alone, but she wanted food more, so she sat up and let him come in. August carried a plate with two sandwiches on it, which he held out to Cecily. “Echo let me use her ingredients, since we don’t have any unspoiled food right now,” he explained. He paused for a moment. “Did you remember that you’d left her out there?”
Cecily froze with the sandwich halfway to her mouth. She had completely forgotten about Ravioli Girl sitting in her house right next door. Oops. She put the sandwich back down. “I figured she was fine out there, since she has her own house,” she said, which was probably worse than just telling the truth.
August frowned disapprovingly but didn’t comment. Instead, he got up and left Cecily to her sandwiches and her thoughts.
The next morning, Cecily finalized her plans. She would go to Glow and Puddle’s house and somehow get Glow alone, since she doubted Puddle would approve of her behavior. Once she’d judged that it was safe to assume Glow was awake, she quietly snuck out of her room and out the front door. When she glanced toward the living room, it looked like August was still asleep on the couch. Cecily couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept longer than her and felt a small tinge of concern, but shrugged it off as she left for her mission. If she succeeded, they would each have their own beds back soon and he could sleep however long or short he wanted.
She carefully closed the door behind her, then walked to Puddle and Glow’s house. She glanced over to see that Ravioli Girl’s house was still parked next door, but Cecily didn’t want to look the cheerful girl in the eyes–whatever color they may be today–before her unpleasant errand. Better save it for when she was done and needed a pick-me-up and/or reward for her hard work.
It was a beautiful morning: the sky was so blue it almost hurt Cecily’s eyes, and the trees were just as vibrantly colored. When she arrived at Glow’s front door, Cecily took a deep breath and shut off all emotion as she knocked on the door.
Glow answered, which was what Cecily had been hoping for. “Hi!” Glow said loudly, then stared at Cecily in silence.
“Um, hi,” Cecily responded. “I have something to tell you.”
Glow looked around Cecily. “Is August there too?”
Cecily cleared her throat. “No he isn’t. He didn’t want to see you.”
Glow let out a soft gasp and looked at Cecily with her enormous purple eyes. The first assault.
Cecily refused to let it break her, staring down the child as she delivered her lines. “He didn’t want to see you because he doesn’t want to be your friend anymore, and neither do I. We don’t like spending time with you and we’re going to go away forever. Don’t look for us, don’t come to our house, and don’t ask your dad about us.”
Glow’s lip started trembling and her eyes filled with tears. She looked at Cecily one more time then vanished, only to reappear an instant later, kick Cecily in the shin, and teleport away again. Cecily turned to leave, then saw Puddle running toward the front door from what appeared to be the kitchen. The huge man was wearing an apron that was dusted with flour, and he held a sobbing Glow in his arms.
“Cecily! What did you say to Glow?” he demanded in a booming voice. Cecily shrunk back, then noticed that his eyes were shiny with tears as well. Cecily opened her mouth, but had no words to say. She’d been hoping to avoid Puddle entirely, and had definitely not planned for the event that he would start crying.
When she didn’t say anything, Puddle shook his head, holding Glow closer. “I had high hopes for you two,” he said quietly. “I thought you would be better than this.”
For a moment, Cecily considered telling him it was all her idea and that August had nothing to do with it, but Glow was right there and restoring her and Puddle’s high esteem of August would only worsen their situation. So, instead, she left, running away from Puddle and his tiny god and hoping that the cruelest thing she’d ever done would be enough to save her.
The storm started before she’d even made it home. Cecily burst through her front door, dripping wet and sobbing harder than she had in years. August ran to her right away. “Silly, are you okay? What happened?”
“It’s not me,” Cecily sniffled. “It’s the storm.”
August looked past her at the still-open door and stuck his arm out, his eyes immediately filling with tears. “What did you do?” he whispered, then dried his arm off on his shirt and narrowed his eyes at her. “What did you do?” he asked louder.
Cecily knew there was no point in lying to him, so she tried to abbreviate the story. “I told Glow not to come over anymore and that we don’t want to hang out with her.” August’s mouth dropped open and his eyes widened furiously. “It had to be done!” she quickly defended herself. “Otherwise we’d be trapped here forever!”
“We’re still trapped here, Silly!” August said, his voice as close to yelling as it ever got. “All you accomplished was this!” He gestured out the door at the dark clouds and pouring rain, and the sky let out a crash of thunder to make his point. “We aren’t the only ones in this world; our actions affect literally everyone! You think Echo’s house is enjoying this storm? What about all the people who now have to take shelter indoors or feel the devastation of a child who just lost the only friends she has?”
“She shouldn’t have had us to begin with!” Cecily yelled back. “She doesn’t make friends; she steals them! Do you think Glow considers the consequences of her actions?”
“No, because it’s always an accident! She’s a child!”
Cecily and August stared at each other, fists clenched, as the wind howled outside and a small trickle of water started to run into their house through the open door.
“You know, Silly,” August said, his voice getting quiet. “I may not be where I want to be right now, but at least I haven’t given up on who I want to be.”
Cecily crossed her arms. “Very elegant, August. Are you proud of that one?”
He looked away. “A little.”
Cecily sighed. “Look, August, I would love to always take the moral high ground. You think I like being mean? I don’t, most of the time. But some things can’t be resolved with kindness. You think the bullies in high school left you alone because I asked them nicely?”
That got August’s attention, and he looked at her with furrowed brows. Cecily continued, “I’ve always had to get my hands dirty to protect us, and I’m not going to stop now when it matters more than it ever has before. I love that you’re the kind one, but that means one of us has to be the tough one, and I’ll do whatever it takes to look after you.”
August thought for a moment. “Then don’t,” he said quietly.
“What?”
“If this is what it takes to look after me, then let this be the last time. I’m an adult now, Silly–we both are–and I’ll take care of myself in a way that lets me sleep at night.”
That stung. So, what? You think I’m a bad person? You don’t need me anymore? Cecily banished those thoughts and instead asked, “Are you going to tell Glow I was lying?”
August let out a long breath and looked at the pouring rain outside. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t know what will help and what will hurt right now. I feel like I don’t know anything at all.” He opened his mouth to say something else, then shut it, turned around, and walked back to the living room.
Cecily watched him go, then shut the front door and went into the bedroom, throwing herself on the bed again. At least if August caught her crying, she could blame it on the storm.